Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
The chaos in this game isn’t theoretical
Tags: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory Categories: GBA Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Jake McNeill on Jul 31st, 2005
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (title page) | 1 - 4 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Stealth Action | Yes | ||
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On the consoles, the Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell series has been an extremely impressive stealth series, rivaling Metal Gear Solid in depth, detail, story, graphical prowess, voice acting… well, it pretty much nailed every area, actually. On the GBA, the series has done a decent job of translating the formula into a 2D side-scrolling stealth platformer. However, the N-Gage version of the title was something different entirely.
While many bemoaned that the N-Gage’s library consisted almost entirely of GBA ports, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory was different, an actual attempt at bringing the gameplay of the 3D titles to the handheld. It was bold, daring, ambitious… and very flawed. Now, the series has leaped over to the DS, and in an ironic move, the title DS owners are getting is more or less an enhanced port of the N-Gage game. Unfortunately, many of the flaws present in the N-Gage version have made the leap as well.
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Most notable is the game’s graphical issues. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory is a game done entirely in 3D, and the graphics on display here (including the night-vision and heat-vision modes, looking great here) are quite impressive… at least until they move. Sadly, like its N-Gage counterpart, the DS version of Chaos Theory has a choppy and wildly inconsistent framerate that permeates the entire game, even the menu screens. It’s severe enough an issue to actually hurt the gameplay, and if not for other great 3D games on the system (like Metroid and Mario 64), I’d be inclined to wonder if the system was incapable of handling it. This isn’t the case though, so I have to assume it’s a problem that carried over with the port.
One thing that has been improved over the N-Gage version, albeit only marginally, is the game’s controls. Camera movement is now done with the touchscreen rather than buttons, and it feels really smooth and natural until you start to move. At that point, the camera fights with the controls, and it almost seems like the touchscreen controls were designed to approximate the button controls of the N-Gage game, rather than replacing them. It’s a clunky, ineffective interface that makes the game far less fun to play, and combined with the framerate issues often makes the game feel unplayable in any reasonably efficient way.
I suppose you could celebrate the fact that the gameplay is still intact, except the N-Gage version was flawed to begin with. Levels that are way too linear, lights you can’t shoot out, wonky hit detection, the game’s text doesn’t have voiceover, and the soundtrack, while impressive on a technical level, gets annoying very quickly.
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So, the good news? The DS version supports the Spies Vs. Mercs multiplayer that was so popular on the console versions! However… The game still sucks, so why are you making other people play it with you?
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I suppose it also deserves mention that the DS has its own little lockpicking mode with touchscreen support, but rather than attempting to simulate actual lockpicking (something I’d imagine a stylus would be uniquely suited for), it really just plays like a somewhat pointless minigame. Hooray!
I truly believe the stealth genre can be done right on the DS, but Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory is not the game that will accomplish this feat. In many ways it seems like little more than a half-hearted attempt to bring over the already-flawed N-Gage version of the game, slap on a few new features and hope that the name will sell the game. Unless you’re a serious Splinter Cell fan, you shouldn’t even bother with this shambling mess of a game, and if you are a series fan, you should know that they’re making a game for the PSP too. Just pray it’s not just a port of the N-Gage version.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ The graphics look great! Um... until they move. + Handheld Spies Vs. Mercs! |
4.5 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Incredibly bad framerate issues that hurt the gameplay - Some pretty bad camera and control problems too - At its core, a watered-down version of the console games with none of the depth or variety |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| While in theory this is an impressive feat on the DS, this game's vast number of major problems, ranging from control and graphics to even level design, bring enough chaos to cripple the game, to the point where it's a pain to play. | |
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Tags: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
Posted by Jake McNeill on Jul 31st, 2005 and is filed under GBA Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
