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Friday, May 13, 2011

Review of Chaos Theory


"Chaos Theory" is one of the sleuth-based video games in the series of video games provide by Tom Clancy's Splinter cell series of video games. The game has been developed and published by Ubisoft. This game is the third in the series of Splinter Cell series and one of the most intriguing video games that has ever hit the market. As usual the hero is Sam Fisher, the lone splinter from the Splinter Cell of the Third Echelon of black-ops branch of NSA in United States.

The arrival of "Chaos Theory"
Though the game was scheduled to be released in early 2004, it could not be so and was finally released as version compatible to Xbox, Play Station 2, and Game cube as late as in March, 2005. At the same time its version for PC also came out. A few versions meant for the Nintendo DS and Nokia N-Gage were also released. Background music and soundtrack of this video game was composed by Amon Tobin who framed it on Ninja Tune record label. For the cinematic effects of the game, composer Jesper Kyd composed the music. For voice, actor Michael Ironside and Don Jordan lent their voice for Sam Fisher and Lambert, the boss of Sam Fisher respectively. The game earned excessive popularity all over the world and as a result was declared as the game of the year in 2005. The video game was applauded all over the world for its outstanding game play and lively graphics. The graphics in this game of Chaos Theory has made several improvements over the traditional system of the video game that includes both normal mapping and HDR lighting.

The process of Stealth
In the game of Chaos theory, the Stealth mechanics have been refined quite a lot. There is the traditional light bar but the addition is an aural monitor to measure the noises exactly what Sam makes during the operation he undertakes. Because in the endeavors Sam undertakes, it is extremely important that the sound is minimal or else he may be tracked down and eliminated himself. Another alteration that has taken place in the game is the AI detection. In the previous version unconscious or dead bodies were automatically detected and an alarm ringed but now in the newer version they are to be specifically detected and an alarm will have to be ringed. An alarm will be a great help for the enemies to spot Sam and they will be ready for the combat. Two peculiar features that have been added lately to this video game are interesting. The first one is that repeated alarms will not automatically terminate the game. Secondly, for killing civilians, Sam may be heavily chastised by his boss and authorities. Consequentially, his mission scores may reduce to a great extent. The "Chaos Theory" is the first of such games that keeps track of the performance of players during the mission and a summarized report is available at the end of it.

Chaos Theory combat and weaponry
Even for the hand to hand combat, Chaos Theory provides a knife to Sam that can be used for threatening to killing. The attacking prowess is from all sides and not only from behind as in the older version. Even while hanging upside down Sam can choke or strangle his enemy. Pulling people over railings, throwing bodies of the cliff or over railing or pull them over. Though the capability of shooting round the corner is removed, the same is balanced by allowing the gun to be on either side of the body. In the field of weaponry, there are three kits to choose from. The first one is the Redding's Recommendation kit which provides a fine balance between lethal and non-lethal weapons.

The Assault Kit has more ammunition and less non-lethal weapon while the Stealth Kit is just the reverse of the Assault Kit. Then there is the 5.72 mm pistol with OCP which means Optically Channeled Potentiator that can disable electronics for the time being. A green light indicates hitting the target while a red like indicates a miss. The SC-20K modular assault rifle now have multifarious new gadgets like a launcher, under mount shotgun for close range firings and a 20mm sniper scope for long range combat. Non-lethal weaponry is multitude in number and has items like sticky shocker that shocks and numbs all targets. There are also multiple type of grenades and a gas to make the enemy unconscious. On the other hand the enemy prowess has improved too with various new features.

The Plot
Main focus of the game is on Far-Eastern countries like North and South Korea and Japan. The information warfare of Splinter cell stages a return here. The plot is as intriguing as the game and you can have a feel of the same when you play the game of Chaos Theory.