Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory for Xbox Reviews by Gamers

This game was my first splinter cell game that i have rented and the best game of 2005 to me. First of all it has the best picture on a game case than any game ive seen. The grafics were a lot better than its prequel Pandora Tomorrow, but the shadows couldve been a little bit more defined. The gameplay was a lot better and the levels were perfect as they were not to short and not to long and every one of them was addicting. New weapons and the new EMP vision were just one of the many enhancements in the game. I recomend it to any one who is in to stealth games and shooters. 9.5 out of 10!!

To be honest, I didn't like the first Splinter Cell enough to finish it- I thought it was a cheap rip-off of Metal Gear- but consistently good reviews and a couple of games to work out the bugs brought me back; along with Michael Ironside and the fact that the programmers gave his character, Sam Fisher, a knife and a few new skills. For me, the results were much better this time.

While I admit to some frustration with pure stealth games- for example, why is it that a highly trained commando who's skilled enough to sneak right up next to somebody not have the ability to reach over the back of a freakin' couch to grab a guy; and why couldn't he do an awesome take-down move if the guy suddenly turned around on him- I still thought this game was nearly on par with the Metal Gear Solid series. Since the stories are so mission-oriented, I didn't feel lost like someone who's starting fresh with Metal Gear might, though I found myself wishing for more in the way of at least insertion/extraction cutscenes.

Overall though- even though I'm generally not a big fan of games where you have to die nine times to learn where all the pitfalls are; and regret it painfully when you forget to save- this was one of those rare gaming experiences where I found myself thinking, "I don't mind playing that over again just to see it," and "this whole set-up would make a really cool movie." Ironside makes Sam Fisher a cool character, and the fact that North Korea has become a hotbed for interanational missile-related intrigue these last few years has made this game eerily prophetic. The boys and girls at Tom Clancy's company know their world-politcs. I'd much rather pretend that the world is on the brink of WW III than face the sobering reality.