Reviewed: July 25, 2005
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Ubisoft
Developer
Gameloft
Released: June 28, 2005
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen
6
6
6
6
6.4
Supported Features:
There is no escaping the Tom Clancy “machine”. He’s dominated bookstores for years, invaded theaters, video games, and even found a home on cell phones. Ubisoft has literally built an empire on the Tom Clancy name and numerous franchises to come from Red Storm Entertainment.
Sam Fisher has quickly achieved the same notoriety as other action heroes such as Indiana Jones or James Bond. With numerous games and an upcoming movie, there is no end in sight for our master of stealth tactics. His latest adventure, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory has already invaded consoles, PC’s and even cell phones, so it was only a matter of time before he appears on the Nintendo DS.
Oddly enough, I had just finished up my GoldenEye: Rogue Agent DS review just a few weeks prior to playing Chaos Theory, and while the two games share some similarity in control schemes Chaos Theory takes on the more traditional stealth approach to gameplay. But ultimately, Sam flounders in an ambitious game design attempt on an underpowered system.
Chaos Theory isn’t a port of the console. If anything, it’s a port of the N-Gage version from a few months ago, which instantly raised a few red flags for me. There are eight new missions that you get to take Sam through using all of the high-tech gadgets, weapons, goggles, and stealth tactics we have all come to love. As fans of the series will already know, the focus is on NOT using your gun, so if you are looking for an action game you might want to head on over to MI6 and put on a tux.
Control is paramount in a game like this and the DS has the unique, if not somewhat awkward ability to make use of the touch screen for real-time camera movement. As with games like GoldenEye and Metroid: Primal Hunt you can’t use the pen, but must rather use the thumb-strap and the touch screen to smoothly move the camera around.
Perhaps I have unusually small thumbs, but I have yet to find this system remotely functional for precise gameplay. When I grip my DS in a normal fashion my thumb can just reach the center of the pad. To reach any further means adjusting my grip in such a way that the triggers become awkward. Ultimately, I had to opt for using both thumbs on either side of the pad to control left and right camera movement, but that meant taking my left thumb off the D-pad, so I couldn’t look and move at the same time.
Thankfully, the gameplay doesn’t revolve around moving and looking at the same time. You generally move into a safe location then look around, or perhaps take cover then aim your targeting reticle, and in these instances the touch pad works extremely well and is quite precise. If not, you can generally adjust the sensitivity until you get something that is right for you.
In addition to camera movement, the touch screen is also home to icons for your vision modes, weapons, and other functions. But when you combine all of these inputs with the mandatory use of every other button on the DS you have a very complex and often awkward control scheme that is neither intuitive nor that much fun to use.
There is some innovative use of the touch screen during gameplay including a real-time lock picking sequence where you move the pins inside the tumbler with the stylus (or your thumb) and you can also enter in access codes into door locks using a numeric touch keypad. It’s a nice way to integrate the touch screen without forcing the issue.
The eight missions are pretty straightforward with simply stated objectives and a linear level design that leaves nothing to the imagination when it comes to exploration. There is some trial and error in the actual gameplay that leads to frequent restoration of checkpoints when you trigger an alarm or get ambushed by a guard. The story is good and the missions are intelligent. There is no spoken dialogue, but plenty of wordy mission briefings and com chatter during the missions to move the story and gameplay along.
There is an ambitious attempt at multiplayer using the wireless connectivity of the DS. You can have up to four players in classic “spies vs. mercs” or two-player cooperative modes. The versus mode is nearly impossible to play due to the frantic nature of the action and poor controls, but the co-op mode is surprisingly playable, yet no more enjoyable than playing alone, thanks again to the clumsy controls and poor framerate. Additionally, all multiplayer modes require a copy of the game in each DS involved, so you can’t “sample” the game from somebody who already owns it.
Chaos Theory is dark, too dark for the DS, and definitely too dark to play in any type of natural or artificial lighting. Unless you are playing this game in a very dark room or hiding under your covers in bed you’ll be lucky to see half the graphics without toggling on one of the vision modes.
The framerate is merely average at best during normal gameplay but when you switch on either of the two vision modes the game slows to a virtual crawl. We’re talking framerates in the single digits, perhaps even fractions. In nightvision mode the screen takes on that black and white look with the subtle hint of green and when you pan the camera to either side the screen splits across the horizontal middle panning first the top half then catching up with the bottom half. You'll see Sam literally cut in half as his head and shoulder move before his lower half. It’s very disorienting and impossible to play.
Moving forward is just as awkward with huge jumps forward as the game catches up to the missing frames of animation. So you ultimately have a game that requires the goggles to see, yet becomes unplayable when you use them. Perhaps this is acceptable on the N-Gage but not on my DS.
The absence of Michael Ironside is most noticeable, as it the lack of any other speech. Prepare to read a lot in this game. Sound effects are solid including gunfire, alarms, techno hums for your goggles and other gadgetry, and plenty of environmental noises.
The music is also decent with an upbeat score than changes tempo to reflect those frequent instances of detection and danger. It definitely enhances the gameplay, such as it is.
The very nature of a Sam Fisher game is a slow methodical pacing that favors exploration versus run and gun combat. The linear levels will limit much of the exploration and the game seems to favor trial and error gameplay, but at least it checkpoints frequently. Expect about 6-10 hours of gameplay from this title.
With no single-card play you may be hard pressed to find any wireless action unless you have a friend or two who shares your taste for mediocre stealth-action games. Stick with the co-op and avoid the versus mode unless you enjoy sharing your frustration with others.
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory could have been a much better game if the designers had tightened up the game engine. As it is, the game is virtually unplayable using any of the vision modes and without them you are doomed to play the game in total darkness or not at all.
The overly complex control scheme will also deter the casual gamers who have neither the time nor patience to master every button, not to mention several touch locations on the bottom screen. For now, you’re better off sticking with Bond for your action-spy gaming. It might be a different sub-genre but at least that game is playable.
