Sam Fisher creeps into a Japanese house and begins shimmying along a pipe suspended from the ceiling, just above an unsuspecting guard. Slowly, but oh-so-surely, holding on to the pipe with his feet, he silently manoeuvres his hands into position, grasping the shocked enemy by the neck and wringing the last vestiges of life from his struggling body.
Aug 27, 2020 Addeddate 2020-08-27 13:06:05 Identifier tom-clancys-splinter-cell-chaos-theory-pc Scanner Internet Archive HTML5 Uploader 1.6.4. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Guides ™® ISDF profesorekml ®™'s Guides This item has been removed from the community because it violates Steam Community & Content Guidelines. It is only visible to you.
I'm only a few minutes into the E3 presentation of the brand new Splinter Cell game and already there's been a massive revelation - everyone's favourite Third Echelon operative can now perform ninja-style stealth kills. And that's just the beginning. Splinter Cell 3 (working title) is a major rewrite of the stealth series in terms of graphics, level design, animation, Al and gameplay. It also boasts some stunning new singleplayer and multiplayer features that are sure to leave fans of Tom Clancy's most famous undercover gimp breathless with anticipation.
Why Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Is One Of The Best Games Ever
Cutting Edge
Even though Pandora Tomorrow has only just been released, the third Splinter Cell game is already well into development and most surprisingly, has only been officially confirmed as a PC title, to be launched later this year. Set in 2008, the story revolves around an 'information attack' on the world's electrical and telecommunication networks (apparently from North Korea), that's allowed terrorists to remotely hijack military defence systems.
'We want to keep the game believable, so we reckoned that in a few years it could be possible that something would happen between Japan, North Korea and South Korea,' says lead programmer Dany Lepage. 'We're still moving from one area to another, which is what sets us apart from say. Metal Gear Solid, where everything happens in the same place. We want very different and diverse environments, so Splinter Cell 3 is set to have missions in New York and Peru.'
The new title emphasises Sam's unique ability to get in really close to enemies, and with the addition of the new stealth kills, offers you a very different Splinter Cell experience -especially with the addition of a combat knife and some spectacular new moves.
'In playtesting, we found out that 80 per cent of the NPCs were killed by the players, but until now we haven't had that many ways to finish them off,' continues Dany. 'Sam is now much more powerful from close proximity because of the knife.'
Although you can't use the blade for the actual killing (to keep the game's non-18 rating), you can hold it against an enemy's throat before removing it and silently choking them. Also, you can use the knife as a tool to cut ropes and even slice through soft-body materials to give you access to previously inaccessible areas of a level.
Guns 'N' Gadgets
In another impossibly cool sequence. Sam uses his optical camera to spy into a room occupied by two goons, one standing just the other side of the door. In a split-second, Sam bashes open the door, knocking one enemy instantly to the ground before taking the remaining guy down with a blast from an extremely powerful shotgun. Yep. you read right -Mr Stealth has re-armed himself with more powerful weaponry.
'The shotgun could look weird for a stealth game, but it's nice to have. Sometimes, in the first Splinter Cell, you were seeing two or three guys in a room and you couldn't do anything. Now you have the choice of being able to kick the door in and shoot everybody.'
Of course, this piece of gameplay also nicely demonstrates the game's new ragdoll physics, that according to Dany, proved to be a huge challenge for the development team.'The position of an NPC can be anything now, so the question is, how do you carry a ragdoll? You can't just use a straight animation, so we needed to create some special technology. It's not just about killing someone with a rocket launcher and obliterating them - you have to dispose of the bodies by carrying and hiding them.' Or indeed, as in another beautiful sequence set on top of a rain-swept lighthouse, hang from a ledge below, reach up and pull enemies off the edge and into the sea.
Other new gizmos include a sniper rifle attachment that can zoom in huge distances and shoot through objects such as wooden planks; and an E-beam, a device that disrupts any electronic equipment. In the demo, Sam uses this technology to distract a guard watching television by interfering with the signal. Once the poor fool gets out of his chair to investigate the sudden deterioration in picture quality, Sam creeps into the room behind him and deftly snaps his neck like a dry twig. 'Also, we might include another gadget based on expenmental real-life technology that uses low-frequency sounds to increase the level of fear in NPCs. They may decide not to enter a dark area covered by this non-lethal weapon because they feel unusual -it actually affects their behaviour.'
Mission (Not) Impossible
All the weapons and gadgets are accessed through 'goggle-vision', a new slick HUD that mimics being inside Sam Fisher's distinctive headwear -further immersing you in the Splinter Cell universe. As for the new open mission structure, this apparently came about mainly because us fussy PC gamers complained about the fact that missions were quite straightforward, and could be completed by simply causing distractions, using stealth or shooting enough enemies until you made your way past an obstacle.
'You had a great amount of freedom inside an area, but not freedom between areas,' says Dany. 'Now you can complete objectives in any order and we've included secondary objectives that are earned from one mission to another if you fail them. So, for example, if you don't get access to a computer and some badly-needed files, you need to get them on the second map. If you don't, you're not going to be able to access them on the third map. It'll also be a lot more forgiving with the reasons for mission failures.'
Working Together
If you enjoyed the stealthy multiplayer of Pandora Tomorrow, you'll also be chuffed to know that there's now a potentially cracking co-operative mode for two players. This involves you and a friend co-ordinating an infiltration mission against computer-controlled opponents, with brand-new moves exclusive to these levels.
In the demo, I watched mesmensed as Dany and a Ubisoft colleague used USB headsets to plan the infiltration of an office building, beginning with one operative giving the other a simple leg-up over a wall and ending with a Mission Impossible-inspired raid on a computer terminal, with one agent lowering the other down on a rope. You can also use this drop move' to lower your partner on a line, grab an enemy from above and strangle them.
Helping Hand
If you have the voice system on a headset, it works really well because you can co-ordinate your tactics, creating diversions so, for example, it'll help the other player. But not everyone has this feature, so we've had to work on a way to make the standard communication fun and easy to use, as we definitely have two maps where both olayers are split apart for a while.
The Al in Splinter Cell 3's co-op mode appears to be very advanced too. So, for example, if they think there's just one operative and they see you, they come directly towards you, giving your partner an opportunity to sneak up on them frombehind in a Jurassic Park Raptor-stylee.
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory Review
Finally. Splinter Cell 3 looks absolutely stunning, fully utilising the latest graphics cards and DX9 routines. New weather effects have rain splashing off Sam's clothes and collecting in puddles (see Weather with You', opposite), while soft shadows and silhouettes can be projected onto walls depending on a character's position in relation to a light source. Reflective surfaces can reveal Sam's whereabouts to enemies, whereas gobsmacking glass diffusion effects give a real impression of being in a real physical space. Sam Fisher himself is much more detailed, so you can now see his muscles, as well as 90 bones for realistic limb movement.
Splinter Cell 3 could be the best Tom Clancy adventure yet, ironing out many of the last two titles' gameplay quirks. What's more, with the addition of ragdoll physics, a new HUD, co-op multiplayer modes, shotgun diplomacy, a brutal door bash, knife-play and sneaky choke kills, there's also a genuine adrenalin kick to the stealth action genre. The world may be a more dangerous place, but we'll sleep safer in the knowledge that Sam Fisher is out there, watching over us in the darkness with green nightvision goggles...