The graphics featured in this game are what Halo 2's graphics should have been. Realistic water/rain effects, reflections, and bump mapping make this game even more enthrauling.
Sound plays an important part in the stealth aspect of this game. In Solo play, the amount of sound you make is shown by a small measure, like the light gauge, with a small box to symbolise the noise the environment is making. Online, on Co-operative, if you talk to your teammate it can be picked up by the enemies who come to your position to investigate.
The music in Chaos Theory is composed on the most part by Amon Tobin, and is a nice mix of ambient music (for stealth) and tense music (for tense moments) and loud, unnerving music for when you're discovered (IF you're discovered...).
The gameplay is much like the earlier two Splinter Cell games, but with added features. Like I mentioned earlier, the sound meter is a new addition, as well as some moves- such as the neck break, inverted neck break, stab, choke, and a lot more. You can now choose to do certain objectives over others and leave some secondary ones out, and if you want to, you can choose different loadouts (your equipment), of Stealth, Assault and a mixture of both.
Online play is quite a large aspect of this game. The Co-operative is fun, when it works. A large amount of users (including myself) report lots of lag and disconnections during Co-op. The Versus mode however is another game in itself. On your Xbox hard drive you'll see two games- Splinter Cell CT Solo and Splinter Cell CT Versus. The menus are different for the two games, the online system is, the graphics are toned down a little to allow online play lag-free, and it was made by a completely different group of developers to the Solo game.
Versus is very much like Pandora Tomorrow's versus. Two spies take on two mercenaries and try to take objectives. This time though, all the annoying 'extras' in PT have been taken out or made less annoying.
1. Hosts can no longer change a game from free to ranking right before the game starts.
2. When a Mercenary wakes up from being knocked out, he is shocked by the game and then kills any Spies attempting to jump on his head again and kill him.
3. If a Mercenary knows a spy is behind him he can now use a 'Beserk' move to spin around and send the Spy flying.
And there are more such improvements, as well as many new maps and the return of a few older ones.
Overall, I'd say this game could last for a very long time. It all depends on the player. If the player likes to try and take different routes to objectives, get 100% rankings, and loves online play, they will be right at home here. Getting a 100% ranking means not being seen, not killing anyone, and not triggering any alarms, as well as completing every objective. Some people have managed to make it through the whole game with 100% rankings on all levels, only knocking out fifteen people in the whole game.
This game is a definate buy for any stealth lover, and possibly anyone who usually doesn't like stealth games. It's much more open than the previous two games, and allows the player to now compete the missions in their own style.
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