Ah yes. A new Splinter Cell, a new way to bring the art of spine-twisting to some of your closest terrorist pals. I could probably rant and rave about the hours I've poured into this game already (and I just might), but I think I'll just stick to a little basic bit of info on this great sequel.
Well, the single-player mode, is just as awesome as the first two games, and even a little bit moreso, especially the thrid level…let's just say Sam Fisher and Danny Ocean have a lot in common. That was probably my favorite level of the game so far, and I'm only on level 6. The visuals as you might have guessed, are absolutely stunning. Bump-mapping, normal-mapping, any little trick that the xbox can do is done in this game, and it creates an astoundingly impressive world for the player to get immersed in. The new moves, such as the overhead neck snap, and the new moves with the knife are pretty cool, and the knife allows you to take out enemies easily without taking any precious ammo. Yes, the game is still slow-paced, so you still can't run-n'-gun, unless you want to be breathing out of a few new holes in your stomach very soon after, but for those that love and enjoy Splinter Cell, you're going to thoroughly enjoy this game.
Perhaps the biggest news about the new Splinter Cell (aside from the graphics) is the new Cooperative mode that is offered. Let me just say this: "Wow." I played a little bit last night, and let me tell you, the game is a blast in Co-op. I played on Xbox Live, and had a blast playing through with one of my buddies as I propelled him up tall buildings, and we helped each other get through sticky situations, including one extremely cool sequence where I was climbing up the side of a building, while my partner was moving the rope I was using from left to right in order to keep me hidden from all of the mercenaries inside the complex. Very cool stuff. There are some other cool little things that are really cool about the co-op mode, but that'd probably be spoiling some of the coolest things about it. 😉
The versus mode from Pandora Tomorrow is back too, and it's just as good as it was in the original, plus a few new moves for the spies, and a few new guns for the Mercs. Great stuff, once again. So anyways, my point is, if you haven't picked up Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory yet, go do it now. You'll thank me later when you're cracking someone's spine while you're hanging above them.
-Jack
