Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory is astealth game, developed and published byUbisoft. Chaos Theory is the third game in theSplinter Cell series endorsed by writer Tom Clancy.
The game follows the covert activities of Sam Fisher, an agent working for a covert-ops branch within the NSA called "Third Echelon". Though originally announced for release in Fall 2004, the actual release date was March 2005 for theXbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube and Microsoft Windows. Handheld versions for the Nintendo DS and N-Gage have also been released. A version for the Game Boy Advance was planned, but later cancelled. Actor Michael Ironsidereprised his role as Sam, while Don Jordan returned from the original game to voice Lambert, having been replaced by Dennis Haysbert in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. The game went gold on March 22, 2005 for all platforms. Official Xbox Magazineconsidered Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory to be Xbox "Game of the Year" (2005) for its outstanding gameplay and lifelike graphics. Aremake called Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 3D was released for the Nintendo 3DS. A remastered, high-definition, version of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory was released for thePlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3 on December 20, 2010 as part of the Splinter Cell Trilogy.The game also features a number of major changes and improvements to the series' basic gameplay. Chaos Theory is also the first game in the Splinter Cell series to useragdoll physics.Chaos Theory features refined stealth mechanics. In addition to the standard light bar, the game also features an aural monitor that measures the noise that Sam makes, along with the ambient noise of the environment. It is important for Sam to make less noise than his surroundings; otherwise, the enemy guards will hear him.
The AI detection has been altered as well. In former titles, after Sam would leave a certain area, the game would do a sweep of the previous area for all unconscious or dead bodies in a well-lit spot. If any were found, an alarm would be triggered. In Chaos Theory, the bodies have to be discovered by a patrolling guard or security camera in order to trigger an alarm. This enables players to leave bodies simply laying out in the open, and, as long as the player has eliminated all NPCs and disabled all cameras, no alarms will be triggered.
Being spotted by enemies will still trigger alarms, and alarms will still cause enemies to become more alert and combat-ready (such as causing them to wear ballistic vests andhelmets). However, triggering too many alarms will no longer cause the game to end automatically. Even killing civilians or friendly soldiers won't cause Fisher to fail the mission, although doing so will cause Fisher to be seriously chastised by his superior, and cost him significantly in his mission score as well as cancelling certain mission objectives, such as tapping phonelines and locating covert listening devices.Fisher is now able to choose from one of three different equipment "kits." There is Redding's recommended kit, an assault kit, and stealth kit. Redding's Recommendation gives Sam an even balance between ammunition and non-lethal weaponry. Assault provides more ammunition at the expense of non-lethal weapons while the Stealth kit contains more non-lethal weaponry at the expense of brute force, lethal weaponry, and spare magazines. On missions where an objective is to cause no fatalities, the player is unable to choose the Assault option.In June 2007, tensions are running high between China, North Korea, South Korea andJapan, due to Japan's formation of an Information Self Defense Force (I-SDF). Considering this to be a violation of Article 9 of the post-World War II Constitution, and blaming the I-SDF for information warfare attacks against their countries, Chinese and North Korean forces establish a blockade in the Yellow Sea against Japanese shipping. Because Japan is an ally of the United States, and thus the NSA's Third Echelon, the U.S. Navy dispatches a highly-advanced warship, the USS Clarence E. Walsh (CG-80), to the Yellow Sea with the hopes that China and North Korea will back down at its presence.
Meanwhile, Sam Fisher is dispatched to a lighthouse on the Talara, Peru coastline, to locate Bruce Morgenholt, an American computer programmer who has been captured by a Peruvianseparatist group called "The People's Voice", led by El Salvadorian revolutionary, Hugo Lacerda. Morgenholt was working on deciphering the Phillip Masse's weaponized algorithms, who had been assassinated by Fisher (in Splinter Cell). The resulting Masse Kernels are being touted as the superweapon of the 21st century. Fisher is tasked with making sure they do not fall into the wrong hands. He arrives too late to prevent Morgenholt's death and is unsuccessful in stopping the release of the Masse Kernels. Fisher boards the Maria Narcissaand assassinates Lacerda. Unknown parties use the algorithms to black out Japan and theEastern Seaboard. Japan has previously suffered similar attacks that crashed its economy, and Admiral Otomo of the I-SDF contacts Third Echelon and warns them that North Korea and China are likely responsible. Meanwhile, following a lead discovered in Panama, Fisher travels to New York to investigate Abrahim Zherkhezi, a man who worked with Morgenholt. He finds that Displace International, a private military corporation owned by his old friend Douglas Shetland, is protecting Zherkhezi. He breaks into the Displace offices and learns of Milan Nedić, a Bosnian arms supplier and war criminal. Fisher finds that Nedić secretly relocated Zherkhezi to Hokkaido. Fisher travels to Hokkaido and meets with Shetland, who claims that Nedić is clean; Fisher infiltrates the hideout that Zherkezi is being held in, kills Nedić, and witnesses Shetland murdering Zherkezi. Shetland escapes and goes underground.Chaos Theory features competitive and cooperative multiplayer. The cooperative mode expands play by allowing for two agents to play through a unique 7 mission story mode which parallels the single player campaign. It is playable via system link, or over Xbox Live. The cooperative campaign follows the story of two Splinter Cells in training, merely known asAgent One and Agent Two. Their training is interrupted when a world crisis occurs that requires the Shadownet division of N.S.A. to deploy additional resources, even including agents not fully trained. The missions become a trial by fire for the two new agents. Though players can operate alone, the level design is such that it encourages teamwork. Ubisoft eventually developed two additional levels for download for the PC and Xbox versions. The Nuclear Plant and UN Headquarters missions are meant to end the story for the cooperative component.
In Splinter Cell Chaos Theory VS mode, two additional game play modes have been added to the game. New game modes include disk hunt, which consists of spies grabbing disks placed throughout the level, then returning the disks to their extraction point. The other game mode is death match, which consists of killing players on the opposite team-spies or mercenaries.Chaos Theory – Splinter Cell 3 Soundtrack is the fifth album by Brazilian trip hop artist Amon Tobin. It was released on 25 January 2005 byNinja Tune. Seminal composer Jesper Kyd was also hired to score the game's cinematics.
The album consists of a collection of songs that Tobin wrote for the game. Ubisoft was so pleased with Tobin's work that they decided to release the album several months ahead of the actual game. In-game music sequences are similar but not identical to the official soundtrack, as most of the in-game music is produced by layering different sequences together. This album showcased the beginning Tobin's shift from collecting samples from vinyl records to recording his own samples. For the recording ofChaos Theory – Splinter Cell 3 Soundtrack, Tobin hired a live band whose members ranged from Mexican composer Nacho Mendez to Japanese flutist Eiji Miyake.