Before I begin, Id like to say that before I had played CT, I had played and beaten both the original and Pandora Tomorrow, and eagerly awaiting the third chapter of Splinter Cell. So when I received the game I energetically ripped open the wrapping and security stickers and dropped the disk into the Xbox and proceeded in awe to play the game.

The first thing I noticed was that the new graphics were amazing. Reflections and shading, textures and lighting, are all used with success to render beautiful environments to create mischief in. The first mission has you starting on a beach in the night. Clouds overhead are backlit by a full moon which occasionally peaks through breaks. Each environment is interesting to simply look around at and observe. That said; the game play has gone through some new changes.

When you start a mission, you receive a full briefing from Lambert and Grimm, and youre new handler Redding at a briefing screen; no action yet, just Intel. I prefer this method opposed to getting all the intelligence before starting to the older games. After your briefing you will go onto a Load Out screen. On this screen you will have (typically) three selections of gear to take along with you. Those are Reddings Recommendation, Stealth, and Assault. Stealth gives you a lot of non-lethal weaponry, but less ammunition, and is for those who prefer to sneak around and avoid conflict. Assault is just that, lots of ammo for the SC20K and pistol, frag grenades, and only a couple non-lethals. This outfit is for those who go in guns shooting, however be warned, unlike the first two games, there is VERY LITTLE ammo lying around. So when you choose assault, you better consider that you might not get an opportunity to restock your ammo, and when youre out, your only choice is to use stealth. Reddings Recommendation is a mix of Stealth and Assault. You get a fair amount of lethal weaponry, and a fair amount of non-lethals to give you a balance.

Now that youve chosen your gear the mission will begin. While I told you that most of the Intel is given before the mission, Lambert and Grimm will still give you addition info on the fly and especially when objectives are changed or added. Unlike the first two games, you now have multiple objectives. There are Primary Objectives, which you must complete ALL of in order to complete the mission and go to extraction; Secondary Objectives which arent needed to move forward in the game, but will create less work later on; and lastly Opportunity Objectives. These will be asked by Lambert, Grimm, or Redding and are things such as placing taps on phone lines and miscellaneous other tasks. Like Secondary Objectives, these are not required. They do not really contribute to the story, and do not make much difference in terms of making things easier or harder later on.

Another new feature of the game is a Rating System at the end of the mission. This is where whether you completed the Secondary and Opportunity Objectives will come into play. Once youve extracted you will come to this screen which will show you how many guards/civilians you knocked out, killed, or injured, how many times you were identified as an intruder and alarms you signaled, as well as how many objectives you completed, and based on that will create a success rating for the mission. In order to achieve 100% you must not kill anyone (except when the death of an individual is an objective), and you must complete all objectives. Additionally it usually doesnt hurt to avoid knocking people out as well. Of course for those who like to go in guns blazing this system will not inhibit your progress as there is no minimum percentage points to move on to the next mission. As an example, I received a 0% on a mission and still continued. It is merely a tool to help you become a better player.

Now if you paid attention to the commercials for the game, or have read anything about it online before now, then you probably know that there are some nice new special moves you can do in game. For example, you probably saw Sam pull a guard off the top of a lighthouse tower by hanging on the edge and reaching up and pulling him over. A very cool move and fun to do, however, that is pretty much the only time you can really do it. Many of the new moves are only accessible in certain missions of the game, and usually at one particular place. This was a very big disappointment for me. But on the other hand there are some new in game moves that are far more useful. For starters, you now have lethal and non-lethal moves for when you have grabbed a character. After you have grabbed/interrogated a character you need to get rid of them. In the first two it was always a non-lethal blow to the head. Now you get to kill them if you wish. By pulling the right trigger you will use your knife to stab them in the spine or slash their throat; by pulling the left trigger you will choke-hold them into unconsciousness. This system also works when youre within range of a character, but have not grabbed them, however if you have not grabbed them it will be considerably more noisy, and could attract the attention of some other characters.

One feature I have wanted for some time is a noise meter, and in Chaos Theory we finally get one. It is right above the light meter and shows you the environmental noise and it shows how much noise you are making. As long as you are quieter than the environment, no one will hear you. Remember that the noise level of the environment will change, and you will have to pay attention to it if you wish to avoid being caught.

The best part of the game, at least in my opinion, is the story. Unlike the first two games however, you are eased into it. It was a little unclear where things were building to for the first couple missions of the game compared to the first two which opened with significant events leaving you knowing what would happen if you failed, so be aware that the story will not come together until after the first couple missions.

New for Chaos Theory is a multiplayer CO-OP system. You can play with a friend on your own Xbox, or across a system link, or on Xbox Live. It is a very interesting multiplayer system and it takes some getting used to and requires some serious teamwork with the other player. It is still a lot of fun and is something to check out if you get the game.

I must say that this game was a lot of fun. It took me about 2 days to finish between my classes, but it was very entertaining and I could not put it away while I was playing it. The story became very interesting and I found myself guessing what was ahead. There were some changes to things but I got used to them quickly. In addition to what is stated above there were a couple small changes like the rearrangement of the controller (again) and just minor things that you may or may not notice. I highly recommend this game and if you enjoyed the first two Splinter Cells I know you will like this new one. Just be patient with it, think things through, and you can get through it.