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You will be all over the map in this game; there are ten levels, two of which are in New York. Sam will visit Peru, New York, Japan, and Korea. In Chaos Theory the levels seem a lot longer than the first two games. It took me about and hour or so to complete the cargo ship level. The levels are just so vast; there are just so many different ways you can progress through each level. It also seems like you do a lot more interrogating in this game as well, to find out helpful information such as, where med kits are, where certain ammo is, or maybe just more information that you need to piece together. The original voice of Lambert is back and that is a big plus for me, I am not saying Dennis Haysbert was bad; I just didn’t think it fit with the way Lambert looked. The original voice of Lambert is just the best, and I don’t think they should get rid of his excellent voice acting anytime soon. The character’s voice acting in this game definitely surpasses the other two games hands down. I did notice in the first and second games, the voice acting wasn’t the best for the news channel scenes, as much to my surprise this has been fixed in this game.

One good change in the game play of Chaos Theory unlike the last two games is that you can actually pick which weapons and gadgets that you want for each mission. Although, you don’t have total control over every single gadget and weapon, you have 3 options. One of the three options allows gadgets for stealth operations, the other two options are for assault tactics and the third is a mixture of both called Redding’s recommendations. William Redding is an intelligence analyst and works close with Fisher and gives recommendations on weapons and gadgets to use for each mission. This is nice, because in the last game you didn’t actually get to choose, this is another standout feature in an action packed game. Another stand out feature is the new moves in this game; the one I personally like is the inverted neck snap. You perform this move when you are hanging from a horizontal pipe or rope and slowly hang your body down when the enemy is near and move your hands on opposite sides of the head and give a fast powerful twist, this snaps the neck and kills the enemy instantly without much sound.

EEV is also a new and very useful feature in Chaos Theory. Along with the EEV is the regular night vision and thermo vision. EEV stands for Electronically Enhanced Vision and you can use this vision to scan computers for useful information without actually being in contact with the machine. You can use EEV for car license plates and computers or anything else you will run across. Something new in this game also is you have an option to save whenever you please. You couldn’t save whenever you wanted to in the first and second game, you had to wait for checkpoints and this made for some frustrating moments. If you want to call it quits a little early you will have the opportunity and this makes for an overall good experience in the saving department. Another thing that you will like is the ‘tazer’ on your sc pistol. The tazer is a device which allows you to shut off lights rather then shooting them out. The tazer has a disadvantage, the disadvantage is the lights do not stay off forever; they turn back on in 30-45 sec or so.

Chaos Theory packs the missions with not just primary objectives but secondary and opportunity objectives as well. The opportunity objectives and secondary are obviously not required to complete a mission, however if you do complete them you will get a better rating at the end of the mission. The opportunity objective(s) is usually finding out some who is behind the Intel Sam is trying to find. The secondary objective(s) is usually little things you can do to help speed up the information that’s coming in to Lambert, hacking phone lines for intel for example. If you do complete the secondary/opportunity objective the rating will probably be fairly high. At the end of every mission you get a rating based on how well you were hidden, how many alarms were sounded etc. If you want 100% in a mission good luck, you can’t make one mistake and you can not be identified as an intruder once.

Sam’s interface has changed as well, but in a way it hasn’t. The interface looks just like the first games, which I liked better then Pandora Tomorrow’s. The first part of the interface shows how much you’re in the darkness/light. The second part of the interface shows you how much sound your making and obviously the rest shows the object/gadget you have out. Your health meter is up in the right hand corner, but overall you’ll find the interface very familiar. You also still have your opsat which allows you to look at your notes and recent goals you have in the mission and whether or not they are complete. Your opsat also has a data section which allows you to look at emails you downloaded from computers and other information. Your opsat also includes a map and an explanation of all your weaponry.

Impressions of game play
Overall the game-play could not have been any better then this. There are just so many changes in Chaos Theory compared to the first two games. Sam’s knife is a great change making it more fun then just grabbing your enemies every time. Also Chaos Theory kicks it up a notch with its all new weather system, although you will practically only see this in the lighthouse mission but what you will see is amazing, your jaw will drop. The shadows have improved to make you more visible to you but still invisible to your enemies. The AI is improved which will have you coming up with different routes to get around them. The secondary/opportunity objectives will have you trying to find out how to reach them and broaden your search to find the latest intel that is valuable to the Third Echelon. Simply there is nothing in the gameplay I would change its perfect.

Graphics
Ubisoft has come out with a new graphic engine that just blows the other two games out of the water…well sort of. The graphics in Chaos theory are beyond anything I have seen in a while. The lighting is superb; you melt into the shadows and become strikingly visible in the light. The graphics have a more glossed like appearance, for instance when something gets wet you will see the sheen on the walls and on Sam’s suit. As Sam moves about you will notice light hitting him displaying the gorgeous texture on Sam’s wet suit. The environments are simply stunning with tremendous water effects, you will notice the walls of the environment will sheen when light hits them reveling what sometimes looks ‘real’ compared to real life. Overall there is just more texture and more realism which makes the graphics look less edgy and smoother. In Pandora Tomorrow you had grass and plants move as you walk over them, Chaos theory the same, when you bump a plant it’s not just going to pass through you like in most games, its going to move and wiggle as if it where in real life. I really found the water to look almost real, I remember there was a whirl pool in the Hokkaido level and the water just really flowed and had sheen to it, which resembled real water. The CG movies are very smooth and almost real looking, just like the first two games. Overall the graphics are the nicest I have ever seen in a game, PERIOD, there is nothing more to say.

Sound
Chaos Theory real utilizes the 5.1 surround sound, it sounds wonderful on my theater setup. Everything is heard in Chaos theory, due to it being a stealth game. You hear real life gun fire sounds that will draw you into the action. I recommend picking up a home theater just for this game; make sure its one that allows for DTS or Dolby 5.1. The sounds are amazing you will hear everything to the insects in Hokkaido to the chatter of ISDF officers. You will notice that the music will speed up when you are in a lot of action or just about ready to grab a guy, or when a turning point in the mission is coming up. Overall the 5.1 just surrounds you and really puts you into Sam Fishers shoes, you really feel like your right there in the mission.

Overall
Overall Ubisoft has fixed everything that was wrong in the first two games and then some. They have added so many changes that turned this franchise around and truly made it the best on the Xbox. The changes have really blended into the game well, Sam’s knife was needed in the first two games and now we finally got it. The new moves are very well done and are not to unrealistic, they work perfectly throughout the game even though you will find yourself not using the new moves as much. The lighting system is improved allowing you to see Sam better but allow the enemy not to see you, minor change but it works great! The background sound has increased allowing Sam to grab his enemy quicker with more precision, you will really notice this when you hear a lot of noise such as grinding in the background. The sound is simply the best I have heard coming out of my home theater system of any game on the Xbox. You will hear everything, you will even hear things you didn’t think were normally there and you wouldn’t hear these sounds without 5.1. The graphics jump out at you, showing you the outstanding textures Ubi has put into every object. I really knew the graphics sky rocketed when I saw the texture in the cargo ship, when the decks had just been released of water. When I entered that section of the boat the graphics just shinned and looked so good I had to stop and look at them for a while, the stucco on the ship just gleamed as I moved the thumb stick, it truly shocked me. Expect Sam to still be sarcastic with the enemies he interrogates, which keeps you laughing throughout the game. In conclusion there is to much good to talk about, do yourself a favor and pick this game up if you haven’t!