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Note that this review will only cover Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. It is the only game I beat on the original Xbox and played on the PS3. Sneaking at it's best, Splinter Cell: Chaos theory is an amazing stealth action game that puts you in the shoes of Sam Fisher, a stealth operative for the NSA who is sent in during desperate measures to receive intel and report back. Set in a masterfully realized environment with great abilities to make you feel like you really are a badass agent who infiltrates facilities for information and doing it under any measures necessary. The basic premise of the story can be somewhat convoluted, but it is well fleshed out through in game cinematics. The setting is mainly in East Asia as North Korea, China, and Japan are at odds over a naval blockade of the yellow sea. Sam is then sent in to investigate, and prevent any nuclear attacks. The graphics still hold up, and they use the original Xbox version as the template (the PS2 version was not very visually impressive) and work upon it in full HD. It still looks better than some games this generation. The sound is amazing, and most stealth games don't take this into consideration, but in Chaos theory they added a sound meter to the bottom of the screen which lets you know if you are making more noise then the environmental noise surrounding you. This also adds a layer of stealth as you can turn on power generators to mask your movement sound and move around quicker. There is also a darkness meter which lets you know whether or not you are concealed in darkness or not. If you are, the enemy won't be able to see you. The two meters (sound/darkness) both intertwine. For example if you are in the shadow but make noise, the enemy will be alerted, and on the flip if you are visible in light yet are still quite enough to keep your sound under the environment, you can creep up behind the enemy for a stealth kill. You can even hit a button to make Sam whistle, this will alert the enemy to investigate where you can then do with him what you will. Moving onto the gameplay, there are some amazing things you can do while undetected. You can stealth kill an enemy with your knife, or you can give him a good punch to the temple and just knock him out without killing them. In addition, you can grab enemies and put them in a choke hold allowing you to do a couple of different interactions. You can pull out a pistol and use the hostage as a shield, you can interrogate the hostage which will reveal useful information such as hacking machine codes/doorways passwords/ or give you use full clues of the environment. This freedom of choice reinforces the feeling of you being a stealth operative badass. Thee environments are very well put together, and allow for many different options for the player to chose how to enter a mission or objective. Walls that are close enough together will allow Sam to run up the two walls and put a foot on each wall waiting stealthily for anyone to walk beneath for a stealth kill. Or you can monkey climb wires, and take out an unsuspecting enemy who walks under you. These environmental implications break up the pace and give you a greater diversity to dispatch foes. My only gripe of this entire experience is the removal of the spy vs. mercs and the co-op. This is very disappointing seeing how splinter cell helped push forward online co-op and multiplayer, they blatantly leave it out. Overall it is a great package that is well worth your money.Read full review
Pros: Enhanced graphics Trophy support Cheap price tag Nostalgia Cons: Inconsistent frame rate/stuttering Omission of online/co-op modes Mandatory 5+ GB install Some trophies might not unlock Compared to their PS2 counterparts, these games have received a big graphical facelift, with higher resolutions, crisper textures, and more spectacular lighting; as a guy who played the first two titles on the Gamecube (which is virtually identical to the PS2 versions), these enhancements are welcomed and appreciated. The trophies also add some replay value. (There are a combined total of about 100 trophies, although most will be earned just by playing the campaigns.) Unlike their PS2 counterparts, however, there is a blatant lack of multiplayer modes. And don't expect to just pop the disc into the console and start playing immediately; I waited almost thirty minutes to install over five GB of data to the HDD, and another ten minutes to download and install the latest patch. One of the first things I noticed when I played the game was frequent audio stuttering. "Tradecraft is something you don't forget. It's like riding a bi-- ike-- ike-- ike-- ike." It doesn't take much for the frame rate to drop, sometimes down to the 20 fps range. While the huge FPS dips are relatively few and far between, it's a shame and an embarrassment to not have Gen. 6 titles play consistently at 30 FPS. Other remastered PS2 collections like Jak and Daxter, God of War, and Metal Gear Solid (all of which I have for the PS3, by the way) are able to play at a solid 60 FPS easily. Why? Because the developers actually took the effort to optimize their product. Finally, there have been many complaints that some trophies are bugged (i.e., they won't unlock even after the criteria have been met). This personally has never happened to me; maybe I'm just lucky, or maybe the patch actually fixed those issues, but every trophy unlocked without any problems. Regardless, it's something that needed to be addressed in this review. Despite its flaws, I still enjoyed these games. It brought back some amazing childhood memories, and many hours of sneaking into and out of enemy territory. And I got it for about fifteen bucks--five dollars a game--not bad if you ask me. While I enjoyed replaying these games, the lack of any online modes means once I Platinum the collection, I probably won't pop it back into the PS3 anytime soon. My suggestions is if you have an Xbox, or a super old computer, skip this collection. At the end of the day, the PS3 edition is just a rushed, unpolished port of the Microsoft versions, minus all the multiplayer modes that made Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory so enjoyable.Read full review
How I miss this series. I played these as a kid on my PS2 and wanted to re-live those glory days (while getting trophies for PSN!). The graphics are surprisingly good considering how old these games are, so the remaster was done fairly well. The mechanics from the first game to second are much better. Beyond that, I have no issues with any game in this series. This is tremendous value considering you're getting 3 games, each fairly lengthy and compelling. Well worth it!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I Had bought the ps2 version of splinter cell and graphics were terrible in quality. So I went and bought the remastered in HD for ps3 and saw a world of difference in the graphics quality. Always a fun game to have around and the trilogy makes it even better for the price. Disk came with no scratches and the case is in very good condition!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
This isn't any different then taking the Xbox games and popping them in your 360. I would say that remastered is a lie. It's just upscaling and some filters. However the games are great, the price is great, and now i can save space on my shelves by selling the three games. Oh there are some extras you get with this one. 3D and trophies. That's about it.
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