DGC Ep 472: Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (part one)
Summary
Brett and Tim dive into Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, exploring its place in the stealth genre by comparing its mechanical depth to Thief and thematic elements to Metal Gear Solid. They delve into the divisive "Tom Clancy" style, discussing its grounded realism, military melodrama, and the implications of nationalistic narratives in game design. The hosts also examine the game's innovative controls, mission structure, and player freedom, setting the stage for deeper dives into its acclaimed stealth mechanics.Episode description
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we start a new series on 2005's Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. We set it in its time, talk about the Clancy of it all, and then get into the play and presentation. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.
Sections played: The first level or two
Issues covered: missing a week, games from 2005 and UbiSoft, stealth games and how we feel about them, what it borrows from its forebears, Tim's history and love of military themes, grounding the series in real places, hard milspec, the spectrum of more or less video-gamey, Brett's history with Clancy, offputting tone and writing, the weird nationalistic lens, the military melodrama, when you can mess up the formula, black and white and the icks, systems thinking in the game vs not the narrative, finding ways to maintain the black and white, the tutorial videos, seeing the mechanics against the real missions, controlling Sam's movement speed, other interface choices, alt-fire modes, shooting everyone in the head, having multiple kill moves, having mission objectives that get canceled, whether there's an alternate version, a number associated with your performance, the weirdness of speaking to your handler directly behind a target, your advisors, informing the choice of loadout, how different games reinforce the loadout, a review, Tim's Twitch drop.
Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Star Wars (series), God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, Resident Evil 4, Psychonauts, Guild Wars, Civ IV, FEAR, The Undying, AC: Wild World, Guitar Hero, Mercenaries, Battlefront II, KotOR II, Lego Star Wars, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Peter Molyneux, Clint Hocking, Far Cry 2, Thief, Metal Gear Solid (series), Looking Glass, Dishonored (series), Hideo Kojima, The Division (series), Rainbow Six (novel), No One Lives Forever, Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin, Sean Connery, Doubleday (book publisher), Day of the Jackal, Tolkien, Project: Hail Mary, Ghost Recon (series), Rainbow Six (series), John Krasinski, Ben Affleck, Jack Reacher (series), Lee Child, Tom Cruise, Mark Greaney, The Gray Man, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rambo (series), Jon Bernthal, Call of Duty (series), Hitman (series), Shadowlord-72, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.
Next time: more TC's SC:CT!
Errata: It was The Cardinal of the Kremlin. We regret the error.
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