Yeah, I won’t be sleeping anymore.  I got my copy of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory a few days early, along with the rest of the Frag Dolls, plus a PC copy of Brothers in Arms, plus Lumines for the PSP.  It should be illegal, really, to get so much goodness all at once.  There’s no way I can squeeze all that in a mere 24 hours a day.  I played Chaos Theory for 8 hours today, not including last night, in what seemed like a few minutes.  I forgot to eat, replenish my snack stockpile, and do all those pesky errands that needed doing.  Oh well.  Who needs those?

I’m just taking a break for a few minutes to write this while I wind down from a particularly intense match with Brookelyn and Rhoulette.  My hands are so shaky from adrenaline I’m not sure I could work a controller properly.  That’s how I noticed all that time gone.

To lay it out, Chaos Theory is worth all the obscene ratings it has received.  If you’re curious, it has an average review score of 96%, as told by Game Rankings.  Yeah, that’s about right.  Maybe it’s a little low, but I’m still glowing too much from playing it to notice if there’s a single flaw in its gossamer fabric.

Multiplayer now supports “squads,” and squad-specific matches.  As per one of my favorite features of Halo 2, it also now supports voice messages with game invites, so it’s much easier to communicate with the people on my friends list.  Hooray for community management.

The multiplayer maps are much bigger. I would say they’re consistently on par with River Mall and its ilk, and all stunning.  I was worried that the map size would make the games boring, but no.  There are also many more passive security measures that spies will have to deal with to get from point A to point B.  Spies have to be much more… spy-like… than in Pandora Tomorrow.

Unless you’re playing Deathmatch.  Yes, they actually included a deathmatch mode, in addition to much greater control over the rules of story mode games.  The host can now allow or disallow certain types of equipment, like the camouflage and backpack, for Pandora Tomorrow-style play, or limit the number of equipment slots to 2.

I have to say, I think the mercenaries got more cool new equipment than spies did.  Sure, spies got camouflage, but you’re still somewhat visible, and it only lasts a few seconds.  You can’t walk, you have to sneak… which makes for a maximum travel distance of no more than a few feet.  Use it wisely.  On the other hand, mercenaries can now equip a backpack that allows them to restock frag grenades and mines as well as standard ammunition.  I’m already terrified of the possibilities.

- Jinx

you can’t await your own arrival