A long review of Splinter Cell DS and its levels

 Hello everyone. Today I want to talk about the the Nintendo DS version of Splinter Cell Chaos Theory in detail.

This version of the game was originally released for the N Gage before being ported to the Nintendo DS. This version is widely regarded as the worst version of Chaos Theory and the worst Splinter Cell game. I’m here with the hottest take of the century to defend this game and argue it’s actually….. just kinda mid to be honest. More of a 6/10 experience. The sad thing is that this is probably the only and therefore best major stealth title on the DS.

I played this version a lot as a kid and feel that despite its massive list of flaws, at its best, it is an interesting demake of Splinter Cell on the DS that does some ideas differently and is an impressive game for the DS.

Let’s start with the controls. You move Sam with the D-Pad. X lets you jump and climb things. A lets you drop and fire your equipped weapon. B lets you crouch/stand and roll. Y lets you take cover on walls as well as interact with objects (e.g opening doors, grabbing enemies, interrogating enemies, accessing computers etc. basically, how the main SC games work here). Holding L has Sam walk slowly and scan items. Pressing R has Sam aim the currently equipped weapon. Select has Sam use his binoculars to zoom in to scan stuff or enter a scoped view with the SC 20K.

Everything else is done using the touch screen. You have icons to switch your currently equipped weapon and to toggle Night and Thermal Vision. The touch screen also has arrows you can tap to move the camera in that direction. Or just swipe and hold for fine control.

The touch screen is also used for the lock picking minigame. Unlike the main console version, instead of moving the left stick until it reaches the correct position, the DS version has it where you have to use the touch screen to manually push the pins into place. You need to find the correct pattern to push the pins in as pushing one pin up may push another one down. Personally, I find this version to actually be more challenging than the main console version. Especially in later levels when the number of pins increases and you often have some time pressure. In the main console version, I rarely felt lockpicking was challenging enough to where I needed to break the lock or bypass it. But if the DS version had that option, I’d be using it a lot more here. There is no hacking minigame however.

The touch screen also displays a mini-radar that shows how far nearby enemies and cameras are from you. It doesn’t give much more info than that. And if a guard ever gets sus or alerted, the radar no longer displays any info. A bit of an odd choice given that a major aspect of the main SC games was that they were more “realistic” with how you watched out for enemies. They explicitly avoided a Metal Gear style radar system. But given the more “video game-y” design of the DS version, I guess it fits here, gives you some heads up and encourages you to avoid detection even more.

Some of Sam’s acrobatic moves are still present. You can perform a Split Jump by jumping next to a wall and jumping again (similar to how it was in SC1 as opposed to CT). You can actually split jump in a lot more places in this version than in the main game. Even in the Lighthouse Mission, I counted at least 5 places you can do the Split Jump which, if I recall correctly, is more than in the entire main console version combined lol. Though, it is even less useful than in the console versions given that you can’t also draw your weapon and aim while doing a a split jump. There are also no uses for it to climb to a higher point without needing a ladder (technically, there are points where you can do that. But one of those uses lets you backtrack from a rappel point you couldn’t go back to. But there’s no reason to since there’s no reason to back track. Another point lets you climb up to a higher point, but there’s a ladder there anyway).

Sam can also hang from pipes and perform a hanging takedown (it’s only lethal tho. There’s no non lethal version of this move like in the console version). He can aim from corners and SWAT turn like in Pandora Tomorrow (these moves were missing in Chaos Theory tho).

So how are the controls overall? They are…fine. Like, they feel like they are as good as they are going to get given the hardware and get the job done. I like that the game pauses when you are in the interaction menu. But man, are they not ideal. Moving and interacting with basic objects is decent. But since the camera controls are on the touch screen, it can lead to more "stop and go" gameplay which can kill the pace of an already slow mission. I do wish there was some way to quickly reset the camera behind you using just the buttons rather than the touch screen. Maybe "L+R" or something?

Sneaking also operates a bit differently from the console versions. Since the DS lacks an analogue stick, there is no fine control over Sam's movement. You can hold L to have Sam walk slowly at least. This presents an issue as one of the gameplay mechanics of the console version was that you have to watch how fast you move Sam on different surfaces to control how much noise he makes which can alert enemies. The DS version compensates for this by removing the sound system entirely. If Sam is crouched, he is silent no matter which speed he's moving. So you can sneak up behind guards and grab them while crouch running at full speed if you want (I don't recommend it as you can mess the timing but it is possible). Sam only makes sound if he's firing a gun or moving while standing. This does mean that even though you can't whistle in this game to attract enemies, you can achieve the same result by just jumping or taking one step while standing.

Enemy AI is also really basic, hearkening back to SC1's AI. If you draw suspicion, a yellow meter pops up showing how long the enemy will be sus for. The enemy will then walk to where the heard a noise or noticed was sus and stand there completely still until you either deal with them or the meter empties and they go all "Must have been the wind" and go back to normal. Recall that your radar is disabled if an enemy is ever sus or alerted.

If you alert an enemy, they begin firing at you and can see you in the darkness (like SC1 and PT. CT changed that). This will also immediately trigger an alarm. Alarms operate like how they did in SC1 and PT rather than CT. If you get 3 alarms, the mission is over. Every mission now has Alarms (even if their main console counterparts didn't). The Alarm level (usually) goes down if you reach the next checkpoint. Alarms also don't affect the suspicion of later enemies. An Alerted enemy will also try running around to find you if they lose sight of you rather than stay still in one spot. They have a red meter that counts down how long they will be alert for. Once that meter depletes, they enter the yellow sus mode.

Unlike even the console versions of SC1 and PT, the DS version of CT doesn't have any easy way for players to melee enemies to knock them out. There's no elbow strike here. If you want to KO a guard, you either have to sneak up behind them and grab them then either knock them out or slit their throats to kill them (there's no real difference between killing vs KOs aside from it hurting your score in the end). Or you can drop on top of them. Or use a gadget or weapon on them. So yeah, if you ever get spotted, it is quite rough since you don't have any way of immediately fighting back or incapacitating the guard. You can't melee them and it takes too long to pull out a gun and shoot back. Your only option is to try running away and hiding and using a health pack to heal or trying to shoot them with the inaccurate touch screen. As a positive, at least it encourages the player to ghost through levels and avoid risky plays with enemy guards.

The light meter from the main games at least makes the transition over to the DS. It works....fine. The meter is divided into 3 sections. If you're in the shadows, the meter is at the left section and enemies can't see you if they aren't alerted. The middle section indicates if you're in a sorta lit area. If a guard sees you here, they become sus. And if it's in the far right section and a guard sees you, it is an instant alert.

Given the DS' hardware, environments aren't as pitch black as the console versions. But it's still usually clear what areas are dark and which are lit up by the grey shadow effect they have. So it's actually possible to play this game without ever using Night Vision......unless you play this game on a bright sunny day IRL. The sunshine actually makes it impossible to see in the dark so you have to use Night Vision to properly see. But using either night or thermal vision tanks the framerate like crazy. It is literally unplayable as the input lag makes it impossible to properly sneak up or past enemies. Add in that guards and objects blend into the homogeneous green look and it isn't a fun experience. You do need to use Thermal Vision at certain points to see lasers tho.

The level design of this game also hearkens back to SC1 and PT rather than CT. Levels are these long linear affairs with alternate routes and pathways being rare. Expect a lot more trial and error type gameplay here. In addition, there's far less you can interact with when sneaking through a level. You can't shoot out lights to create more darkness like in the console versions. You can't use the jammer to jam electronics since you don't have the jammer. You can't use the knife to cut through certain obstacles. You can only turn off lights if there is a switch that controls the lights in that room so there's more of a sense of rooms having "1 intended way to play through them". You can at least temporarily disable certain cameras and lasers with the Sticky Shocker and Chaff Grenades which is something. Also, the music in levels is repetitive as hell. There's only one track per mission that loops which gets really annoying. I had to play the game muted.

Though, at least the load times for levels are really short and levels aren't segmented into chunks like the console version so that's a plus. It's definitely an odd mix of mechanics and level design. The mechanics suggest that you should want to Ghost through more than ever given Sam's limited defensive options. But the level design rarely accommodates that and seldom provides additional options.

So yeah, if you ever feel like you want to play an SC game that has the general premise of Chaos Theory but with a downgraded version of the gameplay and level design of SC1 and Pandora Tomorrow, then Chaos Theory DS is the game for you.

 

The graphics are pretty good by DS standards. The game looks like a PS1.5 title which is probably the best praise a DS game could receive.

Funnily, in my review of the main console version of CT, one of my criticisms of the game was that there was no real difference between knocking out guards versus killing them aside from your end of mission score. You could easily knock out or kill guards which would permanently get them out of the way with no real trade off. Unconscious guards would only wake up if another guard found their body rather than them naturally waking up on their own. I said that I feel the game would have been better if there were more pros and cons for either ghosting past an enemy (you get to avoid them but need to then stay careful as they would then be patrolling around), knocking out an enemy (this gets them out of the way but perhaps they wake up at some point and become alert) or killing an enemy (you permanently get them out of the way but at the cost of a lower score).

The DS version, in a twisted way, actually sorta has this. Knocking out enemies is far riskier now given you need to come up behind them to grab them which can be messed up since you don't have fine control over Sam's movement or any way to melee guards if you mess up. If there are other enemies around and/or no way to kill the lights, that is a lot of risk you are exposing yourself to. You do have non-lethal equipment but they are limited and have some trade offs. Sticky Shockers will instantly KO an enemy from a distance and no matter where they hit the enemy but you don't have a lot of them and also need to save them for cameras and lasers. Ring Airfoil Rounds will only KO an enemy with a headshot and stun the enemy if hit anywhere else. They are also limited. But you can kill guards by shooting them. You have way more pistol and SC-20k ammo than you have non-lethal ammo. A headshot with a lethal weapon is a guaranteed kill (good luck doing it with the controls tho) and even a couple quick body shots will down an enemy before they can shoot back but this will automatically trigger an alarm. In addition, firing a gun is more likely going to alert multiple enemies around you. Oh, and it hurts your end mission score.

So in a weird way, the DS version actually has much more tangible pros and cons for the 3 different approaches than the main console version. Ghosting (or at least trying to) lets you avoid getting close to enemies and exposing yourself to risk but now requires you to keep sneaking more since enemies are wandering around now instead of being a non-factor. KO-ing enemies either requires you to expose yourself to some risk that isn't easy to recover from if you make a mistake, or use limited resources that have some trade offs that you might be better off saving for later. Killing enemies is relatively easy and straightforward. You have more lethal ammo than non-lethal and just need a headshot for the best results. But the controls and attention it brings have some consequences.

 

- Levels

The final part of this review is me walking through every level of the game and giving my thoughts on it.

 

Mission 0 - Training:

Unlike the main console version of  CT (but similar to SC1), the DS version has a full on optional tutorial mission that walks Sam through an obstacle course sorta like the one from SC1 with some of the trademark banter from Sam and the squad preserved through textboxes. I like this because it's actually really quick and does a nice job in introducing all of the mechanics of the game in a safe way for the player and in what context they'd be useful. I honestly wish the main console version of CT had this since that was a much denser game with a lot of mechanics and systems.

Mission 1 - Lighthouse:

This mission does a nice job in highlighting the differences between the DS version and the main console version's philosophies.

The layout of this level (and subsequent ones) is interesting. They "feel" longer than their console counterparts because they are these stretched out linear affairs with no alternate paths and a lot more quiet platforming sections. Their layouts are also quite unrealistic. In Lighthouse, you have supply crates stacked all over the place in places that aren't accessible unless if you're some secret spy and even then would be inefficient to access. There are doors that are non-functional or blocked by objects requiring Sam to crawl around using the vents. There's no real rhyme or reason to the placement of things. When the player enters the broadcast room, the game shows a cutscene telling Sam this is his objective even though it looks like any other room.

This isn't a criticism. Since the DS version is already going for a more "video game-y" vibe, such a layout makes sense there. The DS probably isn't capable for the kind of level design the console versions had which was "more dense" and "realistic" with more interconnected paths. Like, the console version of Lighthouse "feels shorter" because the important areas are bunched together and "organized" in a way that makes more sense for some Guerrillas that quickly set up shop. Plus, you can bypass some areas entirely depending on the paths you take so you effectively "cover less ground" here.

So back to the DS version, I feel the design of this level (relative to the low bar here) is decent. The first 25% of the level is entirely devoid of enemies as you have to platform through caves and storerooms. Which acclimatizes you to the controls if you skipped the optional tutorial. About 25% of the way in is when you encounter the first guards in isolated rooms. The game gives you a heads up with a cutscene and dialogue and provides a save point. So you can go up against enemies for the first time in a more "safe" way. Which is some nice consideration for the player. The second enemy you encounter is actually leaning against a door. So you have to use the Bash Door move to knock him out. Teaching the player that is a move they can do.

The rest of the mission is pretty straightforward. There are no surprises in gameplay like security cameras or lasers.

One aspect of the game's unrealistic layout does come back to hurt it. About 50% through the level, you come across a door that is locked electronically and have to take a branching path to hack a computer to unlock it that is pretty far away and then backtrack. Because of how the level is laid out, the locked door doesn't appear different or stand out as much. The game doesn't highlight it so it is sorta easy to miss this and take the branching path instead.

In the main console version, the more realistic layout prevented this issue. If you ever had to explore to unlock a door or backtrack, it was more reasonable to find what you were looking for. Like in the Displace mission, you could use the in-game signs and OPSAT map to find out where you had to detour to or where to backtrack to in a mostly intuitive way.

There are some neat optional touches I really like tho. Like, in the main console version, there wasn't that much info to glean about the guards here even with interrogations. In the DS version, you can only interrogate like the 2 guards Lambert tells you to interrogate. But there are computers scattered around you can hack which uncover a chain of emails as one guard discusses his crush on a girl and the others make fun of him for it. Or another where you can read emails from Lacerda to his men. I actually really like this aspect and feel this is the one area where the DS version does something better than the main console version. It rewards exploration with some nice lore or story or comedy like this. The main console version did have plenty of optional interrogations which added some nice comedy and interactions with Sam and the guards. But these tend to be focused more on the current situation. You don’t get as much “chill stuff” that peels back the curtain and shows some of the background of the area before Sam showed up.

The main story is also somewhat remixed here. You have a cutscene early on where there are guards discussing the optional weapon crates you can scan and they reveal that someone named "Dvorak" gave them these 5 crates. In the main console version, Sam doesn't learn this until the 3rd mission when robbing the bank.

Also, in the final stretch of the level, Lacerda is transmitting the info from Morgenholt via a phone from the top of the lighthouse. You have 30 seconds to snipe him or you get a game over. Though, once you snipe him, Sam checks the body and find the algorithm was transmitted successfully anyway (so why give a mission fail for being too slow then?). Sam then extracts from the nearby docks using a boat instead of from the top of the lighthouse like in the main version.

Obviously killing Lacerda here skips the need for the Cargo Ship level which was the second level in the main version. Upon reflection, I feel this was a good move. Cargo Ship was fun in the main version since it was surprisingly open ended in its second half as you could use the stairs on the sides of the ship and the vents in between to seamlessly move between decks and rooms. Since the DS version lacks that flexible and "realistic" level design, it likely wouldn't have done a great job in making a good Cargo Ship level.

Mission 2 - Bank:

 

The second mission of the DS version and the 3rd mission of the Main Console Version has Sam infiltrating a Panamanian Bank to figure out who Lacerda was dealing with. To cover their tracks, Sam is tasked with also stealing some money from the Bank while looking for the info.

The DS version of this level is once again a mostly linear affair. And a bit of a step up from Lighthouse in difficulty since there are now lasers and security cameras. One thing I noticed was that this mission actually tries to be sorta believable with its layout. While Lighthouse DS looked nothing like the real thing, Bank DS actually does sorta resemble how a real Bank would look which still playing mostly well (or as well as this version can). This is also the first mission to have a “no kill rule” as there are civilians in the bank. The main console version didn’t have a no kill rule here. Since you can't shoot out lights in the DS version, any lethal ammo you have on these missions is useless. The game could literally give you 0 pistol and SC-20K ammo on these "no kills" missions and it wouldn't make a difference.

There are some novel scenarios in the DS version that aren't in the main console version. For instance, when you need to flip the Treasurer's authorization switch, you need to disable a door blocked by lasers, hurry in, flip the switch and then get out before the lasers come back online. Then you have a 5 minute timer to get through the next major chunk of the level to get to the President's office to flip his switch. The game even gives you a free chaff grenade lying in the room. The console version didn't have any such additional security or time pressure. I feel the reason for the change is that in the console version, the level is more open and dense so it's easier to stealth through. Since the DS version of the level is more linear, having a time to get through a section of it fits better as an idea there.

In addition, how you rob the bank is much different. In the DS Version, once you open the vault doors, you have another timer to hurry and lock pick 4 of the boxes to get the money in chunks (you can use thermal vision to see the correct boxes from the incorrect ones), then get the info and then leave through a secret tunnel in one of the safety deposit boxes.

I kinda like this take more than the main version honestly. In that version, once you get into the vault, you can swipe the info and the money in one fell swoop with no additional challenge or risk (aside from some lasers you can avoid). Then leave by backtracking to a courtyard. Plus, the lore here is that Sam once explored this bank back in 1989 for a mission and there's some files from that available to 3rd Echelon. So there being a secret tunnel in the safety deposit boxes Sam can use like he did before and has knowledge of plays into that idea (there’s also an email you can find from the president of the bank where he’s curious about this mysterious safety deposit box that was established decades ago by an unknown person who might be dead now but won’t open for the sake of privacy for the client. Really adding to the experience). Whereas in the Main Console version, there really was no benefit to Sam having been there before. It might as well have been an entirely new bank.

Also, one touch I really like is the optional objective. In both versions of the mission, there is an optional objective to plant several fake emails on computers throughout the level to make the robbery seem like an inside job. In the DS version, you can actually read the fake emails you plant.

Though, a big criticism with this mission is that it can be easy to "soft lock" if you miss collecting a specific key or hack a specific computer. The game doesn't highlight or make it clear and it can be difficult to backtrack and see what you were missing.

 

Mission 3- Manhattan Streets:

The DS version splits the main console version’s 4th mission: Penthouse, into 2 separate missions, Manhattan Streets and Penthouse. My guess is that it’s more technical reasons as the DS probably couldn’t load both areas at once? The PS2 version of CT had the Penthouse mission be separated by a loading screen.

Manhattan Streets is also one of 2 missions in the DS version that uses a compressed and trimmed version of the CGI cutscenes from the main console version before you start the mission. It only includes part of the Penthouse cutscene where 3rd Echelon are talking about Zherkezi and the blackout hits. I imagine this is for technical reasons as storing video probably eats up too much storage on the cartridge. In any case, if you only have room for 2 truncated CGI cutscenes for the DS version, this is a good move and usage here as it has Sam interacting with his crew and we see what are the consequences of the algorithm. It is odd that the cutscene is displayed on both screens at the same time tho.

As for the mission itself, it’s decent. You spend way more time and ground navigating through Manhattan’s back alleys, sewers, some streets and buildings than in the main console version and we return to the more "nonsensical" layouts of Lighthouse. The mission also has a no kill rule similar to the corresponding section in the main console version. But unlike the other version, the DS version gives the player 8 minutes to complete the mission as the National Guard is cutting off access to the roads. The main console version doesn’t have any time pressure here.  This adds some nice variety and escalating difficulty to the DS version. 

I feel the time limit is a little on the strict side. I’ve played this mission countless times as a kid so I knew mostly where to go (I did get turned around accidentally in one section, messed around with some enemies and wasted some time getting a bonus) but still managed to complete the level with 20 seconds on the clock. I think it might be a bit annoying for a new player so 9 minutes might have been a better pick.

This is also the only mission I can think of where even the downgraded split jump more than earns its keep. There’s one alley with 2 guards that can be kinda tough to get past. But if they are lined up close to each other, you can jump near where you do the split jump to lure them both to you. Then do a split jump, then drop and KO 2 guards at once. You do lose around 40 points for this since this alerts enemies for a second before they get knocked out. But I don’t care. I love it.

This mission also has a bonus collectible. It’s near the end before you enter the garage vent. If you find it, it unlocks a new skin for Sam he can wear when replaying missions (Sam even comments he “found a new suit for Saturday Night Fever”). As a kid, this was 1 of only 3 suits I found in this game despite all my replays.

The mission is completed by going into the elevator that leads into the target penthouse. I do feel this is a bit of a step back compared to the main console version. In that one, you ascend a neighbouring building and then ride a zip line to the Penthouse. I feel that was cooler because you get to see a bit of the Manhattan rooftops and it added to the spy feel of the mission. Instead of targeting the building directly, you use an adjacent one. The DS version by comparison, is a lot more plain. You already infiltrate other buildings the same way so it feels less novel. It also doesn’t help that DS’ Penthouse is mostly navigating interiors anyway.

Mission 4- Penthouse:

The DS version’s take on this mission has the player enter via an elevator to one floor, then make their way to a ladder to enter the penthouse suite proper. There’s not much backtracking until then. Everything before the Penthouse suite does visually look rather dull. The penthouse suite section offers a bit more visual variety so it does look rather cool and even somewhat realistic. But the game does pad this section. You need to first go to the lower floor bedroom to get a keycard for the upper floor room. Then go to the upper floor room and hack some computers. Then come back down to the same lower floor room so you can interact with Dvorak. Then go to the same upper floor room so you can exit. So yeah, not a good look here.

This mission also has a no kill rule. Which is odd because the main console version didn’t have that there. So this is the 3rd mission in a row with a no kill rule. It doesn’t really make much sense since the enemies here are unknown mercenaries rather than civilians. I think the game says it’s because 3rd Echelon didn’t have the time to obtain proper authorization for this mission on American Soil so Sam can’t kill?

The mission is also interesting because when you first encounter guards, a cutscene plays where Sam and co are confused about who these guards are. Sam is told to scan 2 of these guards’ faces so they can ID them (which is awkward since these guards are fully covered. So you can scan any part of them for 3rd Echelon to get the info).

In the main console version, Sam was sus of these guards since they had the same equipment as Lacerda’s bodyguards back on the Cargo Ship mission. He got an objective to interrogate one of them to learn they were working for Displace. This added to the sort of “conspiracy/mystery” that game was going for and tried to connect the missions. The DS version stumbles a bit here because of how it cut Cargo Ship and compressed some story aspects.

One aspect I did find particularly disappointing of the DS version’s story is that Sam learns what Dvorak really is and gets the objective to get output info from him quite a fair bit before he interacts with Dvorak. Dvorak itself just looks like a regular computer. In the main console version, you come across this random old and eccentric man who tells you he’s Dvorak’s keeper. He leads Sam to these weird interconnected machines and cathode Ray tubes who he says is Dvorak. You then have to do a quick minigame of hitting the correct lights to collect the output. It’s quite memorable and unique for the SC games. I guess it evens out for the DS version after doing Bank’s ending better.

In terms of gameplay, it’s a mostly straightforward affair. One thing I found interesting is that this mission really rewards you for exploring with non lethal ammo. You get absolutely showered with Ring airfoil and sticky shockers to the point you can KO every nearly enemy in the level from range and still have ammo to spare. In prior levels you might find a couple rounds here and there but never this much. It’s also weird when you remember that unlike the main console version, there aren’t even any night vision cameras or lasers or anything that would warrant this many resources. I have personally beaten this mission without using any additional resources and never felt it was absolutely impossible or something without them.

My conspiracy theory is that during playtesting, many players likely found the mission too challenging so the devs responded by showering the player with extra resources to compensate. My only evidence to back this up is that this is the first mission to introduce guards that don’t move from their posts. So there are sections where the only way to progress is to either use a non lethal tool to KO an enemy or distract/lure an enemy away so you can either slip past guards (with your radar unavailable for some time afterwards), or slip behind and grab then KO them (which does take some practice to use well given the controls of this version). Unlike the main console version, there’s no easy way to melee enemies or many alternative paths to objectives and rooms. It’s funny that rather the game improving the level design to allow players more flexibility in navigating through them, it kept the super linear levels and just gave the player more non lethal ammo.

This mission also is unique in that there is a locked door with 6 pins (the hardest so far and for most of the game) that holds a blueprint that gives you part of the code for the panic room. So at least there is more optional rewards.

Finally, the last section of the mission is rather funny. You get a save point before you go to the roof. On the roof there is a cutscene where Sam gets told he needs to fly the Helicopter himself out of there for his own extraction. But he needs to turn on the helipad lights so he can properly see. But he needs to watch out as there are guards coming up to the rooftop. This sounds like an interesting challenge. In order to extract, you need to turn on the lights but this leaves you exposed to the upcoming guards. How do you deal with this? Well, you can literally dash straight to the generator to turn on the lights and then to the helicopter in like 20 seconds max and complete this level. It's a bit anticlimactic given how much the game hyped up this final section lol. At least it's sorta cooler than extraction in the main console version?

Mission 5 - Displace

Hey, the 2 versions have synced up now. Mission 5 is both Displace in the DS and in the main console version.

As a kid, I remember quite disliking the DS version of this mission. Sam himself describes this place as "even a ghost would have a hard time sneaking in". This level is crawling with security cameras and lasers. There aren't as many shadowy places to hide. And the layout of the level can be confusing given how you need to go between floors using the emergency staircase and there isn't much of a map or any help info telling you this. You have to remember where to go from the temporary cutscenes and text boxes.

So yeah, there is a bit of a difficulty spike in this mission. I remember this being the first mission where I started getting mission fails by triggering 3 alarms. It's a step up. Especially given that there is no grace period with security cameras and lasers as they trigger an alarm the exact second they see you unlike the main console version. But here, the level design actually starts picking up as well. For instance, you start on the rooftop of Displace and your objective is to find the emergency staircase and use it to get to the basement. There are some guards, lights and security cameras on the roof. But there are 2 panels that can disable the lights and cameras temporarily. You can try going a bit out of the way to hit these but need to be careful as the guards can then come back and turn then on.

Another instance is in the basement. You need to hack a panel so you can open the path to the vents. But there is a guard and camera guarding the panel you need to hack. You can distract the guard and then deal with him and then use a sticky shocker to temporarily disable the camera and then rush to hack the panel. But this is prone to triggering alarms from the camera seeing you. Or you can go parallel and climb a pipe to cross some lasers so you can enter another room the game doesn't tell you about. This room contains a different panel that you can hack will temporarily kill the lights, lasers and camera in the basement. The guard will come all the way to the room to turn the stuff back on. But this level has some civilian type enemies for guards. These civilians, when sus, won't have their indicator show up on the screen even though they will be acting like sus AI. So it can be easy to draw their attention without realizing it. They also won't immediately trigger alarms in some cases. This happened to me in my most recent playthrough. I forgot to properly hide a body earlier when I killed power in the basement. The guard made his way to the room, stumbled over a body and ran to an alarm panel. I managed to just barely nab him in time. It was then I realized this level is starting to exhibit gameplay, level design and AI sorta on par with SC1 (or more accurately, sorta close to it). Where was all this in the previous levels lol? To add on to this, this is the first level in this game where there are alternate pathways and vents in certain areas that can help you bypass more guarded areas to get you to your objective. So yeah, between the multiple options for certain obstacles, the "layered" level design and structure, and added challenge, this level is the first to feel like it could have been in SC1 (albeit in a rough state).

The level also has some puzzles. One requires you to get the codes to hack into 2 servers. But when you get the codes, you get a list of 20 4 digit codes. I remember as a kid, I didn't understand the puzzle and just brute forced every single combination (and getting quite a few game overs from the 3 alarm limit in the process) from that list until I got it. The solution is to notice the correct codes are missing a "-" in front of them (which I had to lookup as I genuinely did not notice that and wasn't willing to brute force them again. Curse my poor eyesight). Also, there are supposedly 3+ hidden costumes in this level but in all of my years of replaying this level, I only ever found 1.

The level's ending is also unusual. After Sam gets all his info, he's told to get to the ground floor entrance so his team can cause a diversion so he can extract. The game hypes this up with Sam being curious on what this diversion could be. But there's nothing. The mission just ends. Talk about clickbait 😤.

Mission 6- Hokkaido

The only other mission in the game with a 144p CGI opening cutscene from the main version of the game. It's a trimmed version of the Walsh being sunk and Sam interacting with Shetland.

Again, if the game only had room for 2 cutscenes, I feel it chose well. The Walsh getting sunk was a big deal in not just this game but also Ghost Recon 2. And having Sam interact with Shetland does help the story in seeing their relationship. Shetland is arguably the closest thing CT had to a "main villain" that actually interacts with Sam (Otomo is pretty absent tho despite being the final villain) so it's a good choice.

 

I remember really liking Hokkaido in both the main console version and the DS version. It was a nice change of pace from what comes before and after.

 

That's sorta true in the DS version. For the first time since Lighthouse, there is no kill restrictions. And boy howdy, is it really useful in this mission.

There are also no lasers or security cameras. Which again, is a nice change of pace from the intensity of Displace and Penthouse. To compensate the guards are "more alert" in that they they move around a lot more now and have more overlapping patrol routes so are harder sneak up on or headshot with any weapon. And some of them will automatically jump you unless you already know about that. So the ability to kill comes in more handy but isn't entirely safe. 

 

The aesthetic and visuals are also quite cool and a nice change of scenery from the office buildings and urban locales of the past several missions

There are a few aspects of this mission I am more mixed on tho.

The first is the level design and layout. Hokkaido really hearkens back to Lighthouse with the "unrealistic" layouts. Rooms and buildings have no real connection or flow to them and there are lots of "fake" doors that look just like the real doors you have to use. Some real doors require a key to open them that can only be dropped from guards you knock out. But before you have the key, you can't even "interact" with the door so they look just like fake doors. There are "vents" you can access beneath some of the buildings that don't look like vents from past missions so you wouldn't know you can access them until you accidentally walk into them.

Since I have played this mission before, I had some idea of which doors are 100% fake and where some of these "hidden" vents are. But I imagine for a new player, this level would be really confusing. The only consolation is that since this level is mostly linear with no alternate paths or secret rooms, you at least always have some sense of what the correct path is even when you are lost. Still, some more signposting or at least dialogue from Sam might have helped players here.

The more controversial aspect I feel is that this is the first mission with full on scripted gunfights you have to engage with. There are a few times (either in a cutscene or walking into a room) where an enemy will begin shooting at Sam and you have to shoot back. This won't ever trigger an alarm and there is no other way to safely go around or get to the enemy. So it feels like these are some set piece moments. You can use your non-lethal rounds if you want to avoid killing (it is finicky but doable). 

I like the spectacle, they do shake up the formula and these aren't terrible to go through (certainly better than the scripted gunfights in SC1) but I do feel they are a bit incongruous with the feel of SC and rather they be optional or entirely avoidable in some way.

The storytelling of this mission is also quite different. In the main version, it's optional to interact with Nedich and once you encounter him, you can kill him right there. He doesn't really know Sam. The DS version makes it a cutscene where while Sam is holding him at gunpoint, he asks to turn around and see Sam, recognizes Sam, talks to Sam for a bit, manages to escape by needing Sam to get in a gunfight with another guard and has a "boss fight" where he automatically starts shooting at Sam and you need to use a ranged weapon to take him out.

It does add some more "cinematic flair" to the story at least. Like, if the mission isn't going to be as open ended and stealth focused as its main console version, then this does make it unique. Closer to Metal Gear Solid than Splinter Cell. But still, I'd rather the design of Displace and console SC. I'd rather the DS version try and emulate that more.

The mission also has a full on cutscene with Shetland interacting with Zherkezi and escaping via a boat. Sam can also extract via boat afterwards.

 

One sidenote is also the optional objective for this mission. In both the DS and main console version, there is an optional objective to find several hidden microphones for Admiral Otomo. The main console version signposts this a lot better by having both Grimm and the guards in the level talk about them. Some areas even have the guards searching for them. The game also tends to place the microphones in pretty logical places like near telephones. Not so in the DS version. There's not much signposting for them and they seem to be placed in very random locations. I couldn't discern any pattern for them. Using Thermal vision everywhere with its 15 FPS to try and find them isn't very fun. At least they are somewhat visible even using normal vision.

Mission 7- Battery:

Aesthetically, this was my least favourite mission the main console version. I found the location and area rather bland visually. The DS version is at least faithful to that aspect at least so.....points for accuracy?

This mission reminds me of Displace DS in that it is a longer and more elaborate level with a lot more emphasis on security traps like lasers and cameras. But also more complex layouts and progression. This mission also has a fair bit of backtracking at various points as you either unlock certain doors or obtain keypad codes requiring you to keep a bit of a mental map of branching paths and doors you pass by.

The level also tries to be this weird mix of "sorta realistic like the Bank Mission" and "completely unrealistic and stretched out like Lighthouse". Some parts of the level don't make much logical sense and seem only to be made for the player's sake. Other parts feel like they were made to be believable like how certain corridors lead to sorta practical office rooms or bathrooms with dead ends. The level sorta alternates between these 2 "styles" moreso than past missions which either stuck with one or infrequently alternated.

 

Like I said before, there is merit to both styles of play. The "more realistic" approach lends itself better to non-linear design as the player can more naturally intuit where they have to go and what's in the way, as well as more use shortcuts more naturally as they have a better sense of what they're bypassing.  This is what the main console version used. If you were tasked with getting to the next floor, you would look for stairs or an elevator and the layout of the level was more intuitive to navigate. It also made backtracking less annoying and more feasible as the player wouldn't have to cover too much distance and have more help in not getting lost. The "less realistic" approach that the DS version usually uses works best in more linear and straightforward designs where the player is usually just moving forward. The player doesn't need to worry if these blocky and sorta interchangeable looking rooms look like other blocky and interchangeable rooms as they just need to worry about getting past whatever obstacles the rooms have.

Because Battery DS keeps switching between these styles, I find it makes navigation more confusing and less straightforward. For example, once you manage to hack the comms room, you're told to get to the war room for your next objective. You can even find the keypad code for the war room in the comms room. But nothing so far in the level highlighted exactly where the war room was. You just need to remember that one door you passed earlier a while back with 2 security cameras and a locked door with a keypad is where you need to go to next. So instead of more naturally going back to that point, I often found I was "guessing" where I had to go with some amount of uncertainty as opposed to just navigating the level like usual. This mission is also weird because it doesn't give the player many hints or use text to flag points of interest.

Like, in the main console version, if the player comes across a keypad they have the code for, the code pops up on their HUD when they get close to it. Letting the player know this is the right path. You also sometimes have Sam or the crew comment if Sam is close or just missed their objective. The music also changes when you are close to an objective. And finally, you have a map that tells you where to go.

The DS version has none of this. This level has very little chatter from Sam or the crew. The music remains the same throughout. There is no map or waypoints (except for extraction). The "keypad code" popup doesn't appear. In fact, in this mission, there your "notes" tab doesn't get updated with codes. I'm not sure if this is a glitch or an intended aspect. So you have to scour through all the emails you collected looking for codes and hope the code is the correct one because there is no indication if this is the war room or the server room or the break room. Doors also don't stay unlocked so you will have to keep inputting the code whenever you wish to enter or exit them.

One odd application of this is when you need to hack into the server room after climbing up the elevator. The room is guarded on the outside by 2 guards and 2 lasers and has 3 doors. 2 of which are locked by keypad codes and one of which can be lock picked but it's between 2 lasers. You can use your sticky shockers to disable the lasers and quickly lock pick the door.... Or you can grab a guard and interrogate him for the code to one of the doors. This is probably the only time in the game so far when you can interrogate a guard for a code without the game telling you that you can. In the main console version, you can casually interrogate nearly half the guards you come across. Even if some of them don't have any useful info, the banter is usually funny enough that the player would be conditioned to try interrogating everyone they come across. But since the DS version doesn't do this, I suspect most players would probably miss this interaction. And it has gameplay consequences since the game gives you zero indication where exactly you are and what room this is. Does this door actually lead to the server room? Or is this just another section of the level? You won't know unless you have played the level before. And since your notes tab appears to be disabled, you need to actually remember this code for the time being. If you just KO the guard or access the keypad without knowing about the info, you may accidentally input the wrong codes without realizing you don't have the correct codes, triggering alarms in the process. Oh. And once you do hack the room, 2 more guards spawn as you backtrack. So if you didn't hide any bodies, you get alarms. This is the first time the game has done this.

I appreciate the game hearkening to the options and situations presented in the main console versions, but without the proper set up and conditioning and support, I worry they may be more frustrating there than helpful.

This level also absolutely showers you with resources. I found close to around 30 Sticky Shockers and multiple lethal ammo refills. And I can see the value here given how many security lasers and cameras there are. You don't get many chaff grenades so you may feel you want to save them and use Sticky Shockers as much as possible instead. In past levels, this wasn't too much of an issue as you could shoot Sticky Shockers to disable a laser or camera and then move past them to safety and then repeat. But this level has sections where sometimes, multiple traps overlap. Like you have a security camera overlooking lasers. So if you wish to get through the area using just Sticky Shockers, you have to use the imprecise aiming controls to quickly shoot one of the traps, and then the other(s) and quickly move through and hope you have enough time before they come back online. And then repeat if you have to backtrack through them. These sections are annoying as a result. Since I had replayed this level before, I knew when to spend time disabling certain traps and when to just eat the alarm(s) since I knew there was a checkpoint ahead and alarms would reset to 0 at certain checkpoints (I still occasionally failed and got some game overs because I incorrectly remembered where some of them were though).

This is another example of where the realistic layouts hurt the game. The aforementioned area with overlapping traps leads to the missile launcher. In the main console version of the game, you need to visit both launchers that are laid out in a symmetrical way. But the DS version only has one you need to visit. There is no second one even though the layout is still set up in that realistic symmetrical way, complete with traps. I remember as a kid really disliking this section because I wasted all my chaff grenades to get to what I assumed would be the second launcher because that's how it was in the main console version. Only to see that the door to the second launcher was a fake one and I had to go somewhere else. If the player doesn't need to go to the second launcher, why even have the room be symmetrical and have a hallway lead to where the second launcher would be complete with traps that eat your resources and are annoying to get past? Why not just have the one hallway?

The mission also remixes the story of this mission. The conversation with the general that Sam overhears that exonerates North Korea happens relatively early on. Sam even suggests that "this seems too good to be true" and "this feels staged". I was wondering if the DS version was tweaking the story a bit here but no. That dialogue doesn't lead anywhere.

In the main console version of this mission, Sam gets a timer when you approaches the first launcher. You need to then get to the second launcher quickly to disable the missile. In the DS version, the missile launches and Sam is told to "drop everything (including the transfer of data from the Server room) and get to the control room to deactivate the missile". But there is no timer here. You can take as long as you want to get to the control room. Once you do complete that and upload the data, on the way to extraction, the base suffers a blackout and you have 6 minutes to backtrack the ENTIRE level to get back to where you started the level to complete the mission.

This mission felt really long to play and really dragged. The main console version of this mission ended once Sam stopped the missiles as the extraction point was right next to the launcher. The DS version ended the Bank mission by having the player extract from a secret tunnel next to the vault.

The past missions took around 20-30 minutes to complete (+ an extra 10-15 minutes for any retries and reloads). This mission took me around 40 minutes + an extra 20 minutes for retries. It did not need to be this long.

I think this mission really highlights the limitations of the DS version. This mission could be tweaked and work fine in a main console SC since those have additional mechanics and systems to aid in navigation and dealing with security. Here on the DS, these become more annoying and frustrating. Just proper signposting alone would easily improve this mission.

Still, to this mission's credit, at least the emails you find on computers are funny with there being scams for "Hot singles in your area" and stuff. Also, Holy S$%T, the rats in this level are massive!

Also, during my most recent playthrough, I ended up bugging the level. During the aforementioned interrogation section, I had failed it and was replaying it. I accidentally mashed Y when grabbing the guard and both triggered the interrogation and killed him by slitting his throat at the same time. I got the code before his dialogue ended abruptly since he was dead. But this put my game in a weird state where I could no longer KO guards. If I grabbed them from behind and mashed B, I would not KO them. I could only kill them Y. Reloading a save didn't fix it and I didn't want to restart the entire mission. So I continued on and had to kill every guard I can across and would grab. I'm glad this mission didn't have a "No Kill" restriction lol.

Mission 8 - Macci Yakki Hotel.

I have a confession to make..... I've been Mandela Effected here. I completely forgot this mission even existed in this game. It's been completely wiped from my memory. When I first started this playthrough for this review, I assumed that only Cargo Ship and Hotel/Bathhouse were the only missions cut from this game. So I was confused in the Hokkaido mission when Shetland was able to flee since I assumed Sam killed him there since there was no Hotel/Bathhouse mission. But no. I was wrong. Instead, Seoul was the mission that was cut.

Though, this does make sense. Seoul would have been a difficult mission to translate to the DS. There are supposed to be soldiers, vehicles and drones scattered around engaging in firefights. Every enemy unit is supposed to be alert and not chilling or patrolling a regular area. Even the environment is meant to be dangerous and inconsistent with fire and crumbling buildings. I imagine the DS would have had a hard time with all this so I'm not upset it was cut here.

Anyway, back to Bathhouse/Hotel. This mission is a bit of a remix compared to its main console counterpart. In that version, this mission was called "Bathhouse" and you navigated through this hotel/bathhouse hybrid run by a local gang known as the Red Nissian (which, I recall, was Japanese for "Red Herring". Foreshadowing to the player that the real antagonist was someone else). The main "gimmick" for this mission was that in the various bath rooms, there would be steam that would render Night Vision pointless, requiring the use of Thermal Vision. This part was fun. The second part of the mission with guards using Night Vision against you and that were really annoying to sneak past or deal with dragged this mission down as arguably the worst mission in the main console version of CT.

In the DS version, it's entirely a hotel (probably because the game wouldn't be fun to play with the sub 15 FPS with Thermal Vision) run by the Yakuza. It's also designed more like the Bank mission as having these much more believable and realistic layouts with much more readable art design. Like, there's a hallway where you can enter the rooms of the tenants (mostly to hack some computers and find some ammo) and these look really good and look like real hotel rooms and corridors. There are laser mines you need to explode to get past which does kinda feel a bit unrealistic lol. The bathrooms look like real bathrooms and you can use the optic cable to look in them even if you can't open the doors.

The hotel lobby looks like a real lobby. Even the bar and comedy room looks a lot like a real bar and comedy room. Like, hot damn, it really feels like this level's visual and art direction was made to make this level feel unique and novel. Where was this in Battery DS lol? Or the rest of the game? The visuals here are strong enough to help offset how prior missions could often feel tough to visually navigate.

There are some places where the visual design can't help overcome the hardware. There's a section early on where once Sam enters the comedy room/bar, a guard walks out of the bathrooms. And Sam notes how odd it is that he's walking out of the women's bathroom even though the men's room is right beside it. This is the game tipping you off that there is a secret room in the Women's bathroom. But there is nothing that visually tells you which bathroom is for whom. The Men's room looks very similar to the women's one. There is no icon or signage. But the game still had the cutscene telling you at least. I wish Battery DS had that since that would have really helped there as that level really needed some better signposting.

The rest of the level has you navigating between the backrooms and hallways of the hotel. There is a nice contrast between the grey of the maintenance rooms and the red of the hotels. Like I said, some strong visual design here.

The "Shetland is the villain reveal" is done by having Sam watching him from a balcony in a large lobby instead of a vent into a small room. You then have to chase Shetland as he tries to escape through a parking garage. Though, I did mess up a bit because this lobby connects back to some earlier areas in addition to the parking garage you have to go down to. That was rather embarrassing.

This is where the DS version differs drastically from the Main Console Version. In the Main Console Version, after you learn of Shetland's treachery, Displace Mercenaries and I-SDF forces start shooting each other. You have to sneak through and around firefights to try and catch up with Shetland. On top of that, I-SDF soldiers have Night Vision and block critical paths making it quite difficult to get past them. And after that, there's a section where Shetland and co rig the generator room with bombs so you have to disarm them while the place is swarmed with I-SDF guards and Shetland tries to monologue his viewpoint to you.

Personally, I found this to be the worst and least fun section of the entire game. The first half of Bathhouse was great, but this second half was really frustrating. Whenever I replay CT, this is when I forgo my usual stealth playstyle and just start blasting or throwing frag grenades. I normally take the Stealth Loadout for missions. This is the only mission where I feel it's better to take Redding's Recommendation.

The DS version handles this section differently. For one, there are no firefights between Displace and I-SDF forces. Instead, there are only 3 suited guards (not sure which side they are exactly on) placed at key points. You can't sneak past them so you have to shoot them. Which you can do easily as they don't have any Night Vision. There is one guard placed behind a corner you can't shoot safely but I found you can take him out safely with a Frag Grenade. There is no bomb disarming section.

In the next room before the parking garage, you'll find Shetland standing in front of the door. If you enter the room, Shetland will then "activate" and begin running. If you don't shoot him before or during this section, you actually get a game over where Shetland escapes. He even taunts Sam that he will now be out of work. This caught me off guard because there wasn't a section like this either earlier in this game or in the main console version. I was expecting it to be like the main console version where you follow Shetland into the final room where he then monologues and then Sam kills him or something. Suffice it to say, I got quite a few game overs here. Shooting Shetland here triggers a brief dialogue where Shetland is all "we could have been successful together" to which Sam replies "you were always in it for the money while I was doing it for duty". Lambert then tells Sam "not to waste his breath on this traitor" and to get out of there. Going through the parking garage in the next room completes the mission.

Ignoring the gameplay and judging these 2 missions entirely on their story, like if you were making a Splinter Cell Chaos Theory Movie or novel which version of this mission would work better. I'd say the main console version does this better. It's more climactic and intense to see Sam sneaking around firefights and disarming bombs all while Shetland monologues around him. While the DS version is really spartan here. To the point where some of the story is lost in the process. The DS version glosses over much of Shetland's motives and the I-SDF's involvement. This hurts the conflict between Sam and Shetland as friends, as well as the wider conspiracy. Granted, this aspect wasn't great in the main version either. The story didn't spend that much time focusing on Shetland or Otomo so the twist of their involvement and that they are the antagonists didn't hit as strong as it could have but still.

Though, from a gameplay perspective, you could argue this is the one time the DS version is the better experience purely because it is less frustrating overall lol.

Sidenote: but I noticed that there is no mention of the Red Nissian or Francis Coen in the DS version. Instead it's just referred to as "The Yakuza" here. 

Mission 9 - Kokubo Sosho

The final mission of the game. And one that pulls out all the stops. After the last few missions were light on cameras, lasers, traps and no killing, this one goes all out. Expect rooms with very little shadows and cameras ready to spot you if you so much as put a toe out into the light.

If anything, this might be one of the more frustrating missions as all the flaws of the game really show up to test you. The trial and error gameplay, long gaps between save points and easy to trigger alarms weren't very fun to play with. The game gives you 3 save slots per mission and I often used all of them to go back to earlier saves because walking around with 2/3 alarms was often more trouble than it was worth. And for some reason, the alarm stage often persisted between multiple checkpoints/save points when normally, the game resets them back to 0. Often requiring me to replay this mission over and over again to past sections with as few alarms as possible.

If I have to be positive, at least it feels on brand for the final mission to crank stuff up and take away some of the crutches you might have been relying on. It really does feel quite tense at least. Even the framerate couldn't keep up in this mission. If you turn on Night or Thermal vision in some of the larger rooms, the lag is so intense that it can take about an entire second for your inputs to register.

 

Alright, I'll be honest here. I do feel I've been pretty positive on this game. Probably more than it deserves. But holy hell, this is the only mission in the game I absolutely despise. I would rather replay the entire game from scratch than play this mission. This one playthrough took me around 2 hours of attempts to clear. Part of this was that even as a kid, I never completed this mission. I was familiar enough with every other mission in this game that even though I haven't played this game in over 10 years, I could feel my way through them. This one was the mission where I was pretty much 100% blind. And yeah, it's rough.

 

The mission goes hard on the more realistic looking layouts. Rooms are often expansive. Often looking like they connect to different areas. Some of them do but most are optional and/or are dead ends. This leads to a lot more trial and error looking for what the correct path is. It's incredibly frustrating having to essentially experiment or spend a lot of time going through what appears to be the main route only to discover it isn't and having wasted a good chunk of time, resources and alarms getting there. And the lack of checkpoints/save points in the first half of the mission only exacerbate the issue. I often had to replay 10-15 minutes worth of gameplay as a result.

As an example, after the first save point, you need to go to a nearby room but first you need to spend a sticky shocker round to temporarily stun a camera that 100% blocks your path and never moves. Once you do that, you move into a hallway. To your left are 2 lasers you can't cross or disable at that point. There's also a single guard that patrols and stands still for a long time so he can be easily eliminated. Up ahead there is a door that leads to a lobby like area with a single guard, a camera slowly rotating around and an easy to miss laser. You need to avoid or KO the guard without getting spotted by the camera, then get past the camera to grab an easy to miss keycard. Then repeat the strat to get past the camera again, open a door next to the camera that leads to a server room. Hack a laptop there to disable those lasers I mentioned earlier. However those lasers won't be disabled forever so you need to run back without getting spotted by the camera.

The lasers lead to a vent. Once you get through that vent, you end in an area similar to the lobby from the main version of CT with that weird statue thing you can climb to reach higher floors and the vents near the ceiling. There is a guard on this floor you need to take out otherwise he will see you. And ideally, take out another guard on the floor above with a Ring Airfoil round because the statue you have to climb is entirely lit up and you're very easy to see as you're climbing it. Once you get to the top, you need to jump onto a ventilation path. There is a vent hole you can follow but that's leads to an entire optional area that's not worth it. Instead, you must jump to the neighbouring vent or drop down to the closest floor and follow it until you see a big block, climb it and then jump to the next ventilation hole you can barely see. This leads to a save point.

This entire section takes around 10-15 minutes to play through. And if you trigger a single alarm (which is very easy to do if you get spotted by anything), it's often worth reloading a save because you need as many buffers as you can for later section. I feel bad for a new player and how much they'd have to replay to get a decent run.

It was worse for me because I actually went to that optional area in the vent first. It's rough because there are so many easy to miss traps and lasers in the vents, cameras which don't move and some whom are immune to your sticky shockers so you have to use your limited chaff grenades to not trigger an alarm, and guards that never stop and give you an easy chance to nab them. It then leads to a corridor with 3 lasers that move back and forth depending on your movement so you need to time your movement so you're inside any offices or precisely navigate around them as they move. Both which are harder than normal due to the framerate being worse than normal. There are some computers in the offices you can hack guarded by bulletproof cameras that don't even reward you with anything. Not even an optional objective. There's a guard you can hack for a code but you don't even use that code anywhere in the level. And once you're done there, you have to backtrack all the way through that hall of lasers and cameras, throw another chaff to disable the camera and vent lasers and climb back to return to that statue lobby room.

But the strangest thing is....this level feels more ambitious than the game its in. Because the actual layout, architecture and design of the environments is really convincing, expansive and realistic. Like, as I was playing this level, I started to think this might be a Metroidvania esque level, or even a prototype level for the main version of CT. Like, I could "map" the different floors and how they'd interconnect to each other in my head. That server room I mentioned earlier that let me disable the lasers had another fake door with an enemy on the side. So I expected that I would have eventually backtrack through that fake door to access another objective or as a Dark Souls-esque shortcut. But no. Nothing of that sort happens. The areas barely interconnect with each other despite looking like they'd do. It's weird.

To use an analogy, it's like if you took the Kokubo Sosho level from the main version of CT, and then locked several doors and alternate routes so there was only one linear path (and some dead ends for some reason).

My conspiracy theory is that Kokubo Sosho DS was originally planned to be that more expansive and interconnected level the layouts seem to suggest. But the devs ran out of time and resources and just had to make do with what they had. That would explain the weird layout, punishing difficulty and the entire second half of the level.

Speaking of which, the second half. After you find the US prisoners and double back to the weird statue lobby room, dropping down to the first floor lets you access a route to the War Room where Sam needs to record the meeting. In this part of the level, the game starts giving you more frequent and reliable checkpoints/save points like in the prior levels. It also goes back to the unrealistic layouts from prior levels. Even the colours of levels as this bright green or red cubic rooms looks rather surreal. There are some BS moving lasers and tough enemy placements though.

The story diverges a bit from the main console version of CT. It starts out similarly enough. Sam suggests looking for a vent that he can use to record the meeting. But then, Lambert tells him the meeting can't be recorded by him and suggests he find an "auxiliary backup recording station". Sam hacks that, learns Otomo is the villain. Then follows Otomo to deeper down into the facility. Sneaks through some pretty easy rooms and hacks some computers and catches up to Otomo. Even has an actually kinda cool in-engine cutscene where Sam smacks him into a desk. Otomo attempts to stab himself. Sam doesn't immediately stabilize him but is told to blow up the nearby generators to stop the missile launch and then drag Otomo out.

This section after Otomo stabs himself is weird. It's in this massive room where one side has a fake door, a camera and 2 lasers. The other side has a real door that leads to a hallway. This hallway contains a generator room where you need to plant 2 charges and there's a camera there. This room is also filled with like 7 sticky shockers. Finally, that hallway has one final door at the end.

Lambert also tells Sam that there is a microchip in Otomo's body that he needs to open certain doors so he has to drag Otomo around with him. And also that Sam has permission to kill now.  I was simultaneously pretty exhausted after playing such a long level but also kinda excited of how I could kill enemies and have to solve the puzzle of dragging Otomo around now. The game even forces you to autosave at this point.

 

I was rather confused when I saw in the objectives menu that the "don't kill anyone" objective was still active. And also that after I planted the 2 charges, I had a 30 second timer to grab Otomo and get to extraction that was 52 meters away. I failed but thankfully the autosave was pretty close. I reloaded it, did everything correct and then......the mission ended. The game even has the final cutscene from the Main console version.

It was really bizarre. From the layout of this section, Lambert's dialogue, the amount of resources you get, and the condition of Otomo, I was under the impression that there would be another 10-15 minutes of gameplay in dragging Otomo across a couple rooms to unlock doors, avoiding cameras, lasers and guards to plant charges before returning back to the central room for that final extraction sequence.

But no. It just ends early. To be fair, I guess I can't complain given I had already spent over 2 hours on this single mission was really glad it ended early. But this still fuels my conspiracy theory that this mission was originally meant to be much longer and more expansive than it ended up being. If the DS version was better designed and had better checkpoints and more gadgets and ways to get past traps, I could see this idea as being a really fun and intense way to end the game. Instead, it might be for the better. Especially since I won't ever be replaying this mission ever again.

-Conclusion:

So what have we learned from this game so far? I will say that despite its issues, the mechanics and individual systems are decent in isolation and on paper. And despite its low poly and blocky look that often makes it hard to distinguish between objects and areas, the game is sometimes able to overcome that. Macci Yakki Hotel, Bank, Manhattan Streets and Penthouse in particular highlight when the game's visual design is at its best.

However, when taken as a whole, the cracks start to show. The game's strong visual design in a few areas is offset by the rest of the environments in the level looking so blocky. Which become frustrating in levels like Displace and Kokubo Sosho that ask you backtrack or explore more expansive areas with optional paths or dead ends. Levels also often have only 1 way to progress. It's rare to have additional vents or find alternate paths to bypass challenges. This both hurts replayability and a regular playthrough since it can be frustrating to trial and error your way through. Even the low framerate and lag make more precise moves like weaving between guard patrols or lasers more frustrating than they need to be. The game also having save points be few and far between (an issue also present in the console version of SC1 and PT) adds to this.

But despite all that, I think it would have been possible for a sequel to improve some of these aspects. Assuming graphics and the size of individual levels in CT DS cannot be improved, I'd feel the game would benefit from more segmented levels like the PS2 version of CT. Said PS2 version often broke levels into separate segments separated by loading screens and rarely had you backtrack through them. I feel something like this could have improved performance for the DS. The DS version of CT only really does this once. Separating the Penthouse Mission into Manhattan Streets and Penthouse. But I wouldn't be opposed to a version that takes this even further. Like, maybe you have "Lighthouse 1 (from when Sam enters until like halfway through the level" and "Lighthouse 2 (the remaining half of the level)".  A benefit of this is that would allow for some levels to perhaps be more open ended without worrying about how the rest of the mission interacts with it. For example, lets say Kokubo Sosho was split up into 3 missions. Part 1 would be infiltrating it, taking around 10-15 minutes to deal with all the lasers and traps. Part 2 would be locating the hostages in a 20 minute open ended environment, and part 3 would be 20 minutes for getting to the War Room and Otomo in a linear shot.

In terms of mechanics and systems, while I would like a sound meter, the lack of analogue movement on the DS discourages that. Instead, I think the game would benefit from the following feasible additions: 

-an in-game map. This would help compensate for the blocky visuals and larger levels to find your objectives. Like the PS2 version of CT, even though that version is more linear than the Xbox version, the map still helps locating objectives in the more maze-like levels. 

-Manual Saving. The game desperately needs the ability for the player to manually save as going 10-15 minutes without a save point, especially in larger levels where alarm levels don't go down and you can be stuck with 2/3 alarms, is rough.

-More alternate pathways and options within levels. The game rarely offers even basics like vents to bypass areas, panels to hack to disable lights. And when they are present, they are often the only way to safely progress. I'd love if the game had some sort of loadout system where you could forgo certain pieces of equipment in exchange for others. For example, having less pistol and SC-20k ammo and frag grenades in exchange for more chaff grenades, or being able to bring a disposable tool to automatically hack or open locked doors that would require you to explore the level to find a keycard or something. The game would also benefit from more distraction tools given how annoying enemies can be.

-I don't mind the fact that Night and Thermal vision are super situational or that they tank the framerate when they're used. I wouldn't even mind if the game removes them for the sake of performance. But I'd love if there was some way to compensate for that. Maybe just a temporary enhanced vision mode like in the MGS games that can highlight lasers, cameras and items of interest.

With all that said, do I recommend the DS version of Chaos Theory? Sadly no. Despite my nostalgia and (mostly) fun time replaying the game and seeing the few things it does better than the main console version, there's very little little reason to play it. There's nothing it does that isn't better done in any other SC game. I know that's harsh. And it is often expected that a handheld with limited hardware wouldn't be able to compete with the console version of the game. But still, even the GBA version of Pandora Tomorrow, a 2D Side Scroller/Platformer/Stealth hybrid game, I feel, is more novel and fun to play and replay. I would recommend everyone reading this to go check that one out if you can.

The DS version of CT is really ambitious and cool, but perhaps the hardware really just wasn't capable of making a direct translation of Splinter Cell. Maybe it would have been better for it to do with the GBA version of Pandora Tomorrow did or what Metal Gear Ghost Babel did on GBC and opt for a scaled down 2D demake of the source game rather than attempt to be a more ambitious 3D version. Like, I can picture a sorta weird version of Metal Gear Solid 1's gameplay in the skin of Splinter Cell Chaos Theory on the DS and having it play a lot better than the version we got.

But at the same time, Chaos Theory DS is the only 3D stealth game on the DS. There are no Metal Gear, Hitman or Tenchu games on DS. The Assassin's Creed games on DS are either 2.5D (Altair's Chronicles) or 2D (Discovery). And on top of that, the DS version even has the Spies vs Mercs Multiplayer mode. So it is one of the most technically impressive DS games to ever exist.

The sad thing is, I would probably have been excited if there were more SC games on the DS despite the issues. I'd be down for a DS version of Double Agent that perhaps scales back on some of the detail, gives Sam a few more distraction and combat tools and just gives some straightforward levels. I would have played the hell out of that. Maybe even a DS version of Conviction. I know that had an iOS version that I really enjoyed.

The DS version of Chaos Theory is simultaneously, one of the most impressive games I have ever played on the DS and something I had a good bit of fun with and wished spawned more sequels, and one of the worst games that I wish was something different to what it ended up being.

Thank you all for reading. This is probably going to be my last post of 2023. See you all in 2025 when I finally review the Ninja Turtles Games on GBA or something.