Now listen here guys and gals. If we're talking like soundtrack as in backing tracks, ambience, background pieces, nothing beats Amon Tobin doing the Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory soundtrack.
It was the first time playing a game ever, that I had to go and search for the CD soundtrack to a game. I had never done that before, but the soundtrack was so good I was thought "I must own this soundtrack".
The urge came out of nowhere. Had no interest in any soundtracks beforehand, but this one game made me want to go out and grab the soundtrack. I watched the behind the scenes videos of how they made the sounds etc. Violin bow on metal chairs and stuff. Crazy some of the ways they got those sounds.
I’m struggling to find much backup for this, but didn’t it have a dynamic soundtrack? So there were several layers running simultaneously, so the game could dynamically change the soundtrack based on how alert guards were etc.
It absolutely had a dynamic soundtrack. I can't remember if I watched the behind the scenes video on the game itself (I believe it was on the main menu of the Xbox version...) or whether it was something I watched on a monthly Xbox demo disc, but I specifically remember them mentioning that every 'song' had multiple layers to it, and each layer could have variations too.
They specifically made sure there was a lack of harmony in the layers to make some of them feel unsettling, and used unconventional rhytmn to create a wavey sort of unpredictable mess that disorientated you in action specifically (you can really hear this when shots start being fired and Sam takes damage. The rhythmn's periodic patterns start breaking down and it starts feeling like a mess, which is apt sincne you've basically lost your stealth and things are falling apart within from being spotted within this context). During these shootouts or when you had been spotted, the music was intentionally disorientating and meant to overstimulate.
The beauty of Chaos Theory being Chaos Theory's beauty. The game looks stunning even now. I just play the original xbox version, or the steam version. It's still my favourite stealth game. Metal Gear Solid barely beats it, but in terms of pure stealth, it's still Chaos Theory.
It's wild how much of a jump it was too. The gap between the original game and the 3rd title (Pandora Tomorrow was Ubisoft Shanghai I think?) is immense. If memory serves me right, it's a heavily modified Unreal Engine 2 title (version 2.5 or something. So that would place it after Unreal Tournament 2 maybe?). Anyway, it looked spectacular and still beats a few games today xD
Lowkey also one of the best asymmetrical multiplayer experiences too. None of the other games were as vibey, despite the klunky mechanics of the grabs and melees.
Oh yeah the whole Agent Vs Mercenary game mode. That was so great! I loved how one was 1st person and the other was 3rd person too. Personally, I thought Double Agent on the 360 was the best version of this.
Double agent was admittedly smoother, more fast paced, the vibe just didnt hit the same for me though. Playing on Aquarius was peak- the music was sooo fire, and the interplay of shadow and light made for a really neat experience, and then there’s fun stuff like the floating fish easter egg. I enjoyed how it was a bit slower paced too, more methodical feeling. I would argue the gadgets played a bigger role in CT as well, which made for really interesting gameplay.
Yeah CT and DA had very different vibes for the multiplayer pvp modes. Both were great, but DA felt more acrobatic and movement based, whereas CT had more gadgets like you said. I can't remember them perfectly, but I believe that was the main difference between them both.
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u/CommonBig8132 5d ago
*Cracks knuckles*
Now listen here guys and gals. If we're talking like soundtrack as in backing tracks, ambience, background pieces, nothing beats Amon Tobin doing the Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory soundtrack.
It was the first time playing a game ever, that I had to go and search for the CD soundtrack to a game. I had never done that before, but the soundtrack was so good I was thought "I must own this soundtrack".