I've played the online cooperative mode of Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory with ZBo, Magus, and Riddel. Each one providing a different experience. Each one giving the game their own feel. That's one of many great things this mode offers. The game plays just like the offline game except you're partnered with another living spy against the CPU's AI. They've added in some two-player enabled moves. You can use the other player to boost yourself up to a ledge or crawl space you couldn't otherwise reach. You can use the other person's body as a means to climb up or down. You are able to climb or repel large heights. You can toss the other player as a weapon, to cross a gap, or as a means to bypass lasers. These moves are accessed by one player taking position and pressing the black button which gives an audio prompt to the second player to position himself correctly and press the black button which initiates the move. All of the cooperative moves are tied to the black button. This creates a simple and streamlined interface. The controls are perfect. It's really rather slick. The real heart of the game comes in the required teamwork. It's not just that you wouldn't have been able to have climbed up to that ledge without the other guy there to boost you up, it goes beyond that. It's really about backing up the other guy. The game uses voice chat so you're able to plan and discuss as you go on the fly. So if you notice there are two guys in the next room, and you need to get in there, you can sit there and discuss just how you're going to pull it off. For example, Magus and I were outside a room with two guys in it. The first guy was back against the far wall, just to the left of the doorway. The second guy would move from right in front of the door to the window and back. We came up with the idea of me being crouched at the door while Magus would be standing directly behind me. I was to bash the door open when the second guy reached it taking him out, and Magus would shoot the first guy against the wall before he knew what hit him. It went off without a hitch. There is great satisfaction in pulling something off as a team. When your plan goes precisely like clockwork, there is no better feeling. The maps are designed on a level that could only be called clever. A lot of thought went into each room and what could be done. It's not open-ended by any means, but the game does force you to improvise. That's another area where the game shines. When things go wrong, and you have to think on your feet. ZBo and I were trying to grab two guys for the two retinal scanners locking this door. We were in a locker room and we were discussing how to take out this guy in the next room. I suddenly notice a guard coming from behind ZBo and warn him. ZBo moves into darkness back to his right and around a corner from the approaching guard. I stayed where I was as I was already in darkness. The guard is coming towards us and should pass by ZBo on his way to me, allowing ZBo to grab him. The guard doesn't do what he's expected to do and instead turns right and heads directly to where ZBo is. I see ZBo's character take a ready position and I know that ZBo is going to knife the guy to defend himself, it's all he could do. We needed him alive and awake. In an instant I have an idea and I yell to the guard. The AI in the game can actually hear you. I yelled "Hey! Hey asshole!" just as he's about to reach ZBo, and the guard actually freaking turns towards me and reacts to the sound. He starts heading to me which puts his back directly to ZBo, which allows ZBo to grab him. It was a brilliant "oh wow" type moment for each of us. One of the best online moments ever. Riddel provided me with one of the funniest moments I've ever had while playing online. We were playing through the first level and essentially gotten to the last challenge. The exposition room is filled with lasers crisscrossing the floor. We were fifty feet up in the rotunda like room. You have to jump out over the railing and hang from the edge of the floor under the railing. You then shimmy around the dome fifty feet above the lasers. This was her first time playing. We had done exceedingly well. I was explaining to her how to pull off the move. I used future tense. I didn't say do it. I said you will be doing this. I'm hanging there at the base of the railing where you jump over. I see her step to the railing and before I could even yell "No!" I see her leap over the railing and her feet smacking me in the head and the next thing I know I'm falling fifty feet to where I'm promptly knocked out. Somehow she's taken the fall unscathed! I yell for her to revive me and she promptly walks straight through the lasers setting off alarms and calling in guards. She wakes me up and we retreat into a hallway off the exposition room. A guard comes in from behind us while two others come fromthe other way. We're trapped, but we're in the dark and they have no idea where we are. We're fine as long as we don't panic. Just as I'm about to whisper and convey this to her, she opens up on the two in front of her and all hell has broken loose. It was an insanely funny comedy of errors and another one of the best online gaming moments I've ever experienced. The cooperative mode is a thing of beauty. Ubisoft has sparked the future of online play with this game. The genre of cooperative online play is here to stay. There are some issues with it at this point though. There are only four maps at present, although there is potential for DL content. Some connection issues that just might be from getting servers up to speed. There are some bugs and slowdown issues that interfere with gameplay, and these might be taken care of with a patch. We'll see how it plays out.
Next time should cover versus online play.
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