Xbox Originals: Splinter Cell

The Xbox Originals service, now running for nearly six months, allows users to re-visit those classic titles of the original Xbox, without having to wade through bins of pre-owned games, or Trademe listings only to find your disc is scratched or damaged, making it unplayable. Once it’s downloaded you’re free to play it as many times as you like without having to worry about losing discs or game cases.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory is the latest title to be available for download on the service. True to the 'original' moniker, it retains all the elements of the original, which was released back in 2005 to critical acclaim, and rates as one of the best titles for the Xbox.

As with re-visiting any past title it is with concern that we may taint our feelings as we see how far gaming has moved on since said game was released. However, users will be happy to know that the game has barely aged at all, and its content and presentation would even put shame upon games from the new generation of consoles.

Simply put, if you didn’t have the chance to experience the < href="/ps2/reviews/116/splinter-cell-chaos-theory.html">original, then this is definitely worth a download. It even has an argument of being better than this generation's SC: Double Agent, and will certainly provide you with enough espionage action until the next Splinter Cell game, Conviction, releases later this year. At 1200 points (around NZ$20) it’s small fare for such a great title like this, although you may want to prepare your bandwidth as it’s quite a hefty beast at 5.4 GB.