You can break locks from Chaos Theory onwards, rather than picking them.

Cameras are tough buggers and need a sturdy gun, so NPCs can hear you shooting them from quite far away. Noise draws NPCs who, if they clearly hear shots fired, will raise and alarm and start shooting. It gives you more power and removes the temptation of making a lot of noise destroying a camera which isn’t going to be that problematic.

On balance, I think I prefer the Chaos Theory system of all unbreakable cameras, but all can be disabled with a touch of a button for a fair period of time. In addition, you could permanently disable cameras by shooting them, with the exception of armoured cameras. You had to hold down the button and it would automatically lock on as you walked. Pandora Tomorrow had a specific device for jamming cameras temporarily. It is a device I like, though given the choice I would have liked both as alternative attachments, or on different missions depending on the map layout and whether or not it had a large amount of electronic security. The laser sight from Pandora Tomorrow was replaced with the electromagnetic pulse, which temporarily jams security cameras, lasers and other electric powered devices. There’s a Peruvian terrorist organisation who kidnap a dude to get information on a missile chip, so you somehow end up in Panama and find out who else is involved, and then there’s an interlude with a blackout or something and you get some information on that dude, and then a missile strike causes war in Korea but then you go to Japan and figure out who’s really behind it, then you go to some other place in Japan and find out who’s REALLY behind it… Honestly, I don’t care. I have never once understood the plot to Chaos Theory, though I have played it many times.

Of the four, Chaos Theory is the clear winner in my estimation. The games in chronological order are: Splinter Cell, Pandora Tomorrow, Chaos Theory and Double Agent. This is part of a series of four reviews examining the specific pros and cons for each of the four sixth-gen console games in the franchise Splinter Cell.

Splinter cell chaos theory