Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent

The Splinter Cell games have always impressed with challenging, but rewarding stealth gameplay, but the plotline has never been something to remember. Double Agent keeps the familiar Sam Fischer feeling, for the most part, like he did the last time we met him in Chaos Theory. However, in Double Agent, we look deeper into Sam's personal life, unraveling a dark story behind the secret agent.

You take control of Sam soon after the events of Chaos Theory, on a mission in Iceland to investigate a mysterious geothermal plant. I'll leave the events of that for you to uncover, but once Sam returns from his mission he is told of his daughter's death due to a drunk driver. The infurious Sam takes a break from duty as he is too distraught to maintain focus. Eventually he continues work after being offered a different position. His latest assignment requires him to be placed in prison to get closer to a member of a terrorist organization, John Brown's Army.

The game gets off to a slow start, with some standard sneaking missions as a way to introduce you to the gameplay. Don't let this impact your decision on playing, though. Once you reach the third chapter, that's when Splinter Cell: Double Agent starts to show its true colors. It's at this point when you have to start balancing the trust of the newly befriended terrorist group, with your good side, the NSA. Let one of the trust meters dip too low, and it's game over. This allows for more flexibility in the design of levels. You weigh the priority of objectives, deciding which ones you want to complete. The game presents a few major choices that can have a great impact on the world, depending on how evil you feel like being, and you can even receive two different endings.

Aside from the usual sneaking missions themselves (which don't get me wrong, are excellent) there are now a few missions that will have you behind enemy lines at the JBA headquarters, being treated as part of the group. You're given thirty minutes to explore at your own will, helping the JBA fill out tasks like creating mines, disposing of bodies, decoding e-mails, as well as find some secret information for the NSA. Get caught performing any suspicious activities, though, and it's game over as the JBA no longer will trust you lurking around their hideout. Although some of the tasks you'll have to do can feel a little tiresome, it's an interesting change of pace, seeing what it's like to be part of a terrorist organization.

The core gameplay mechanics stick to the Splinter Cell roots, which is probably a good thing. There are a few new gadgets to experiment with, adding to the diversity of how you take out your enemies, but even more satisfying is when you evade enemies without any alerts. Sticking to the shadows and not making a sound is key, or else you will arouse the suspicion of a guard. In case a clean infiltration isn't possible, you'll have a vast array of weapons at your disposal. There's also hand-to-hand combat, including being able to sneak up behind an enemy and hold him hostage, which while one of the most appeasing options, could have felt a little smoother. All of the combat controls feel a little slow and unresponsive, but this is a reasonable punishment for not remaining discreet. However, when I'm crouched directly behind the enemy and the prompt for me to choke him never appears, it can be frustrating.

Visually, Double Agent is a solid effort. It doesn't do anything revolutionary with the hardware, and some of the animations and textures look like they were taken straight from one of the older Splinter Cell titles, which isn't a huge complaint given how good those games looked for their time. The visual style is complimented by the new variety of levels in the game. Unlike previous games where your missions were restricted almost completely to small locals in the middle of the dark, night. Now you will be set on a boat, in the snow, rappelling down a huge hotel, whatever the case, there is more to see than you would expect from a Splinter Cell game, and it brings a new challenge, trying to stay out of sight in brighter venues. I almost wish there were a few more of those dark, eerie settings, though, because they help give it that charm.

While Double Agent could've stood as a fine game with its single player game, the online multiplayer is a welcome addition. The meat of the online portion is Spies vs. Mercs, a game in which a team of three spies tries to sneak into a base, download information from terminals, and make it out safely. The three mercenaries are trying to defend the terminals, and will do whatever it takes to keep the spies from hacking into the data. The thing that makes this interesting is the differences in the two classes. The Spies of Third Echelon are catered to stealth, but unlike Sam from the single player, these guys are extremely quick and have a nice set of acrobatic moves, though without lethal weaponry. The Mercenaries of Upsilon Force, on the other hand, play as a first-person shooter, with no dependence on stealth, but instead on using their rifles and high-tech gadgets to kill the spies.

It takes some time getting used to the new controls (especially for the mercenaries as you can tell they didn't have enough time to refine it to, say, Rainbow Six Vegas level), but the fresh take on standard deathmatch mode can be a lot of fun once you make the adjustment. There's not a lot of depth here though. That's the only competitive mode, and the leveling system or unlockables aren't that encouraging. There's also a cooperative mode available for up to three players, but the unfortunate news is these co-op missions are basically just the same as Spies vs. Mercs, except with bots added in place of the human mercenaries.

For those gamers who like to imagine themselves on a secret mission, sneaking your way across enemy lines, and stealthily executing those who cross your path, Splinter Cell: Double Agent will provide you with a good time. Some excellent gameplay is met with a solid story, and an interesting moral trust system. The multiplayer is simple, but offers another excuse to keep playing the game. Double Agent is certainly a game worthy of carrying the Splinter Cell title.

Logan Smithson, Noobfeed