PC: Splinter Cell - Double Agent

If you've never played a game in the Splinter Cell series, you owe it to yourself to give Splinter Cell Double Agent a try. Nothing out there quite duplicates Splinter Cell's unique blend of stealth action, high-tech gadgetry, and gorgeous third-person visual effects. For those already familiar with the series, Double Agent is enjoyable, but its single-player campaign offers little you haven't already seen before in Chaos Theory and earlier games in the series.

As you may or may not know, the story revolves around our old hero, Sam Fisher, Doing the "Good guy gone bad" routine, as Lambert informs him of the death of his daughter during one of the missions. Sam loses his will to live and so accepts a mission that no one will take. He ends up in prison as an undercover agent where he gets in to contact and eventually gains the trust of members of John Brown's Army, a radical terrorist group with their own idea of justice and globalisation.

Freedom, with consequences

The driving feature of Double Agent is the player's "freedom" to juggle his allegiance between the NSA and the JBA, while trying not to lose the trust of either... and still get the job done. Lose the trust of either organisation, and its game over. This gives the player a more involved feeling as a sense of morality comes into play.

Enjoy the show

The camera follows your player from a third-person perspective, and much of the joy of playing derives from watching Sam Fisher's fluid and realistic movements as he navigates about the map and executes a wide variety of special moves. For example, Sam can climb pipes, peek around corners, crawl through vents, hang from ledges, slide along ropes or zip lines, swim, and can perform numerous other nifty tricks, like the beloved "inverted neck snap".

Performing these fancy moves does not require that the player memorize extended combinations of keys. For better or worse, Sam does just about everything automatically. Generally speaking, if Sam is capable of performing some trick and you move him to the approximate area, he will perform the trick, whether you were trying to get him to or not. For example, Sam may start climbing a pipe when all you were trying to do was walk in front of it, or he may jump out of a frozen lake, grab an armed guard you didn't even know was there, pull him down through a hole in the ice, pull out a blade, and stab the guard in the chest, all because you merely pressed the "up" key. Granted, it's an awesome sight, but some players may wish they had more control over Sam's movements.

Spy vs. Spy

Double Agent's multiplayer component took me pleasantly by surprise. Unlike so many games that add multiplayer capability simply by throwing in a deathmatch option, Double Agent includes a different and exciting multiplayer experience that incorporates the game's stealth tactics. There are several different maps, each with different objectives, which generally call for you to hack one or more computers (which, unlike in the single-player game, is accomplished merely with the press of a button) and download the most information without getting killed.

Six people can play at once, but finding a full game isn't always easy because there is no traditional server browser. Instead, you indicate your willingness to play a game and then wait around in a virtual waiting area until enough people join to start a game.

Verdict?

Sam is equipped with a number of gadgets, but using them effectively can be difficult because the weapon-selection interface is awkward and confusing to use. I had to take my right hand off the mouse most of the time and fiddle with the arrow keys and enter button just to select a grenade.

Splinter Cell: Double Agent offers more of the third-person stealth action we've come to expect from the Splinter Cell series, and it adds a unique, fast-paced multiplayer format unlike any online game I have played before. In terms of overall presentation, not much has changed from the series's tried-and-true formula. Playing through the single-player campaign is an enjoyable, yet familiar, feeling.

Just one Question bugged me...........

Where'd the Sony Ericssons go??

I give this a 6.5 out of 10.