System: PS3
Dev: Ubisoft Montreal / Shanghai
Pub: Ubisoft
Release: March 30, 2007
Players: 1-6
ESRB Rating: Mature
Review by D'Marcus Beatty

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Review Rating Legend
1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid
2.0 - 2.4 = Poor
2.5 - 2.9 = Average
3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
3.5 - 3.9 = Good
4.0 - 4.4 = Great
4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
5.0 = The Best

There is also much less focus on the darkness this time around. Fisher has to sneak around in well lit areas this time around, which forces him to time his creeping when enemies have turned around or have moved away. More often and unrealistically, enemies will announce their intentions to move away, so Sam can just time his movements. This is much more exhilarating than creeping through the darkness, as players know that an NPC simply turning around can doom Fisher. While there is still some hiding in darkness, there is a lot more emphasis on Sam hiding in plain sight this time.

The single biggest addition to this Splinter Cell is the inclusion of a story. All previous Splinter Cells had political storylines that most gamers didn't care about and were thinly veiled excuses to move Sam from mission to mission. This experience on the whole feels more cohesive. While Sam is still bounced around from mission to mission, players feel more connected to Sam and his objectives now. The infiltration parts help this immensely. There are also scripted moments that require Sam to make a difficult moral decision. The first of these asks Sam if he would kill an innocent man to maintain his cover and gain JBA trust. These choices get more and more difficult as the game progresses. All of these different elements combine to make the storyline much more compelling. While the story probably could have been done better in certain parts (such as letting us gain the initial trust in prison or including Sam's grief over his daughter more prominently) it is done better than any previous Splinter Cell.

Splinter Cell also has a super-friendly save system. The game saves for you at certain checkpoints and the player can save the game at any point in gameplay. Most gamers will get used to the stop and go save mentality, pausing to save every time that a new guard in incapacitated or Fisher successfully creeps into a new area without being seen. This can be a double edged sword as it makes the game much easier and much slower paced, but balances the Splinter Cell flaw that you can't always tell when you've made a mistake or which enemies saw Fisher do what.

On top of the excellent Splinter Cell game, there is the critically acclaimed multiplayer mode. The mercs versus spies makes its much anticipated return to the series and its debut on the PlayStation 3. This time around, Ubisoft has upped the number of players from four to six, and has made the game more beginner-friendly. Mercs again protect terminals from stealthy spies in Ubisoft's rendition of "Capture the Flag". As before, mercs are heavily armed and played from the first person perspective and spies are lithe and nimble and played from third person. The mercs have lost a lot of their gadgets in favor of heavy firepower this time, so spies don't have to worry about tripwires and other traps. As always, the multiplayer shines and is almost worth the price of admission by itself. For the PlayStation 3, Ubisoft has added the ability to play as a female spy and two maps that aren't currently available on any other platform.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent is a step in the right direction for the series. Although there aren't many significant changes to the gameplay, the game still feels more exhilarating and more immersive because of the improved visuals, better storyline, lack of darkness, and the moral choices Sam if forced to make. However, if forced to make a choice between which version to purchase, most people should wisely choose the Xbox 360 version, which will cost less than the recently released (and full-priced) PlayStation 3 version. The 360 version has a better framerate, Xbox Live Support, and is cheaper. There isn't much reason to pick up the PlayStation 3 iteration unless you don't own a 360 and want to try out Sam Fisher's latest adventure, and in that case, you should definitely pick this game up.

By D'Marcus Beatty
CCC Co-Site Director

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