If you're into the spy game genre, then you're most likely familiar with Sam Fisher, the star of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series. Former Navy Seal, CIA operative and current member of Third Echelon, a secret division of the National Security Agency, he is the cream of the crop.
In the series, you guide Sam on various missions through a third person shooter interface that often required more clandestine undercover work, than an all-out shootout. Although making the games more frustrating to play, the format allows for more story development, as much of the gameplay is devoted to uncovering information.
And the newest Ubisoft release, Splinter Cell: Double Agent is no different. Sam, once again ably voiced by Michael “I'm gonna suck your brain dry” Ironside, receives news that his daughter, Sarah, has been killed in a drunk driving accident. After a period of mourning, he agrees to undertake an extremely dangerous undercover mission to infiltrate a terrorist organization as a double agent.
You know, this is opposed to one of those innocuous undercover missions, such as posing as a Cadbury employee to once and all find out just how they get the soft, flowing caramel inside the Caramilk bar. Of course, you’d have avoid losing your soul to the Devil and outsmart that guy who knows everything but refuses to tell anyone the secret, but it’s hardly a nail-biting situation… Oh My God, security’s here and they’re armed with deadly chocolate. Get down! They’ve got Boost bars and those crappy Crème Eggs. They’re full of trans fats! Abort the Mission. It’s too big! We’re all going to die!!!!...Uh, sorry, got carried away there.
First, Sam must help a member of the group break out of prison which gets him invited to the cell's headquarters where he must prove himself to impress its leader. It's an interesting set-up as you have to maintain your allegiance to Third Echelon as well as win the confidence and respect of John Brown's Army, the domestic terror organization you're infiltrating. Two trust meters appear on your screen, one for each group. As you complete or fail objectives, the meters move up and down. Sometimes, they are independent of one another, but often they are interconnected. If Sam completes an terrorist objective, for example killing the pilot whose helicopter he and his cell mate Jamie Washington steal to break out of prison, the JBA trust meter goes up while Third Echelon's goes down.
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If Sam refuses to kill him, the reverse happens. So it's a balancing act, because if you lose the trust of JBA you are kicked out of the group and Third Echelon will pull you out if your superiors lose faith in you.
The story also adds some variety to the gameplay. Not only are there the terrorist missions, but you also spend time in the group's hideout, spying on them while maintaining the appearance that you're one of them. It adds a little more complexity than is found in the standard shooter.
The terrorist missions can be a little annoying at times. I get you're supposed to be uber-stealth and all that, but I don't have the patience to constantly sneak around for fear of getting caught, so I usually try to pick off the enemy. But you often don't have that many bullets on you and you're not able to take the weapons of the people you kill, so I'm always running around knifing people.
And it's surprisingly difficult. I even died in the tutorial. And, Yes, I know that’s pathetic, but I kept getting shot because it wouldn't let me grab the terrorists when I’d creep up on them. Stupid training missions not allowing me to use lethal force. I just want to kill. Is that so wrong?
Thankfully, you can save the game at any point and your stamina works similar to how it does in Call of Duty. You just can't get hit too many times in a row. If you're injured and you wait a few seconds, you'll heal.
It's also a little too easy to get lost in the game. Although the three-dimensional maps are interesting to look at, they aren't very functional. And the small map is even less useful. So you can spend a lot of time running around in circles unless you know exactly where to go.
Still, these are relatively small complaints. Sure I spent a lot of time screaming at the television screen: I couldn't figure out where to go, I kept using a pistol for my sniper shooting because my machine gun ran out of bullets and the same bloody guy kept killing me over and over because Sam kept ignoring the button I was pressing. But the game keeps you engaged. And I loved choking people and taunting them in Ironside's gruff voice. If only you could make their heads explode.
WHAM! Rating: |
7 out of 10 |
ESRB Rating: |
M (Mature) |
Official Web Site: |
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