Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent

In 2003, when the first game of this series appeared, nobody could tell what kind of genre it was. That is right, because there was no such genre before. That project made a sensation in game industry of that time. We were waiting for each game part with impatience. The game product brought honor and respect to its creators and authors. Gamers really enjoyed it. Now, the day has come when I can say that Ubisoft company has not let down again. I’m holding a disk of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent in my hands - another Tom Clancy’s creation, which is not worse of its older brother. It’s even better. The first part, as I have said before, appeared in 2003 and became an ancestor of stealth action genre. That’s why it’s not surprising that Ubisoft is still using this “money bag”, making good game products. So, let’s take a look at Tom Clancy’s Splinter cell Double Agent.

The one who played games of this series before could notice that our three-eyed spy Sam Fisher had a daughter Sarah. I suppose that she was conceived after accomplishing some mission elsewhere. Sarah was her father’s biggest love. She was growing up as a smart and talented girl. When she turned twenty three, she had already managed to graduate from college and, going back home from graduate party…. That’s the start point of the game intrigue. Joe Boyd – a drunken car driver knocks Sarah down at an unlighted city street. Of course he realized whose daughter she was. Instead of trying to help, he escapes from the locus delicti in unknown direction. The police circulate, offering fifty thousand dollars for the murderer catch. But do you think it may help Sam Fisher recover from the loss of his only daughter? Of course not!  His hands start shaking, his eyes are full of blood and he promises himself to find the murderer whatever it takes.

To let the best agent recover, Sam Fisher’s authorities send him for a long holiday. But he was not able to rest for a quite long time. Soon, our boss, concerning Third Echelon Irving Lambert calls Fisher for work and offers to take a case. He supposes that the case may help to find something out about his daughter’s tragic death. What he needs is to take root into criminal organization JBA(John Brown’s Army). To do this it is necessary to find an assistant of this organization – Jamie Washington. But it is only possible to find him in jail, where he is serving one out of three lifelong terms of imprisonment.

That is why a legend was contrived to help Fisher achieve his goal so as nothing could arouse a suspicion.  So, Sam Fisher was fired from elite department of National Security Agency for discipline disturbance without any rights of appeal. To make everything look natural, Sam Fisher starts living asocial life. Finally, we gained our end! Goodbye freedom, hello prison! Our hero Sam Fisher gets to Ellsvort prison, which is called “the second Alcatraz”, to Jamie Washington prison cell. By the way, this prison really exists. According to game topic, Sam was given eleven lifelong terms of imprisonment. To make an impression on his neighbor and to warm himself into Jamie’s confidence, our agent thinks out a skillful plan. A basis of this plan is a general riot that may help them get out of the jail. Everything works out and they are finally free!

After escaping from prison Jamie Washington begins to trust his rescuer and offers him to join James Brown’s Army. Of course, Sam Fisher accepts this invitation with great pleasure. Now I suppose you understand why this series part is called Double Agent. There are going to be such situations in the game, in which it’s needed to decide how to act, which side to choose. The way you decide determines how the game will end. The creators of the game added a very interesting feature, which is hung on the bottom of the screen. It is called a Trust Meter. It shows a trust degree of Third echelon JBA. Remember – do not let this Trust meter move till the very end in any direction – if you do, it will mean the end of the game. But don’t worry, it happens very seldom. My personal advice – pass the game not less than two times and you will not regret it.

One more moment that made me happy is that Jamie Brown is going to follow you everywhere. It makes game play livelier. You will have to make different tricks together with him. By the way, these acrobatic tricks are quite effective, especially in the beginning of the game, when you will have to use your partner as bait. Whenever you lose Jamie, the game is over for you, so you have to be careful.

Creators made their best developing new moves and completing old ones for Sam Fisher.

Here is the statistics: basic moves (eleven), advanced moves (ten), non-player character linked – moves (seven). We can just take a look at the numbers to see that creators tried really hard so as we could enjoy the game. Thanks a lot to motion capture technology. I’d like to say that with every part of the game Sam begins to look like a human more and more.

In the game you can also swim under ice. This feature also makes the game play more diverse. I enjoyed breaking ice and sinking helpless guards in water most of all. It’s funny that even if you sink a guy with electric sensors in a pool there won’t be any electric locking! Good for him!

If you don’t want to deal with light sources, you can switch electric generator off - and that is all.  Shades are still our best friends. This time old fellow Sam Fisher will often act immoral. He will have to destroy state property, use bad language, and do illegal things. This is not the Sam we once knew. Creators made a few instruments for this type of activity: bats, short pipes, knives, dozens of lock-picks, spurious credit cards. Shortly - it is going to be interesting!

Our special agent set will be filled in with new kinds of weapons, aqualung, flippers and winter uniform. I would also like to say that in this game you will have to use mind weapon especially for struggle against inanimate enemies. They are: computers, mines, safes, bombs. This process is quite fascinating! To neutralize animated enemies you can use a few kinds of lethal weapons.  There are SC-20K riffle with sniper sight and launcher. There are three types of charges for launcher: sticky shocker, sticky camera, airfoil round. But don’t forget about optically channeled potentiator. There are universal points three in 1: heat, night, visions included. We have also got a device for sterilization, which name is electronic devices- ocp.

Authors decided to maintain an idea of interactive reels, based on the game engine. Of course, it is much easier to make a reel on a game engine than making 3d graphics.  You will have a chance to jump with parachute in the Iceland sky. It looks very fascinating, believe me. A lot of surprises are waiting for you, but I’m not telling you about it. Otherwise, you would not like to play it yourself. Everything looks quite realistic and gives you only good emotions.

One hundred fifty characters are waiting for you to deal with. Each of them has his own history and way of behavior, which distinguishes him from other inhabitants of this world.

Game interface is very convenient. It can sometimes save your life. In case of danger light indicators start flashing and make you more concentrated.

Absolutely new engine is used for the fourth part – Unreal 2.5, which maintains new generation dynamic lighting, high resolution realistic texture, high dynamic range and different element systems. Very realistic system Havok, maintained by Phys-X is responsible for physics.

Sound effects are the best for the history of the game. Very powerful orchestra sound and high-quality volume sound.

Bravo Ubisoft! Bravo! I hope that announced Splinter Cell: Conviction is going to be even better than his younger brother! The only bug of the game is that it can brake even at a powerful computer. Let’s hope that creators are going to make a patch soon, which will fix the problem. Good luck to you old fellow Sam Fisher! See you soon!