Splinter Cell: Double Agent Review

The core game is still highly entertaining

So, everything is very much as it is in the Xbox 360 release, but in terms of presentation this PlayStation 3 version is severely under par. Whereas the Xbox 360 game often dazzled with impressive lighting and a solid frame rate, the PS3 game chugs frequently and seems to be missing much of the subtle lighting that impressed so much last year. What's more, numerous sound effect glitches crop up throughout and cutscenes fail to run smoothly. It's all rather sloppy and lessens the experience substantially.

Multiplayer has played a part in the last two Splinter Cell games, and the Spies Vs. Mercenaries gameplay returns, but it's been changed a fair bit. The biggest difference comes from how each class controls. The spies have become almost monkey-like, able to throw themselves around, clinging to ledges and pipes as if they've got a tail they can use as an extra limb. At first their acrobatic moves are hard to get the hang of, as they move so differently to Sam Fisher. Mercs are once again restricted to a first-person perspective, and although up against a far more nimble enemy, are more than powerful enough to put up a fight.

Double Agent's online offering bumps the player count from four to six, allowing matches of up to 3 Vs 3. Rather than complicate things by having different objectives for each map, all of Double Agent's ten maps pose a fairly straightforward task. The spies need to download data from various terminals and return the data to their insertion point, while mercs need to prevent them from doing this. Tactics are still quite complex, with the differences in abilities between the two classes being massive, but the online play is far easier to get into than in previous Splinter Cell games.

Online play works well on the PS3

One of best features in Chaos Theory was the rather brilliant co-op play, which saw you and a mate tackle proper missions together. This mission-based co-op has sadly been dropped in Double Agent, but you can play with up to two other players as spies against AI controlled mercs. These co-op missions are similar to the multiplayer levels and aren't nearly as good as those in Chaos Theory, but if you want to tackle bots with some mates, they're good for a few hours of entertainment. PS3 gamers get some extra maps and a female spy player skin, but it's not really enough to make up for the woeful presentation, especially when the content will be available for the 360 game in the future.

Splinter Cell Double Agent isn't the next-gen Splinter Cell experience that Ubisoft might want us to believe it is, but it's still a very impressive single and multiplayer experience. Sadly, this experience is considerably better on the Xbox 360, where the visuals and audio are far more polished. A handful of multiplayer additions and optional motion control lock picking simply isn't enough to counter these problems, making Double Agent on PS3 hard to recommend.