23/09/2006 à 14:26:29 Spinter Cell:Double Agent Updated Impressions - NOT from TGS

Phew. As it turns out, I got to spend quite a lot of time with this :-)

As usual I'll be giving impressions on features and stuff that are already out there in the public domain. I won't be revealing anything or denying/confirming any rumours. Thanks!

First off, the game looks great. Ports from current gen versions have a bad reputation graphically but it doesn't appear to be the case so much here. Developed by Ubisoft Shanghai seperately from current gen they've done a great job. This should be apparent from the screen shots. It looks just as good in motion. Lighting, which is important for a Splinter Cell title is awesome. It's obvious the devs have picked the variety of environments to show this off.

I believe this is with UE 2.5 also . Looks great.

Animations are silky smooth and I thought the voice acting and writing of both Sam and NPC's were great. The controls are often context sensitive so having not played the entire game, couldn't say how many new moves etc Sam actually has.

Although I did get into the original Spinter Cell, I have to say I suck totally at stealth games. I found this very enjoyable however. The storyline I think they have spot on and the dual nature of the objectives certainly makes you think. You need to maintain trust with the JBA as well as your employers, the NSA. Almost everything you do will affect your trust with either faction so often there is a balancing act as losing trust completely with either side means game over. This is introduced gradually at the start but gets more challenging to manage as time goes on. In short, they've implemented this really well and certainly added lots to the gameplay for this player.

As you can see from most screens, there is practically no HUD. Things pop when you need them to and that's it. The only thing that stays on the screen is your current objective and the visibility indicator. You'll notice the same indicator is on Sam's back and will light up / flash depending on how visible you are etc.

The game kicks off with a short mission in an artic location at night, a video of which was on here recently. That's not the full level, just the first part of it :-) After this, the real meat of the story kicks in.

There are lots of oppourtunities for mini games when picking locks, safes and hacking computers which break up the gameplay quite nicely.

Sadly, I did not get to play any multi-player though I expect it's similar to Chaos Theory. There looks to be enough options to keep everyone satisfied however!

All in all, it looks great and I'm certainly interested in picking it up though with so many great games around when this is out it's all about finding the time!

23/09/2006 à 14:34:39

Awesome, thanks deft!

Not so awesome on my wallet though! :P

23/09/2006 à 14:36:47

It's amazing that every Splinter Cell gets better and better. I didn't play the first one, but Chaos Theory added huge amount of new elements to gameplay and Double Agent evlves the series even further. Plus now the game might have story that I actually care about... It was the weakest point in previous games (I have to admit I don't like MGS's story for that matter).

23/09/2006 à 15:49:33

Sorry for double post, but:

23/09/2006 à 22:04:23

Great post, Deft, thanks.

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23/09/2006 à 22:06:54

I like the idea of putting the indicator on his back, very clever.

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