PS2 Review: Splinter Cell: Double Agent (2006)

I experienced the PS2 version of Splinter Cell: Double Agent prior to the XBOX 360 version and, therefore, will review the former first. I will then review the latter, and so that neither of these reviews becomes simply a comparison piece, a post solely dedicated to such will come after that. These games are so rich in their depth and differences that they deserve it.

SC:DA is Sam's most personal story yet. Whereas the previous ones "read" like a typical Clancy novel, Double Agent seems much more character-driven. After spending years with Sam, it is about time we get more intimate. As such, I found the story to be much more engrossing than the others. I hope this won't be a spoiler for anyone, but near the beginning of the story, Sam learns that his daughter Sarah, his most personal of relationships since the first game, had died. This, of course, has a big impact on him, and so he decides to take on his most dangerous assignment to date. He goes to prison in order to befriend a member of "John Brown's Army" (JBA), a domestic terrorist group, and infiltrate their organization. What I found interesting was how attached I became to this fellow prisoner; it's quite a job to escape from the prison and you have to depend on one another to survive. It's not like we were Red and Andy from The Shawshank Redemption, but I feel like we developed a bond that can only be shared by people who endure such trials together.

A similar comradery is created with Enrica Villablanca, the tech specialist of the JBA, who Sam says is not much older than his daughter. You go on numerous missions together and become closer to each other. Either rightly or wrongly, I find myself much more engaged with a story (such as this spy story) where the factor(s) at risk is much more personal to the main character than some bomb going off somewhere that's going to kill some large number of anonymous people (though there is that). I applaud the plausibility and cohesiveness of the previous Splinter Cell stories, but none matches Double Agent in terms of its engagement.

In terms of gameplay, Double Agent is a true successor to Chaos Theory, which Thrasher described as perfecting the Splinter Cell formula. DA continues to provide superior level design with multiple ways to go about overcoming an obstacle. Unfortunately, however, the mission rating system from Chaos Theory was not included (though I suppose, if you had the desire, you can use the stats given after you complete a mission and do the arithmetic: start with 100% and subtract 2% for each fatality you caused, 5% for every time spotted by an enemy, and so on). The game engine seems largely the same; I'm not certain if it is more forgiving in terms of the accuracy of firearms. One of the things I find most impressive is the fact that, four games in, DA still provides unique and interesting challenges. When in Kinshasa, you deal with the inconvenience of having an unreliable power grid: the lights are usually on and you have to time your moves with the shellings that knock out the power. When commandeering a tanker in the Sea of Okhotsk, enemies will try to capture and interrogate you. And, in a reversal of roles, one mission involves all the enemies having night-vision goggles. The best place to hide from them is where it is brightest. Upon completion of the game, for those feeling really hardcore, there is a difficulty mode that limits one's equipment to the goggles, knife, and EMP device. No stealth game will leave you feeling badder than Splinter Cell.

The defining distinction of DA is that in every mission, except for the first and the last, you are presented with opposing objectives from the NSA and JBA. You are given a one-dimensional meter of trust that is zero-sum between them: if you gain the trust of the JBA it comes at the expense of the NSA's trust. Obviously, the objective you select influences this meter. It also affects what cut-scenes you see and what equipment you will have for the missions. I very much like this feature, though I wish that it would more radically affect the direction of the story. Nonetheless, it adds replay value and more autonomy for the player.

What also should be mentioned is the fantastic co-op mode, returning from Chaos Theory. Completing missions truly requires teamwork and patience, but joy shared is double joy. This undoubtedly has become one of my favorite features of the newer Splinter Cell games (especially since I didn't spend enough time playing online to get good at that mode). Unlike other co-op modes, where you are basically playing the single player story with a friend, the co-op mode has its own unique levels related to the single player campaign. There are many obstacles that require synchronized effort with a partner: perhaps a ledge is too high and you need a boost, a camera has to be zapped as you sneak by, or a dual bomb requires two defusers. This isn't just co-op mode so that two players can play but a big addition to the core features.

Splinter Cell: Double Agent may be the pinnacle of the Splinter Cell series. It is the last game that features true stealth gameplay. We can only hope that the prodigal returns back to its roots (for more on this, see my post "Sad Day for Sam Fisher"). As for me and mine, we will be sticking with the classics until that happens.

Sad Day For Sam Fisher

I alluded to my disappointment with what I saw in the E3 trailer of Splinter Cell: Blacklist during our time of highlights. I would like to elaborate on such in the present. As you can see from the above "Fifth Freedom" trailer, Sam is quite different from what he used to be. Now, I'm not only talking about the unforgivable fact that he is not voiced by Michael Ironside or that he seems to have gotten younger. In fact, nearly everything that lead me to become a fan has been altered or eradicated.

Most obvious is the gameplay itself. The tagline of Splinter Cell originally was "Stealth Action Redefined." With Blacklist (though the trend already began with Conviction) they are going to have to redefine "stealth" if they still want to label the series as such. Hitler agrees.
But beyond the gameplay, one of the things that really led me to appreciate the legend of Sam Fisher was seeing his evolution as a character. From the beginning, he always seemed to have an irreverent attitude towards his superiors and the military chain of command, especially when it was contradictory with his own moral vision. For example, in Chaos Theory while in Seoul to recover the data of a downed spy plane, the player is given the option of putting himself in danger of turrets in order to rescue the unconscious pilots. If he does so, he is not only warned, but discouraged, by Colonel Lambert, being told, "You won't get a medal for this, Fisher. You don't exist." Yet Sam does it anyway, citing his desire to sleep at night, demonstrating that whilst military brass give a higher priority to personal ambitions than to the lives of those under their command, Sam plays the role of the honey badger when it comes to his career. Even more telling is in Pandora Tomorrow when Fisher is told to shoot an unarmed woman who has been helping him because she is a double agent. If the player chooses to do so, Fisher expresses his anger at Lambert, claiming that his actions seem indistinguishable from those of the terrorists he is fighting. This is highly relevant to the "Fifth Freedom" trailer, which I will discuss below. As a final example of how Sam grew both as a character and in his independence from US intelligence agencies, Double Agent leaves him divorced from Third Echelon entirely, Conviction showing him to be now fighting it directly. Personally, as one who has become disillusioned with the military-industrial complex and intelligence agencies' all out assault on civil liberties, Sam was elevated beyond the status of legend, displaying a level of heroism rarely seen on any video game. Fisher had seen the State for the corrupt entity that it is and took it on. Simply awesome.

You can imagine the crushing blow that Blacklist is to me. Rather than further taking on the State, Sam has once again become enlisted in its ranks, only this time in a far more nefarious role. The words spoken in the trailer, beyond being trite and utterly predictable ("Saving lives...by taking them."), show just how far Sam has fallen. In our actual world, the US executive has has declared himself to be above the law, all in the name of upholding "American values and freedoms". He claims the right to imprison without trial, torture, steal anything he deems to be of value in national defense, and assassinate anyone he decides is a threat. Likewise, the fictional president in Blacklist also claims the right to bypass the law, Fisher being her tool for doing so. We can see Sam using the same weapons, i.e. predator drones, that have killed untold numbers of civilians in Pakistan and elsewhere in recent years. We also hear Fisher engage in Orwellian newspeak, as mentioned above.

In one fell swoop, it seems, Sam Fisher has fallen from grace; his beyond legendary status exchanged for becoming a mainstream shooter look-alike. As Tyler Durden says, "Putting feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken." Likewise, putting on night vision goggles does not make you Sam Fisher. Whatever Blacklist is, it does not deserve to have "Splinter Cell" in the title.

Highlights from E3: Splinter Cell: Blacklist

So there's the trailer, here is a gameplay demonstration:


As you can see, it's very similar to Conviction, and continues to take the series into a more action, less stealth-oriented direction. Needless to say, this leaves a lot of fans displeased. But perhaps even more displeasing is the replacement of Michael Ironside as the voice of Sam Fisher. You can see a video of the new actor (as well as Ironside) here. What I'm wondering is what purpose Ironside is serving, since he appears to be working with Ubisoft in the link's video. A highly-rated YouTube comment from Lightning Spartan caught the sentiment of much of the fanbase:

What ever happened to, "They'd always wanted someone a little older, more professional, more experience, you know. Not some young goof ball that you see in your typical shooter". What they do to you Sam ? 

Also of concern (to me at least) is the premise of the story:

The United States has a military presence in two thirds of countries around the world. A group of 12 have had enough and initiate a terror ultimatum called the Blacklist - a deadly countdown of escalating terrorist attacks on U.S. interests. Sam Fisher is the leader of the newly formed 4th Echelon unit: a clandestine unit that answers solely to the President of the United States. Sam and his team must hunt down these terrorists by any means necessary, and stop the Blacklist countdown before it reaches zero. 

What I really liked about Conviction was how Sam was the rogue agent taking down Third Echelon and its new leadership, which essentially was partnered with the military-industrial complex and wanted to get the U.S. government involved in more foreign conflicts so that the artillery manufacturers, plane makers, ship builders, etc. would stand to profit from increased military spending. It was Sam against the Man. Inevitably, the U.S.'s overseas military involvement leaves many less than copacetic, as the story in Blacklist acknowledges. Now, Sam seems to be joining the Man and protecting the interests of the military-industrial complex. Again, a huge letdown.

Hopefully these problems can be addressed before the Spring 2013 release date (remember the redesign and long delay Conviction had because of it?). It actually looks like a fun game to play, just not Splinter Cell. I won't be so quick to say the series is dead, but many of the games' fans seem to think so.