GameScore: 8
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Editors Plus Rating: +.8
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The highly anticipated sequel to one of the best selling and highest rated Xbox games ever,Splinter Cell Chaos Theory is now on store shelves going by the name of Splinter Cell Double Agent. This is the first Splinter Cell title to be released on Microsoft's next gen console. It was developed by Pandora Tomorrow developers UbiSoft Shanghai. Prior to the games release it received alot of skepticism due to the fact that the title was not being developed by Chaos Theory developers UbiSoft Montreal,but you need not to worry because Pandora Tomorrow this game is not.

Sam Fisher really gets himself undercover deeper than he has ever been in Double Agent. He goes undercover to infiltrate the terrorist organization known only as the JBA (John Brown's Army). His mission is to gain their trust but at the same time complete his mission objectives given to him by the NSA. When I say "gain their trust" this means you will have to complete objectives for the JBA as well. There will be two meters that will pop up on screen that will show the level of how much the NSA and JBA trust you,if either of these meters run completely out it is game over.

The level variety in Double Agent is quite impressive. Not every level is dark,you will have to complete your missions in the broad daylight,in the snow,scuba diving,etc. Needless to say you just can't go run and hide in the shadows anymore. This game is no slouch in the graphics department either. UbiSoft Shanghai has elected to go with the very popular Unreal Engine 2.5 for Double Agent,this engine is basically the same one used in Chaos Theory on the Xbox but it has been more refined for the 360 and optimized for high def.

There isn't much to say about the controls in Double Agent,any veteran player of the Splinter Cell series will feel right at home since they are relatively unchanged. Sam does have a few new moves in his arsenal such as the ability to bring a guard down to the ground to knock him out or dispose of him completely,he can also pop up out of the water to grab an unsuspecting guard and bring him down under to do away with him also.

One of the highlights that Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow brought us was it's revolutionary online multiplayer mode and it is back in Double Agent. The developers have made it a bit more user friendly this time around however for the more inexperienced Splinter Cell players,this has received mixed reviews especially from the more hard core Splinter Cell fans but overall it is still the same excellent spy vs merc action we have all come to love. Unfortunately the 360 version does not have the new spy vs spy mode that can be found in the Xbox version of the game,which is rather unfortunate but we can hope for this mode in the next version of Splinter Cell on the 360.

Overall this is an excellent next gen debut for Sam Fisher,with sharp visuals.top notch controls and excellent level variety and design. Double Agent has retained enough of the original Splinter Cell "formula" to keep long time fans happy while adding enough new touches to catch the eye of possible new Splinter Cell fans.