However UBISoft promised a return to basics, a more action focused game and, of course, the usual eye candy, acrobatics and gadgets fans of the series have grown to love and expect. So, given I have two weeks before the November wallet drain of major releases, I thought I'd give Splinter Cell Double Agent a spin.
Visuals
The visuals of the game are adequate. I say adequate because I don't feel they're up to the level Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (GRAW). So they're not as next-generation as they could be, but they do look better than the Xbox version. I haven't run into any frame rate glitches and some of the effects are great. Being under water and looking up through the ice to grab/kill a guard is a thrill. Although, the blood effects after such a move don't look impressive at all.
Game Style
Game play should satisfy both the Splinter Cell fanboy and the action focused new comers to the series such as myself. If you want to play Mr. SuperSpy, you can do so and will be rewarded for remaining undetected, not using lethal moves, not letting bodies be found and things of that nature. Playing stealthy you can utilize zip lines, drop onto guards to knock them out or grab them for interrogation before knocking them out or killing them. Pretty much what you'd expect from a Splinter Cell title. New unlocked gadgets to use in the game will be your reward for such great feats of stealth. Now, if you're a "run and gun" person, you can do that as well. You are equipped with an EMP Pistol which can knock out lights as well as the guards themselves. You have a machine gun with scope if you really want to attract some attention.
1-Player Achievements
For single player Achievement Points, you get 30 points for finishing each level on any difficulty (there are 9 levels.) Plus, you get 100 points for finishing the story and another 60 points for playing any level undetected, killing 5 guards with non-lethal gadgets and turning off 25 lights with your EMP Pistol. There's a few more single player achievements you can unlock if you really want to work at it; spy of the Month and Collector are two such achievements. All in all, you can bang out around 540 points playing through single player on the easy setting and another 40 for doing the story mode on the hard difficulty.
Multipalyer Vs
Multiplayer versus is three vs three, with a team of three Spies vs. three Upsilon Guards. The goal of the spy team is to extract two complete files from any of the four data terminals and checking the file back in to your base. Your hacking unit will work at three different speeds, the fastest download speed being when you're basically right next to the terminal and the slowest being when you download from way up in the rafters. The Upsilon forces of course are hunting you down to try and prevent you from stealing the files. You can stop your download at any time and go to another terminal without loosing the data you previously downloaded. The one exception being if the Upsilon force kill you, you loose all the data you've downloaded.
The Spy's have four gadgets to choose from. The syringe can be used three times to heal yourself or a team mate, the smoke and flash grenades do what you'd expect, they drop at your feet and the jammer produces a false ping on a close Upsilon guard's radar. So it looks like you're somewhere you're not so theoretically they're looking for you at point A but you're actually at point B. You can, unfortunately, only carry one gadget with you at a time, but you can swap it out or reload it anytime back at base. You are also equipped with a hacking device which you use to download data from terminals, blow out windows, turn off lights, open electronically locked doors and screw with the Upsilon guards electronic helmet.
The last thing you have to help get around the area is night vision and infra red vision modes but using these vision modes (and hacking) put out electromagnetic signals that can be detected by Upsilon forces. The Upsilon force have their own gadgets, an exploding drone that works kind of like spirit mode in Prey, unlimited ammo scoped automatic / semi-automatic rifle, a limited quantity grenade launcher and a flash light for when the spy's turn out all the lights with their hacking unit. Your helmet is equipped with an electromagnetic energy vision mode which will show spies in the dark when they're hacking terminals or using one of their two vision modes. You are also equipped with a radar that has three rings of proximity. When a spy is in the area it will ping, the closer the spy is, the faster the ping. If you have vibration turned on, your controller also vibrates stronger the closer a spy is to you.
Not all the fighting is gadget focused, both sides have melee attacks for getting up close and personal. The spy's can drop down onto a guard and knock them out. They can sneak up behind them, grab and snap the guards neck or they can hang from a window or ledge and pull a guard over to plunge to their death. Guards don't have quite so many options but they have a berserk bash attack with their weapon and they can perform a running charge with a grab headbutt combo that will knock out or kill a spy. Each side has a limited number of respawns, typically five per player and when they're all used up, you become a spectator but can still talk/hear your team.
While the matches are fast paced and fun, there is only one game type with no customization options other than adding some bots to the Upsilon forces side. The only thing you can really customize is which map of the eight available you play on, assuming you have all eight unlocked as the host. Achievement wise you need to play each map at least 25 times and win 10 times as spy and 10 times as upsilon which is equal to a minimum of 200 games assuming you're always winning. That's a lot of time if all games go to the max 20-minute time limit.
You player will build a stat chart as you play through Multiplayer matchups. One chart for your abilities as a Spy and one for your abilities as a Upsilon Guard. Your stats are split into three different areas, for Spy they are Stealth, Acrobatics and Gadgets. For Upsilon they are Tracking, Gadgets and Direct Action. In the middle of your stats screen you will find an overall percentage - which is an average of your Spy and Upsilon ratings. When that overall percentage reaches certain milestones, you will get an achievement which unlock different multiplayer skins, maps and other things.
Multiplayer Co-Op
This involves different team or individual based challenges split up into three unique sections and each section has eight missions. So, in total there are 24 different Co-Op missions to play. In the few that I have played, its been human players as Spies and Upsilon as bots. Let me tell you, run the bots on easy, or medium. On hard, bots have ESP, they know where you're going before you've even thought of going there. You are given a chart at the beginning of the missions to let you know how many points you need to get a certain medal: bronze, silver or gold. Achievement points are awarded when you've done all 24 missions with at least bronze medals, silver medals and gold medals. Since I haven't unlocked the other two chapters of Co-Op, I'm not sure what those missions involve. I would hope it mixes things up and lets you play Upsilon and then maybe the last chapter is a mix. 
If it's the same thing for all three chapters it will get fairly boring, human Spies vs. bot Upsilon forces just with amped up difficulty. So I look forward to seeing what secrets the other two locked Co-Op modes have to reveal for me.
All in all, Splinter Cell Double Agent has lots to do and I think it will appeal to the Splinter Cell series fan as well as new comers who are more action focused. This is a solid title by UBISoft, the only thing I would change, if I could, would be to expand on the multiplayer options and game types to allow more replayability. Playing 200 games of the same thing runs the risk of becoming a snore.
