GAMING

- reported by Osiris.


As of now, the author has yet to finish the game because it is plagued with too many bugs.

For starters, even though the current-gen and next-gen versions ( the PC is considered a next-gen platform ) carry the same title, the storylines and levels differ. Although the first mission takes place in Iceland, instead of partnering Hisham Hamza, you are paired up with a rookie named John, who later gets killed in the mission. The mission objectives are also different, and your Iceland assignment is called off because a missile is about to explode on the launch pad, unlike the current-gen version where Lambert orders a mission abort. Also, in the Xbox version, Cole Yeagher is a member of the JBA who is discovered to be disloyal, but on the PC he is the pilot of helicopter hijacked by Sam and Jamie for their escape from prison. ( Sam and Jamie escaped over a wall on the Xbox. )

The missions are much shorter compared to the Xbox, and I dare say can be boring at times. The Iceland mission on the Xbox took me around 45mins, while I could easily finish it on the PC in 15mins, possibly even faster if I was using a controller. Yes, it is much tougher to play Splinter Cell using a keyboard and mouse when you are used to two analog sticks and buttons which are conveniently placed. Some missions take place in bright daylight, forcing Sam to make full use of his environment and not just shadows, and the graphics are clearly much better than on the Xbox. Water sticks to the camera lens when you surface after swimming under ice floes ( yup! You can swim! ) , and the exclusive mission Shanghai is also beautifully re-created, with skyscrapers decorating the black sky with their neon lights, and you can even watch the headlights of vehicles move along the roads. However, with all that "bling bling" effects, it is disappointing that after completing a mission, you expect to explore more areas and complete more objectives.



Sam is caught deserting his post to bask himself in the neon lights of Shanghai.









One of two daylight missions, with a beautiful sunset scenery in the background.







The developers at Ubisoft Shanghai removed most cinematics and replaced them with directed moments, giving you the control of the camera during scenes which take place before a mission, for example insertions. In Okhotsk, you parachute down into the icy region and while sky-diving down, you can turn the camera freely and also make Sam do various stunts in the air. This may sound cool, but frankly speaking, most of the directed moments last only for a few seconds. In Shanghai, Sam has to control a spinning chopper and the only thing you have to do is press the left and right directional keys such that the chopper returns to a stable position. Then your control of the camera is taken back, as a cut-scene shows the chopper landing safely on the roof-top of the 88-floor Jin Mao Tower.


Sam parachutes down safely into Okhotsk, if you manage to pull the safety pin in time.








One very obvious change from the previous three Splinter Cell titles is that the HUD has been totally removed. There is no light and sound meter, and you can choose whether to display your selected weapon. The usual "action box" at the top-right corner of the screen has also been reduced to a small box like the weapons selection display, making a very "clean" screen ( but not as sparkling as Gears of War. ) You might be wondering, if the light meter has been removed, how would you know whether Sam will be spotted. Your answer is a special light meter on Sam's uniform and rifle. Green indicates Sam is hidden, yellow warns you can be spotted, and red alerts that you have become a target for potshots. Despite this simplicity in the HUD, it can be confusing at times because even though the light meter shows green, terrorists still can spot you, and without the sound meter you risk making noises which may alert your foes.

Multiplayer features a 3v3 Spy versus Mercenary adversarial mode, with a solo tutorial phase which helps beginners learn the tactics employed by both factions during the game. However there is no lobby system, and multiplayer games often crash, resulting in an "unofficial" boycott of the game by many seasoned players. Moreover, since the PC version only supports graphics cards with shader model 3.0 ( ATI 1300 and above or Nvidia 7300 and above ) , most players who played Chaos Theory's multiplayer on older cards are unable to relive the good old days. Hence, with virtually no one playing PC multiplayer, it is impossible for the author to review this segment.



Spies need to be fast and agile in order to avoid being caught in the powerful firepower of the Mercenaries.







The single-player also has its problems. The game crashes sometimes, and the author is unable to quit a game successfully - the "not responding" window always pops up. Like its 360 counterpart, there is no sound played occasionally, and safes cannot be cracked ( except for the training mission in the JBA HQ ) because the directional keys do not respond. In the Shanghai mission, Sam can even walk through a wall and then fall 80 storeys down to his death! The presence of these bugs has prompted the author, like many other players worldwide, to quit playing and wait for Ubisoft to release a good patch. ( The first patch has been released but it still does not resolve many of the issues in the game. )

To note that the PC version was first delayed, like the other platforms, from its initial launch date in March to September, then November, then pushed back a week after the 360 version's launch, and it is still ridden with many bugs which should not have appeared on a well-established game, this is really a letdown by Ubisoft. Many players had thought that perhaps the delay in the launch could have been used to ensure most issues have been fixed, but to much disappointment this did not happen. Perhaps this is another reason why Ubisoft Shanghai should not be employed to develop another Splinter Cell title, after what was considered a failure in the form of Splinter Cell's second title Pandora Tomorrow.

So if you are planning to get this game - don't, at least not before a patch which can fix most of the bugs is released. And also make sure that your graphics card supports shader model 3.0 before buying.

p.s. It has been reported on the Splinter Cell forums that the Nvidia 8800GTX card, despite being the newest on the market, cannot run Double Agent. The graphics, especially Sam himself, become deformed.

---