It's not unheard-of for game developers to make a sequel that is much darker, more "film noir", and packed with more gore, violence, and grit than the original tale. In this case, however, it is not just a noir sequel, but a return to the very roots from which Splinter Cell came from: Tom Clancy's writing. Double Agent is much closer to the original Sam Fisher's actions and missions. He has a mission and a goal, but he's not constantly connected to his agency and with a bunch of gadgets and technology. He must make weighty decisions on his own, and make use of his environment to sneak about. Finally, Ubisoft is making this the core of the game, with some astonishing results.

Sounding something like a season of the TV show 24, Sam's life is turned upside down with one event that leads to a domino effect that spirals out of control. Sam's daughter is killed in a gruesome car wreck, bringing Sam to the staggering lows of depression and removing Sam from the field. Just before he goes completely over the edge and leaves the NSA permanently, his contact at Third Echelon offers him the most desperate mission he's ever undertaken: become an undercover operative and infiltrate a terrorist cell on US soil before they can put a devastating plan into action.

Every entry into the Splinter Cell series has revolutionized something about both stealth games and video games in general. With the first title came a whole new way to look at stealth gameplay. In Pandora Tomorrow, Ubisoft revolutionized multiplayer gameplay and brought the story to new heights. And, finally, with Chaos Theory came even more multiplayer options - including cooperative missions. While Ubisoft is adding a bit of new design and a revamp for multiplayer combat, it looks like with Double Agent the major change to gameplay will be coming in squarely on the single player edge.

Players will take control of Sam Fisher once again, but this time he won't have such strong backing from Third Echelon. With few gadgets, nearly no communication, and no pardon from his actions, Fisher is put in prison in order to join John Brown's Army, a terrorist organization operating within US borders. While infiltrating this organization, Fisher will have to break himself and someone with ties to the terrorists out of the prison, rendezvous with the organization and from there he still has to walk a very fine line between criminal and operative.

Throughout the game players will decide how Fisher responds to many situations. At many points in the game, the organization will ask you to do something obviously illegal either for their own gain or to have you prove your allegiance. It is up to the player how many of these he'll do, how far he'll go, and just where to draw the line between terrorist and spy. Double Agent puts the narrative and plot of the story not onto one track for players to accomplish, but on a network of tracks, with many ways a player could handle situations and desperate choices. Many of these could lead to saving the world from a devastating terrorist attack, while at least as many (probably more) will lead to sure destruction and failure. It's up to the player to control Fisher's moves between negotiating within the terrorist army and convincing Third Echelon that his actions are necessary and he hasn't gone rogue as time runs out until the terrorists' plot unfolds.

It looks like Ubisoft may have another great breath of life for the Tom Clancy-inspired series. Splinter Cell: Double Agent is a new take on stealth, on survival, and on storytelling which could prove to be a fantastic journey into the underbelly of crime or a poorly conceptualized Choose Your Own Adventure style gimmick. Either way, the graphics are looking stunning, even on current generation systems. Due out in September on PC, Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Gamecube, Double Agent is one to watch.