Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agentfor the Xbox 360 turned out to be quite an intriguing chapter in the long-running stealth series and another notch in the belt of lead character Sam Fisher. Now we come across the Nintendo Wii edition, which is essentially the current-gen version with some control quirks and touched-up graphics. Unfortunately, the game comes up short.
Players once again take control of Sam Fisher as he tackles another mission to save America. This time, he goes undercover into a terrorist cell to see what makes it work, inside and out. This means not only having to complete missions for the good ol' US of A, but also for the fiendish group. Sometimes Fisher will find himself in a rough spot, having to "off" an innocent person in order to prove his loyalty or perform some other violent act that will take a toll on his conscience. His decisions determine the outcome of the game, and with different endings, players should feel encouraged to play through the adventure more than once.
In order to differentiate the game from the other versions, Ubisoft took advantage of the Wii's controllers. The Nunchuk lets Fisher move around, and jerking it gives him the ability to jump or pull himself up on a ledge. The D-pad on the remote switches off between his many utilities (snake cam and other visual settings), while the other buttons enable his attacking and firearm abilities. Sadly, aiming takes too much effort. Players have to swing around the Wii-mote in order to move the camera, and this can be a real pain when it comes to making precision shots with your gun or trying to keep an eye on enemies while sneaking around. At least this issue can be overcome with practice.
The visuals won't impress next-gen lovers. Double Agent features pretty good animations and decent level designs, but the game looks current-gen. The mouths don't animate, some details are hard to see, and there's the whole issue with the camera angles again. Audio fares much better, with a quality cinematic score and some strong voice acting, with Michael Ironside once again filling the role of Fisher.
As for multiplayer, well, there isn't any. The online multiplayer mode from the Xbox 360 and PC is missing. That means no getting online and doing a spy versus mercenary online scenario with Nintendo's machine. In its place are several co-op missions that can be played with a friend. While that's hardly any kind of consolation prize, at least it's something. The co-op missions can be fun, especially while ambushing enemies and forming a two-person ladder. Unfortunately, the novelty wears off quick.
Then there's the bizarre save system. While Double Agent saves when checkpoints have been reached, it uses only one save file. As a result, players will be unable to go back and redo botched missions.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent feels more like a junior agent. It's got exciting stealth gameplay and the controls offer some fun once players get used to them, but the lack of multiplayer, a strong visual appearance and a user-friendly save system make this a weak but enhanced port of the Xbox or PlayStation 2 version.
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