With the recent release of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter and now Splinter Cell: Double Agent, it seems obvious that Ubi Soft is making sure their Tom Clancy line of games deliver true next-gen experiences for the 360 - and while this is mostly true, Double Agent will manage to leave most gamers doing double takes.

Sam Fisher's life has been shattered. After a routine mission ends with the death of a rookie Splinter Cell agent, he learns that his only daughter is now dead as well, the victim of an unfortunate traffic accident. With little to live for, he takes on a dangerous double agent mission that sees him infiltrating a terrorist organization and attempting to destroy it from the inside. It's great that the Splinter Cell series is getting a more in-depth and intriguing storyline, but the game unfortunately fails to really involve the player in what Sam is going through. Despite being the hardest time in his life, after losing his only daughter, a rookie agent and being deep inside a terrorist group undercover, we never really feel this from Sam. There is no character development and his daughter's death is never further explored or even mentioned. Sam seems to forget about it and becomes blatantly obvious that it was used simply as an excuse to explain Sam's willingness to accept the mission. Double Agent is loaded with missed opportunities presented by a great setup early on in the game. It's a big letdown, particularly for the long time Splinter Cell fans who were hoping to get a movie-like storyline this time around.

Enough of that though, let's move to what really made Splinter Cell popular over the last four years - the stealth gameplay. I was a huge fan of the Chaos Theory single player and Double Agent mostly remains unchanged from the last game, which is a very good thing - but not good enough to excuse the fact that it has very few new elements added in and could easily pass for Chaos Theory with additional levels. All the new gadgets, such as the explosive sticky cam or varied wall-mines, are simply modifications to existing gadgets from Chaos Theory. Though that might be acceptable on the original Xbox or PlayStation 2 versions, the Xbox 360 version of Double Agent was developed exclusively for that system by the Pandora Tomorrow team, Ubi Soft Shanghai (whereas the current-gen was done by the Chaos Theory team, Ubi Soft Montreal). It doesn't at all feel like a next-gen game, nor does it even feel like a Splinter Cell game, despite the gameplay being near on identical. Where is the major fault? The level design!

A good majority of the traditional levels take place in broad daylight and one even in a huge war-zone, with people running around everywhere. It makes a nice change to the usual darkness that accompanies Splinter Cell games, but not a good enough one to base the whole game around. The spectacular lighting SC is known for is barely present here, with only a few levels really showing off graphical power - such as a mission in Shanghai, where Sam rappels down a building high above the city - and four of the ten or so missions take place in the same exact location! Brief swimming sequences have been added to the game, with the fun ability for Sam to pull victims through thin ice, but in the end it takes away from what made Chaos Theory so great. In trying to be too next-gen with the graphics and locations, we've lost the great non-linear-yet-linear gameplay of the series. Taking out enemies seems to have far fewer options than before and the level design wasn't created based on Sam's abilities, but instead with the story in mind. I can't even recall one moment where I used the famous split-legged jump!

With the new story approach comes the game's main new feature - a trust system. Since Sam is working as a double agent you need to keep both organizations happy. The NSA, who employ Sam and sent him on this mission, and the JBA, the terrorist group bent on taking back the country by any means necessary. When an Alert triggers for instance you'll most likely lose trust with the JBA, who send you on a good majority of the missions. Throughout each level branching objectives begin to pop up, each with a negative or positive effect on one of the groups, or on both. At times you're forced to make drastic choices that will, no matter what, upset at least one group (an early example is the choice to execute a witness). This trust system is easily the best new feature of the game, as it challenges players to choose objectives wisely and adds a whole lot of extra stress and suspense to the game as a whole - however, the four levels all taking place inside the JBA headquarters, where Sam must do the terrorists' dirty work as well as find out more information via spying for the NSA, are a real strain on the game and dampen the whole experience. After completing Chaos Theory I was desperate to go back and play through the wonderfully designed levels, whereas in Double Agent I really dreaded the thought of going through those four levels again; this isn't helped at all by the lack of options when it comes to taking down foes - the level design just doesn't offer enough freedom compared to the previous games.

Double Agent's single player on the Xbox 360 is worth playing and has some really great moments, but it doesn't do anything at all to push the stealth gameplay further (the upcoming Xbox 360 and PC exclusive Splinter Cell: Conviction by the Montreal studio on the other hand promises to redefine next-generation stealth gaming!) It's a shame and further proves that Ubi Soft really should stop juggling their developers around. Just take a look at the history of the SC developers. The original Splinter Cell, developed by the Montreal studio, was widely acclaimed by gamers and critics. The sequel, Pandora Tomorrow, was switched to the Shanghai studio and, while well received, didn't fare quite as well as the original. Meanwhile, Ubi Soft Annecy developed the multiplayer mode, which went on to win various awards. Chaos Theory was swapped back to the Montreal studio and really hit a homerun everywhere, becoming the highest scored review in numerous magazines. Shanghai then nailed the multiplayer gameplay for this installment. Now we're onto the 360 version, again switched to the Shanghai studios for the single player - and guess what? It's just not as good. Montreal seems born to create the single player modes for this series, yet they can't consistently be put on that job. Meanwhile, Annecy has been given multiplayer duties once again and have completely thrown out just about anything resembling the original versus mode. If you're confused then good! It just goes to show how awkwardly, and dare I say rushed, the development has been handled.

Now that I've teased you, I'll elaborate on the multiplayer. If you loved and adored the versus and co-op modes from Chaos Theory, like me, then you're in for a huge shock. Built from the ground up, the versus mode now features 3 on 3 gameplay across absolutely huge, yet less crowded maps. Almost all of the locations have large outdoor areas, with numerous indoor sections across multiple buildings, making it nearly impossible for merc players, who play in first person and must stop the spies with massive firepower, to setup defenses. So it's fitting that the merc has no gadgets now! No mines, no spy-traps, no camera network... all they get is a floating drone that can get into otherwise unreachable areas and explode. The joy of setting up traps, placing spy devices to listen in on the other team, using the camera network to locate intruders, all of this has been thrown to the wayside. Now they get drones and can rappel off things - nothing more, nothing less.

As for spies, they're as agile as ever! Despite losing the ability to backflip off a wall or even press their body up against one, they are now much more fluid in their movement and can leap from pole to railing instantly without any animation hiccups or problems. They're incredibly fast and can even perform new 'on the run' moves that allow them to dive through windows or under objects. This is great, and needed, because they no longer have a gun, or the ability to punch mercs. All they can do is sneak up behind them and snap their neck, and this is incredibly difficult considering that the mercs retain the ability to charge and spin in a 360, instantly knocking a spy out. Spy gadgets include only one of the following - syringe to give extra health, smoke grenades, flash grenades or a jamming sensor that throws off the mercs' otherwise constant and built in spy detection equipment.

For fans of the original mode, this bears very little resemblance. Since mercs can constantly detect spies through motion tracking that's always on and a sensor that tells them exactly how far from the spy they are, the fun of setting up your own defense and monitoring the subtle sound meter from before is completely gone. The movement for mercenaries also feels more arcade like, losing the feeling of being a real soldier carefully hunting down spies and feeling more like an arcade game where you simply follow your equipment to the spy, who is easily identified by the bright white outline when standing up. Playing as spies is also less tense, as it has been switched to being more based on running fast and getting away than actually hiding and sneaking.

Now that I'm done ranting, I'll go into what is actually good about this new mode (I say mode, because it only has one gameplay mode whereas Chaos Theory had three). The spies must infiltrate numerous bases and hack one of four terminals using their newly created wristband device. The hacking is always done from a distance, even if the player is right up against the terminal, and the distance they are from the device determines the speed of the hack. Once they obtain a full file they must get out alive and return it to their base - something that is much harder than it sounds when playing against experienced enemies. Handy maps and HUD markers make finding the terminals a breeze, even in the massive levels, but teamwork doesn't play quite as big a role for spies in terms of actually helping each other to specific areas. Players still need to communicate and relay information to really get by the merc defences though, so there is still a strong element of teamwork involved. As for mercs, they have to keep the spies from getting full files (which they can get from just one terminal, or a combination of any of them) and keep each other informed of the spy locations, but honestly, playing as one is a little boring when you can't do anything but stand around and point your flashlight, hoping to find a spy.

The best addition to the versus mode, among a huge list of subtractions, is the fact that you can turn off nearly any light you see. The added agility is really great, but turning off lights is the only thing that Chaos Theory was really missing. Spies simply use their arm-device to hack and they can break any light from a distance, as well as any window. The mode does offer a lot of fun if you can get over how big a departure it is, and it's also way more accessible to players who couldn't deal with the learning curve of Chaos Theory, which is doubtless a good thing that will bring in a whole new generation of Splinter Cell multiplayer fans.

Unfortunately there's little customization like in Chaos Theory, although players can add bots for the merc team now, which is also where the co-op mode factors in. While the PS2 and Xbox versions of Double Agent get a co-op mode resembling Chaos Theory's excellent entry, with around 15 levels of action, the only co-op you'll find on the 360 is exactly like the versus mode but with extra objectives and mercs controlled by bots. Essentially it's a training mode for the real online attraction, but with medals and rewards attached - a far, far cry from the superb mode offered last year and on other consoles in Double Agent.

As I mentioned earlier, the graphics in Double Agent are quite spectacular but fail to really blow away the players like SC has done so well in the past. Great weather effects have been thrown in and really make some levels very atmospheric, but the overall look of the game mostly feels like a slightly updated Chaos Theory and not the next-generation experience gamers expect from the likes of Ghost Recon and Gears of War. The sound, like every SC before it, is also a crucial part of the game and though very good, doesn't factor in as often as you'd expect. Various surfaces aren't used often, so the gamer rarely has to pay attention to what he's walking on and there is no longer a sound meter to display how much noise you're making. Sneaking up behind enemies feels very automatic and pre-determined by your pace, instead of the actual noise you're creating, which is a real shame. The music once again features electronic-techno infused dramatic tunes that pick up in pace based upon your actions. Whilst sneaking up behind enemies the music gets louder and louder with every step until you secure your target, at which point it goes away completely, making for a very dramatic and innovative effect that is best described as an adult version of Sly Cooper.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent is a great game that's certainly worth playing if you enjoyed any previous Splinter Cell titles, but don't expect to see a huge leap in terms of gameplay, or the ingenious level design of years gone by. In a lot of ways Double Agent is a letdown in comparison to its predecessors, but if they didn't exist and this was a brand new game then it would doubtless be hailed as a classic. Fans who focused on the online gameplay of Chaos Theory should approach Double Agent with caution however, and perhaps instead of grabbing it from behind and interrogating it further you'll want to let it walk on by, oblivious to what's just happened…

Reviewed by Christopher Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).