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You actually receive your mission orders in realtime in the mission, not before it. The graphics are polished, and the storyline feels better. This is possibly the best Splinter-Cell out today. It has all of the cool gadgets in the older games and includes really top-notch new ones.
This is totally a newbie's review.I thought the game was really good. That's great. I've seen a lot of reviews comparing them and I can't speak to that. My only beef is with the nature of the game in spirit versus execution. First a confession, I never played a SC game before Double Agent.
I just wasn't feeling that.Besides that, the game was a lot of fun and I would recommend it to fans of the genre. If you're going to the trouble to create such great openended missions, the consequences of your execution should also be equally well crafted. You're supposed to be a spy who goes in covertly, steals stuff, kills guys, and various other sneaky things. There are consequences for this but it doesn't feel real enough. The storyline was interesting. With the exception of a few key characters you can go in guns blazing and bring the house down. The voice acting was great, especially Michael Ironside. (the Thief and Hitman series come to mind) But SC:DA doesn't really make you do that.
I don't know why I didn't, but I didn't. I love games like that. Go ye forth and spy. Every mission had a multitude of way to complete it. The missions were very varied and the graphics were really good.
I know it is just a game but this game calls for patience and thought. I have probably spent thousands of dollars over the years purchasing games for my son to play on one of his systems. Finally a game that he cannot just breeze through. Normally he flies through levels but even with the game difficulty level set at "easy" he is really struggling to progress. This game was actually far more than the typical shoot everyone, the more people you kill the better player you are mindless bunch that he was used to playing. This game made my son think and use skills to reach each new level and the skills involved much more than simply the ability to shoot.
- Map - don't know where to go. Awwwww. I miss the light and sound meters, they were cool. Just duck down for a couple of seconds, no prob. How much effort could it take to get some voice actors into a studio to some new lines.
- Very very interesting psychological training levels (although this is far too brief and actually doesn't really train newbies on most weapons and gadgets). They'll say things like "let's try something different, fall back." and other various quotes from older Splinter Cell games (Chaos Theory). Logically, it only makes sense if you have some sort of Halo character with a recharging shield or something similar. The enemy is mostly domestic so no one can claim anti-Arab, anti-Muslim or racism. Still an excellent game and I'm sure they'll give it a sequel.
Sam ain't got that, WWII soldiers certainly didn't, neither do characters in other games - you might be able to give Gears of War a pass because they are wearing some sort of goofy suit in the future, but they really should either explain it (or explain it away) for this and other games. Chaos Theory was a little better IMO. The color system is also redundant (they have it permanently on screen in 2 different places) -- why not have only 1 color alert (on his shoulder strap) and the light/sound meters for flavor. Get shot a bunch of times. This really helps too. - Excellent main character voice acting, especially Michael Ironside. - they took away the light and sound meters in favor of a lame traffic-light Homeland Security style color system. - I never once had to consult the internet due to bad design, didn't know where to go, what to do, glitches, etc.
Double-plus good on that. They used to show you an exact arc of where the grenade would land - this was realistic because throwing stuff into an exact location is fairly easy in real life. CONS: - Deplorable recycled enemy voice acting during combat. There is no urgency to get to a health kit or be more careful if your health is down.
PROS: - Unreal Engine - No forced grab cover as with many new games. Infinite health changes the context of gameplay. Why. - Excellent music. Look at the map.
- SAVE ANYWHERE. It's a revolt against the old Doom health/armor tradition. I never understood irrational "ends-justify-the-means" ethics, which this game obviously employs, but it's certainly realistic to our ultra-nationalistic, ultra-militaristic government, so using it as a plot device in this game makes perfect sense. Branching storylines and alternate endings as in a special edition DVD. Now they just have a yellow light which indicates only the exact moment of vulnerability, not when you are getting close.
The light meter allowed you to see when you were APPROACHING vulnerability of exposure. It really helps. The sound meter similarly allowed you to see when you were able to surprise enemies more easily due to loud ambient noise. I don't get this with the new games. It's annoying.
Not anymore because it's gone. - infinite health nonsense like in Call of Duty 2, Gears of War, Rainbow Six Vegas, etc. no med kits, health packs, etc. Even children can do it, so I gather an expert military veteran can do it. Tons of them are from the exact same voice actor, which again is from older games and there is not even an attempt to make him sound like a different guy each time. - grenade throwing system downgrade.
- Complicated story with interesting morality. - too many timed missions (entire levels are timed in this game in which you must complete complicated tasks and aren't even able to run - you're forced to walk). You could get a bum off the street to do this. - Sammy gotta girlfriend. Your enemies will even switch from new voice actors to completely different (old) voice actors if you enter combat.
Enjoyed the game like the straight missions better than the double agents gigs.
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