"Splinter Cell: DA" Multiplayer 360 Impressions
If you've got a 360, go on the Marketplace and download the Double Agent online demo now. You won't regret it, I promise. The first thing you will notice is that there's a small chance you'll find a game that will start perfectly. The first few hours it was available I never even got past the joining message. If I did find a game, the host 6 times out of 10 would end it, and back to the drawing board I would go. Very frustrating, but it is a demo.

The second, and most jaw dropping thing you will notice is the ease of use. Whether you end up with spy or mercenary, the button setup is incredibly simple and the learning curve is about 10 minutes until you're diving and shooting like the best of them. Spies have been disarmed this time around, limiting you to stealthy melee, electronic neutralization, and good old fashioned confusion. Animations are much smoother: every spy moves like a cat burglar with the runs.

Most of what the spies do is run, hide, and use the keypad on their forearm to remotely hack terminals. It's incredibly fun. Simply walking up to a pipe will smoothly transition into an animation of you climbing it, and jumping onto the pipe does the same thing. Again, I cannot stress how smooth it is. For added agility, holding the right bumper when running toward a window, hole in the ceiling tiles, or low vent will allow you to smoothly crash through, climb up, or slide under any of these handy escape routes. Compared to Chaos Theory, these guys are Olympic gold medalists.

Mercenaries are also much better off. Instead of having four different view choices, the motion detector is built into the regular visor and the flashlight can be focused for clarity and discretion. A drone is also available for getting into those hard to reach places, and it comes equipped with a fairly deadly self destruct. Ammo is unlimited, but grenades and drones aren't, so you'll have to visit the briefing room (spawn) to refill.

Looking forward to seeing more when Double Agent is released later this month.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 16, 2006 at 9:50 AM.