Customer Reviews

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

As most people are aware, Splinter Cell is part of the unique game genre called stealth FPS (First-Person Shooters). Generally, the Splinter Cell games are sharp, detailed, and challenging. Splinter Cell: Double Agent is no exception.

Ubisoft has brought several new features to the Splinter Cell game in this latest edition, including unlockable gadgets (based on mission objectives), factions, flexable mission objectives, and an atmosphere there your choices actually impact the game. Once I was able to get the game running, I am instantly immersed into the exciting and heart-pounding environment.

Ah, but that is the real challenge it seems. It took me several hours and many more visits to various trouble-shooting forums to get the game up and running. Here is a laundry list of problems I have encountered during the first few hours after getting the game:

1. Autoloaded menu bogs down PC to the point where I could not move the mouse. I Ended up finding the Setup.exe file on the DVD and executing the installer directly.

2. Installer has problems with Daemon Tools virtual ROM program. I had to remove Daemon to get SC to complete installation.

3. The main game .exe (pointed to by desktop icon) does not load the game. I end up getting an error stating **Must Check**. To get past this, you need to create a shortcut to the Offline .exe file and append the switch "-ll" to the pathing information in the shortcut. As a side note, the Online (Multiplayer) .exe file loads fine without any changes.

4. Once you are able to load the Offline (solo) game, the intro movie has a tendency to fall into a loop and continuously play. I ended up having to navigate to the movies directory on the program folder and rename the intro movie so it does not load.

5. The ingame save menu is horrible. I cannot seem to be able to rename the saves with unique names, but a location and date stamp as least makes it useable. As a side note, quicksaves appear in the save-game list, but cannot be loaded when reentering a game. Quicksaves only appear to be usable when the "Load Last Save" option is available.

6. Exit movie loop..... at this point, I am usually so frustrated that I just do a hard-reboot.

If Ubisoft had done another 3 or so weeks of development time, this game would be wonderful. I can't help but think that they prioritized the concole versions above the PC version and PC users are the ones suffering because of it. They have release one path for the games, but as far as I can tell, it does little to fixe any of the problems listed above.

What do you do you for the 4th entry in a series as consistently amazing as Splinter Cell? Give it to a developer who will completely destroy it. Want a game as rock solid and bug free as the first three? It's not here. Want the same sweat inducing stealth action? It's gone. Replaced by a convenient piece of technology that glows green when you're in cover (sometimes) and red when you're not (sometimes). Want to reassign some of the control keys like you can in all the other games in this series as well as every other decent video game released in the last 10 years? Impossible. Apparently, sometimes it works to manually edit an .INI file in one of the directories. You'll have to Google this solution though. You won't hear it from Ubisoft.

I used to look at the Ubisoft logo as the sign of a stable, quality game. Not anymore.

Do the research before you buy this game. Even after two patches, the bugs are rampant. And if you haven't played the other 3 games in this series, do yourself a favor and pick them up first.

This is simply a bad port of a game made for the XBox 360. SC: Chaos Theory runs flawlessly on my machine at 1680x1050 with all of my settings on high, but I can't play this game with a decent frame rate on any graphical setting. The game has bugs, graphical errors and crashes constantly for many users. The game doesn't even support wide screen.

If I ignore the technical problems with this game and actually get to play it, I am disappointed with the game play itself. I guess the developers thought it would be better if the game didn't have a HUD. Sorry, all you get is a circle that glows yellow if you are spotted by an enemy. There are no shadows just in between; you are either exposed or hidden. The game is a lot brighter than previous ones and the bad guys are losing their eyesight with every Splinter Cell release (some bright areas are completely safe and others will reveal you, have fun figuring out where to walk).

There are big annoying buttons that pop up in the middle of your screen when you can interact with an object. I have not played this game on another platform, and I am not anti-console; but I have always believed games are "dumbed down" for them, and in this case the PC gets the short end of the stick with a garbage port. Ubisoft just wanted quick money and they didn't take the time to make a game worth it for Splinter Cell fans (they didn't even take the time to remove the Xbox 360 instructions from the PC game menus). Stick with the Xbox version and don't give Ubisoft your money unless they release some major patch changes.

My system exceeds the requirements of this game by more than two times over for the prcessor and four times for all other requirements. The game is on patch 1.02 now and still has all the flaws mentioned by other reviewers and more. Game play is awkward, noncustomisable and glitchy but as a big SC fan I can be forgiving of that. Moreover, there is no sliding scale of your covert or overt status. You are either "green" and invisible, "yellow" and visible, or "red" and under attack. Environmental cues to your status are poorly thought out and lack both clarity and continuity. I can forgive even that. I can even forgive saving issues because I will play a level over again until it goes down perfectly so mid-level saves are of little consequence. However I can not accept bugs that effect game progress directly, like the inability to use your safe cracking tool in the Shanghai mission. You can enter into the tool when the safe unlock symbol shows up but can not control the tool and can only exit out again. This causes major loss of trust with both the NSA and JBA because you cant steal documents or samples for the afore mentioned parties. There by not allowing you to complete the level or progress any further in the game. The tool functioned in the JBA training mission, but this level appears to have been dropped directly from the console code onto the PC code without the benefit of editing the control commands.

PC gamers are already getting the shaft with delayed release dates and exclusive contracts with consoles. When we pave the way with games like Halo and Far Cry and tell control mashing monkeys what they should like sequels of those quality titles and games similar to these rarely come out again on the platform. If and when they do they are street dated behind the console releases often by months and/or are glitchy and poorly converted. It is getting to the point where most PC games are not worth buying and the console system controllers haven't improved enough to be worth using. I have been a PC gamer for over 17 years now 15 since Wolenstein 3D, and we are in gaming limbo. Thank you Ubisoft for wasting my money!

You know, the PC Gamers are what helped make Splinter Cell so popular and to release this buggy POS was a total slap in the face to a number of EXTREMELY loyal Splinter Cell gamers.

Cannot bind mouse keys, game crashes to desktop. Just an absolute pile of garbage and a waste of $50. I am praying for a patch so that I can at least play the damn thing but the folks at UBIsoft obiviously did not have their hearts in the PC version and are focusing all of their time on the Console.

I told my Nephew the day we can configure a Mouse and Keyboard on an XBox is the day the "real gamers" decend on XBox live and they won't know what hit them. I guess the PC Gaming days are drawing to an end.

DAMN!

Disapointing, the game is loaded with bugs (already patched 1.02), it's impossible to play 10 minutes (or less) without a crash, running in Dual Core, 4 Gigs RAM, X1600, the game have great graphics and no slowdowns but as the last reviewer, I have the same opinion, Ubisoft just worried about cash and nothing more, worst, since the game get out they didn't worry at all in getting people testing the game and releasing the fixes, needed. Saving the game while playing is just waste of time, the save seems not to be done ??? The new presence system with yellow/red light is stupid, we can be face to face with guards/enemies and nothing happens if the led don't turn red ??? Stupid AI, I was able to open safe box with enemy on the side, blind ??. Well, the game was maded for let them $$$ and don't show respect for players, mainly the fans like me. The game line isn't bad at all, but the bugs kill all the fun. Advice, save the money or get it in next months when they are forced to sell it for $5.

Loaded this 10gig monster on my pc (P4 3.4 2 gig + Nividia 6800) which ran Bioshock (a game 2 years older than this) OK.

First cut scene slow and jerky- resetting graphics doesn't save right, next time you go in they are reset to highest settings. Known bug, check the net.

Character response time is SLOW. Tried training missions, can't see anything as they are artistic all white rooms with really bad wireframe wall definitions.

I'm literally thinking of throwing this game in the trash. I am a huge fan of Splinter Cell for the XBOX, did not get an XBOX 360, got a new computer instead.

Ubisoft has done an injustice to everyone who bought this game. As I said, Bioshock loaded and ran fine on my PC and graphics card.

Do not buy this game unless you like reading various internet help forums.

Let me first start off by saying how much of a Tom Clancy and Splinter Cell fan I am, and it gives me great disappointment to have to give this game a poor rating.

Sam Fisher has become my favorite game character ever. Let me also say that it's great that Ubisoft decided to give the SC saga a different twist, rather than the orgindary, straight forward NSA hunt for conspiriters. The storyline to this game had the potential to be one of the greatest, but it turned out to be the worst.

The storyline in on it's own was well thought out, and most likely by Clancy, but it seems that Ubi took it into their own hands to add these ridiculous missions, and on the same map which is repeated 4 times. If you decide to buy the game, you will see what I mean.

And also, as many other people have mentioned. BUGS BUGS BUGS! Ubi certainly did not waste any time put this into distribution. I guess perhaps they were more worried about getting them on the shelves of your local EA Stores and Walmarts, than beta testing the game over and over, and making sure the game was 99.9% bug-free (of course, nobody's perfect).

In conclusion, it is safe to say that Ubi did not pay attention to detail while developing this game. They left too many bugs for the End Users to have to deal with, and an unfinished storyline with many plot holes, and missions you will be asking yourself "What the hell is the point of this mission?" over and over again.

Again the potential was there, but since they rushed it out the door, Double Agent is completely dead. I would not recommend spending $50.00, or even half that price for this game. I hope that Ubi recognizes the disappointments of the game players, and improves the next Splinter Cell. To make a comparison, Ubi basically built a hot looking Ferrari, but with a V4 engine.

Bottom line is, if you are new to the Splinter Cell gameplay, get the 3rd one (Chaos Theory). If you are a Splinter Cell addict, consider waiting for the next SC (I'm sure Ubi will be making many modifications). No patch in the world is going to save this game.

I dont know what planet D. Ackerman lives on. The game is far from solid.
Yes I have a killer rig too and yes I get to see some pretty nice graphics.
That my friends is where it ends.

False advertising - Unlocks dont work at all.
Save game corruptions
Crash to desktop on many occasions
Multiplayer module is pointless

I managed to have a bit of fun in a few parts of the game but its not worth
it if you have not bought it yet.

This is just another example of the death of PC gaming. All the money
making is on the console side. This is a blatent grab for some extra cash
from the PC owners. It's so VERY obvious litte to no QA / Beta testing was
done on the PC version.
Warm up and practice your mindless joystick twitching PC Gamers, its the future....

After GRAW an This I will not purchase another Ubisfot game again.
This game crashes more than my teenage son. I have been a long time fan of Splinter Cell but no more they think they can port a console title to PC for some extra cash, and no one can do anything about it because of return policies on software and games. I hope someone starts a class action suit I`ll get in line.