Working undercover, TVG checks out the changes that await Sam's next-generation debut...

With his gruff exterior and collection of high-tech gadgets, Sam Fisher has become a popular videogame protagonist amongst gamers and Tom Clancy fans alike with the Splinter Cell series. Despite a monumental leak at Ubisoft recently revealing the fifth title in the series, Sam Fisher makes a return in the next few weeks with the release of Splinter Cell: Double Agent - though things are not quite what they seem this time around, as you can probably conclude from the game's title.

Split between current and next-generation, Ubisoft are employing both Montreal and Shanghai studios to ensure the title makes a creditable appearance on the span of formats that Double Agent is making an appearance on. Previously responsible for the second title in the series, Pandora Tomorrow, Ubisoft's Shanghai studios are looking after the Xbox 360 and PC versions to make the most out of them. Multiplayer features have also been divided by the split, something that seems to be a contentious issue amongst fans at this stage.

Commencing shortly after the events of Chaos Theory, Double Agent begins with a routine mission in Iceland, challenging Sam to work alongside his potential successor to avert a missile strike occurring at a disguised geothermal plant. Playing similarly to the co-op missions featured in Chaos Theory, the opening sequence highlights a number of changes that the team have incorporated as both Splinter Cell operatives work together to infiltrate the plant. Instead of dropping players straight into the action, Double Agent focuses on the insertion sequences that lead up to the mission, whether that's a swim in the North Atlantic Ocean, punching through the ice and dragging guards to their death, or free-falling above Okhotsk whilst trying to deploy a parachute.

Despite the reassuring noise of Fisher's goggles kicking in for the first time, Ubisoft have taken the opportunity to change things quite considerably with Double Agent. Most notable is the attempt to clear the screen of all the clutter, removing the health, light and sound gauges that defined previous titles in the series. Health-kits have been replaced by keeping away from the action for a brief period, whilst light is now indicated by a solitary symbol displayed on the screen and on Fisher's back, changing between Green, Yellow and Red dependant on the surrounding light. The lack of a high-tech styled interface is countered to some degree with the inclusion of a map, marking the first time that the position of his opponents is alerted to Fisher so readily. Such satellite images naturally lend a different feel to Splinter Cell from the onset that will probably split opinions, although the image becomes distorted with static once Sam begins to move, the enemy positions are still displayed. It's different, but if it's a little too out of the ordinary, the option is always there to switch it off.

Discovering that his daughter has been killed after abruptly ending the missile launch, Double Agent portrays another side to Sam Fisher's character, one that has lost hope and seems to be living on the edge. The premise behind Double Agent finds the Third Echelon member working undercover in an attempt to infiltrate a terrorist organisation known as John Brown's Army (JBA), though you're never entirely sure whether Sam is playing by his own rules or not and what the true intentions behind his motives are. Sam's mission begins with him sent to prison, his period of grief disguised as a slip towards the bottle and crime. Tasked with inciting a riot to cover a breakout with his cellmate and JBA member, the mission sets the style for numerous missions thereinafter, removing the gadgets and weaponry associated with the series to-date and placing slightly less of an emphasis on the stealth elements.

Sam is taken to the JBA HQ upon his escape, where the game's split path structure becomes increasingly evident. Trust is the key aspect in the game, carrying out an objective for the NSA may come at the risk of causing suspicion amongst members of the JBA, whilst wanton violence and bending the rules will quickly arouse the irk of Lambert back at the NSA. Such early examples include completing an initiation course to show your worth to the JBA, but with the question of finishing it quickly enough to bug the JBA's satellite and upload a Trojan virus on behalf of the NSA; or being challenged to execute a hostage taken by the JBA – do you follow their wishes and take an innocent life, or risk them discovering your true identity?

Tasked with missions from the JBA, Sam is naturally stripped of his goggles and gadgets, forced to engage in combat that is more 'traditional'. Based upon your decisions throughout the game, Sam reportedly gains access to high-tech weapons from the NSA that will arouse the suspicion of the RBA, or conversely unlock black-market weapons by siding with the terrorists. In between missions, you'll be transported to the JBA HQ, areas of which become increasingly available to Sam, and his mission, based upon his level of trust with the terrorist organisation.

The concept is welcoming and injects a new lease of life into the Splinter Cell series, however, we have some reservations at this stage that we hope to see ironed out in the game's final polishing stages. Obviously designed as a method to avoid the "trial-and-error" nature that has characterised the series and provide a more organic structure to the game, the preview build still seemed to exhibit frustrating stop-start moments, with one situation in particular requiring a complete restart of the level, stuck in an endless mission-over loop. The system seems to suggest a degree of freedom and scope previously unseen in Splinter Cell games, where the player has a large choice in the direction of the game. However, our brief playtest through the game's opening stages seemed to be a largely linear, routine affair, restricted merely to success or failure based upon the, at times awkward, trust gauge. Hopefully the game will pan out as Ubisoft have suggested, with multiple end sequences and the possible death of main characters, based around the choices and actions of the player.

With the many graphical improvements (normal mapping, HDR lighting) made to the Unreal 2.5 engine for Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, it seems that Splinter Cell: Double Agent is shaping up to offer a slightly under whelming debut for Fisher on the next-generation. Using an enhanced version of the Unreal 2.5 engine that has been behind the entire series so far, Double Agent fails to excite in the same way that Ubisoft's GRAW so effortlessly managed. Strangely, it's the outdoor locations with bleaching bloom effects and the ability to see the visual detail that promise to provide the game's most memorable moments. It's not just the visuals that seem to throw up questions at this stage, the dynamic sound effects and score also seem limp in comparison to the Amon Tobin and Jesper Kyd creations of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. Of course, these are all subjective issues, particularly at this stage; however, Double Agent just left us feeling a little subdued - perhaps Sam's seminal last adventure left our expectations a little too high, though we'll reserve judgement until the final build arrives.

Perhaps because of the new map feature, the changes to the dynamic score or possibly because the AI still needs a little refining, the sense of tension and foreboding atmosphere felt a little lacking in the stages that we've seen so far. Though that should be little reason to doubt that the overall game will offer an experience fitting of the series, with one or two twists chucked in.