It took me 14 day with a 12 day break to finish this awful game.
I got the PC version of Splinter Cell: Double Agent for half price since I liked the PS2 version. The game came with a patch 1.02 cd so I patched quickly and started playing. My graphics card is ATI FireGL (for CAD work) and the launcher told me that there may be problems. There were actually no graphical glitches but the game crashed every 10-15 minutes. I somehow managed to play all the way to the infamous box hacking puzzle and stoppe because I have had it then. after something like two weeks I went back to the game and downloaded patch 1.02a and... it seems it fixed it. Really? Why didn't they just box it with THAT patch? The difference between 1.02 and 1.02a is playable vs unplayable.
In Double Agent Sam Fisher is informed that his daughter was killed in an accident and suffers a mental breakdown. He is offered a different job to infiltrate terrorist organization by the name of James Brown Army (JBA). In order to do that he must go to jail and gain trust of one of its members. Later he must prevent JBA detonating nuclear device. He is a little like Leonardo DiCaprio in "Departed" - they kno they have got a snitch but they can't figure it out =) Well, the story pretty much works.PS2 and PS3 version differ a little. Main elements are the same but some detail differ.
What is not said is that the PS2 version is the default story while the PC is put together its pieces. The cut scenes are mostly the same but they don't fit to the story on PC. In the first mission Sam escapes by grabbing a rope from a friendly helicopter - but in the cut scene we see him run the helicopter standing on the ice shelf. That's right, in PS2 we escape on foot and it makes sense to run to the helicopter. Another thing is that in PS2 there the final fight on top of the building and a cutscene after that, quite impressive btw with great music. In PC version we still get to see this cutscene but as a addition to credits after the game but I have no idea why it is there because there is no office building mission!
Also about storytelling - in PS2 version there were different versions of news cast when credits were rolling depenging on players choice. In PC version the final news seem not to mention other game events at all.
In PS2 verion it is said that Lambert is posing as your weapons dealer and is later caught as a NSA agent. Fair enough. In PC version it is only said that he was caught inside the base. What was he doing there? It really looks like they had to incorporate the same story to a different game.
One of the main plot elements from the last gen version - Sam and Enrica is totally absent on PC. You can't even tell they like each other if you don't find the secret sequence where they kiss. In the last gen version they they've spent the whole mission together and she was mentioned in the ending movie. In PC it didn't even mattered if she lived or not.
Oh, the ending makes no sense because Sam completes all of his assigments and later he is supposedly chased by NSA. Why? In PS2 version he killed some goverment black ops agents because he lost another person he cared about. That made sense. The PC version doesn't.
The voice actors do a good job but it is hard not to notice the uninspired writing. Gone is the dark humor when you catch unsuspecting guards. There is almost no point in sneaking on anybody because they have nothing to say. The main characters can be grabbed - instead they fave a fight sequence. Whis is dull because in PS2 verion the whole challenge was to get them and listen to their last words. It was especially satisfying to catch Moss whose team consisted of 4 guys with night vision goggles. Also the PC version had to cut the most interesting cutscenes with best lines from the characters - like "What have you done to the rest of my men? Sam: Go check. I'll wait here" and "What does it make you? A soldier? A pawn? ... good bye mister Fisher!" - maybe it was a bit like a bond movie but hell, I loved the way Emile Dufrasne was talking.
The gameplay is pretty much like other Splinter Cell games with the addition of trust system. It makes sense to have two bars - both terrorists and NSA may trust you at the same time. Although the results of it are almost nonexistant. Of course you will loose when terrorist will no longer trust you but there is no alternative. Having NSA trust will only change the ending. JBA trust does nothing at all. There are awards (new gadgets) but only for certain objectives. The gadgets themself are useless - sure you have more ways of dissposing enemies but it is so easy already that you don't need any more. Why would you ever use landmines, gas grenades and taser on a single guard? They are mostly single and sometimes there is two of them. You could as well strangle all of them.
What they have added to PC version is more mini games which is BS. You have hacking and lock breaking. Fair enough. But then you have mine assembly which is ridiculously easy and has to be done 10 times! The obective is to press the button to lower the detonator while monitoring the green point is it the center. Half way through the game there is a hacking puzzle. Basically you need to complete Sudoku on a cube! I don't want to do math homework in a video game!
But wait for this - you know whats the final challenge of the game? 3 mini games, yey! There is a safe type lock, there is hacking and there is arm/disarm puzzle. Wow. I have already wrote that there is no cut scene and so, the end is terribly unsatisfying. There is an extra mission after the credits but as well it is not satisfying at all.
On top of many unnecessary gadget Sam now has less moves. The cooperative moves are nearly absent from the single player campaign because you play all the mission alone (apart from 5 minutes when you rescue Hanza). Also Sam can't do "splits" - running up the wall in narrow space and supporting his weight high above. This was one of the best moves in PS2 version.
Enemies still can turn around instantaneously, which I guss was in all Splinter Cell games. Also many times Sam was clearly visible but the stealth indicator was green so enemies didn't see him. In Double Agent PC it is ridiculous - with default settings it looks like daylight in every shaded spot. How did they managed that? This leads to many stupid mistakes because the played can't tell where its safe.
This gets me to another point - mission design. In Double Agent for PC you almost never have to use the treadmark night vision goggles!!! That takes away one of the best aspects. There are like 2 or 3 cameras in the whole game so there is no point in using the "electric" view. There is no steamy missions so using the thermal view also not required (although you can throw smoke grenades). And the night vision, as I stated before, is useless in very bright environments. Also the game consists of mission in the field and those in JBA headquarters (total 4), which really makes you thing the game is very limited. Also the things you do in headquarters are boring - you have to record the voice, scan fingerprints, search files and scan retinas of every JBA member. I can't tell whats the point of that. Finding background info will add a couple of sentences about the character but scanning fingerprints and retinas only unlocks certain doors. Why have doors react to different thing (like fingerprint, retina or voice) if they all have the same display (all look the same)? I would like to see Lambert pin more crimes on the JBA mamber with their voice or finger print but No, you get nothing.
Common things are still there: some enemies are psychic and when their buddy gets killed they can tell straight away where the shot came from.
In the last mission it became more aparent to me that it is increasingly stupid that Sam can't use a single weapon that lies on the floor. I went around shooting lights and I went out of ammo. I had only 4 guys to go and they would be so easy to dispatch with the rifle. In one of the early mission you can pick up a stun gun. I would like to see more of that.
The graphics are quite good. Most of the characters are fine. Only Sams face changed shape a little and he has this rather dumb expression on his face all the time. I remeber it differently from previous game. Maybe its nothing.
To sum up: Double Agent for PC plays nothing like any other Splinter Cell game. It seems to be patched up from the original story which is present in the old gen version. The trust factor is fine but in the end it does nothing than change the ending (and not so much). Much of the old arsenal of Sam becomes useless because of very poor level design and forgiving enemies. There is simply no reason to buy this game unless you can't get the old gen version and need to know the story. Even completing it feels lacking with no end cut scene and no answer as why Sam parts with NSA and goes underground.