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We decided to change, to renew the brand. We thought that the gameplay was a bit repetitive over time. "You were given orders, you were told what to do-it was a very cool experience, but this has created a lack of differentiation between each game. "We realized that with the previous Splinter Cells.there was a lack of emotional attachment with the characters," says Senior Producer Mathieu Ferland.
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Let's look at this new game from the developer's perspective and from a gameplay point of view-then we'll let you know what we think. So Double Agent, despite still being a great game, ended up being more of the same: more hiding in the dark, more climbing up pipes, and more sneaking up on no-do-gooders from behind and putting them down for an extended naptime.Ĭonviction, however, is running with the idea of a "franchise reinvention" so fast that you may not even recognize it as a Splinter Cell game. Sure, Fisher spent some time in jail in that fourth chapter of the stealthy series, but it was only for one half-baked level (as a "prisoner," he still had some of his high-tech gadgets, for chrissakes). But Splinter Cell: Double Agent didn't deliver on that unspoken promise. After all, you don't show our favorite government secret agent in a mug shot unless you're planning on flipping the script inside out. THE FAMILIAR SLEEK BLACK CATSUIT and all-purpose vision headgear (with the famous, iconic three glowing green circles) were nowhere to be seen, replaced by a Creamsicle-orange prison jumpsuit and 5 o'clock (plus overtime) shadow-Sam Fisher seemed to be in for a franchise reinvention.
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