Double Agent Tips

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell® Double Agent™ offers a drastically different experience than its predecessors. While still a stealth game through and through, with new undercover mechanics, a stripped down Sam Fisher, and, for the first time, several daylight missions, there is a lot more to master this time around.

Sam Fisher's stunning new fall look.

The threat presented by John Brown's Army is cold and real. The domestic terrorist organization will expect you to do your worst while your country expects your very best. These tips can help you succeed in  walking that line.

Trust and Loyalty
One of the most important additions to Double Agent is a trust mechanic for keeping track of Sam Fisher's dual loyalties: His true loyalty to the National Security Agency (NSA) and his false loyalty to John Brown's Army.

Use every box, crate, vehicle, wall, and obstruction
to keep Sam away from prying eyes.

Each mission requires you to walk a tightrope of intentions and actions to maintain your standing with both factions, but these three tips are key:

1. Never, ever kill a civilian unless absolutely necessary. A dead civilian will cause your standing with the NSA to plummet, and you need every bit of their faith you can get.
2. Do not treat secondary objectives as optional. Many of them will boost your trust with one faction or another.
3. Make decisions, especially in the Directed Moments, based on your trust levels. You will be asked to kill a pilot at one point. Whether you need to do so or not will depend entirely on your levels of trust.

The hardest decision you'll have to make.

Surviving Without the Meter
The stealth meter has been a fixture through three Splinter Cell titles, but Double Agent removes it to introduce another level of immersion, as well as reflecting your lack of high-tech equipment.

All the basic stealth mechanics you learned in the other games still apply, however. Using visual clues only, like gradations of shadows, you will quickly discover what shadows will completely hide you, and which will leave you vulnerable to detection.

On Xbox 360™ in particular, you will notice that even in the darkest shadows, there is still a great deal of fine detail. Don't be afraid that just because you can see in the dark means your opponents will be able to see you, however. 

Cover Up
Because Sam ventures out into the daylight so often in Double Agent, you'll have to use more than just the shadows to mask your movements. You'll need to focus more on using cover than in the previous games.

Interrogations lead to intelligence gems.

In any lighted area, move slowly from cover to cover. Don't run in the open, even if there aren't any obviously visible enemies. Use every box, crate, vehicle, wall, and obstruction to keep Sam away from prying eyes. It may seem obvious, but it is a significant change from the previous games, and it will take some getting used to.

Sneak Attack
Because Sam can no longer wait unnoticed in the darkness for his enemies to walk, he now has a move he can use to neutralize his enemies. Provided you are pressed against cover, you can reach out and grab an enemy as they walk by. Master this early, as you will need it throughout the game.

Green, Yellow, Red
While Sam may not be sporting a lot of high-tech gear, he does have an alarm sensor sensibly placed on his left shoulder. This gadget tells you the alert level of your enemies. Green marks the all clear, yellow means they're suspicious, and red means you are actively being hunted.

Left Bumper Access
Press the left bumper button and you will bring up a small map in the lower left corner of the screen. This gives you a general layout of your environment, and will also highlight the locations of any enemies. Sam gets very few technological advantages in Double Agent, so be sure to take full advantage of this one.

Alternate Paths
More than the previous Splinter Cell games, Double Agent offers multiple paths to various objectives on nearly every level. More importantly, you can usually bet that the most obvious path will be the most dangerous, so keep a sharp eye out for alternatives. Look above and below the obvious path for other options.

Patience
This tip applies to all the Splinter Cell games and Double Agent is certainly no exception. Time is rarely of the essence in Sam Fisher's world, so stay patient. A hurried spy is a dead spy.

Scrutinize the paths of your enemies, the environment around you, and always move with a specific purpose in mind. You should never be taken by surprise, and you should always be better prepared than your opponent.

Article by Ryan Treit