For us, PC gamers, the Splinter Cell franchise probably means as much as Metal Gear Solid means to a PlayStation fan. A lot, or at least that's what I thought until now! Imagine, as a PlayStation fan, that someday, Hideo Kojima would switch his Metal Gear series to the PC. A shocking announcement! I know it's crazy, but this fact only has the power to change the world for ever. The PlayStation wouldn't sell and finally, die and along with it all the Sony empire. Or not, but that's not the point. I can imagine waves of angry fans protesting in the forums, on dedicated websites or why not on CNN and Euronews. It's a move which draws people together towards a common goal. It shows power.

        Now, let's go back to Splinter Cell. How many people protested when the next installment of the series was announced as an Xbox 360 exclusive? I think I can hear the silence. There's not even no one to answer that question and it's not like we don't care, but we always hope for a better game to come out and replace the loser. Unfortunately, most such replacements are bad clones of the original game and there's nothing you can do to bring back the same joy and excitement of the first titles. I sincerely hope they will revise their options and continue the development of the series for the PC, or else, I don't know, I may be forced to buy an Xbox 360 and probably blame Ubisoft for it. Anyway, not every move is a smart move, and that's something you learn just buy playing the Splinter Cell series. I just wonder if the Ubisoft managers did that. The Splinter Cell series has started on the PC and owes the PC its very fame, as big or as small as it is.

        In Splinter Cell: Double Agent you’ll play once again as Sam Fisher. If you’re new to the series and you don’t know its ins and outs, then stop right here and go play the previous titles. The Splinter Cell games have reached a stage where we can safely say they’re all forming one of the best stealth action series ever. Knowing that the next game will be an Xbox 360 exclusive, I expected to play what I should have called one of the best experiences ever, but unfortunately my enthusiasm was quickly ruined when I realized that Double Agent is already a step towards the “consolization” of the franchise. It’s pretty much like they don’t care anymore about the PC user who has to play with a mouse and keyboard.

        The interface is horrible. I haven’t played the Xbox 360 version, but the interface of the PC version makes the game almost unplayable. There is a key for jump which is also the key for acrobatic moves, a key for action which you must only press when there’s a square on your screen, a key for drawing out your weapon, a key for the inventory, a key for changing weapons, a key for changing posture when aiming and I’m not finished. I personally don’t wish to play an NSA simulator. I want to play a damn game. After a period of time when you get used to all the keys in the game, you begin accessing menus, your inventory or probably your opsat and 3D map. This is when you realize that items in your inventory change their places automatically if you pass with your mouse cursor over them. It’s just so easy to mess everything up. This actually slows the interface instead of making it quicker. If you’re in a location where your frame rate has dropped to levels where the game is barely playable, such actions are almost impossible to perform.

        On top of that, you’ve got a 3D map in your opsat. I still haven’t figured it out if I can access the map without having to bring up the opsat first or do the same with my objectives. The 3D map, and I don’t have anything against 3D maps, is one of the worst maps I’ve ever seen. You'll never know your location, your probable route or the surroundings just by looking at the map. I don't need a tactical analysis of the field before the mission, but you shouldn't make everything green. A few green primitives glued together don't form a map, at least to my knowledge. Last, but not least, we have the interface bugs which make your life harder than it should be. For example, when trying to crack a safe, the wheels will not move, no matter how many times you press the keys, but that's probably just Nokia's fault. Abandoning this action or reloading the game solves the problem, but it’s still annoying to experience it once in a while.