Splinter Cell Double Agent

There's a moment early in Splinter Cell Double Agent, as you leg it along a corridor being shot at by a helicopter while windows shatter around you, when you realise that your heart's pounding, your sweaty fingers are almost slipping off the keypad, and you're breathless.

And that's when you remember that this mobile gaming lark isn't just about casual games.

You don't play this game with one thumb. It can be unforgiving for even small mistakes. And it's – whisper it – a platform game, a distinctly unfashionable genre in an industry that's trying to attract people who aren't well-versed in console or PC games. Nevertheless, Splinter Cell Double Agent is one of the most absorbing, immersive and rewarding mobile games you'll play all year.

It's the fourth in the Splinter Cell series, based on the popular console action-adventures. You play secret agent Sam Fisher, and your job is to infiltrate and ultimately destroy a nefarious terrorist organisation. The twist is that this means for most of the game you ARE a terrorist, blending in with the bad guys by skulking about Doing Bad Things.

Admittedly, all the Splinter Cell games have involved skulking about, but this time you get to feel all renegade anti-hero while doing it.

The game's structure and basic mechanics will be familiar if you've played the previous games, or indeed any other Gameloft platformer: Prince of Persia, King Kong, Mission Impossible. But it's clear how much the gameplay has been refined, particularly in the frequent set-piece scenes that break out of the basic platform action. And yes, you DO get to fly that helicopter yourself at one point.

Don't worry if you've never heard of Splinter Cell. The first level is effectively a tutorial, teaching you Sam's various moves as you go along, prompting you when to press button X to do action Y. What also strikes us about the game is how intuitive everything is once you're versed in these basic controls – scooting down a narrow chute to land heavily on an enemy quickly becomes second nature, with no need to refer to the instructions.

As you'd expect from a self-respecting spy game, Splinter Cell Double Agent is about brains, not brawn. Sneaking about is the name of the game, lurking in the shadows, diving into doorways and hiding underwater when necessary. Yomping through shooting wildly will see you dead as a dodo in minutes.

At times, every new screen feels like a new puzzle, whether it's how to creep up on and kill someone without setting off alarms, or how to get past them without the need for violence. It's fair to say that this can sometimes result in an unforgiving difficulty level, with a single misplaced footstep leaving you bleeding in a heap.

One level in particular made me fling my phone across the room in frustration. But here's the key thing: I went back to the game straight away, determined to beat it.

The 2D graphics are top-notch, particularly the atmospheric environments, which are far more varied than most mobile platformers. Splinter Cell veterans will also appreciate some of the new weapons, with the stun gun and magnetic grenades being two of the first you'll find.

Meanwhile the double-agent storyline keeps things moving along, although it's not quite the moral tightrope Gameloft might have hoped. Does Sam eventually turn the tables on the terrorists? Well, you know the answer to that, but discovering how and when will keep you coming back until you complete the game. And then there are new difficulty levels to unlock, which trust us are truly fiendish.

Splinter Cell Double Agent is a marvellous piece of work. It's gripping, challenging and in places almost cinematic. If you're into your mobile gaming, you need to own it.

Splinter Cell Double Agent

An absorbing and challenging secret agent epic that sets the bar for mobile platformers
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Stuart Dredge
Stuart Dredge
Stuart is a freelance journalist and blogger who's been getting paid to write stuff since 1998. In that time, he's focused on topics ranging from Sega's Dreamcast console to robots. That's what you call versatility. (Or a short attention span.)