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It seems that charming Shanghai has become the creative and commercial object of affection for yet another famous Tom (after Cruise and Friedman, of course) and is now featured as one of the backdrops for Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent. The fourth title in the Splinter Cell series is newly available on the Xbox 360, the Nintendo Wii, and the PC, and bears the name and coveted approval of noted author, bass fisherman and Sith Lord Tom Clancy.
The general story of Splinter Cell follows Sam Fisher, an agent of the National Security Agency (NSA) that is sent out into the world to exercise the use of the "Fifth Freedom": the freedom to do whatever is necessary to defend national security and peace for the United States.
Timely. Very nice, Mr. Clancy. Very nice.
In this latest version of the game Fisher is reassigned as a NOC, a non-official cover agent. His mission: to infiltrate a domestic terrorist group called the John Brown's Army. For the first time in the series, Fisher cannot rely on state-of-the-art military technology or the direct reinforcement of the NSA and must instead fall back on his keen instincts and survival skills while working deep undercover.
Read: You do all kinds of rad spy stuff with all kinds of bitchin’ goggles and shit and guns and you kill terrorists. Sweet!
So anyway a significant portion of the multi-narrative game is set in, on, under, around, and in the air above Shanghai in everybody’s favorite old-meets-new-East-meets-West-blah-blah-blah area, the Bund/Pudong riverfront. (Ubisoft has offices in Shanghai.) If you look closely at the picture you can see your Oriental Pearl TV Tower et al — OK, you don't really have to look closely. It is uncertain, however, if the game features the option of sending a couple of SKUD missiles in Attica’s direction.
We haven’t had the opportunity to play Splinter Cell: Double Agent yet because it won’t work on our Turbo Graffix 16. (When are they going to start making more games for this thing?) We did, however, manage to get a hold of a local “gamer” that had this to say: “Its pretty bad-ass. I’m really feelin’ this one.”
More in-depth reviews of the game by the real professionals can be read here, here, and here. The general consensus, however, is that the game is indeed bad-ass.
Shanghaiist whole heartedly encourages comments on the new Splinter Cell. Perhaps a little review or something and maybe some commentary on the game play. Maybe even help us out with a cheat or two.
Screenshot taken from gamespot.com.
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I'm interested to see how sith lord Tom Clancy has whipped up a plot that puts terrorists up in the ballz tower. Maybe they want to destroy the phallic center of the bussiness world...
Tom Clancy didn't write the game's story. Like all good licensing deals his name gets slapped on the cover every time they put one out. As far as I know though aside from picking up his royalty checks, Mr. Clancy doesn't do jack-squat for the game that bears his name.
They did a beta test of the 360 to PC port controls a couple months ago in Shanghai and I participated (anyone can). As Flurry said it is not a Tom Clancy story, just one of the dozens of titles using his name sake put out by the French company Ubisoft.
The game is definitely the best in the series. It has a decent storyline, and a trust system that allows you to chose which side you want to work for, hence the name "Double Agent." But doesn't really feature any innovation over the previous games in terms of control, and the graphics face lift to match the new generation of system specs is the only noticeable difference in that area.
The Shanghai level features your helicopter crashing/shot down (I can't remember) on top of one of the PuDong skyscrapers. You then neck-snap or sneak your way past PuTongHua speaking security guards to get across the rooftop, which is where the version I played ended. Apparently the multiplayer is where this game really shines, but someone else will have to talk about that, and there is no multi-player on the Nintendo Wii version, which may be a bad omen for the neatest of the latest generation consoles.
As others have pointed out, I don't think good old Tom had anything to do with Splinter Cell. I think they put it under the Clancy brand (sort of scary he has one ...) to whip up interest in the first version of the game, and since then a few Splinter Cell books have been written--but not by Tom Clancy.
Also, the Shanghai level makes more sense that the game was made in Ubisoft's Shanghai studio. Which is also why--as you can tell from the picture--the skyline looks right--they even added in a construction crane for good measure ...
I playtested the game at a pretty late stage of development. It was alright, but more intersting were the ubisoft offices (located in the building with the scary statue of a hippo-type beast riding an H.R. Giger snail. hint, hint).
I also play tested SC.D.A. on xbox360 for ubisoft (my eyes were beat after that day) and now that I have the complete game at home on ps2, I can say that it really is an amazing game; no really new features except for the double agent-choices-part, but totally still 1337 (leet)(elite) :D
Ubisoft has two offices in Shanghai: one in the aforementioned K-Wah Center, the other at the Center on Chang Le Lu.
Double Agent X360 was entirely done in Shanghai, while the XBOX and PS2 versions were made in Montreal. That's why the Shanghai level was exclusive to the X360: it's kind of a bonus for the Shanghai studio, to have fun in their own backyard.
I also playtested it and had great fun "sneaking around". but don't like the double-choice stuff.