I picked up Splinter Cell: Double Agent about 2 weeks ago with the mind set of playing co-op to death with Greshkov like we did in Choas Theory. I let him know that it was almost time to suit back up and tackle what I think is the Best co-op experience ever. I just knew that with the better hardware and the phrase "Next-Gen" being thrown around like nobody's business, Double Agent’s co-op would be more expansive and span across more than just 4 levels. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

While offering up, what would be a great co-op experience on the OG Xbox, this is the "Next Gen", and everything about this game should scream, "I'm 20 times better than my previous iteration, and previous hardware game!", but it doesn't. Don't get me wrong, its a great addition to the Splinter Cell multi-player arena, but I feel that they could've used this new version as a separate mode. I don't think they should've omitted their previous co-op outing.

Double Agent's new co-op experience consists of 3 spies, infiltrating and downloading data from various consoles spread out through each level. The first gripe that I have is, while downloading data from consoles, with 3 Mercenaries trying to kill you is exciting and suspense filled, its not the same as being an actual spy. Chaos Theory made you feel like you were 2 spies on a mission. 2 spies that helped each other reach areas that were inaccessible if you were to do it alone. That's what co-op means, working together. In Double Agent, you don't really work as a team. You work as a team to download as much data as you can so that you can get a better score. There isn't an overall mission goal that you're trying to complete. To me, it dilutes the experience of being a spy. As I was saying before, its fun and I welcome it but I just wish it were a separate mode.

Another problem I have with Double Agent in comparison to Chaos Theory, is the lack of weapons. I can understand taking away weapons from the spies in the versus mode because they overpowered the mercs, but the bots in co-op are no joke. They are down right brutal at times. Don't even get me started on the grenades that they can launch from their guns without you even seeing until they blow up. I know that's the whole point of a grenade. But if I'm a spy, and I'm supposed to infiltrate without anyone knowing that I'm there, why would you make the game alert the bots to where you are? Once again, this works great in the versus mode but not for co-op. They basically just took the versus portion and made the mercs bots and kept the spies as actual players, then slapped it together and called it co-op. Also, there's no split screen option, only Xbox Live or System Link. This angers me because I thought that playing on the same console added more to the co-op experience.

This brings me to my biggest complaint about one of my favorite videogame developers. Ubisoft, I love you guys but you piss me off sooooo much with your lazy co-op offerings. Chaos Theory was a great first step, but every other game that Ubi makes has a few levels dedicated to co-op but its always forgettable. The single player missions completely show that they know how to make a great game. Even the deathmatch portions of their games seem to have more thought put into them. So why is it that they skimp out on their co-op experience? I'm hoping that Rainbow Six: Vegas will put its best foot forward in its co-op mode. Or else Ubi will see what they get when they mess with the warrior.

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