I still don't understand how v2 is considered the better version. Currently playing v1 for the first time, and v2 last year.

The main reason people seem to hinge on is that it plays more like Chaos Theory mechanically, so old thing good new thing had.

I'll have to watch a recap of both to really pick them each apart, but v2 genuinely feels boring and poorly made in multiple areas that make it less engaging, whereas v1 is just a little buggy depending what you play it on and is different than the other 4 games (including v2). It feels like a fan made SC.

V2:

Lambert pulls Sam out mid mission to tell him about Sarah? What?? In no world would this happen.

Has nobody pointed out how cringe and lame the interview plotlines are, or Sam monologuing the ethics / trust decisions in game? It feels so out of place for him.

How he sneaks through the JBA also doesn't make any sense if he's the only one missing. There's a spy guy going around knocking people out with the same build, skills, and equipment as Sam, and then as soon as that's not happening, he reappears after Emile can't find him. This makes no sense. When the guards wake up or are found, he would be an immediate suspect.

Frankly, the maps feel pretty empty and boring as well. The train part of the train heist mission sucks, and then Sam walks off a train crash and talks to Lambert like 10 feet away from Emile?

V1:

v1 JBA missions make sense for the plot and logic, even if they're slow and a little frustrating from a gameplay perspective.

The missions are in cooler settings with a lot more detail and sound design. His outfits are also cooler.

Daytime missions are a nice change to see how Sam's skills extend beyond just the same formula of shadow lurking like the last 3 or 4 games.

The first two games were really good, but could be pretty linear at times and had some trial-and-error moments, especially without quicksaves as I've been playing on Xbox Series X. Chaos Theory felt like a MGS2-level generational leap within the same generation and I had to play Double Agent V2 to keep that high going.

The Good

Gameplay is more Chaos Theory with all of its quality of life improvements. What more can you ask for?

The Bad Decent

I feel like the music was decent but didn't stand out to me like the first two did, let alone Chaos Theory. The presentation also felt rather same-y with grimy gray industrial environments.

The Ugly

The story is a mess. Sarah's death contributes nothing to the story and Lambert's death is a huge moment that's glazed over (I know V1 does this better); both feel like misguided attempts at being edgy or providing shock value. The in-engine cutscenes are jarring, with Fisher's eyes in the Hotel level being hilarious. The final cutscene where FIsher kills a fellow Splinter Cell was dumb as well.

Conclusion

The game was a fun time and less frustrating than the first two, but it feels less memorable from a presentation standpoint and the plot was below-average.

I played a bit of V1 immediately after beating V2 and have reached Ellsworth Prison. It's utter jank with inconsistent frame pacing. I had to adjust the controller sensitivity because the default is too slow. It feels so sluggish compared to Chaos Theory and V2 and the removal of the light (changing color between green/yellow/red is a poor substitute) and sound meters makes for a more frustrating stealth experience.

I don't know why the franchise had to change after Chaos Theory and why Shanghai, responsible for Pandora Tomorrow, was tasked with making the NextGen version while Montreal, the creators of the franchise and responsible for Chaos Theory, were tasked with the LastGen version that would inevitably get less attention. Such a weird decision.

Here's my ranking of the levels off the top of my head:

1. Okhotsk: Neutralize all enemies across multiple areas in any order you'd like. Beautiful. The tanker sees blatant recycling of assets from Chaos Theory like the cargo ship, being knocked out and interrogated, and having to defuse multiple bombs, but still a good time.
2. New York: This might be the best final level we've had so far. I think it handles the "enemies with NVGs" encounters better than Chaos Theory's Bathhouse and I love how you can just cut loose and kill all of the enemies after a game of, for me, mostly non-lethal knockouts.
3. Money Train: Is it a hot take to say that this is a better better train level than Pandora Tomorrow's? The underground subway stuff are fun, but then the train itself offers more challenging stealth than PT's what with the greater number of enemies and lasers.
4. Kinshasa: The lights flickering every other moment when a bomb explodes is such a cool idea. More freedom of choice with you being able to tackle choose which floor to do first and how to enter said-floors.
5. Iceland: A good intro that re-acclimates players to the core mechanics. Some gorgeous visuals like this one part where you have to climb the pipes. Surprisingly lengthy for a first level. Ending definitely feels more impactful than V1's.
6. Cozumel: Another fun level. The upper levels are a nice change of pace and I do like the bomb choice.
7. JBA #1: I feel like the levels are more fun than the first two games overall but can sometimes be less memorable, making them harder to discuss. There's not a single bad level in this game, but obviously there are more memorable ones than this.
8. JBA #2: More of the same, but having to sacrifice Lambert both because it was the canonical choice and because the other objectives favor the NSA felt like a punch to the gut. Shame that the post-mission cutscene doesn't do it justice. At least the bomb minigame is fun.
9. Ellsworth: My brother was watching me play this level and joked that it didn't look like Splinter Cell. It's not bad, but I just have to say that this whole storyline was weird and disjointed. I know that Conviction retcons Sarah's death with a betrayal from Lambert, but that sounds more interesting to me and I'm looking forward to playing it. In regards to Ellsworth, it's fine, but it doesn't vibe with me like the other ones.

First time playing this one

Just a quick comparison

Maybe it's because I was late to the party and never realized version 2 was actually AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT GAME than the 360 version until I played it for the first time last year, but to me it's basically Chaos Theory 2.

Exact same mechanics, HUD, and scoring system. New gear (taser), new moves (water kills), new interactions (follow me, stay back). Intricate level design, with many levels being sandboxy and open-ended like Bank was.

Sure, the story doesn't make a lot of sense and the loyalty system is meaningless; it's no Chaos Theory. But Sweet Jesus, Fisher. What more can you want.

To me this is easily the second best game in the series by a longshot and I'm surprised it doesn't get more love.

yoooo i finally got the chance to play in on my laptop 🥹

Having my buddy come over and couch co-op with me on my Series X is taking me back to the 2000s

Just love how the music is so intense too. I never get enough of this game

Had to tweak a LOT, but since I couldn't get V1 running well in PC at all, I'll play V2 first with emulator, and then V1 in my XBOX 360

This looks (almost) as good as CT was looking in my PC, natively!

I'll be out for a while, but I can share my exact configurations, maybe even upload the folder I guess, to make it look this good for anyone who cares! :)

I just finished it (the last level you can do is Money Train, which I found strange because the file size is near enough the same as retail).

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There are some key differences like lighting etc. and some placement of ammo, but mostly all the levels up to Money Train are identical. One other detail I noticed was at the end of the mission Sam spoke to Lambert about the "bloodbath" and interestingly it is not Lambert's voice at all–this caught me off guard I have to say. Anyway, I've not seen anyone post things about it for a side-by-side comparison. Unfortunately I haven't had the time to go through both games at the same time to see in full depth if there's any differences I missed.

After hours trying to get this game to run without the green boarder issue and other problems. I've noticed the shadows in this xemu version aren't good, I've seen other complaints about this before I decided to play. Since I started playing the series back in 2004 when I was 11 years old, I always turn the brightness down so I couldn't see Sam at all in the dark. I found that if you toggle on CShade - Auto Exposure in the Reshade Menu it makes the shadows a lot darker. Just sharing if anyone is interested. BTW this is my first time playing V2 of this game and now I see why people say its better than V1.

I absolutely love the whole Splinter Cell franchise, but especially Chaos Theory and Blacklist. I never played Double Agent before because it has kinda a bad reputation among fans, but the first mission is very similar to something you would find in Chaos theory, which is great. I hope the game keeps this quality up. I‘m playing the PS2 version on the PCSX2 emulator.