Sam Fisher is back, but he's not playing the good guy any more. Gaming's most dangerous super spy has quit working for the Third Echelon, disgusted by his old department's corruption and distraught over the loss of his daughter. When he discovers her death was no accident he begins to track down those responsible…

Now that he's on his own and out for revenge there's less emphasis on stealth and more on all out action and unrestricted body counts. Environments are more interactive too, with almost any object ready to be used as a weapon. Plus you can climb onto and around almost every piece of architecture to set-up your ambushes.

Not only are the graphics better than ever but they're cleverer too - displaying mission objectives on the side of walls and using new visual aids to help keep you one step ahead of the terrorists.

• New man: Sam Fisher returns at last, with the biggest overhaul in Splinter Cell's history and a new, more brutal style of action.
• Target acquired: New "mark and execute" feature lets you lock-on to an enemy and fire at them automatically, no matter what else you're doing.
• Visual clues: In-game aids bleed the colour from the screen when you're hidden in shadows or let you know where enemies think you are with a special silhouette.
• Low tech: Sam's working on his own now, so instead of a high tech optical cable to sneak looks beneath doors he has to make do with a car mirror instead.
• In the sandbox: Larger, more interactive levels let you make the choice between a full frontal assault or a more stealthy surprise attack.