Coordinates: 55°N 150°E / 55°N 150°E / 55; 150

Map of the Sea of Okhotsk

The Sea of Okhotsk (Russian: Охо́тское мо́ре, tr. Okhotskoye More; IPA: [ɐˈxotskəjə ˈmorʲə]) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean,^[1] lying between the Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, the island of Hokkaidō to the south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a long stretch of eastern Siberian coast (including the Shantar Islands) along the west and north. The northeast corner is Shelikhov Gulf. It is named after Okhotsk, the first Russian settlement in the Far East.

Geography[link]

Shiretoko National Park on the Sea of Okhotsk coast of Hokkaido, Japan

The Sea of Okhotsk covers 611,000 sq.mi. (1,583,000 km²), with a mean depth of 2,818 feet (859 metres). Its maximum depth is 11,063 feet (3,372 metres). It is connected to the Sea of Japan on either side of Sakhalin: on the west through the Sakhalin Gulf and the Gulf of Tartary; on the south, through the La Pérouse Strait.

In winter, navigation on the Sea of Okhotsk becomes difficult, or even impossible, due to the formation of large ice floes, because the large amount of freshwater from the Amur River lowers the salinity and raises the freezing point of the sea. The distribution and thickness of ice floes depends on many factors: the location, the time of year, water currents, and the sea temperatures.

Depths

With the exception of Hokkaidō, one of the Japanese home islands, the sea is surrounded on all sides by territory administered by the Russian Federation. For this reason, it is generally considered as being under Russian sovereignty.

Extent[link]

The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Sea of Okhotsk as follows:^[2]

On the Southwest. The Northeastern and Northern limits on the Japan Sea [In La Perouse Strait (Sôya Kaikyô). A line joining Sôni Misaki and Nishi Notoro Misaki (45°55'N). From Cape Tuik (51°45'N) to Cape Sushcheva].

On the Southeast. A line running from Nosyappu Saki (Cape Noshap, 43°23'N) in the Island of Hokusyû (Yezo) through the Kuril or Tisima Islands to Cape Lopatka (South point of Kamchatka) in such a way that all the narrow waters between Hokusyû and Kamchatka are included in the Sea of Okhotsk.

Islands[link]

Some of the Sea of Okhotsk's islands are quite large including Japan's second largest island, Hokkaidō, as well as Russia's largest island, Sakhalin. Practically all of the sea's islands are either in coastal waters or belong to the various islands making up the Kuril Islands chain which fall either under undisputed Japanese or Russian ownership or disputed ownership between Japan and Russia. Iony Island is the only island located in open waters and belongs to the Khabarovsk Krai of the Russian Federation. The majority of the sea's islands are uninhabited making them ideal breeding grounds for seals, sea lions, seabirds, and other sea island fauna.

History[link]

Most of the Sea of Okhotsk, with the exception of the Sakhalin Island, had been well mapped by 1792

The Russian explorers Ivan Moskvitin and Vassili Poyarkov were the first Europeans to visit the Sea of Okhotsk (and, probably, the island of Sakhalin^[3]) in the 1640s. The Dutch captain Maarten Gerritsz Vries in the Breskens entered the Sea of Okhotsk from the south-east in 1643, and charted parts of the Sakhalin coast and Kurile Islands, but failed to realize that either Sakhalin or Hokkaido are islands.

The first and foremost Russian settlement on the shore was the port of Okhotsk, which relinquished commercial supremacy to Ayan in the 1840s. The Russian-American Company all but monopolized the commercial navigation of the sea in the first half of the 19th century.

The Second Kamchatka Expedition under Vitus Bering systematically mapped the entire coast of the sea, starting in 1733. Jean-François de La Pérouse and William Robert Broughton were the first non-Russian European navigators known to have passed through these waters other than Maarten Gerritsz Vries. Ivan Krusenstern explored the eastern coast of the Sakhalin in 1805. Mamiya Rinzō and Gennady Nevelskoy determined that the Sakhalin was indeed an island separated from the mainland by a narrow strait. The first detailed summary of the hydrology of the sea was prepared and published by Stepan Makarov in 1894.

During the Cold War, the Sea of Okhotsk was the scene of several successful U.S. Navy operations (including Operation Ivy Bells) to tap Soviet Navy undersea communications cables. These operations were documented in the book Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage. The sea (and surrounding area) were also the scene of the Soviet PVO Strany attack on Korean Air Flight 007 in 1983. The Soviet Pacific Fleet used the Sea as a ballistic missile submarine bastion, a strategy that Russia continues.

In the Japanese language, the sea has no traditional Japanese name despite its close location to the Japanese territories and is called Ohōtsuku-kai (オホーツク海), which is a transcription of the Russian name. Additionally, Abashiri Subprefecture, the part of Hokkaidō which faces the sea, is often called the Okhotsk region (オホーツク地方, Ohōtsuku-chihō^?), named after the sea.

The Sea of Okhotsk was a hotbed for whaling in the mid-19th century. Beginning in 1845, American whaleships began hunting right whales in the southeastern part of the Sea of Okhotsk near the Kurile Islands. The first bowheads were caught in 1847; from 1849 bowheads dominated the catch. Between 1850 and 1853 the majority of the fleet focused their efforts on bowheads in the Bering Strait region. Following poor catches there, whaleships began shifting their attention to the stock of bowhead whales in the Sea of Okhotsk. In 1854 alone some 160 whaleships visited the region; the following year more than 130 ships. The next year, 1856, nearly 150 ships sailed to the Okhotsk. By 1857, the number of ships had declined to a little over 100. With declining catches from 1858 to 1860 the fleet shifted its focus back to the Bering Strait region.^[4] Many of the ships converged on the Shantar Islands, anchoring within the archipelago's many sheltered bays. On July 28, 1854 the New Bedford ship Isabella reported ninety-four ships in sight from her deck. A few days later the Lexington, of Nantucket, reported one hundred whaleboats were about chasing whales. Ships continued to hunt whales in the Sea of Okhotsk until the early 20th century.

Oil and gas exploration[link]

Twenty-nine zones of possible oil and gas accumulation have been identified on the Sea of Okhotsk shelf which runs along the coast. Total reserves are estimated at 3.5 billion tons of equivalent fuel, including 1.2 billion tons of oil and 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas.^[5]

On 18 December 2011 the Russian oil drilling rig Kolskaya^[6] capsized and sank in a storm in the Sea of Okhotsk, some 124 km from Sakhalin Island, where it was being towed from Kamchatka. Reportedly its pumps failed, causing it to take on water and sink. The platform carried 67 people of which 14 were initially rescued by the icebreaker Magadan and the tugboat Natftogaz-55. The platform was subcontracted to a company working for the Russian energy giant Gazprom.^[7][8][9].

Notable seaports[link]

Nagayevo Bay near Magadan, Russia

• Abashiri, Hokkaidō, Japan
• Magadan, Magadan, Russia
• Monbetsu, Hokkaidō, Japan
• Palana, Kamchatka, Russia
• Wakkanai, Hokkaidō, Japan

See also[link]

• 100 Soundscapes of Japan

References[link]

External links[link]

• Overview of Okhotsk region (pdf).

v t e Islands of the Sea of Okhotsk Antsiferov · Arka · Atlasov · Banka Zotova · Baydukov Island · Belyakov Island · Bolshoy Chome · Bolshoy Shantar · Brat Chirpoyev · Broutona · Chastye Islands · Chetyre Paltsa · Chirinkotan · Chirpoy · Chkalov Island · Dobrzhansky Island · Ekarma · Feklistova · Hokkaidō · Iony Island · Iturup · Kamen-Mukdykyn · Kamen Opasnosti · Kekurniy Island · Ketoy · Khalpili Islands · Kharimkotan · Konus · Krayniy Island · Kunashir · Kuril Islands · Makanrushi · Matua · Menshikov Island · Morskaya Matuga · Nansikan Island · Nedorazumeniya · Onekotan · Oremif · Paramushir · Pilamif · Raikoke · Rasshua · Rechnaya Matuga · Reyneke Island · Rovnyy · Sakhalin · Shantar Islands · Shelikan · Shiashkotan · Shumshu · Simushir · Spafaryev Islands · Talan Island · Telan Island · Tretiy Island · Tyuleniy Island · Umara · Urup · Ush · Ushishir · Vtoroy · Yam Islands · Yengalychev Island · Zavyalov · Zubchaty

Okhotsk (English) Охотск (Russian)
-  Urban-type settlement[citation needed]  - Work settlement[citation needed]
Location of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia
Okhotsk
Coordinates: 59°22′03″N 143°15′34″E / 59.3675°N 143.25944°E / 59.3675; 143.25944Coordinates: 59°22′03″N 143°15′34″E / 59.3675°N 143.25944°E / 59.3675; 143.25944
Coat of arms
Administrative status
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Khabarovsk Krai
Statistics
Population (2010 Census, preliminary)	4,217 inhabitants[1]
Population (2002 Census)	5,738 inhabitants[2]
Time zone	VLAT (UTC+11:00)[3]
Founded	1647[citation needed]
Urban-type settlement status since	1949[citation needed]
Postal code(s)	682480[citation needed]
Dialing code(s)	+7 42141[citation needed]

Map of Okhotskoy Ostrog, ink drawing, 1737

Okhotsk in 1857

Okhotsk (Russian: Охо́тск; IPA: [ɐˈxotsk]) is an urban locality (a work settlement) and the administrative center of Okhotsky District of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located at the mouth of the Okhota River on the Sea of Okhotsk. Population: 4,217 (2010 Census preliminary results);^[1] 5,738 (2002 Census);^[2] 9,298 (1989 Census).^[4]

It was the main Russian base on the Pacific coast from about 1650 to 1860, but lost its importance after the Amur Annexation in 1860. It is located at the east end of the Siberian River Routes on the Sea of Okhotsk where the Okhota River and the Kukhtui Rivers join to form a poor but usable harbor.

In 1639 the Russians first reached the Pacific 65 miles southeast at the mouth of the Ulya River. In 1647 Semyon Shelkovnikov built winter quarters at Okhotsk. In 1649 a fort was built (Kosoy Ostrozhok). In 1653 Okhotsk was burned by the local Lamuts. Although the Russian pioneers were skilled builders of river boats they lacked the knowledge and equipment to build sea-going vessels which meant that Okhotsk remained a coastal settlement and not a port. In 1682 Okhotsk had eight dwellings and five other buildings. When the Russians entered the Kamchatka Peninsula they had to travel overland from the north.

In 1714, Peter the Great sent a party of shipbuilders to Okhotsk to allow faster access to the furs of Kamchatka. In 1715 they built the Vostok and in 1716-17 Kozma Sokolov sailed it to Kamchatka. For the next 145 years Okhotsk was the main Russian seaport on the Pacific, supplying Kamchatka and other coastal settlements. In 1731 the Siberian Military Flotilla was established here. In 1736 Okhotsk was moved two miles downstream to a spit of land at the mouth of the Okhota, converting the ostrog into a proper port. Vitus Bering's two Pacific expeditions (1725-29 and 1733-42) brought in large numbers of people and the first scholars and expert sailors and led to a great deal of building. In 1742 there were 57 buildings, 45 other buildings in the Bering's "expedition settlement" and eight ships in the harbor. The Portuguese Jew Anton de Vieira was the town's governor at that time. From 1737 to 1837 there was a salt works several miles west on the coast that produced 14-36 tons annually. In 1827 it was worked by 150 exiles and about 100 guards and overseers.

Bering's men found valuable sea otters east of Kamchatka. Fur hunters began island-hoping along the Aleutian Islands. Furs were brought back to Okhotsk and carried inland, mostly to be sold to the Chinese at Kyakhta. The Russian-America Company was founded in 1799 with its base at Okhotsk. This brought in more money. In 1822 the English traveler Captain John Cochrane ranked Okhotsk just after Barnaul as the neatest, cleanest and most pleasant town he had seen in Siberia.

From at least 1715 it was clear that Okhotsk was a poor site. In addition to the difficult track inland, (see Okhotsk Coast) the harbor was poor and the short growing season and lack of plowland meant that food had to be imported. Around 1750 there were only 37 peasant families and a number of Yakut cattlemen. There was so little pasture in the area that pack horses sometimes had to be returned to Yakutsk unloaded. The harbor was ice-free from May to November but the sailing season was only four months from June through September. The town was built on a low narrow spit blocking the mouths of the two rivers. The harbor inside the spit was large, but three quarters of it was a mud flat during low water. Large ships could only cross the bar on an incoming or outgoing high tide and sailing ships sometimes had to wait for days for the wind to blow in the right direction. Ice-choked water during the spring breakup frequently flooded the town (20 times from 1723 to 1813), as did high surf on a number of occasions. In 1810 the Okhota, its mouth jammed by ice, cut a new channel through the spit and isolated the townsite. In 1815 the town was moved to the spit east of the harbor mouth. Goods now had to be unloaded and barged across the harbor. Because the harbor was shallow, Yakuts had to wade with loads from shore to barge. Fresh water had to be fetched from two and a half miles away. Goods could not be brought down along the Kukhtui River because of swamps.

In 1840 Vasily Zavoyko became head of the Russian-America Company post at Okhotsk and decided to move RAC post south to Ayan. This was done in 1845. The Yakutsk-Ayan Track was built and then rebuilt in 1852 at a cost of 20,000 rubles. In 1849 Siberian governor Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky decided to move the Siberian Flotilla to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and other government facilities to Ayan. The Amur Annexation in 1860 shifted most things south. From 1870 Okhotsk was supplied form Nikolayevsk-on-Amur. In 1867 Russian America was sold to the United States. The population of Okhotsk declined from 1,660 in 1839 to 100 in 1865.

Okhotsk was of some military importance during the Russian Civil War, when the White army generals Vasily Rakitin and Anatoly Pepelyayev used it as their place of arms in the Far East.

Okhotsk was also a launch site of sounding rockets between 1981 and 2005. The rockets reached altitudes of up to 1,000 km [1].

The importance and population of Okhotsk sharply declined following the demise of the Soviet Union.

Some population figures: 1647:54, 1649:26, 1662:61, 1665:30, 1675: 150, 1690: 40, 1738:70-84, (Bering expeditions) 1775:529, 1809:921 1821: 1500-1600, (port moved) 1842:800, 1855:207, 1865: 100.

Climate[link]

Transportation[link]

Okhotsk is served by the Okhotsk Airport.

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Okhotsk

James R Gibson, "Feeding the Russian Fur Trade: Provisionment of the Okhotsk Seaboard and the Kamchatka Peninsula 1639-1856",1969

v t e Administrative divisions of Khabarovsk Krai Administrative center: Khabarovsk Cities and towns Amursk · Bikin · Khabarovsk · Komsomolsk-on-Amur · Nikolayevsk-on-Amur · Sovetskaya Gavan · Vyazemsky Districts Amursky · Ayano-Maysky · Bikinsky · Khabarovsky · Komsomolsky · imeni Lazo · Nanaysky · Nikolayevsky · Okhotsky · imeni Poliny Osipenko · Solnechny · Sovetsko-Gavansky · Tuguro-Chumikansky · Ulchsky · Vaninsky · Verkhnebureinsky · Vyazemsky

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent is an action-adventure stealth game, developed and published by Ubisoft. The series, endorsed by American author Tom Clancy, follows the character Sam Fisher, an agent employed by a black-ops division of the National Security Agency, dubbed Third Echelon. Double Agent was released for the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360 in October 2006. The Wii and Microsoft Windows versions were released in November 2006. A PlayStation 3 version was released in March 2007. Originally the game was set for a March 2006 release, but Ubisoft moved the release date to October 2006 in order to have more development time. Ubisoft then released their fiscal quarter results for Q1 2006 and announced that Splinter Cell Double Agent would be put back at least one month in order to boost Q3 2006 income.

There are actually two separate versions of Double Agent. One version (Generation Seven version) was made by Ubisoft Shanghai, who developed Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and was released on the Xbox 360, Windows, and PlayStation 3. The other version (Generation Six version) was made by Ubisoft Montreal (Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory) and was released for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube and Nintendo Wii. The version for mobile phones was developed by Gameloft. The Generation Seven version features a completely custom engine while the Generation Six version plays more like the classic Splinter Cell games. The games share the same general plot but feature different storylines, plot twists, and levels. Even the levels they share have completely different level designs. They do however, share the same background music and a few cut scenes.

Plot[link]

The two versions of the game feature different plot lines. They share many of the same locations, but with completely different level designs and in a different order.

Shortly after the events of Chaos Theory, Sam Fisher must deal with the recent loss of his daughter to a drunk driving accident. But he has little time to mourn, as he soon has to go on an undercover assignment which requires him to pose as a criminal in order to infiltrate a terrorist group based in the United States. This new mission forces Fisher into a new and very dangerous gray area, where the line between right and wrong is blurred even beyond what Fisher is used to, and thousands of innocent lives are in the balance.

Xbox 360, Windows, and PlayStation 3 version[link]

The game begins in September 2007, shortly after the events of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory as Sam Fisher and rookie John Hodge are being flown to Iceland to investigate suspicious activities at a geothermal plant. After he averts a missile strike by insurgents during which John dies, he is met by Colonel Irving Lambert aboard the Osprey to deliver bad news. Sarah Fisher, Sam's only child, has been killed by a drunk driver. Overcome with grief, he is unable to concentrate on his work and is pulled out of active service.

Shortly thereafter, Lambert offers him the rank of a NOC (nonofficial cover operative), hoping that it will help him refocus. NOCs are operatives with backgrounds from both the CIA and NSA, trained to infiltrate organizations for HUMINT purposes. The government denies any involvement in their activities. The NSA stages multiple bank robberies and killings to set up Fisher to infiltrate a domestic terror organization known as John Brown's Army (JBA). He is sent to Ellsworth Prison in Kansas where he is placed in the same cell block as Jamie Washington, a JBA member, and begins digging a tunnel for escape. By February 2008, Fisher helps Washington escape, and is welcomed into the JBA.

At their compound, Emile Dufraisne, the leader of the JBA, gives Sam the order to shoot Cole Yeager, the pilot of the helicopter used to escape the prison. If Fisher kills him, he will earn JBA trust and lose NSA trust. If he misses his shot on purpose, Jamie will kill Cole, and Sam will lose a little bit of trust with the JBA. This decision does not affect the rest of the storyline, unlike later decisions. He is then sent on a mission to take over a Russian oil tanker in the Sea of Okhotsk, while receiving radio contact from Enrica Villablanca, the JBA's weapons expert. Sam needs to take over the tanker so that JBA ally Massoud Ibn-Yussif can use it to deliver one of Emile's bombs.

As soon as Fisher is finished, he is quickly flown to the Jin Mao Hotel in Shanghai. CIA agent Hisham Hamza orders him to record a meeting between Emile and a Pakistani nuclear scientist, Dr. Aswat. During the meeting, Aswat sells Emile several kilograms of red mercury, a fictional explosive material that can detonate with the force of a thermonuclear bomb. With Third Echelon on high alert, Fisher is told to collect a sample from the safe in the meeting room. While he does this, Carson Moss, the JBA's head of security, radios in and orders him to steal notes from Aswat's hotel room. The NSA then orders the assassination of Dr. Aswat.

With both the red mercury and Dr. Aswat's notes, the JBA constructs a bomb which they wish to test. Emile sends Fisher to Cozumel to blow up a cruise ship. The success of the bomb is determined by the player and is therefore the first of the three major events. Fisher can choose to either let the bomb detonate, maintaining his cover with the JBA, prevent the explosion by jamming the signal, or framing Enrica by using her disarm code, if the player acquires it from her office during the third JBA HQ mission. Jamming the signal makes player lose JBA trust, while framing Enrica maintains both NSA and JBA trust. In both of these cases, non-detonation causes Dufraisne to kill Enrica in a fit of anger.

Emile then goes to a meeting in Kinshasa with Alejandro Takfir and Massoud Ibn-Yussif, allies of the JBA. Fisher bugs the meeting and finds out that the three terrorist leaders each have Red Mercury bombs. They plan to destroy Mexico City, Los Angeles and New York City. During the meeting, Hisham's cover is blown.

Emile orders Fisher to kill Hisham, who has fled to the Congolese presidential palace in Kinshasa. Fisher makes his way through Kinshasa, which is an all-out war zone between government forces and rebels. Fisher takes up a position from the top of a radio tower with a sniper rifle. Fisher may shoot Hisham, but if he spares his life, another section of the level is unlocked where Fisher extracts him from the palace. Fisher saves Hisham from the rebels, who took control of the presidential palace and rigged it with explosives.

When Fisher returns to the headquarters, he is ordered to shoot Lambert, who was captured sneaking around the complex. The player can decide to either shoot Lambert or Jamie Washington (deliberately wasting the shot will cause Washington to shoot Fisher in the head, killing him instantly). Shooting Lambert will maintain the JBA's trust, while shooting Washington will send the JBA into high alert and reveal Fisher as a traitor. Enrica, if she is still alive, discovers Fisher's NOC status, but allows him to pass into the labs underneath the HQ, even giving him his equipment if he does not have it already. When Sam arrives at the labs, he manages to kill Emile (and Washington if he did not kill him earlier) and disarms the bomb. A SWAT team then storms the compound, crashing in through the ceiling.

Multiple Endings[link]

The ending depends upon completion of the following objectives: saving the cruise ship, Hisham, and Lambert.

• Bad ending: If Fisher fails all three, or fails two and NSA standing is below 33%, he initially surrenders to the SWAT team, but immediately escapes using a smoke grenade.
• Standard ending: If Fisher fails two, with NSA standing above 33%; or, completes two or more objectives with NSA standing below 33%, he is captured by the SWAT team, charged with murder and conspiracy to commit terrorism, and pleads 'not guilty'. After trial, however, Sam breaks out of prison and is on the run.
• Good ending: If Fisher has NSA standing above 33% and completes two or more objectives, he evades capture and escapes the compound by incapacitating a SWAT officer and donning his stolen uniform. In the unlocked bonus level, the NYPD pursues Fisher through New York, but he boards a stolen Coast Guard vessel that Carson Moss is using to deliver the last bomb. Fisher kills Moss, disarms the bomb, and escapes the vessel seconds before it is destroyed. This ending is the only one that finishes with "To be continued..."

Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Wii version[link]

The game begins shortly after the events of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory as Sam and CIA agent Hisham Hamza are being flown to Iceland to investigate suspicious activities at a geothermal plant. However, the mission is aborted, with Colonel Irving Lambert, USA (KIA)|Irving Lambert activating a two-man Splinter Cell team to destroy the plant. Sam is met by Lambert aboard the Osprey to deliver bad news. Sarah Fisher, Sam's only child, has been killed by a drunk driver. Overcome with grief, he is unable to concentrate on his work and is pulled out of active service.

Lambert offers him the rank of a NOC (nonofficial cover operative), hoping that it will help him refocus. NOCs are operatives with backgrounds from both the CIA and NSA, trained to infiltrate organizations for HUMINT purposes. The government denies any involvement in their activities. The NSA stages multiple bank robberies and killings to set up Fisher to infiltrate a domestic terror organization known as John Brown's Army (JBA). He is sent to Ellsworth Prison in Kansas where he is placed in the same cell block as Jamie Washington, a JBA member. With indirect assistance from a Splinter Cell team, Fisher helps Washington escape, and is welcomed into the JBA.

At their compound, in New Orleans, Sam finds an e-mail written by JBA member Cole Yeager describing his intentions to take over JBA. If he chooses to send this information to the NSA, they will extract Yeager for interrogation; the information can also be sent to JBA, in which case Yeager is killed by the terrorists.

Sam is then sent to hijack a train in Grand Central Station, carrying a large sum of money, gold, and jewelry. Because Lambert pretends to be an arms dealer, Sam has access to his NSA equipment.

After the JBA constructs a bomb using red mercury, Emile sends Fisher to Cozumel, Mexico to test it by blowing up a cruise ship. If the player chooses to sabotage the bomb detonation, Sam and Enrica are severely beaten. Unlike the other version, this decision does not affect the ending of the game.

Sam is then sent on a mission to take over a Russian oil tanker in the Sea of Okhotsk. Two computers on the tanker have an e-mail to Emile from an anonymous sender who intends to blow Lambert's cover as an arms dealer.

Emile then goes to a meeting in Kinshasa with Alejandro Takfir and Massoud Ibn-Yussif, allies of the JBA, to buy more red mercury. He orders Fisher to kill Hisham. If the player lets him go, he will receive an adrenaline syringe, which does not make an appearance for the rest of the game. Fisher uncovers information that sets up a mission for a Splinter Cell team to sabotage a chemical bunker owned by Takfir. An e-mail on Massoud's computer reveals that there is a mole inside the NSA.

When Fisher returns to the headquarters, he discovers that Lambert has been taken hostage, and the terrorists are about to send off the Red Mercury. Sam has to choose whether to place information on the JBA server backing up Lambert's cover, or plant information that proves he is with the NSA. At the end of the mission, Moss is shown in a cinematic killing Lambert and Sam disposing his body in a dumpster (or Lambert being beaten but recovering). Director Williams seems strangely indifferent to the death of Lambert, if the player chooses that route. He can also choose to disable two of the red mercury bombs.

Unlike the other version, regardless of whether Lambert is saved or not, the final mission starts with the JBA discovering that Sam is a spy while on an operation in New York. Williams authorizes the Fifth Freedom and orders Sam to kill all the top-ranking members of the JBA while having another Splinter Cell team disarm various Red Mercury bombs in the tanker headed for Los Angeles. Enrica, unable to kill Fisher, helps him by setting off the sprinklers in one room. After Sam kills Emile, and disables the last bomb, Enrica comes looking for him, but is shot by a Splinter Cell agent. Out of anger, Sam hides underneath the snow, then jumps out and slits the agent's throat as he walks by. Sam then removes the subdermal for his own cochlear implant using his knife. He accuses Williams of murdering Enrica and vows revenge; Williams says that they will find him first.

If Sam disarms the bombs in Nashville and Los Angeles, the end newscast will say that a potential terrorist attack has been stopped. If only one of the bombs is disarmed, the newscast will report on a bomb, whichever one was not disarmed, exploding and killing many. If neither of the bombs are disarmed, the newscast will say that two bombs have gone off in Nashville and Los Angeles, killing many people. If Nashville is destroyed, it is also noted that the President has been killed during his visit. He is succeeded by his Vice President.

Features[link]

Both versions[link]

• Fisher is given objectives from two separate parties, the JBA and NSA, sometimes forcing the player to choose between them in order to progress.
  • Due to the fact he is "working" for two different organizations, Sam is faced with several choices in the game that affect his trust with the JBA and the NSA, represented by the "trust meter". Trust on either side affects Sam's weapon arsenal: completing NSA objectives will unlock a high-tech arsenal, while completing JBA objectives will unlock a lower-tech lethal arsenal.
  • A non-linear storyline that changes based on the objectives the player completes (those of the JBA or NSA).
• Multiple endings are introduced.
• The lock-picking and hacking mini-games return (the hacking method is different from Chaos Theory, and the method is different depending on the version) and a new bomb defusing game is introduced.
• Both versions have the same characters (with the exception of B.J Sykes and Stanley Dayton).
• Online play (except Wii and GameCube versions).

Generation Seven version[link]

• Three alternate single-player missions, eight all-new merged versus and co-op maps and interactive cutscenes.
• Daylight missions, in which Sam does not have his goggles. Also, in the regular areas of the JBA HQ, Sam's only maneuver is walk.
• This version includes a simple three-state (hidden/exposed/alert) stealth meter, as opposed to the past light and sound meters.
• The PlayStation 3 version includes an unnamed female Splinter Cell; in the Xbox 360 version, she is available in a download by Xbox Live.
• The computer hacking mini-game returns, and new mini-games are featured that include decrypting e-mails and defusing bombs.
• A new type of level, where Sam has 25 minutes to complete multiple objectives. He can choose what order to do them, and does not have to do all of them. The more objectives are done for one side (or both sides), the more trust is received.

Generation Six version[link]

• The game's plot is told as a huge "flashback" of Sam reiterating to NSA Director Williams what happened. The Generation Seven version takes place in the present.
• An additional single-player mission with an alternate ending, a new Spies vs. Spies online mode, an extended co-op mode and LAN. The story has also been altered almost completely in these versions of the game; one change of note is inclusion of a HUD very similar to Chaos Theory's.
• The player receives the SC-303 Compact Launcher in a few missions, which shoots only non-lethal rounds.
• The PS2 version includes two exclusive "flashback" missions: one mission has Sam rescuing his daughter from a cargo ship (the level design is borrowed from the Yugoslavia mission in Splinter Cell: Essentials), and the other has Sam escaping captivity from a German bunker (level design borrowed from the SEALs mission in Essentials).

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction confirmed that the Generation Seven version is the canon version.

Gameplay[link]

As part of the JBA, Sam must complete objectives set by them to gain their trust as well as complete objectives from the NSA. The decisions he has to make will become increasingly difficult as he progresses through the game. Earlier decisions, such as deciding whether or not to free all of the prisoners during the prison breakout, will just affect his score, but as the game progresses, Sam is faced with serious choices that could kill thousands if made wrong, but may blow his cover if he does not do it.

Despite this, Sam must make the JBA trust him. If he is seen in restricted areas before, it will dramatically affect his trust with the JBA. Similarly, if he is caught using an NSA gadget or picking a lock in JBA HQ, his cover will be blown on sight.

He is also watched by the JBA in most of his missions, if he is seen completing NSA objectives or is thought to be doing something out of the ordinary, his trust will go down. Killing people apart from those ordered to be taken out will affect his NSA trust in the same way.

Multiplayer[link]

Generation Seven version[link]

Upon joining the game, the player selects one of two sides: the Spies of Third Echelon or the Mercenaries of Upsilon Force. The choice of side affects the player's mission objectives, equipment, and overall play style.

Third Echelon Spies[link]

The Echelon Spies are extremely fast and agile, much more so than the Mercenaries. The Spies have a variety of almost superhuman acrobatic maneuvers that allow them to navigate the map and infiltrate areas that their opponents cannot reach on foot.

Mission objective[link]

The mission objective of the spies is to retrieve two encrypted files from four terminals scattered around the map. The spies use their wrist computer to hack the terminal. The closer the spy is to the terminal, the faster it can be hacked. All progress made whilst hacking any terminal is cumulative for that particular spy until he is killed, when the information will be lost. To win the game, the spy team must retrieve 2 files and return them to their starting point. The spy team can also win by killing all of the Upsilon Force members, but this method is risky and not advised, unless highly skilled in doing so. The whole mission takes place in less than 20 minutes, otherwise Upsilon wins the match.

Equipment[link]

• Wrist computer - A powerful wrist computer with a range of ten meters which they can use to manipulate their environment remotely. While hacking, Spies enter a first-person view and can only change the direction in which they are looking, and walk. The wrist computer can turn off lights, break glass using ultrasonic sound waves, hack security doors, turn off the main electrical generator, and cause the mercenaries' EM vision and other equipment to malfunction.
• Night vision goggles - capable of standard light amplification and infrared night vision, and thermal vision capable of sensing heat
• Gadgets - capable of carrying one
  • Syringe - restores the health of the Spy or his teammates
  • Flashbang grenade - blinds mercenaries for a short time
  • Smoke grenade - creates a thick cloud of smoke that impairs a mercenary's movement and vision.
  • Jammer - can be dropped on the ground to create a fake presence on the mercenary's HUD
• Proximity Detector - always active device that detects the presence of a mercenary within 10 meters, giving off a "heartbeat" style noise that gets faster as the spy gets closer

Mercenaries of Upsilon Force[link]

The Mercenaries of Upsilon Force are heavily armed with a variety of ways to neutralize intruders. They have a melee attack that knocks their opponents to the ground and temporarily stuns them. They have the ability to sprint for a limited period of time, reducing their turning and aiming accuracy. Mercenaries can also sprint into a spy, knocking them down and stunning them temporarily. They can rappel down certain surfaces, allowing them to move to lower floors quickly.

Mission objective[link]

The mission objective of the Mercenaries is to defend the four terminals from attack by the Spies. The Mercenaries win when they kill all of the Spies or when the timer runs out before the Spies can successfully return two files. Mercenaries receive an audio and visual alert whenever a terminal is being hacked and also can see which Spy is currently hacking and how much of the file has been retrieved.

Equipment[link]

• Rifle - The Mercenaries have an assault rifle capable of fully automatic fire. The rifle has unlimited magazines and each magazine contains 40 rounds. It has a scope capable of 4x optical zoom for sniping.
• EMF Goggles - shows all electrically-active devices in the area, including a spy that is hacking or using night vision or thermal goggles
• Motion Sensor - always active device that outlines a fast-moving spy in white
• Torchlight - a flashlight attached to the mercenary's rifle
• Grenades - launched from the mercenary's rifle
• Drones - remote-controlled flying cameras capable of exploding
• Proximity Detector - always active device that detects the presence of a spy within 10 meters, giving off a "heartbeat" style noise that gets faster as the spy gets closer. Mercenaries have a visual aid to their detector, in the form of 3 concentric rings. Closer rings represent proximity while a dot in the center represents extreme proximity.

Generation Six version[link]

The Xbox and PS2 versions have a Spy vs. Upsilon mode, with players able to play as Echelon Spies or the Upsilon agents, and also has a co-op mode intertwined with the single player portion of the game.

There are 6 Game Modes in these Spy vs. Spy matches: Team Hack, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Key Run, Sam Vs. All, and Countdown. Team Hack has players trying to retrieve data by hacking into enemies' computers and securing their own computers, similar to "Capture the Flag". Deathmatch and Team Deathmatches pit players against each other. Key Run is similar to Team Hack, except retrieving a Key to hack into the other team's computer is the main item to capture. Sam Vs. All is reminiscent to Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence's Sneaking Mission game mode, in which one player who is Sam Fisher must play as a lone wolf and hack into computers defended by an Upsilon spy team. However, the key difference is that Fisher lacks the equipment from the single-player mode, and is nearly identical to normal spies. Countdown is similar to Deathmatch, except players must outlast each other by getting more kills to extend their time limit.

Co-op[link]

Like Chaos Theory, cooperative missions are available that tie in directly to the storyline. They have the spies provide covert support for Fisher, either helping him with his objectives or acting on intelligence he has gathered. The first mission takes place in Iceland shortly after Sam is pulled out. The spies are sent in to complete Fisher's mission by blowing up the plant. Next, the spies go to Ellsworth Prison to start a riot, providing a distraction to allow Fisher and Jamie Washington to escape. Thanks to intelligence provided by Fisher, the spies are able to sabotage the chemical bunker in Kinshasa owned by Tafkir and Massoud, as well as getting valuable intel. The last mission happens in conjunction with Fisher taking down the JBA. The Splinter Cell duo, under the command of Assistant Director Williams, sabotages multiple Red Mercury bombs on a cargo ship heading for Los Angeles.

Reception[link]

The United Kingdom, American, and Australian versions of the Official Xbox Magazine gave the Xbox 360 edition of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent a 9 out of 10. The UK magazine said that it was "rupturing quality and oozing tension", calling it "stealth gaming of the highest calibre, full of imagination and augmented by an excellent two-way Trust system that leaves you pondering every choice you make and then having to deal with the consequences." The UK OXM also gave the PlayStation 2 version an 8 out of 10.

IGN gave the Xbox and Xbox 360 version of Double Agent an "Outstanding" 9.0 out of 10, the PlayStation 2 version an 8.7, the Windows version a 9.0, the Wii version a 5.5 for poor graphics and motion sensing, and the PlayStation 3 version a 7.9 for degraded particle effects. TeamXbox.com rated it 9.1 out of 10, USA Today 9 out of 10, GameTrailers.com 8.9 out of 10, and 1Up.com a "Dynamite" 8 out of 10.

Nintendo Power gave the GCN version 7.2 out of 10 and the Wii version 6.0 out of 10.

GameSpot reviewed each version separately, giving the Xbox and Xbox 360 version a "Great" 8.5, the Windows version a "Great" 8.0 noting "Some issues with stability and graphical performance", the PlayStation 2 version a "Great" 8.2, the PlayStation 3 version a "Great" 8.0, the Wii version a "Fair" 6.2, and the GameCube version a "Fair" 6.7. The major differences between them are in the online multiplayer, graphics and the controls.

GameSpy gave the Windows version 2.5 out of 5 stars, citing many bugs, inconsistent graphics, and high system requirements.^[8]

Despite all the improvements, the "Splinter Cell Versus community" was not very enthusiastic about Double Agent Versus mode, preferring the previous opus Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. Hyper's Dylan Burns commends the game for its great looks, "moral ramifications [and] branching objectives". However, he criticises it for the "same old trial and error gameplay, it's over too quickly".^[9]

Awards[link]

• Received IGN's award for Best Xbox Action Game of 2006^[10]
• Received IGN's award for "Best Original Score of 2006" for the Xbox 360^[11]
• Nominated by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences for "Best Action/Adventure Game", "Best Male Performance", "Best Sound Design" and "Best Original Music" of 2006^[12]
• Won TeamXbox's "Best Action Game" and "Game of the Year" for the Xbox version.^[13]
• Won GameSpy's "Game of the Year" and "Best Action Game" for the Xbox version.^[14]
• Won Official Xbox Magazine's Action-Adventure Game of the Year - February 2007
• Won Official Xbox Magazine's Co-op Game of the Year - February 2007

Soundtrack[link]

Michael McCann (under the alias Behavior) was lead composer for the game's soundtrack. For the Generation Seven version, McCann composed all music, except the Main Theme, which was composed by veterans Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan of Sonic Mayhem^[15]. McCann released the majority of the body of music composed for the game via his website for free^[16]. For the Generation Six version, McCann handled all music except the cinematics, which were composed by Velasco and Dikiciyan.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Official Splinter Cell: Double Agent mobile game site
• Splinter Cell Wiki, an external wiki