Splinter Cell and the tie-in novels are stories of a single person, Tom Clancy. We’re looking at the adventures of its protagonist, Sam Fisher, and see what we’ve been missing from the FPS story-driven game series.
In these Ubisoft games, each entry got great review scores (an 8/10 average) and moderate commercial success. However, Splinter Cell is far from the popularity of Ubisoft’s multiplayer shooters like Rainbow Six Siege.
Also, Tom Clancy wrote seven Splinter Cell books. The last one, “Backlist: Aftermath,” debuted in 2013. Sadly, the author died in 2013, perhaps why Ubisoft abandoned Splinter Cell. Either way, the French/Canadian studio moved towards other Tom Clancy works like Ghost Recon, The Division, and Rainbow Six.
The series ended in 2013 after seven entries plus an H.D. remaster bundle. Ubisoft and Facebook Connect are currently working on a VR Splinter Cell title. It’s how the series plans to come back after almost a decade of silence.
The Splinter Cell Series
The Splinter Cell games introduce Sam Fisher, a black-ops operative, member of the NSA sub-division “Third Echelon.”
Each game presents a top-secret mission. Fisher goes to remote locations to retrieve information, capture terrorists, and eliminate enemies.
This setting opens up athird-person linearstealth shooting game. For the task, Fisher uses Trifocal Goggles to enable night vision and thermal vision. It’s the signature item of the series, and subsequent games added more features to the goggles.
Curiously, when Ubisoft presented the gear to Tom Clancy, the author considered it a sci-fi, unrealistic idea. He said these goggles wouldn’t be possible to produce, but Ubisoft convinced him either way. In 2004, though,Northrop Grumman made a similar device.
Every Splinter Cell Game in Order by Release Date
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell – 2002
Splinter Celldebuted in 2002 as an Xbox Exclusive. Ubisoft Montreal was the developer, and Microsoft Game Studios was the publisher. Over time, the title premiered for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, N-Gage, macOS, and Windows.
U.S. Navy SealSam Fisher joins the National Security Agency. He becomes part of the “Third Echelon” department. Soon, his first mission as a recon officer sent him to Georgia to find two missing CIA officers. He finds out a terrorist is waging an ethnic genocide across Azerbaijan.
The setting opens up stealth gameplay on dark corridors, officers, basements, and similar. The player moves through shadows and corners to conceal and uses the goggles to check the surroundings.
Sam Fisher carries firearms, but ammo is limited, and weapons are not very strong. So, he must rely on suppressed fire, airfoil projectiles, and gas grenades to stun and defeat the enemies silently.
