Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory is a series of stealth shooter games, the first of which was released in 2002, and their tie-in novels. The protagonist, Sam Fisher, is a highly trained agent of a fictional black-ops sub-division within the NSA, dubbed “Third Echelon”. The player controls Fisher to overcome his adversaries in levels (created using Unreal Engine and emphasising light and darkness as gameplay elements). All the console and PC games in the series were positively received, and the series is commercially successful. The series was once considered to be one of Ubisoft’s flagship franchises, selling more than 31 million copies as of 2011, although as of 2020 there has not been a new installment since 2013.
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell (2002)
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell was developed over a period of two years and published and released by Ubisoft for the Xbox, Microsoft Windows, Mac, PlayStation 2, GameCube and Game Boy Advance. Inspired by the Metal Gear series,[33][34][35] it uses an Unreal Engine 2 that was modified to allow light-and-dark based gameplay.
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (2004)
Pandora Tomorrow was developed by Ubisoft Shanghai and Ubisoft Milan and introduced multiplayer gameplay to the Splinter Cell series. In single-player mode, the game AI adapts to adjust to the player’s skill level.[36][37] Unlike other games in the series, which generally lean towards information-based threats, the plot of Pandora Tomorrow focuses on biological warfare, in which an Indonesian terrorist group threatens to infect people with smallpox virus. Sam Fisher is also given new abilities like SWAT turns and whistling to attract enemies’ attention.
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (2005)
Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Milan were again responsible for the third game in the series, Chaos Theory. It adds a cooperative multiplayer mode.[38] Originally announced to be released in Fall 2004, its initial releases were made at the end of March 2005. Again the Unreal Engine was heavily modified, this time from version 2.5. The game includes a number of new features, including adding a combat knife to the player’s inventory. Maps are also much more open with multiple ways of achieving the end goal.
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Essentials (2006)
Essentials extends the Splinter Cell series to the PSP platform. Through a series of flashback missions, the player learns more about Sam Fisher’s back story. The game’s critical reception was much worse than the other games in the series. While the graphics were considered high-quality for the PSP, the multiplayer was considered almost unplayable.
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent (2006)
For the series’ fourth installment, two separate versions were created, one for generation six consoles and the Wii and the other for Xbox 360 and PC. Double Agent features a “trust system”[39] that presents the player with moral dilemmas. It is the first game in the series with a hub-like area, where Sam can explore and do objectives between missions. This is also the only game in the series to have different endings, based on player decisions. Only one ending is used to continue the storyline.
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction (2010)
Conviction was officially announced on May 23, 2007 when Ubisoft released a trailer for the game. The game was due for release on November 16, 2007.[40] However, the game missed its initial launch date, and on May 19, 2008, it was reported that Splinter Cell: Conviction was “officially on hold” and that the game had been taken “back to the drawing board”.[41] Ubisoft announced that the game had been pushed back to the 2009–10 fiscal year. At E3 2009, the developers confirmed that the “new” Conviction had been in development since early 2008, commenting that “the gameplay has evolved a lot” and “the visual direction is simply much better”.[42] The game’s release date was pushed back several times.[43][44] On March 18, 2010, the demo was released for Xbox 360.[45] Ubisoft wanted to make the fifth game more accessible.[46] so Conviction was designed around the new core elements “Mark and Execute” and “Last Known Position”, while stealth elements present in the previous games were omitted, such as the ability to whistle, lock picking, hiding bodies, etc. Conviction uses a cover system and adds simple interrogation sequences to the series.[47]
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist (2013)
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist is the sixth installment in the Splinter Cell series developed by Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft and was released on August 20, 2013. Splinter Cell: Blacklist boasts new features combining gameplay from Chaos Theory and Conviction. Series veteran Michael Ironside was replaced in his role as Sam Fisher by actor Eric Johnson. In the game, Sam Fisher has been appointed as the commander of the new “Fourth Echelon”, a clandestine unit that answers solely to the President of the United States. She has denied any existence of the agency and Fourth Echelon is working to stop a new terror plot known as the ‘Blacklist’. Fourth Echelon also has the secondary objective of stopping all operations in which Third Echelon is still running. Features returning include a moving “Mark and Execute”, Sam’s signature goggles and a new knife, the Karambit, and the ability to perform “abduction” stealth melee takedowns.
Future
At E3 2017 regarding Splinter Cell, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated: “I can’t say much about that. But, for sure, all the Clancy games are taken care of. It’s just we have quite a lot on our plate at the moment…[A]ll the Clancy games are really coming along, so we are not forgetting Splinter Cell.”[48] Later in an Ask Me Anything Reddit post, he stated: “We don’t have anything specific to share at the moment but teams are working on different things, so stay tuned for more.”[49]
In May 2019 Julian Gerighty, Ubisoft Creative Director, announced on their social media page that a game is currently in development. In his statement, he said he had been working on the game with Ubisoft Montreal creative director, Roman Campos-Oriola, and executive producer Dan Hay.[50] However, Ubisoft later disputed this.
