Developer : Ubisoft
Release date : November 17, 2002
Synopsis :
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell is a 2002 stealth video game developed by Ubi Soft Montreal and published by Ubi Soft. It is the first game in the Splinter Cell series. Endorsed by author Tom Clancy, it follows the activities of NSA black ops agent Sam Fisher (voiced by Michael Ironside). The game was inspired by both the Metal Gear series and games created by Looking Glass Studios, and was built using Unreal Engine 2.
Originally released as an Xbox exclusive in 2002, the game was ported to Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, GameCube and Mac OS X in 2003. A side-scrolling adaptation developed by Gameloft was also released in 2003 for Game Boy Advance, mobile phones and N-Gage (the latter with the subtitle Team Stealth Action). A remastered high definition version was released on PlayStation 3 in September 2011, and an Xbox version was made available for Xbox One via backward compatibility in June 2019.
Splinter Cell received critical acclaim on release and is considered as one of the best video games ever made. The success of the game lead to multiple sequels, starting with Pandora Tomorrow in 2004, and a series of novels written under the pseudonym David Michaels. A remake of Splinter Cell is currently in development by Ubisoft Toronto.
In August 2004, former U.S. Navy SEAL officer Sam Fisher joins the National Security Agency, as part of its newly formed division “Third Echelon” headed by his old friend Irving Lambert. Two months later, Fisher, aided by technical expert Anna “Grim” Grimsdóttír and field runner Vernon Wilkes Jr., is sent to Georgia to investigate the disappearance of two CIA officers – Alice Madison who had been installed in the new government of Georgian president Kombayn Nikoladze, who seized power in a bloodless coup d’état following the assassination of his predecessor earlier in the year; and Robert Blaustein who was sent in to find her. Fisher discovers both were murdered on Nikoladze’s orders by former Spetsnaz member Vyacheslav Grinko. Further investigation soon reveals that the CIA agents had discovered that Nikoladze is waging an ethnic cleansing campaign across Azerbaijan with Georgian commandos. In retaliation, NATO forces enter Azerbaijan, prompting Nikoladze to go underground.
Third Echelon soon discovers a data exchange is taking place between a Caspian oil rig and the Georgian presidential palace, and assign Fisher to recover the data. Narrowly avoiding an airstrike by NATO, Fisher recovers a technician’s laptop with files on an item called “The Ark”, as well as evidence that there is a mole in the CIA. Shortly after this, North America is hit by a massive cyber warfare attack directed at military targets, to which Nikoladze claims responsibility before declaring war on the United States and its allies. Investigating the leak, Fisher discovers a back-up of data by a staff member to an unsecured laptop that was exploited by a Virginian-based network owned by Kalinatek, Inc. After Grim’s efforts spook the Georgians, Fisher is sent to the company’s Virginia offices to recover an encryption key from Ivan, a technician in the building, as Georgian-hired mafiosos attempt to liquidate all the incriminating evidence. In his escape, Wilkes is mortally wounded extracting him and dies soon afterwards.
With the encryption key, the NSA discover that Nikoladze has been using a network of unconventional relays to communicate with Georgian military cells. Tracing the full relay network back to the Chinese embassy in Yangon, Myanmar, Fisher is sent in discreetly to investigate. Fisher discovers from captured U.S. soldiers and high-ranking Chinese diplomats that Nikoladze is working alongside a rogue collective of Chinese soldiers led by General Kong Feirong, after rescuing them from being executed on a live web broadcast. After killing Grinko in a firefight when he attempts to kill the Americans and Chinese, Fisher moves to capture Feirong for information on Nikoladze’s location. After preventing him from committing suicide in a drunken stupor, Feirong reveals that Nikoladze had fled back to Georgia in order to activate a device codenamed “The Ark”.
Infiltrating the Georgian presidential palace where Nikoladze and new Georgian president Varlam Cristavi are, Fisher attempts to recover the key to the Ark, which he learns is in fact a nuclear suitcase bomb that has been placed somewhere in the United States. Fisher corners Nikoladze, who bargains to give the Ark key in exchange for safe passage out of Georgia. After Cristavi’s forces arrive and escort Nikoladze to safety, Lambert rescues Fisher from execution by creating a diversion via power blackout. Discovering that Nikoladze is offering the Ark’s location for protection, Fisher assassinates him. The National Guard eventually locates the bomb and evacuates an apartment complex in Hope’s Gate, Maryland under the pretense of a gas leak before secretly recovering the weapon. Despite a war being averted, Nikoladze’s corpse sparks international backlash due to the suspicious circumstances around his death. Watching the U.S. president give a speech on the end of the crisis, Fisher then receives a secure phone call from Lambert for another assignment.
Source : Wikipedia
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