Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

"Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" is a series of video games endorsed by American author Tom Clancy. The success of the series spawned a novel series in 2004 written under the pseudonym David Michaels. The protagonist, Sam Fisher is a highly trained agent of a black-ops division of the NSA, dubbed "Third Echelon".

"Splinter Cell", as a brand, is owned by Tom Clancy's company, Rubicon, and is licensed to Ubisoft to make the games. The characters of the game, as well as "Third Echelon" itself, were created by Ubisoft writer J.T. Petty.

Overview

The storyline is similar in most of the games. Terrorists are planning an attack by weapons of mass destruction, usually by use of information warfare, and Sam Fisher needs to prevent this. The missions range from gathering intelligence to capturing and/or eliminating terrorist operatives. Stealth is a critical aspect of gameplay; shooting and killing any civilians or enemy units may result in mission failure or increased difficulty (as guards may arm themselves to better prepare for an attack). An alarm usually occurs if a non-player character spots a casualty, an unconscious person, or Sam Fisher himself. In the first two games, the mission is aborted after a set number of alarms have been triggered; sometimes only one will end a mission prematurely, depending on the mission. The third game features a new system, in which enemies move up to a new level of awareness for every alarm triggered. For example, after the fourth alarm is set off, enemies will fortify positions around the map and wait for the player.

The smoothest way forward in the game is to remain invisible, select non-obvious routes, and utilize diversions to pass guards. The game is a combination of problem solving and quick action. Attacks must be swift, silent, and decisive to ensure success. "Pandora Tomorrow" introduced a two-on-two multiplayer mode, pitting two very differently equipped teams against each other. "Chaos Theory" further evolved that mode and introduced a co-operative mode. This mode plays out very much like the single player mode, yet features myriad moves that may only be performed by both players acting as a team. The co-op storyline in Chaos Theory and the Xbox version of Double Agent parallels that of Sam's in single-player mode, acting on information he obtained or providing support in the field. To ensure that the trident-goggles remain unique to Fisher, the co-op spies have only two lenses that are red or blue.

Originally, Tom Clancy rejected the idea of Sam Fisher having trifocal goggles, stating that goggles with both thermal vision and night vision are impossible to make. The creators argued that having two separate sets of goggles would make for awkward gameplay and convinced Clancy to allow it. Ironically, to this very day the trifocal goggles are considered the 'signature' symbol of the Splinter Cell series. It is mentioned in the special features of the first Splinter Cell for Xbox that having a recognizable 'signature' was what the character designer was aiming for.

"Double Agent" introduces a new morality factor. As the subtitle implies, Fisher becomes a double agent, assuming the identity of a wanted criminal and is recruited by a terrorist ring. The new mechanic is that Fisher may now encounter conflicting objectives between his superiors and the terrorists. For example, the terrorists may assign a mission to assassinate a person, while the NSA simultaneously instructs the player to prevent the assassination. This creates a delicate balancing act between gaining the trust of the terrorists and fulfilling the mission assignments. In addition, Fisher must not do anything to reveal to the terrorists that he is a double agent.

A fifth game, named , is in the making, in which Sam Fisher is a wanted man, after his involvement with terrorist activities in 'Double Agent', and has changed his appearance in order to remain undetected.

Games

Ubisoft rotates development of the console and PC games between Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Shanghai.
* "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" (2002) Ubisoft Montreal
* "" (2004) Ubisoft Shanghai
* "" (2005) Ubisoft Montreal
* "" (2006) Ubisoft Montreal
* "" (2006) Ubisoft Shanghai (XBox 360/PS3/PC)/Ubisoft Montreal (Wii/Xbox/PS2)
* "" (TBA) Ubisoft Montreal

Novels

The "Splinter Cell" novels are written under the pseudonym David Michaels by different authors. The first two novels were written by American author Raymond Benson, also known for being the author of several official James Bond novels and short stories. In 2006, Raymond Benson stepped down from writing further novels saying the next novel would be written by another author under the same pseudonym. It is currently unknown who authored the third novel released in November 2006.
* "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (2004)" by Raymond Benson as David Michaels
* "" (2005) by Raymond Benson as David Michaels
* "" (2006) by unknown author as David Michaels
* "" (2007) by unknown author as David Michaels

Film

The existence of a movie in pre-production has been confirmed both by news sources and by the inclusion of a teaser trailer in the "Collector's Edition" and European Edition of "". Originally, Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) was slated to direct/produce and Splinter Cell video game scriptwriter, J.T. Petty, was slated to write, along with John J. McLaughlin.

J.T. Petty and Peter Berg left the project in summer 2005 and the project shifted from Paramount Pictures to DreamWorks [http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/news.php?id=2655] . Not long after, however, Viacom, the parent of Paramount Pictures, purchased DreamWorks. Since then, there has been no updated information on the film. Production is publicly considered to be stalled.

Characters

*Sam Fisher
*List of Splinter Cell characters

ee also

*United States Special Collections Service

External links

* [http://www.splintercell.com/ "Splinter Cell", Official site]
* [http://www.splintercell.com/us/splintercellpandoratomorrow/home.php "Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow", Official site]
* [http://www.splintercell.com/us/splintercellchaostheory/index.php "Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory", Official site]
* [http://splintercell.us.ubi.com/doubleagent/home.html "Splinter Cell: Double Agent", Official site]
* [http://www.pettyofficial.com/"Official site of game scriptwriter", JT Petty]
* [http://www.raymondbenson.com/ "Official site of the author of the first two SC novels", RaymondBenson.com]
* [http://www.thefairersects.com/tfs.php?p=int_michaels July 13, 2006 interview with current David Michaels]
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