''Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'' is a 2002
stealth
Stealth may refer to:
Military
*Stealth technology, technology used to conceal ships, aircraft, and missiles
**Stealth aircraft, aircraft which use stealth technology
**Stealth ground vehicle, ground vehicles which use stealth technology
** Stea ...
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
developed by
Ubi Soft Montreal and published by
Ubi Soft
Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include ''Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry (serie ...
. It is the first game in the ''
Splinter Cell
''Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'' is a series of stealth action-adventure video games, the first of which was released in 2002, and their tie-in novels that were endorsed by Tom Clancy. The series follows Sam Fisher, a highly trained agent of a ...
'' series. Endorsed by author
Tom Clancy
Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of his novels have ...
, it follows the activities of
NSA black ops
A black operation or black op is a covert or clandestine operation by a government agency, a military unit or a paramilitary organization; it can include activities by private companies or groups. Key features of a black operation are that it ...
agent
Sam Fisher (voiced by
Michael Ironside
Frederick Reginald Ironside (born February 12, 1950), known as Michael Ironside, is a Canadian actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He is known for playing villains and "tough guy" heroes, and has also portrayed sympathetic characters.
E ...
). The game was inspired by both the ''
Metal Gear
is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear (video game), Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX, MSX home computers. The player often takes control ...
'' series and games created by
Looking Glass Studios
Looking Glass Studios, Inc. (formerly Blue Sky Productions and LookingGlass Technologies, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was founded by Paul Neurath with Ned Lerner as Blue Sky Product ...
, and was built using
Unreal Engine 2.
Originally released as an
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by th ...
exclusive in 2002, the game was ported to
Microsoft Windows,
PlayStation 2,
GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the W ...
and
Mac OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
in 2003. A
side-scrolling adaptation developed by
Gameloft was also released in 2003 for
Game Boy Advance
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...
, mobile phones and
N-Gage (the latter with the subtitle ''Team Stealth Action''). A remastered
high definition
High definition or HD may refer to:
Visual technologies
*HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format
*HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format
*HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape
* HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...
version was released on
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
in September 2011, and an Xbox version was made available for
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
via
backward compatibility
Backward compatibility (sometimes known as backwards compatibility) is a property of an operating system, product, or technology that allows for interoperability with an older legacy system, or with input designed for such a system, especially ...
in June 2019.
''Splinter Cell'' received critical acclaim on release and is considered as one of the
best video games ever made
This is a list of video games that multiple reputable video game journalists or magazines have considered to be among the best of all time. The games listed here are included on at least six separate "best/greatest of all time" lists from differ ...
. 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.
Gameplay
The primary focus and hallmark of ''Splinter Cell''s gameplay is stealth, with strong emphasis on light and darkness. The
player
Player may refer to:
Role or adjective
* Player (game), a participant in a game or sport
** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games
** Athlete, a player in sports
** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...
is encouraged to move through the shadows for concealment whenever possible. The game displays a "light meter" that reflects how visible the player character is to enemies, and
night vision
Night vision is the ability to see in low-light conditions, either naturally with scotopic vision or through a night-vision device. Night vision requires both sufficient spectral range and sufficient intensity range. Humans have poor night ...
and
thermal vision goggles to help the player navigate in darkness or smoke/fog, respectively. The light meter functions even when night vision goggles is activated, and it is possible to destroy lights, thus reducing the chances of exposure significantly.
''Splinter Cell'' strongly encourages the use of stealth over brute force. Although Sam Fisher is usually equipped with firearms, he carries limited ammunition and is not frequently provided with access to additional ammo. The player begins most missions with a limited supply of
less-than-lethal
Non-lethal weapons, also called nonlethal weapons, less-lethal weapons, less-than-lethal weapons, non-deadly weapons, compliance weapons, or pain-inducing weapons are weapons intended to be less likely to kill a living target than conventional ...
weapons in addition to Fisher's firearms, a
suppressed FN Five-Seven
The FN Five-seven (stylized as Five-seveN) is a semi-automatic pistol designed and manufactured by FN Herstal in Belgium. The pistol is named for its 5.7×28mm (.224 in) bullet diameter, and the trademark capitalization style is intended to ...
sidearm that is provided for every mission, as well as a suppressed
FN F2000 assault rifle during ''some'' missions, which includes a
telescopic sight
A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope informally, is an optical sighting device based on a refracting telescope. It is equipped with some form of a referencing pattern – known as a '' reticle'' – mounted in a focally appropriate ...
and a launcher for some of the
less-lethal devices such as
ring airfoil projectiles, "sticky
shockers" and
CS gas
The compound 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile (also called ''o''-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile; chemical formula: C10H5ClN2), a cyanocarbon, is the defining component of tear gas commonly referred to as CS gas, which is used as a riot control agen ...
grenades. The weapon can even fire a camera that sticks onto surfaces, allowing Fisher to covertly perform surveillance from a safe area.
Flexibility of movement is a focuspoint of ''Splinter Cell''. Fisher can sneak up on enemies from behind to grab them; allowing interrogation, quiet incapacitation, or use as a
human shield
A human shield is a non-combatant (or a group of non-combatants) who either volunteers or is forced to shield a legitimate military target in order to deter the enemy from attacking it. The use of human shields as a resistance measure was popul ...
. Fisher is acrobatic and physically adept, and has a variety of maneuvers including the ability to mantle onto and climb along ledges, hang from pipes and perform a "
split jump" in narrow spaces to mantle up a steep wall.
Plot
In August 2004, former
U.S. Navy SEAL officer
Sam Fisher joins the
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collectio ...
, 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
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to t ...
to investigate the disappearance of two
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
officersAlice Madison, who had been installed in the new government of
Georgian president Kombayn Nikoladze, who seized power in a bloodless
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, ...
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
Spetsnaz are special forces in numerous post-Soviet states. (The term is borrowed from rus, спецназ, p=spʲɪtsˈnas; abbreviation for or 'Special Purpose Military Units'; or .)
Historically, the term ''spetsnaz'' referred to the So ...
member Vyacheslav Grinko. Further investigation soon reveals that the CIA agents had discovered that Nikoladze is waging an ethnic cleansing campaign across
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
with Georgian commandos. In retaliation,
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
forces enter Azerbaijan, prompting Nikoladze to go underground.
Third Echelon soon discovers a data exchange is taking place between a
Caspian Caspian can refer to:
*The Caspian Sea
*The Caspian Depression, surrounding the northern part of the Caspian Sea
*The Caspians, the ancient people living near the Caspian Sea
* Caspian languages, collection of languages and dialects of Caspian p ...
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
Cyberwarfare is the use of cyber attacks against an enemy state, causing comparable harm to actual warfare and/or disrupting vital computer systems. Some intended outcomes could be espionage, sabotage, propaganda, manipulation or economic wa ...
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
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...
n-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
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
,
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
, 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
A suitcase nuclear device (also suitcase nuke, suitcase bomb, backpack nuke, snuke, mini-nuke, and pocket nuke) is a tactical nuclear weapon that is portable enough that it could use a suitcase as its delivery method.
Both the United States and ...
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
National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards.
N ...
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.
Development
The game originally started development as a sci-fi,
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 19 ...
type game called ''The Drift'', which Ubisoft intended to be "a ''
Metal Gear Solid 2'' killer".
The game's producer
Mathieu Ferland
Mathieu Ferland (born January 26, 1974) is a Canadian video game producer best known for producing the '' Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'' series for Ubisoft Montreal. IGN has named him the 75th greatest game creator of all tim
Notable games
* '' ...
said "''
Metal Gear Solid'' was a huge inspiration for ''Splinter Cell''."
The game's designer and writer
Clint Hocking
Clint Hocking (born 18 September 1972) is a Canadian video game designer and director. He has primarily worked at the Canadian divisions of Ubisoft, where he developed three titles, and briefly worked at LucasArts, Valve, and Amazon Game Stud ...
also said ''Splinter Cell'' "owes its existence to" the ''
Metal Gear
is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear (video game), Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX, MSX home computers. The player often takes control ...
'' series, while noting he was also influenced by ''
System Shock
''System Shock'' is a 1994 first-person action-adventure video game developed by LookingGlass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. It was directed by Doug Church with Warren Spector serving as producer. The game is set aboard a spa ...
'', ''
Thief
Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...
'' and ''
Deus Ex
''Deus Ex'' is a series of role-playing video games, set during the mid 21st century. Focusing on the conflict between secretive factions who wish to control the world by proxy, and the effects of transhumanistic attitudes and technologies in a ...
''.
Because the development team was aiming for a Teen
ESRB
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games in the United States and Canada. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Asso ...
rating, the team tried to minimize the level of violence. The soundtrack for the game was composed by English composer
Michael Richard Plowman.
Version differences
The PC version of ''Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'' is fairly closely based on the original
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by th ...
version. Both were made by Ubisoft Montreal. The GameCube and
PlayStation 2 versions, released later, were developed by Ubisoft Shanghai and are similar to each other, but have many small changes over the originals with the result that they are generally easier. Some doors are moved around, guards are less likely to notice gunshots, etc.
Each version of the game has some exclusive features. The Xbox and Windows versions have three new downloadable missions which involve a Russian nuclear sub. The PlayStation 2 version includes an exclusive level between Kalinatek and the Chinese Embassy which takes place in a nuclear power plant in the
Kola Peninsula
sjd, Куэлнэгк нёа̄ррк
, image_name= Kola peninsula.png
, image_caption= Kola Peninsula as a part of Murmansk Oblast
, image_size= 300px
, image_alt=
, map_image= Murmansk in Russia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Murmansk Oblast ...
, new cinematics, a new intro cinematic with original music by the Prague Orchestra and many behind-the-scenes interviews and documentaries both about the new intro and the game itself. The GameCube version includes the same cinematics, uses the Game Boy Advance link cable to give players a real-time overhead map, a new sticky-bomb weapon and
progressive scan
Progressive scanning (alternatively referred to as noninterlaced scanning) is a format of displaying, storing, or transmitting moving images in which all the lines of each frame are drawn in sequence. This is in contrast to interlaced video use ...
(
480p
480p is the shorthand name for a family of video display resolutions. The p stands for progressive scan, i.e. non- interlaced. The ''480'' denotes a vertical resolution of 480 pixels, usually with a horizontal resolution of 640 pixels and 4:3 a ...
) support. Additionally, both the GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions include new binoculars items. The Windows versions also includes support for the
EAX 3.0 ADVANCED HD 3D positional audio technology by
Creative Labs
Creative Technology Ltd. is a Singaporean multinational technology company headquartered with overseas offices in Shanghai, Tokyo, Dublin, and Silicon Valley (where in the US it is known as Creative Labs). The principal activities of the compa ...
, which available in the EMU10K2 processor-based Soundcard such as the
Sound Blaster Audigy and Audigy 2 series.
A
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
version was announced to be part of the ''Splinter Cell Trilogy'' which was released in September 2011 as part of Sony's
Classics HD series. It was revealed on the PlayStation Blog that it would be ported from the PC version, because it had more details and more content than the PlayStation 2 version. It was released on the European PlayStation Network on August 10, 2011. The PlayStation 3 version does not include the downloadable bonus missions that the Xbox and PC versions had.
Reception
''Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'' received positive reviews upon the game's release.
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
's Greg Kasavin said that ''Splinter Cell'' has "hands down the best lighting effects seen in any game to date."
''GameSpot'' later named ''Splinter Cell'' the second-best Xbox game of November 2002, behind ''
MechAssault''.
IGN likewise praised the game for its graphics and lighting, while also praising how it evolved ''
Metal Gear Solid''s third-person stealth-action gameplay.
Both praised the game's audio, noting that Michael Ironside as Sam Fisher's voice suited the role perfectly. Scott Alan Marriott of
AllGame
RhythmOne , previously known as Blinkx, and also known as RhythmOne Group, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel.
Blinkx was founded in 2004, went publ ...
gave the Xbox version four-and-a-half stars out of five and called it "one of the few games to elicit a feeling of suspense without resorting to shock techniques found in
survival horror
Survival horror is a Video game genre, subgenre of Survival game, survival of the players as the game tries to frighten them with either horror graphics or scary ambience. Although combat can be part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel l ...
titles like ''
Resident Evil
''Resident Evil'', known in Japan as is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environmen ...
''."
Criticism of the game was also present. Greg Kasavin said that ''Splinter Cell'' is "sometimes reduced to frustrating bouts of trial and error." In addition, Kasavin criticized the game's cutscenes, saying that they are not up to par with the rest of the game's graphics.
Non video-game publications also gave the game favorable reviews. ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cult ...
'' gave the Xbox version an A and called it "wickedly ingenious".
''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...
'' gave the PlayStation 2 version eight out of ten and said, "If this game were any more realistic, you'd have to hold in your farts." ''
The Cincinnati Enquirer
''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' is a morning daily newspaper published by Gannett in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. First published in 1841, the ''Enquirer'' is the last remaining daily newspaper in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, altho ...
'' gave the Game Boy Advance version all four stars and said that "While it lacks 3-D graphics and an impressive use of lighting and shadows found in its predecessors, the stealthy action game still captures the thrill of modern espionage."
Sales
''Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'' was a commercial success.
Pre-orders reached 1.1 million units and the game sold 480,000 copies worldwide by the end of 2002, after three weeks on sale.
France accounted for 60,000 units in the initial three weeks. By early January 2003, sales in North America had surpassed 1 million units, while Europe accounted for 600,000 units. By March 31, 2003, its sales had risen to 3.6 million copies.
''Splinter Cell'' sold 4.5 million copies by June and 5 million by the end of September,
and its sales reached 6 million units by the end of March 2004.
By July 2006, the Xbox version of ''Splinter Cell'' had sold 2.4 million copies and earned $62 million in the United States alone. ''
Next Generation
Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to:
Publications and literature
* ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company
* Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...
'' ranked it as the 10th highest-selling game launched for the
PlayStation 2,
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by th ...
or
GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the W ...
between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. It remained the best-selling ''Splinter Cell'' game in the United States by July 2006.
The game's PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions each received a "Platinum" sales award from the
Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),
given to titles that sell at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.
''Splinter Cell''s computer version received a "Silver" sales award from ELSPA,
indicating sales of at least 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom.
Awards
*
E3 2002
Game Critics Awards
The Game Critics Awards are a set of annual awards held after the E3 video game conference since 1998. The awards are given to products displayed at E3 with the title Best of E3 of their category.
Format
The nominees and winners of the awards a ...
: Best Action/Adventure Game
*3rd Annual
Game Developers Choice Awards
The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding game developers and games.
Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the Spotlight Awards, which were ...
: Excellence in Writing
*6th Annual
Interactive Achievement Award
The D.I.C.E. Awards (formerly the Interactive Achievement Awards) is an award show in the video game industry started in 1998 and commonly referred to in the industry as the "video games Oscar". The awards are arranged by the Academy of Inte ...
s: Console Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering
*
IGN Best of 2002: Xbox Game of the Year, Xbox Best Graphics
*2003
Spike Video Game Awards
The Spike Video Game Awards (in short VGAs, known as the VGX for the final show) was an annual award show hosted by American television network Spike from 2003 to 2013 that recognized the best computer and video games of the year. Produced by ...
: Best Handheld Game,
''Splinter Cell'' was a runner-up for ''
Computer Games Magazine
''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 1 ...
''s list of the 10 best games of 2003.
It won ''GameSpot''s 2002 "Best Graphics (Technical)" and "Best Action Adventure Game" awards among Xbox games, and was nominated in the "Best Sound", "Best Graphics (Artistic)" and overall "Game of the Year on Xbox" categories.
Nominations
*3rd Annual
Game Developers Choice Awards
The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding game developers and games.
Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the Spotlight Awards, which were ...
: Game of the Year, Original Game Character of the Year, Excellence in Game Design, Excellence in Level Design, and Excellence in Programming
*6th Annual
Interactive Achievement Award
The D.I.C.E. Awards (formerly the Interactive Achievement Awards) is an award show in the video game industry started in 1998 and commonly referred to in the industry as the "video games Oscar". The awards are arranged by the Academy of Inte ...
s: Innovation in Console Gaming, Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design, Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering, and Console Action/Adventure Game of the Year
*IGN Best of 2002: Overall Game of the Year
Remake
On December 15, 2021, Ubisoft announced that a remake of the game is under development at
Ubisoft Toronto using
Snowdrop
''Galanthus'' (from Ancient Greek , (, "milk") + (, "flower")), or snowdrop, is a small genus of approximately 20 species of bulbous perennial herbaceous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae. The plants have two linear leaves and a single ...
, the game engine behind ''
Tom Clancy's The Division
''Tom Clancy's The Division'' is an online-only action role-playing video game developed by Massive Entertainment and published in 2016 by Ubisoft, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It is set in a near future New York City ...
'' and ''
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora''.
Notes
References
External links
Official websitevia
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Splinter Cell, Tom Clancy's
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* 01
Stealth video games
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