Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is an action-adventure stealth game developed by Ubisoft Montreal. It is the first installment in the Splinter Cell series of games. It was developed for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Windows, and Mac OS X and was released in 2002.
== Plot ==
Set in the fall of 2004, Sam Fisher, an agent of the American National Security Agency, is called into duty to work with a secret division called "Third Echelon". Fisher is tasked with investigating the disappearance of two CIA agents, Robert Blaustein and Alice Madison. Following their last known location, Fisher is dispatched into T'bilisi, Georgia. He succeeds in finding their corpses in the local precinct.
During his investigation, Fisher uncovers a campaign of systematic ethnic cleansing and mass murder being waged against the neighboring Muslim population of Azerbaijan by the Georgian president, Kombayn Nikoladze, in an attempt to seize the country's vast petroleum resources. When NATO intervenes in the situation against Georgia, Nikoladze goes underground and retaliates against the United States by initiating an information crisis on the American government, using advanced computer algorithms developed by Phillip Masse, a computer hacker, to wreak havoc upon the electronic infrastructure.
Fisher's espionage leads him to discover that a nuclear suitcase bomb, codenamed the ARK, has been brought to the United States. Fisher assassinates Nikoladze at his presidential palace, ending the information crisis and stopping Georgia from detonating the ARK.
== Gameplay ==
The primary focus of gameplay is stealth with a heavy focus on light and darkness. Sam Fisher is to be guided through the shadows for concealment, wherever possible. Despite Fisher carrying firearms, it is encouraged that he gets close to the enemy and silently takes them out. Fisher's multi-vision goggles are equipped with night vision, allowing him to see easier in the shadows, and thermal vision, allowing him to read the temperatures on objects around him and see land mines buried in the dirt.
When Fisher sounds an alarm, he is given a "strike". Once three alarms are sounded, the mission is over and must be started at the last checkpoint. However, in certain levels, Fisher cannot sound one alarm. Fisher can pull off many acrobatic movements that allows him to remain hidden and take out enemies. Fisher can mantle onto and climb along edges, hang from pipes, and perform "split jumps" in narrow spaces.
== Reception ==
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell received positive reviews upon release. Gamespot's Greg Kasavin said that it has "hands down the best lighting effects seen in any game to date." IGN likewise praised the game for its graphics and lighting. Both praised the game's audio, noting that Michael Ironside as Sam Fisher's voice suited the role perfectly.
Criticism of the game was also present. Greg Kasavin said that Tom Clancy's 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.
[[Category:Games released by Ubisoft
Category:Splinter Cell series
Category:Games released on the Xbox
Category:Games released on the PlayStation 2
Category:Games released on the Nintendo GameCube
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Category:Games released for Mac
Category:Games released in 2002
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