History of Splinter Cell (2002 - 2019)

welcome back everybody my name is Nick 930 and today I wanted to share with you the complete history of Splinter Cell [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Spooner cell is a stealth action video game series created by Ubisoft and endorsed by the late American fiction author Tom Clancy each game in the series follows secret agent Sam Fisher as he covertly infiltrates enemy territory with a sophisticated arsenal of unique gadgets and maneuvers the franchise is known for its robust stealth based game mechanics high quality visuals and its iconic main protagonist but has seen a significant shift in gameplay style throughout the course of the past several years taking on a more action-oriented approach despite this shift each main entry to the franchise has been met with critical success making it one of ub sauce most cherished intellectual properties so what made sputter cells so popular to begin with and why is Ubisoft not giving us a new entry in the past six years to answer this let's start by looking at how this franchise began back in the early 2000s in 1999 Ubisoft developers working out of New York who would later be absorbed into Ubisoft Montreal had begun working on a new action-adventure game set in a 1970s post-apocalyptic America this project known as the drift featured a number of design concepts that would find their ways into other popular Ubisoft properties including Assassin's Creed's dynamic crowds the sci-fi elements of Beyond Good and Evil and splitter sales heavy stealth action elements most of the information regarding this project was revealed during an IGN interview a few years ago so there isn't much to go off of but there was some interesting concept art of a modular weapon that allowed the main character to fire special gadgets like grappling hooks remote cameras and swap between different vision modes this weapon along with designer Nathan Wolf's introduction of several stealth based concepts resulted in a new focus for the studio with Metal Gear Solid's still firmly seated as the ultimate stealth action franchise on the market and Metal Gear Solid 2 set to release soon after Ubisoft decided to focus our effort on creating a rival stealth action series and scrapped the drift almost completely at the same time Ubisoft had already begun working closely with the American novelist Tom Clancy who was famous for his fictional espionage stories franchises with the Tom Clancy name attached including Rainbow six had already been met with better sales figures and helped to establish Tom Clancy as a mainstay overarching link between you Vsauce more militaristic blackops video games while Tom Clancy didn't necessarily have any direct say in the direction of the game or its story his name was attached to the project's title which would go on to be called Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell stealth action redefined utilizing the Unreal 2 engine Ubisoft worked to create a highly detailed world to sneak around in with extra effort put into the game's advanced lighting effects unlike most games at the time Splinter Cell staff mechanics would rely heavily on the player's position relative to environmental light sources setting in the direct light would allow AI to recognize the player while standing in the shadows would allow the player to hide this idea inspired heavily by the classic stealth action series thief would go on to define Splinter Cell and directly contribute to the much darker art direction Ubisoft also put a great deal of time and effort into the design of the players character making him not only fit with the game's aesthetic and atmosphere but also ensuring that he was unique and interesting instead of the typical arrogant loudmouth protagonist synonymous with late 90s gaming Ubisoft decided instead to develop this type of rogue soldier whose advanced experience in the field had left him a bit of a cynic but still fiercely loyal in order to capture this character Ubisoft brought onboard Canadian actor Michael Ironside providing the perfect fit one false move EU dead I need information but Ironside didn't just read from their script he also provided valuable input into the actual design of Sam Fisher himself and suggested introducing a more human element this resulted in the creation of Sam's daughter Sarah who would appear in cutscenes talking to Sam over a secure line Sam's love for his daughter and his cynicism towards his line of work helped to create a more complex and deep character to explore and one that fans connected with immediately the original Splinter Cell takes place in what used to be the near future of 2004 and follows Sam Fisher as he embarks on a series of covert missions across the world Fisher is a cynical over-the-hill ex Navy SEAL who after the death of his ex-wife retires and tries to reconnect with his daughter Sarah seeing his overwhelming potential a US Army colonel named Irving Lambert invites Sam to work for a new branch of the National Security Agency called Third Echelon Third Echelon had been developing an experimental counter-terrorist unit called the splinter cell program which involved sending a lone highly-trained black ops unit into the field with a small radio support team consisting of information analysts and a grim starter and field runner Vernon Wilkes after a rigorous training exercise at Fort Meade Sam is said to Georgia to investigate the disappearance of CIA agents blasting Madison but discovers their dead bodies instead wither subdue mole surgically extracted Sam tracks the culprits to a Defense Ministry nearby three words that Georgian billionaire combined nickel ODS who had just taken control of the region after the Georgian president's assassination had been conducting ethnic cleansing operations in Iser by Jean Fisher's discovery results in NATO's direct military involvement prompting Nikolas to drop off the grid and attacked the United States with an information warfare attack with the situation becoming unstable Sam Fisher and the rest of Third Echelon continued down the rabbit hole tracking down a mole in the CIA stopping an attempted cover-up at the Kalina tech offices and uncovering potential Chinese involvement that could result in a third world war the plot of the original Splinter Cell not only establishes the franchise's more serious tone but it's also consistent with the themes use in other Tom Clancy stories especially in how powerful information warfare can be this along with Sam's personal struggle to manage his work-life and his relationship with his daughter Sarah created a fresh and unique narrative that was rarely seen in the video game industry at the time but what's more interesting is how the story is seamlessly incorporated into the gameplay experience the original splitter self doesn't rely on long drawn-out cutscenes to move the plot forward instead a lot of the narrative is delivered during the players time sneaking through the environment including reading emails on computer terminals frequent voice communications between Sam and his support team and even interrogating NPCs this type of integrated narrative approach coupled with Michael Ironsides incredible voiceover work helped the Splinter Cell franchise stand out from the competition creating a far more immersive and realistic stealth action story oriented experience but the story was only a small part of what made the Splinter Cell Games gray split ourselves gameplay mechanics were fundamental in redefining stealth action and gaming today it did just take concepts from theif and Metal Gear Solid but expanded upon them with the help of the Unreal Engine Ubisoft crafted environments specifically tailored from light and shadow based detection requiring players to carefully maneuver the world in the darkness to avoid being spotted by the enemy to properly convey this concept to the player the game's heads-up display includes a light meter that constantly adjusts based on the intensity of the light cast on the character model since this meant players would need to spend most of their time sneaking through the shadows Ubisoft decided to give players a method of seeing in the dark this led to the development of Sam's iconic night vision trifocal goggles Tom Clancy initially dismissed these goggles due to their unrealistic combination of night vision and thermal vision but they have since become the franchise's most recognizable feature players are also equipped with special tools including a lockpick an optical cable to peek underneath doors and a silenced five-seven pistol partway through the game the player is given access to another of Sam's iconic weapons the SC 20k a modified F 2000 assault rifle with a sniper scope and an underbarrel grenade launcher capable of firing special non-lethal munitions like airfoil rounds sticky shockers and sticky cameras Sam can also perform several acrobatic maneuvers including combat roles silent drops climbing rappelling and the iconic split jump typically players can bypass enemy stuffily using this extensive list of abilities and equipment but there are times where direct confrontation is inevitable and players can either use their firearms or non-lethal devices to neutralize targets because of the game's heavy focus on stealth combat isn't really this game strong suit you can fire guns at certain enemies assuming you're given the go-ahead by Lambert but the accuracy is all over the place encouraging a more hands-on approach the most effective method for dispatching enemies is to sneak up behind them and grab them with a chokehold first can sometimes interrogate these enemies use them as human shields and even press their faces into retinal scanners to bypass locked doors fires can then knock the NPC out and will need to carefully hide the body to avoid raising an alert but what really helps Splinter Cell stand apart from games like Metal Gear Solid is the way it allows players to manipulate the environment since the game stealth mechanics are designed so strongly around the engines lighting Ubisoft implemented ways for players to change the environments lighting to bypass threats sample players can shoot out lights to create darkness or even flip a room's light switch for a cleaner approach to help make the experience even more realistic the game's artificial intelligence is designed to behave naturally to these types of things shooting out a white causes an enemy guard to switch to an unpredictable investigation pattern requiring players to carefully improvise their movement to avoid detection split ourselves gameplay was a revolution for stealth action gaming it infused the cinematic experience of Metal Gear Solid with the shadow based detection system of thief to create some of the most tense close quarters stealth action that John row had ever seen not only that but sputter salt was a visual marvel in 2002 I'm like other games where shadows are just thrown in to make the game look pretty well split ourselves visual elements are fundamental to how the game is played shadows play a huge role in the gameplay and form the entire backbone of the experience because of this spruce al shadows were far more sophisticated than any other game before it with real-time projections of the character the NPCs and environmental objects the dark environments of Splinter Cell are brought to life with these beautiful shadow displays around every corner Ubisoft also incorporated realistic cloth physics which back in 2002 looked incredibly impressive the fact that this game still looks good today is a testament to its excellent art direction Splinter Cell would go on to release for Microsoft's new Xbox platform in 2002 alongside a PC release in the same year a separate Ubisoft studio called Ubisoft Shanghai were then contracted to create a PlayStation 2 version of the game and released it in early 2003 this version features a few bonus features including an exclusive mission in a snow a nuclear power plant and several reworked cinematics there are also a number of changes to the level layouts in order to account for the PlayStation 2s weaker Hardware including more frequent loading screens and less detailed environments overall despite these changes all versions of the game were met with high critical acclaim with the original Xbox and PC versions getting an aggregated 92 percent score players loved the impressive visual direction mixed with the solid stealth action gameplay elements and its likable lead protagonist UB Montreal even released a Game Boy Advance version of the game that featured 2d renditions of many of the original games environments along with some white stealth action now splitter cell wasn't instant hit and Ubisoft had successfully delivered on the game slogan in that stealth-action had truly been redefined soon after the release of the police station to port in 2003 Ubisoft Shanghai were contracted to begin work on a sequel in order to make this sequel bigger and better in every way the developers took careful note of criticisms made to the original game the sequel would aim for a more focused narrative experience and would include smarter artificial intelligence and more interesting environments to explore but convinced they could do more Ubisoft assigned their annecy studio to begin work on a separate multiplayer mode that would combine elements of the franchise's stealth action with the emerging online competitive space after a full year of development sputter cel Pandora tomorrow hit store shelves for both the PC and Xbox platform and released a month or so later for the police station - and Nintendo GameCube and or tomorrow takes place in 2006 with the US military having recently been deployed to Indonesia to help in the fight against the radical guerrilla group called the Dehradun Doha the leader of this guru love force so Hadi Sedano launches a terrorist attack against the US Embassy to East Timor which greatly escalates tension in the region in response Third Echelon sends in Fisher to secure the area forcing sadhana to go into hiding however as Fisher begins to investigating the Dehradun Doha further he discovers Sedano has managed to sneak smallpox bombs into the United States and has been delaying the release by making daily phone calls to his operatives this extra insurance forces the US military to cease operations in the area as Fisher attempts to identify the location of the bioweapons and shut down savannas operations Pandora tomorrow's story while not as deep in complex as the original game feels more cinematic the locations that the player travels to are far more diverse and the added threat of the biological bombs being released after a single screw up as a significant new level of tension to the experience Pandora tomorrow also introduced a unique choice based sequence midway through the game where the player is told to shoot a supposed ally with our question we need Dalia Tao dead kill her don't think just do it what's cool about this moment is that it's not required of the player and no matter of what you decide to do the game will go on only with a minor change to the ending of that level it's a neat moment that really helps to humanize Fischer and would go on to inspire a future entry in the series to adopt a similar choice based design bend or tomorrow's gameplay retains most of what made the original game great while also addressing many past concerns first Sam was given several new abilities to improve the flow of movement new moves include the SWAT churn which allows players to smoothly move from cover to cover the ability to hang upside down from horizontal beams and fire weapons a whistle to alert enemies and the half split jump which allows players to climb up even more narrow corridors and shift their stance to reach high ledges to address the terrible weapon accuracy of the past game Pandora tomorrow introduces a laser sight for Sam's five-seven pistol which can easily be toggled on and off to perform precision shots on targets various animations are also improved with Sam's crouched stance appearing more realistic and enemies no longer falling forward haphazardly after being knocked out in a chokehold Sam is now capable of opening doors while carrying bodies rather than need to drop the body first and open the door separately and hiding bodies is much easier thanks to the addition of a blinking indicator in the light meter giving players confirmation that their hiding spot will not result in an alarm speaking of alarms Pandora tomorrow expands on the strict three tier alarm system enemies can now instantly trigger alarms when they detect the player rather than mean to run to a static alarm button in the environment with each sequential alarm the level becomes harder with enemies equipping bullet resistant vests and helmets though the alarms can also reset if the player manages to stay hidden long enough this new alarm system greatly increases the difficulty of the game and encouraged a far more stealthy approach Pandora tomorrow's level design is also greatly improved while the levels themselves are still linear each level feels more unique and interesting some levels feature lush Indonesian jungles and fields while another has the player clinging to the roof of a speeding train but the absolute biggest change to Pandora tomorrow is its inclusion of the new Spy vs mercenary competitive multiplayer developed by UB annecy spy murk's is a separate game-mode that pits a team of two spy players against a team of two mercenary players the spies handle roughly the same as Fischer with a third-person camera several acrobatic moves and special gadgets to help complete their objectives tools include both night vision and thermal vision goggles sticky cameras that can put enemy players to sleep alarm stairs to draw attention spy bullets to track enemy positions and a number of non-lethal grenades that could be equipped and thrown at the players feet for a quick getaway the mercenaries on the other hand are played in first-person limiting their field of view and their abilities to more basic movements like running jumping and climbing ladders to balance out the mercenaries lack of maneuverability they are given a powerful automatic rifle capable of zooming in and firing long-range sniper rounds mercenaries are also given many gadgets including explosive wall mines laser spite wraps that can temporarily tag an enemy spy on the radar phosphorus grenades that could be used to follow a spies footprint trail and frag grenades which can be launched from the rifle to kill spies hiding in out of reach areas instead of night vision in thermal vision the mercs are given a short-range torch light a laser that can digitally acquire targets and to unique vision modes a red motion tracking mode and a blue EMF mode that can highlight enemy spies when they're using their electronic tools when stealth isn't an option spies will need to rely on quick movement and deception to come out on top usually assign their opponents with their converted p90 taser and either jumping on them or grabbing them from behind though because of the awkward controls and inconsistent hitboxes for grabbing enemies it's often better to run and hide rather than taking mercenaries head-on while contending with the mercenaries spy players also need to deal with various security systems including laser grids camera networks and motion sensors triggering these alarms results in a temporary lockdown of the area and well worth the mercenary team of the intrusion the spies goal ultimately is to disable the nd 133 smallpox virus bombs mirroring the events of the game's main campaign while the mercenaries job is to defend them and kill any intruders this cat-and-mouse style gameplay inspired heavily by 2000's a lien vs. predator was insanely creative for the time and is still to this day one of the most unique experiences I've had in anomaly game visually Pandora tomorrow made several improvements to the already impressive graphical design used in the first game using the same engine Ubisoft Shanghai improved the lighting effects with more dynamic props like swinging light bulbs greatly increasing the level of realism the game's new outdoor environments also required some new visual effects like improved water simulation and implementation of cloth physics into the larger grass sprites in the game world again just like the original game these beautiful graphical features aren't just nice to look at but also directly impact the gameplay parts can sneak around and tall grass to avoid detection and need to carefully time their movement with lighting during thunderstorms to avoid being spotted Pandora tomorrow offers various advantages and disadvantages based on the platform you choose to play on the PC version for example was played with typical issues at release especially with Radeon based cards at the time making it nearly unplayable but if you happen to have the right configuration it was easily the sharpest and best performing version of the title the ps2 version which released a few months after the Xbox and PC features an exclusive jungle section to the refinery level in addition to some reactive water simulation effects throughout the game but again in order to compensate for the PlayStation 2s weaker hardware the level layouts were altered and more loading screens were put into place Pandora tomorrow also saw a Game Boy Advance release only with smoother animation work and some new stealth mechanics Pandora tomorrow just like the original game was a massive critical success many praised the improved focus on the story enhanced visual design and creative online multiplayer mode however many complained about the more linear nature of the level designs there's less freedom to experiment with Sam's arsenal especially with strict no kill rules on many of the missions tedious tailing objectives and strict paths that essentially need to be taken every time to avoid being detected the game is multi-part while a great idea felt rough even back when it released due to the sloppy controls and steep learning curve once he got into it it was an amazing experience but it was always a hard sell for most and even if you did end up enjoying the multiplayer there were several bouncing issues like the mercenaries occasionally glitched instinct or nades and the spies ability to stun an enemy and then jump on their head for an easy kill so the game is a solid experience and helped lay the groundwork for the title in the series during Ubisoft Shanghai's development of Pandora tomorrow the original Splinter Cell developers Ubisoft Montreal had already been hard at work on the third entry to the franchise this third entry built using the modified unveiled 2.5 engine features a huge leap forward in graphical design with improved lighting effects advanced shaders soft shadows labor bus new physics system and completely reworked animations the game environments were made to be much larger and open-ended with multiple routes to and from objectives and the game's AI were designed to not just react but remember disturbances greatly adding to the realism of the experience this entry also features an improved version of the fan-favorite spy versus mercenary mode a brand new cooperative campaign I'll return to the information warfare based plot of the first game and hugely expanded gameplay mechanics making it one of the most ambitious entries to the series yet this third entry titled Splinter Cell chaos theory released in spring of 2005 and is still considered by longtime fans to be the very best entry in the franchise chaos theory story takes place in the year 2007 and is based heavily around the idea that technology is rapidly reshaping the world to defend itself against the threat of information warfare based attacks Japan forms a military force called di SDF a move that both China and North Korea feel violates post-world War two agreements China and North Korea then initiate naval blockades in the region prompting Japan's allies the United States to begin their own naval operations to defuse the situation meanwhile Third Echelon follows a lead regarding the Colonel's used by niccola's in the original games information warfare attacks only to find that they've been stolen by an unknown organization the plot begins to thicken as various information based terrorist attacks begin to destabilize the Japanese conflict further pushing the world closer towards a third world war the story's emphasis on technology and information based warfare echoes the themes used in the original game only was Fisher becoming more aggravated by the idea of growing old and being replaced this is an interesting subplot that really helps to expand on Fisher cynicism and makes them a more dynamic character especially during a mission in Seoul where the player can choose to directly to file a mert's order and save the lives of two injured pilots you don't even exist Fisher get a medal for this medals don't help me sleep at night Lamberty again much like the dolly a moment in Pandora tomorrow this is a minor event that has no real impact on the outcome of the game but it's still one of the more memorable and interesting moments to expand on the themes of technological advancements Ubisoft incorporated things into the gameplay experience like motion sensor lights wireless network connections and UAVs which provides some interesting gameplay challenges chaos series gameplay received a gigantic overhaul improving on practically every aspect introduced in the past two games all the animations were completely reworked in order to make Sam move more organically through the world one of the most noticeable animation changes is the closer than ever mechanic where Sam's crouched stance will automatically adjust relative to an enemies distance this greatly improves the flow of movement for Sam removing the awkward stiff controls of the past two games with something more akin to a ninja stalking through the shadows various other stealth mechanics were also tweaked in addition to the light meter on the players HUD kasseri introduces a sound meter that displays the players current sound levels relative to the environment this allows players to adjust their movement speed and time their actions with things like the Thunder to avoid raising suspicion after complaints about the three-alarm mechanic and past games automatically failing missions Ubisoft made the alarms and Kesari much more forgiving while enemies still go on high alert and even gear up with bulletproof helmets to prepare themselves raising too many alarms no longer instantly fails the mission Ubisoft even makes fun of themselves with a line Lambert gives in the second mission basically saying that the three alarm system was cheesy and unrealistic bodies are also no longer detected automatically if left sitting in the spotlight removing the tedious cleanup requirement in the past games if guards did happen to find a body or happen to spot the player then they are once again limited to need to run to a wall switch to trigger the alarm instead of being able to instantly radio in an alert like in Pandora tomorrow these more forgiving elements make the gameplay and kasseri feel more accessible and greatly encouraged more creative approaches to be much larger and more intricate environments many of the new abilities introduced in Pandora tomorrow failed to find their way into chaos theory including the laser sight Samms have split jump the SWAT turn and even the blinking hidden body indicator though this is understandable considering how situational those features are unlike the first two games s eries levels are designed to be open-ended with more than just one or two paths to reach the objective one of the best examples of this is the Panama Bank mission where the player is dropped in the front of the building and given several different ways to approach the nonlinear objectives first can go through the front door shooting out lights and distracting guards rappel into the ceiling or crawl in through the air-conditioning vents all with far more intelligent enemies to contend with the artificial intelligence in chaos theory is greatly improved with enemies that not only remember past offense but also properly adjust their behavior in response this makes return visits to older areas even more interesting as guards that were spooked by an earlier disturbance will now be more cautious walking with their gun at the ready and looking around the area more carefully some guards will even pull out flares or flashlights to see in the darker environments and will comment more directly about disturbances like seeing open doors broken devices or even notice their friends missing from their posts when in combat situations the enemy AI will usually run for cover first and will often communicate with each other in an effort to flank the players last location in order to deal with these intelligent enemies Sam is now capable performing more effective close-quarter takedowns while the original two games forced players to sneak up behind enemies chaos theory allows Sam to perform takedowns from any direction new to chaos theory is the combat knife which can be used to instantly kill enemies and can also be used to break the locks on doors for players looking for a more non-lethal approach each tick down attack can be substituted with a non-lethal alternative like an upward jab to the face or a quick punch to the side of the neck whereas can also grab enemies while hanging upside down from a pipe pull enemies over ledges and if you're playing on the ps2 pull enemies into bodies of water in addition to the improved hand-to-hand combat the game's firearm mechanics were also reworked players can no longer aim their guns around corners but chaos theory does allow for shoulder swapping for improved target acquisition in addition to a number of changes to the iconic weapons themselves the five-seven pistol is nabek with an OCP device that can remotely disable electronics allowing for a silent way to bypass bright lights without needing to destroy them the SC 20k now features modifications that need to be swapped for different functionality by default the SC 20k is fully automatic with a red dot sight and in underbarrel grenade launcher to fire things like sticky cameras air foils and sticky shockers but based on the load at selected prior to each mission parts can press a button and swap attachments on the fly including a for grip for improved weapon stability a shotgun and a long-range sniper rifle unfortunately these attachments aren't very useful because of the amount of sound that they produce but for players looking to play more aggressively they are still fun to play around with chaos theories advanced gameplay mechanics allow for far more creativity and experimentation but only the most stealthy players will be able to achieve the coveted 100% and the post mission statistics screen but if that wasn't enough kasseri also expands on the well received multiplayer component of Pandora tomorrow first there's the brand-new cooperative mode which utilizes the same art design and gameplay mechanics of the game single-player only with unique cooperative missions and cooperative based abilities first can boost each other up walls throw each other like cannonballs and even be lowered from the ceiling Mission Impossible style this co-op is fun though it does feel admittedly lackluster in terms of its visual design with more repetitive environments and less variety still it's a welcome change of pace and the game's single-player design translates perfectly for a cooperative experience on the competitive side the popular Spy vs mercenary mode from Pandora tomorrow returns and has been improved upon tenfold assuming you're playing the Xbox or PC version that is well out the core concept of a team of two spies versus a team of two mercs remains the same calories vs. includes several new features for both teams including some new moves new gadgets or interesting levels and some tweaks to the balancing the spy team for example can now turn invisible using a temporary cloaking device and can track enemies using a heartbeat sensor attached to the gun spies can also initiate cooperative actions in certain levels allowing them to reach advantageous locations that they wouldn't otherwise be able to reach just like the single player spies can grab and while hanging from much's and the taser jump combo from Pandora no longer works mercenaries are also more interesting to play as now with more gadgets to choose from and even a few different weapons to try out unfortunately these weapons are terribly balanced with the Uzis rate of fire and the shotguns overwhelming damage output making them far too powerful against the already defenseless spies so most players agree that the original assault rifle is the only fair choice mercenaries can now perform a pizarev spinning in a circle and knocking down any enemy in range and they can then follow it up with a humiliating takedown on an incapacitated spy mercs can also utilize a new camera network system which is likely the inspiration for the camera network design and Rainbow six siege but the biggest change to Kaos series versus mode is the reworked level designs levels in this vs. mode are much more interesting than the boring industrial sites featured in Pandora tomorrow new levels include a creepy old orphanage the coastline aquarium and an active missile silo levels also featured more interactive components some levels have hackable panels to disable lights and defenses while another has a huge crane that can break down a wall into a new area fan favorite Mass from Pandora tomorrow are also included only with a few minor changes to the layout of objectives to help make them feel more in line with the new gameplay design unfortunately this isn't the case with all versions of the game the PlayStation 2 version likely due to hardware limitations fails to provide most of the new features advertised in the trailers instead Ubisoft took the outdated design of Pandora tomorrow's multiplayer and threw in four dumbed down versions of the new maps none of the new gadgets like adaptive camo or unique weapons found their way into this version but outside of that chaos series gameplay was vastly improved in every single aspect over its predecessors with smoother animations more open-ended sandbox environments and some nice improvements to the game's multiplayer options and then of course there's chaos series presentation which surprisingly even after 14 years still holds up surprisingly well to help address the franchise's aging visual design Ubisoft Montreal spent eight months building the game's assets entirely from scratch with a reworked Unreal 2.5 engine new features like HDR lighting parallel mapping high-quality shaders and soft shadows were implemented to make kasseri the best-looking game in 2005 Ubisoft also wanted to address the problem with enemy bodies clipping through the environment after being incapacitated and introduced ragdoll physics behind bodies to realistically interact with all meshes in the world often contorting in ridiculous ways it often looks silly but because of the game's focus on hiding enemy bodies this addition adds a great new dynamic to the experience another important part of the presentation is the sound design because of chaos Ares emphasis on sound masking the sound was redesigned with much higher quality audio in addition to this Ubisoft hired composer amon tobin to produce the soundtrack who provided arguably the best music in the entire game franchise Jesper Kyd famous for his work on the popular Hitman franchise also provided a few tracks though they're not nearly as prevalent Ubisoft realizing the profit potential for the Splinter Cell series pulled out all the stops for chaos theory everything from its graphics gameplay multi-player music sound and story were all given an extra level of care and attention to help make it the strongest entry in the franchise yeah and that extra effort paid off as critical reception for the game was through the roof with universal acclaim from all outlets the game was praised for its more forgiving Mission designs its more open-ended environments and its excellent blend of storytelling and gameplay the multiplayer while more rough around the edges was still met with positive reception and was even in the running for PC gamers best multiplayer game of the Year losing out to dices battlefield 2 Splinter Cell chaos theory far exceeded expectations and is considered by many as one of the best stealth action video games of all time this title will also mark the end of the traditional Splinter Cell experience as Ubisoft began investigating new ways to approach the Sam Fisher character and shared the stealth action experience with an even bigger audience gasps re-released at the very tail end of the six console generation and had pushed the poor PlayStation 2 and Xbox to their absolute limits in the wake of splinter cell's resounding success Ubisoft immediately sought to bring the franchise to the next generation Hardware while also simultaneously ensuring that gamers on old hardware still had a chance to experience the next chapter Ubisoft had their share offices begin working early 2005 on a next-generation sequel to the Splinter Cell franchise while Ubisoft Montreal split work within the department on both an old gen version for Xbox and ps2 and a portable spin-off title for the PlayStation Portable the first title I want to talk about in this section is Splinter Cell double agent for the Xbox 360 and PC often referred to as version 1 double agent on paper seemed like a creative concept for a new spawn or saw game the idea was to take Sam Fisher out of his comfort zone by putting him undercover in a terrorist organization while also building upon the excellent gameplay design of Splinter Cell cast theory but unfortunately double agent short development time on completely brand-new Hardware resulted in an incredibly unstable experience and the final product barely resembles the promotional material double agent story takes place shortly after the events of chaos theory with Sam Fisher on another covert mission for Third Echelon only this time he's joined by a rookie Splinter Cell named John Hodge whose go getter attitude gets him killed before we even really get to know him but after Fisher completes his objectives and is extracted Lambert breaks the horrible news that Sam's daughter Sara had just been killed by a drunk driver this tragedy completely breaks Sam as Sara was the only thing keeping him tethered to his humanity in the wake of Sam's loss Lambert offers a special undercover opportunity involving a domestic terrorist organization called John Brown's army Sam agrees and infiltrates the organization by helping break a member out of a high-security prison Sam is then accepted into the jba and is tasked with earning their trust while simultaneously spying on them for the NSA it's a unique concept and the additional interaction with characters outside of the typical interrogation scenario helps to give Sam significantly more depth than before however the story itself feels nothing like the original trilogy there's no news reports during cutscenes or interesting side stories about astronauts here instead the story builds entirely around Sam's chest of his agency and the people around him bars can also directly influence the story based on their actions like choosing whether to detonate a bomb in Mexico in order to maintain the trust of the terrorists or defuse it and frame someone else double agent story while not the best written in the series is the first title to focus more on characters themselves rather than the Tom Clancy oriented themes of the past double agents gameplay on the other hand feels very similar to the design of chaos theory Sam's movement feels roughly the same with the same closer than ever animations and ability to easily attack targets with a single hit but the controls feel a bit clunky er the camera doesn't respond nearly as well as before and Sam's animations were given a more realistic appearance often making it difficult to maneuver in tight situations thanks to the more powerful Hardware of the Xbox 360 and PC platform spin assault double agent was the first game in the franchise to step out of the shadows and into pure daylight missions many of the game's levels featured daytime scenarios that require the player to rely less on finding shadows and more on finding cover to stay out of the line of sight in an effort to make the experience more immersive double agent also saw the removal of several HUD elements including the light meter the sound Manor and the health bar bars now need to rely on a small light sensor on Sam's back which can change from green for safe yellow for potentially visible and red for spotted instead of the classic health bar double agent features health regeneration with received damage slightly boring the screen until Sam eventually falls to the ground like past Splinter Cell games double agent features new abilities for Sam though these moves are a bit more situational and less practical than past editions new moves include the ability to take down enemies from around corners hide underneath desks and pull enemies through thin ice there's also a new interaction heads-up display that displays an ugly blue box in the middle of the screen whatever interaction is available many of Sam's tools from chaos theory are still available in double-agent including his signature pistol f2000 goggles and his knife though some of these tools are tweaked slightly the dista for example can once again be aimed while peeking around corners DSC 20k now has a small red dot scope that when zoomed in only shows a magnification on the scope itself and not the player's peripheral vision when playing the Xbox 360 version of the game players can swap between vision modes on the scope independent of the actual players equipped vision but for whatever reason the feature was never brought over to the PC for new to double agent is the ability to unlock new tools and upgrades throughout the experience these tools are awarded based on player performance on each level and cannot be disabled after unlocking them this can be problematic towards the end of the game where the classic green night-vision filter is replaced with a really dumb colorized version instead but other than that the unlock system is an interesting idea and adds slightly more replay value to the experience as players can replay older levels with the new equipment and take advantage of an expanded arsenal one of the most useful new items in double agent is the ultrasonic emitter which can be used to remotely cause audio distractions to alert argit's out of the way first can also activate a new radar to display the location of hostel's though the ugly static map designed for this is tough to look at the most interesting new feature in double agent is the truss system in order to avoid suspicion while going undercover players need to carefully monitor their trust levels between both the terrorists and their NSA handlers by choosing specific actions to perform this can be something simple like tapping a phone line or helping clean up a mess in the headquarters but can escalate to more urgent situations where a player will need to choose whether or not to kill an innocent person it's an interesting overall game design and one of the most redeeming qualities of the experience due to its unique concept double agents multi-part design also received a major overhaul chaos theories popular cooperative mode was not continued in the Xbox 360 and PC version of double agent and instead the only multiplayer option available is the rebuilt spy vs. mercenaries experience by the time chaos theory had released it was clear the games include in multiplayer mode was nowhere near the quality of the game's single-player campaign both in terms of its visuals and its handling to rectify this and bring the experience over to the next-gen hardware ubisoft annecy reworked the spy versus merc mode from the ground up using the Unreal 2.5 engine the visuals are a significant step up from the cartoony design of cast series vs. mode with more advanced lighting shaders and plenty of that late 2000s Unreal Engine glossiness to everything but the biggest change was to the fluidity of the movement the multiplayer spies and double agent moved more fluid than any other version of this mode almost to the point where they don't look human spies can smoothly slide into small crawl spaces and dive out of windows with a simple button press all while maintaining consistent momentum this tweak greatly changed the pace of the experience removing the quiet tension of Pandora and chaos theory and replacing it with non-stop action the spies Arsenal was also greatly reduced with only basic grenades being retained the spies no longer have access to a Taser and need to rely even more so on acrobatics and evasion another interesting change to the spy is how they interact with objectives instead of walking up to computer terminals and hacking them directly spies can now hack objectives remotely using a wrist mounted device with longer distances increasing the overall hack time however to balance this spies also need to extract downloaded data by returning to their spawn adding a high intensity chase sequence into every match the mercenaries also received a significant change to their arsenal mercs no longer can choose between different weapons and many defensive tools like wall mines spy traps and camera systems were removed instead mercs are given a new flying drone that can follow spies into vents and detonate remotely the mercenaries vision modes were also simplified first still have the Blue EMF fishin only now it requires that the player stands still for it to function properly the red motion tracking vision was removed and instead motion tracking is built directly into the merge default HUD with white outlines being displayed around fast-moving spies the mercedes were given a few new moves - including a repel move to drop off of ledges safely and the ability to pick up unconscious spies and headbutt them with an intimidating finisher to account for the larger level designs double agents multiplayer ups the max player account from four to six which only further adds to the mayhem but unfortunately the experience just isn't the same as it was in the original versions of this mode the dark sneaky atmosphere of Pandora and chaos area is lost in this glossy new next-gen imitation and many the fans felt the same way upon release on top of this the sloppy PC version of double agent failed to feature a server browser in its multiplayer mode and relied entirely on random matchmaking something that quickly killed off the core online community for this game there's still mercenary BOTS to practice stealth and grabs but no spybots to practice playing as a mercenary overall double agents gameplay from its single-player to its multiplayer pales in comparison to chaos theory there's some interesting concepts like the trust and plenty of cool tense moments in the game story but the actual stealth action elements that made the series great to begin with we're starting to fall by the wayside double agents graphical design is also pretty inconsistent because of the much larger audience on the Xbox consoles over the PC community the Xbox 360 version of the game was given a higher priority in the development pipeline with higher polygon count character models enhanced shaders and improved performance the PC version on the other hand is an absolute disaster of a game even to this day it's played with technical problems that were never fixed including broken AI crashes low-quality textures and lighting and plenty of other issues even the game's controller support for the PC version doesn't function properly unless you're using a wired controller Splinter Cell double agent for the Xbox 360 and PC despite its many flaws still received generally positive reviews critics praised the game for its impressive next-generation visuals and the interesting new morality based choice system double agent certainly has a lot of cool things going for it not very many video games out there allow you to infiltrate a criminal organization undercover and require you to play both sides like this so it's a very unique and interesting premise but the actual execution just felt poor many criticized the game for its aqua controls it's buggy gameplay and its painfully short length while others faults of the game for dumbing down the classic Spy vs mercenary mode but this is only one half of the story while Ubisoft Shanghai toiled away at making the next-gen version of this game Ubisoft Montreal built their own interpretation of the undercover action-adventure title for the older gen this version referred to as double agent version 2 utilizes the base design of Splinter Cell chaos theory only with some shared plot elements from the double agent storyline and while the story is somewhat similar to the events in version 1 this build a double agent is not considered to be canon in the main story even if it does tend to mesh better with the high quality cutscenes in version 2 Sam Fisher is set on a secret mission to Iceland to investigate an arms deal only instead of being partnered with a rookie he teams up with CIA agent Hisham Hamza a character who only briefly appears throughout the Kanin storyline but after Lambert is notified of Sarah's death he frantically aborts the mission which flows much better into the introductory cutscene where Sam climbs on board the Osprey frustrated and confused from here the story seems to match a bit more closely as Sam becomes depressed and Lambert offers him a job to work undercover to infiltrate the jba whoever the delivery of the story is also different with Fischer recapping the events to an investigator over the phone this double agent also features an exclusive train heist mission but the mission to the war zone and can say is not included the whole experience feels more akin to the classic Splinter Cell games while Sam is still technically undercover and working for a terrorist organization it seems as though he has a more direct line to the NSA than he does in the Canon title making the overall feel the experience a bit less tense though there are many aspects of this vs. story that I like more including how they deal with a love interest in Rika whose end in the Canlis storyline feels a bit anticlimactic since this version of the game is using the old architecture the gameplay feels almost identical to that of chaos theory Sam's movement his abilities the handling of weapons and general game logic are mostly unchanged however double agent version 2 does still feature a few new mechanics the big one is the jba versus NSA trust system unlike the next-gen version of the game this trust system operates as a sort of tug of war with players need to balance their trust between the two groups more carefully in the next-gen version you could theoretically max out both trust bars completely which really takes away from the core concept but I love how the old gen version forces you to balance this by deciding which orders to follow and which to disobey if a player happens to lose all their trust for any one side a unique timed event begins that requires the player to rush to any nearby computer in the level and send information to their handler to avoid being compromised a much more forgiving design than the instant failed triggers in version 1 another interesting exclusive mechanic to you be Montreal's version is the way that JP a headquarter missions are handled in Shanghai aspersion the game players are made to feel more like they're snooping around the offices with a forced walking stance and a lack of standard tools like night-vision goggles this added a very interesting and unique feel to the experience unlike anything else on the franchise along with more time to better establish the various characters however Montreal's version of the game doesn't incorporate the system quite the same way these jba headquarter missions handled just like most covert missions with Sam equipped with his night-vision goggles and various non-lethal weapons to infiltrate the facilities you can even grab and interrogate jba members including a head of security Carson Moss if a player is caught sneaking around the facility a special surrender cinematic plays just like in the next-gen version only instead of being forced to reload from a checkpoint you can perform a QuickTime event to neutralize the threat then there's the level designs while the names of the levels appear the same these levels are all completely different from the PC and Xbox 360 for one thing most of the levels in the old gen versions take place at night just like the classic titles offering far more shadow stocking gameplay while this feels more like cast there yet first the actual designs of the environments are lackluster none of the levels are interesting to explore as they're typically just bland industrial hallways unique to double-agent version 2 our expanded cooperative interactions with various characters including agent hamza in the Iceland level and in Rica during the train heist generally these interactions involve boosting the npc onto a higher ledge so that they can open a new path for you and it makes the player feel more like they're part of a team that in version 1 this feature makes sense as version 2 of double agent is also the only version to feature a multiplayer cooperative mode just like chaos theory two parts can team up and sneak through a few missions that run parallel to the events of the single-player campaign in addition to this double agent old gen also features an exclusive spy vs. spy mode this mode is one of the more strange multiplayer modes in the series as they completely scrapped the idea of the first-person mercenary in favor of a bunch of nimble spies jumping around shooting each other this mode is also interesting because it seems to incorporate you be anestis newly refined spy controls from the next-gen version and the assets used the old chaos theory and pandora multiplayer a lot of the sound effects game logic and animations are blended together to make this move possible but it feels more like an old-school deathmatch mode rather than the unique cat-and-mouse style of the past games stealth doesn't play nearly as big a role instead the focus is on quick movement and platforming techniques visually double agent on old gen doesn't hold up well the ps2 and GameCube versions of the games somehow look worse than chaos theory did on those respective platforms mainly because the environments in double agent just aren't as interesting to look at they might be more challenging and interesting to play but they're just a series of dark hallways with occasional staircases laser tripwires and cameras the cruise ship one of the more aesthetically pleasing looking missions in the new gen version is also reduced to mainly dimly lit hallways with the bare minimum included to sell the idea that you're on a cruise ship assuming you still have a working xbox or 360 lying around the best possible version of this game is arguably the original Xbox title which features the best possible visuals of the old gen build along with the classic stealth action that fans love from chaos theory though this is a still hotly debated topic as many players prefer the undercover secret Asian concept more properly employed in the next-gen version no matter which version you prefer double agents legacy was greatly tainted by later fan criticism and Ubisoft had already begun drafting a complete rework of the franchise's core mechanics but before we move on to that I want to briefly mention Montreal's portable side project splitter cell essentials essentials technically released before any of the double agent titles but I decided to wait to talk about it until now because the game's story takes place after the events of the story scene in double agent during the anniversary of Sarah's death Sam visits her grave site in Washington DC only to be arrested by NSA agents and then brought in for an interrogation most of the story is based around Sam describing his past activities with third echelon and the Splinter Cell project making essentials a sort of greatest hits compilation experience because of the hardware limitations of the PlayStation Portable essentials utilizes the old Pandora tomorrow gameplay mechanics and features reimagine versions of classic levels including the oil rig the penthouse and the Kansas penitentiary but essentials also introduces a few new missions including columbia belgrade and the NSA headquarters in maryland essentials plays like a strange hybrid of Pandora tomorrow and Kass theory with Sam's closer than ever animations being removed but the instant CQB takedown still intact to account for the PSP's lack of dual joysticks essentials features in them noxious camera system that needs to be manually adjusted by pressing a face button on the controller and then fine-tuning the angle essentials was also forced to sacrifice a lot of the visual fidelity often attributed to the school nurse a franchise with environments feeling less detailed and various effects looking worse than even the original game this portable Splinter Cell adventure received abysmal reviews with many complaining about the sloppy control scheme poor performance and accusing it of being a cheap cash grab ahead of double agents release 2006 was a rough year for Splinter Cell despite introducing several innovative new gameplay concepts and upgrading to the next generation in graphics Ubisoft felt that the franchise would need to innovate significantly more not only to keep fans interested but in order to attract a larger audience concepts for the next major entry to the franchise had begun circulating the Montreal offices as early as 2005 with developers experimenting with more dynamic open-ended gameplay the idea was to expand on players using the environment to overcome challenges much like house shooting out lights would create shadows in the past games but instead of just shooting out a few lights every object in the game world would be interactable allowing for a far more immersive experience after a few weeks Splinter Cell Conviction was finally revealed along with a work-in-progress gameplay trailer that helped to demonstrate this new direction conviction was set to take place directly after the events of double agent with Sam Fisher now a convict and forced to prove his innocence in the Washington DC area it was an interesting new direction for the franchise aimed primarily to make Splinter Cell more accessible to newcomers especially early adopters of the new Xbox 360 console the gameplay in this prototype build was absolutely nothing like any of the other Splinter Cell games in fact based on the notes screen shots and video playthroughs the game Direction feels more in line with a hitman experience with the heavy focus on hiding in plain sight and using crowd distractions to enter restricted areas the only revealed area in the game was the Washington Park area in DC which consisted of hundreds of dynamic props and NPCs the level would have supposedly house upwards of 250 civilians along with at least 30 hostile enemies that would constantly be searching around for Sam the goal in one of the demos shown tasks Sam with the racing a surveillance tape and then faking an assassination on an unknown character Ubisoft showed off a handful of demonstrations which detailed how players would be able to pick up anything that they could find and throw them and how objects would react realistically using a sophisticated physics engine they also demoed how crowd interaction could be used to the players advantage with some objects being assigned ownership to specific NPCs to help them react more realistically causing too much of a commotion would eventually cost the civilians to evacuate the area leaving only Third Echelon agents roaming around hunting the player down unfortunately this prototype build of spun ercell conviction would end up in development how for years with multiple delays the game's high reliance on full dynamic environments along with real-time ambient occlusion lighting effects and completely new animations made it impossible to develop within the given time line as the project began reaching its funding limits Ubisoft began investigating other potential avenues for development in 2008 the original vision for Splinter Cell Conviction was abandoned and new producers from the Assassin's Creed franchise were brought on board to help write the ship but rather than scrapping everything from the original build of conviction the new creative producer decided to preserve the idea that Sam was disavowed from his agency this new version would also take place in the Washington DC area align the development team to repurpose a few of the level builds and models but the core design of the experience was changed drastically blending some white stout action elements with a more accessible cover based shooter design the result was just intense spliter Cell Conviction which would release exclusively for the Xbox 360 and would eventually find its way to the PC months later in Splinter Cell Conviction players assume the role of Sam Fisher who after the events of double agent is forced to go off the grid diluting the agency he once loyally served under but after learning that his daughter's death might have not been an accident he begins to use his acquired skills to investigate and stumbles across one of the wildest conspiracies ever to be introduced to the series the game's story is framed by series newcomer Victor cast as he recounts Sam's eventful journey throughout the Washington DC area the story as far as Splinter Cell narratives go it's certainly one of the more emotional and interesting in the franchise with Sam being pushed beyond the edge and becoming far more vicious and unstable than we've ever seen him this along with the more developed relationship with his colleague Anna Grimm's daughter helps provide some much-needed development for characters that have not been properly explored up to this point but the story isn't the only place where the scheme deviates significantly Spiner self conviction features a complete overhaul of the game's mechanics with the goal of making the experience feel more akin to a Hollywood action movie all the animations and controls for this new version of conviction were built from scratch but the developers picking and choosing which abilities they felt still fit with the faster gameplay pacing iconic features like lock-picking carrying bodies and even Sam signature split jump were considered non-essential and not included instead the focus for Sam's abilities revolved around his ability to neutralize targets quickly and efficiently by means of cover based shooting mechanics and visceral close-quarter takedowns to account for the new covered shooter design of the gameplay convictions level environments were built with less verticality opting instead for more waist-high objects for Sam to crouch down behind this unfortunately resulted in less interesting levels to explore with a far more linear design and limited creative approaches to conflict since Sam is no longer a part of the Splinter Cell unit he no longer has access to the same tools and weapons meaning players are now forced to improvise with any weapon they can find this means that any weapon in enemy drops on the ground can now be used in combat including unsilenced assault rifles and shotguns realizing that this might be too much of a deviation Ubisoft Montreal also incorporated some white stuff mechanics into the experience much like chaos theory players can approach an enemy silently from the shadows and instantly strike them down only there's no option to do so non-lethal aid but unlike past games players can now more easily perform aerial takedowns similar to the design of the air assassinations in Assassin's Creed this is one of the better improvements as the jumping and older titles always felt incredibly awkward though this also does greatly restrict the freedom of movement and removes the fun of finding well hidden secret routes to encourage these stealthy takedowns Ubisoft introduced the mark and execute system which allows players to mark several enemies and press the button to kill them all with an impressive combination of slow-motion precision shots because of the incredible power of this ability the move is balanced by limiting the number of marked enemies on a per weapon basis and only allowing its activation after performing a standard melee takedown this feature adds an entirely new element to the experience that not only looks cool but also works well in the context of the game's plot Sam's even more iconic night-vision goggles have also been removed from the experience which makes sense considering players can easily see in the dark thanks to the new monochrome filter when hiding in the shadows eventually players are given a familiar set of trifocal goggles only these goggles can only display a sonar pulse revealing enemies through walls and getting fussy whenever the player attempts to move when they're active while conviction doesn't allow you to abduct random guards and interrogate them like in past games it does feature some of the most brutal interrogation sequences in the franchise with Sam using various environmental objects to smash high-value targets faces in these moments while heavily scripted do a great job of highlighting just how pissed off Sam is and give conviction a truly unique feel not found in any other game in the series enemy AI in conviction is typically very aggressive with three different states neutral investigating and active combat if you make too much of a commotion enemies typically get a fix on your approximate location despite not actually spotting you to help translate this to the player conviction shows a ghost of your last known position this addition greatly helps in combat encounters as parts can exploit their last known position to flank enemies and attack from a new angle Splinter Cell Conviction also see the pattern of the cooperative campaign experienced in convictions co-op players take on the role of either a Third Echelon spy named Archer or a Russian specop named Kestrel as the investigate a rogue Russian cell weapons deal in Saint Petersburg this portion of the game feels far more like the classic splinter cell's at least as far as the story is concerned the gameplay design is still the same as the single-player only with more basic interrogation sequences and more challenging enemy encounters unlike previous entries these cooperative levels can be played both with a partner or completely solo in a bonus mode called deniable ops where players are challenged to take down a specific number of in the cleanest way possible either with stealth or in open combat playing any of these modes including the campaign will earn points towards a new progression system with a vast arsenal of different weapons and gadgets to choose from and the ability to upgrade individual weapons for better performance conviction was once again built using the Unreal 2.5 engine only this time the developers had plenty of time to fine-tune the graphical effects and performance to take full advantage of the new Xbox 360 hardware as part of this game's new style conviction also features some unique artistic changes including a new black and white filter whenever the player is hidden in the shadows and new mission objectives that appear as huge letters written on environmental backdrops Splinter Cell Conviction so unique art direction and reworked game mechanics were met with a generally positive reception reviewers praised the incredibly smooth and polished gameplay along with this engaging narrative but did note that the black and white filter was a poor choice considering most of the game is played in the shadows reviewers also complained about the relatively short length of the campaign when compared to past entries old-school fans were predictably more displeased mainly due to the fact that conviction played nothing like the past four titles despite the backlash from series veterans Splinter Cell Conviction was still a hugely successful entry to the franchise and far exceeded the sales figures of double agent Ubisoft Montreal took a massive risk reworking the fundamental design of spinner Cell and while it may appeal to a new different audience there's no denying that the result was a solid polished actual experience in 2009 Ubisoft established a new studio called Ubisoft Toronto led by Assassin's Creed producer of Jade Raymond and test them with creating the next main entry to the Splinter Cell Saga recognizing the dissonance in the Splinter Cell fan community creative director Maxine bellum decided early on that Splinter Cell 6 would need to not only improve on the well-received action elements introduced in conviction but also reintroduce concepts that longtime fans enjoyed from older titles to accomplish this the sixth title would focus on reworking Sam's animations reintroduce more self-oriented abilities and greatly improve on the idea of player choice the result was 2013's Splinter Cell blacklist the final entry so far - the Splinter Cell franchise blacklist is a true return to form for the stealth action series with Sam Fisher once again working for the American government as a black ops agent only this time Sam's running the show after a group of terrorists called the engineers attack a US controlled air force base the president assigns Fisher and his colleagues to the newly formed fourth echelon and task them with putting an end to the terrorist threat this new leadership role provides an interesting new take on Fisher as he's responsible for not only sneaking around gathering the Intel but also planning out the team's next steps this adds a significant amount of tension to the game story as Sam struggles to outwit terrorist leader Majid Sadiq one of the more vicious and intelligent villains ever introduced to the series this game story has a much more cinematic feel than anything prior with unique character personalities interacting with each other and plenty of unique twists but one glaring issue that keeps blacklist from standing above the rest is the disappointing departure of Sam's voice actor Michael Ironside during the game's development Ubisoft claimed that ironsides departure was related to their decision to utilize more advanced motion capture technology and that ironsides voice wouldn't be able to match up with the complex facial animations but in 2018 Ironside himself confirmed that the real reason he stepped away was because he was diagnosed with cancer and felt it would be best if the role were handed over to someone in better condition Sam Fisher instead is played by Erik Johnson both for voice capture and the facial motion capture performances Johnson didn't necessarily do a bad job as Sam in fact his performance in relation to the rest of the cast is solid but unfortunately his one toned anger execution fails to capture the gruff cynicism but the character is known for and his much-younger sounding voice feels inconsistent with the franchise's continuity blacklist gameplay on the other hand takes everything learned from conviction and improves on it with an increased focus on stealth action elements in addition to a more fluid animation design a major focus for the development team when creating blacklist was to improve the flow of the players movement unlike past titles where players would need to abruptly stopped at walls and then climb blacklist allows players to smoothly sprint through the environment vaulting over high obstacles and seamlessly taking down enemies without losing momentum to reintroduce more stealth action to the gameplay eub Toronto also created a new version of closer than ever animation which allows players to once again feel like they're stalking their enemies other changes include a new slide mechanic to smoothly transition from cover to cover undetected a new Walsh Jimmy technique when traversing on vertical surfaces and the return of zip lines which players can easily use to close the gap on enemies since blacklist makes liberal use of motion capture technology the animations offer far more variety than ever before takedowns rarely appear the same way twice and just like double agent can be used to take down enemies from corners with impressive looking abduction techniques in order to make use of the improved player movement systems blacklist levels are much larger and more open-ended with several different paths to reach objectives shadows as always play a huge role in blacklist and unlike conviction no longer forced the player to look at a black and white screen when hidden instead the lights on Sam's back will glow bright when properly hidden in the shadows similar to how the light would turn green and double agent enemies on the other hand appear to behave the same as they do in conviction with standard patrol routes and the ability to react to disturbances realistically but unlike conviction blacklist offers significantly more variety in its enemies with multiple variations of armored enemies dogs that can follow your set just like the original two games and even special tech enemies that pilot small explosive drones and Jam the players equipment blacklist includes a brew bus selection of various weapons and gadgets it may not bring back old tools like the lockpick or the hacking device minigame but it does manage to introduce several devices to help deal with the enemies themselves cores can once again swap between night vision and thermal vision goggles toss smoke grenades and silently shoot out lights and can even fire non-lethal munitions like the sticky shocker however black quest also introduces a few more futuristic tools including proximity-based sticky shocker mines noisemakers and a custom-built remote-controlled tri rotor capable of navigating small areas marking enemies and even directly engaging them with an explosive payload all these tools in addition to the players weapons and outfits can be fully customized thanks to blacklist extensive progression and upgrade system which allows players to fully customize our loadout to fit their playstyle speaking of play styles spur cell blacklist is built around a fistic ated scoring system designed to encourage a player's preferred gameplay experience the ghost play style rewards players who remain unseen and try their best to bypass enemies completely the Panther designation is given to players who remain stealthy but prefer taking down enemies weakly with silent firearms and the new Karambit knife and the assault style is of course given to players who like to play aggressively with extra points being awarded for explosive kills and killing in motion this new system adds an extra amount of replayability to the games campaign as each mission tracks the players past records and Awards of gold icons for successfully mastering specific play styles due to the positive reception of the deniable ops mode and conviction blacklist introduces a large number of optional solo and cooperative missions to play only these missions are split into four different types brigs missions are the main cooperative missions that can only be played with a second player these are much more involved than the other optional mission types and offer more opportunities for cooperative interaction including dual door breaches and dual boosts unlike other Splinter Cell co-op modes this games co-op allows one player to play as Fischer while the other player takes on the role of his rookie partner Briggs grim missions can be played either cooperatively or completely solo but have a strict no detection rule in place these missions are some of the more challenging and often require players to navigate around heavy enemy presence while they attempt to hack into three different objectives the köppen missions handle a lot like the deniable ops missions from conviction with varchar open areas being filled with enemies and the players need to neutralize all of them by any means necessary and the Charly missions are designed to test a player's survivability with multiple waves of increasingly more difficult enemies arriving at the scene again these missions require the player to neutralize all the threats by any means necessary blacklist also sees the return of the fan-favorite spy versus mercenary mode only with a complete redesign of many of the core elements for starters players are no longer limited by a light count and are simply given as many attempts as possible within a given time limit the various level environments are also much smaller and simpler than in the past titles allowing for more fast paced action and removing the requirement for advanced map knowledge prior to playing level objectives are so handled differently while the mercenaries are still tasked with defending terminals spies are no longer forced to stand still to hack their objectives instead spies simply need to initiate a download sequence and then survive within a designated zone while the mercenaries hunt them down in order to appeal to both newcomers and old school fans alike this multiplayer offers two different modes classic and black West the classic mode is designed to be more like the original Spy vs merc mode with much darker environments slower pacing and a strict two versus two player count spies are given a non-lethal taser and night-vision goggles while mercenaries are only capable of walking around with a flashlight and a few defensive tools while this sounds like the classic spy versus Merc mode on paper the actual experience feels much different for example spies are no longer required to grab the mercenaries to kill them but can instead sprint up and stab them from any direction spies can even drop down from the ceiling with a single button press to instantly kill players with the death from above while this solves the problem with the awkward hit detection in the original iterations of this mode it also removes a lot of the tension as spies now feel more powerful than the mercenaries in order to contend with the spies increase power mercenaries are now equipped with a more powerful assault rifle with a higher rate of fire and an insanely low time to kill the mercs handle more like a bulky modern FPS game with the ability to vault over waist-high objects a quick grenade throw key and the ability to aim down sights but a lot of the cool defensive tools from the past games like motion tracking vision have been removed there is still a camera network to view like in chaos theory but it's only available to mercenary players after they've died blacklist mode on the other hand is a complete reimagining of the classic game mode the maps are brighter the player count is bumped up to a total of four players per team and spies are now given access to lethal firearms including pistols and submachine guns both the spy team and the mercenary team now have access to three customisable loadouts each with their own unique special gadget on the spy team there's the predator suit which allows players to turn invisible temporarily the radar suit which can highlight nearby mercenaries through walls and the overcharged suit which emits a large EMP burst that destroys all nearby electronic devices and even detonates enemy explosive traps The Mercenaries special gadgets include an adrenaline syringe for increased movement speed a disruptor to interfere with the spies gadgets and a flying UAV armed with an explosive payload on top of these already game-changing devices both teams are also capable of fully customizing the load as with weapons different levels of armor and various other gadgets bringing the experience more in line with the design utilized in other more popular competitive online shooters visually by default blacklist is one of the most impressive looking entries in the series the game slick animation design nice color variety and special effects all combined to provide an impressive fast-paced south action experience the black and white filter from conviction was thankfully removed due to fan complaints but in its place blacklist does incorporate a strong level of lens flare throughout the experience everything from the game's single-player to the multiplayer feels like it's being played through a dirty camera lens which can sometimes hide important details in the environment it's also important to note that this game released at the very end of the Xbox 360 and ps3 console generation and unfortunately did not receive a next-gen remaster but I'd say despite its rough character face models in needless lens flare it still manages to provide an impressive presentation Spiller cell blacklist received mostly positive reception thanks to its smooth gameplay controls open-ended level design and engaging narrative experience many reviewers praised the game's return to its classic stealth action routes while also introducing new more modern elements to help the experience stand out blacklist is filled with missions to play both alone and with a friend and the game's competitive multiplayer while arguably not as deep and entertaining as past versions is still a solid experience ever since blacklist the franchise has grown unusually quiet despite its obvious popularity and huge following Ubisoft has decided instead to leave the franchise on the back burner citing that the games split preference in terms of gameplay direction has made the project unappealing to developers with several Studios refusing to take responsibility for whatever direction that they decide to go next instead you besause various Studios have been hard at work on other popular properties including the reboot of the Rainbow Six franchise a reboot of Ghost Recon and even the long-awaited sequel to Beyond Good and Evil and while we haven't received a new game and while blacklist wasn't the last time we've seen those iconic trifocal goggles Ubisoft has been constantly teasing the beloved stealth action franchising games for years including a pair of night-vision goggles in the division the same goggles in Assassin's Creed Odyssey and even the crass remains of the C 147 paladin in this year's Far Cry a new dawn complete with a malfunctioning SMI and even some notes left behind by Fischer but the even more notable cameo appearance is the downloadable mission for Ghost Recon wildlands where Sam Fisher himself arrives in Bolivia to a company that goes on an undercover mission what's more this version of Fisher was once again voiced by Michael Ironside who soon after revealed why he couldn't provide his voice for blacklist while nothing has been officially confirmed as of yet there have been a number of rumors surrounding the next entry of the Splinter Cell franchise with several 4chan and reddit posts being thrown around suggesting that Ubisoft had cancelled a number of different Splinter Cell related projects and even a Walmart listing suggesting last year that a new Splinter Cell would be revealed at e3 even while writing up this documentary rumors about an upcoming entry have been circulating with a recent tweet from the division twos creative director Julian Garrity jokingly claiming that he was working on a new splitter Sal chances are you B sub does have a Splinter Cell project in pre-production especially when you consider how unlikely it is that they would reach out to Michael Ironside again just to have them record a few lines for a Ghost Recon DLC but we won't know for sure until Ubisoft officially comes out and shed some more light on the situation but even if we don't hear about a new splitter saw anytime soon there's no denying that this franchise has not only been hugely successful but has also been fundamental in shaping how we experience stealth action in video games today it built upon the creative aspects of both Metal Gear Solid and thief to create the most intense and unique experiences in the industry spitter cell popularized the idea of using the environment to bypass threats rather than just engaging the enemies directly and also introduced one of the earliest examples of asymmetrical online multiplayer wow it may have gotten off on the wrong foot transitioning into the seventh generation consoles it still provided a unique and interesting experience and resurfaced with a completely new identity that captured the imaginations of a new fanbase but what do you guys think do you like how the spoiler so series has evolved or do you wish it went back to the style of the older games which games in the series were your favorite let me know in the comments section and if you want to see more documentaries like this one please consider donating either through my patreon linked in the description or by becoming a member of my youtube page where you'll get early access to new videos and a unique batch next to your name when you comment also don't forget to Like and subscribe for more videos posted every week [Music]

Channel: Nick930

Views: 1,034,184

Rating: 4.9170861 out of 5

Keywords: Splinter Cell, Blacklist, 2019, conviction, double agent, chaos theory, blacklist trailer, movie, ps2, ost, android, audiobook, alarm, all games, review, analysis, documentary, critical nobody, nick930, Sam Fisher, Spy, Merc, archer, amv, asmr, all takedowns, airsoft, arch and kestrel, blacklist xbox one, blacklist ending, blacklist ps4, multiplayer, walkthrough, ign, evolution, highest note, hacking, hd review, handheld, hd trilogy, history, goggles

Id: 2ZLHAEqWAV0

Length: 76min 43sec (4603 seconds)

Published: Sat May 25 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/GhostGrief70]

Ayyyy I see u nick. I just started watching ur videos like 3 months ago

[u/corgix3]

👍🏻

[u/protocol676]

Awesome video dude.

[u/real_proxy]

Great stuff man

[u/JStark5]

That was an amazing video man. It really got me in the mood to play splinter cell, which is unfortunate bc i only have PS4 lol. But great analysis and in depth look at each game in the series. I may even watch it again tomorrow.

[u/[deleted]]

Awesome video