While he continues to find his way into games other than his own franchise, Sam Fisher’s clearly still alive and well with Ubisoft. Likely waiting until the time is right, and getting the right development team together to usher in Fisher’s return, it’s been a long time since another entry in theSplinter Cellfranchise. 2013 marks a little over seven years since the last entry,Splinter Cell Blacklist, released on the Xbox 360 and PS3. Now, with an entire console generation dividing between the previous and the next, many are awaiting any potential news on a new entry, which has long been rumored and hinted at. Sam Fisher’s own adventures have been gone a long time.
Fisher had some missteps towards the end of his career, but a few of the earliestSplinter Cellgames were some of the best in the whole series. Some entries simply haven’t aged all that well, while some have aged gracefully. Other entries never really had much of a footing to stand on in the first place, one of which doesn’tnecessarilycount as a mainline game. Certain entries tried new gameplay concepts/ideas and experimented with the formula, to varying degrees of success depending on whichSplinter Cellfan played them. Ranking all theSplinter Cellgames together, it’s pretty obvious which one is arguably the best, but there’s quite a few great games in between as well.
D-Tier: Splinter Cell Essentials
This game in particular is a bit of a stretch,solely because it was an exclusive PSP title, butSplinter Cell: Essentialsis technically a mainline entry in theSplinter Cellfranchise. Rarely does the game actually seem like it, aside from Michael Ironside reprising his role as Fisher. The gameplay experience inSplinter Cell Essentialsis barebones at best, paired with equally abysmal controls that make the whole experience hollow compared to any otherSplinter Cellgame. Hardware restrictions are going to be an obvious detractor for games on PSP, but this was especially true forSplinter Cell. Not manySplinter Cellfans are willing (or able) to playEssentials.
C-Tier: Splinter Cell Conviction, Splinter Cell Double Agent
Between 2005 and 2010, Ubisoft attempted two verydifferent approaches to theSplinter Cellfranchise. BothDouble AgentandConvictionmade key changes to the game’s typical foundation:Double Agentretained a familiar gameplay style, but focused more on systems, narrative choice, and morality.Convictionstuck to a largely linear experience, but shifted the gameplay into a more action-oriented/hybrid stealth experience. Each game was ambitious in its own right, but never really quite amounted to anything comparable to past iterations. Changes featured in these games were either scrapped entirely, or heavily scrutinized in future entries.
Frankly, in each game’s own right, bothSplinter Cell: Double AgentandSplinter Cell: Convictionaren’t egregiously bad games. It’s in direct comparison to the whole franchise where these games really show weakness.Splinter Cell Convictionsimplified a lot of the stealth mechanics to emphasize its new gameplay approach of lethal fluidity, paired with itsJason Bourne-esque premise of Fisher going rogue.Splinter Cell Double Agentfocuses more on undercover meta-stealth rather than actual hiding in the shadows, with choice-based narrative decisions impacting the game’s ending. Each has redeeming qualities, but don’t compare to earlier titles in the series.
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B-Tier: Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow, Splinter Cell Blacklist
TheSplinter Cellgames in this tier are serviceably good in every regard,making each game more iterative than formative, compared to the higher tiers.Splinter Cell Pandora TomorrowandSplinter Cell Blacklistlargely continued the efforts of each game’s respective predecessor.Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrowtransposes Fisher to Indonesia to deal with a biological threat, only slightly different from past games' storylines. The game plays a lot like the firstSplinter Cellgame, albeit with different missions, but an overall very familiar return for the series. Rather than push the series forward in tangible ways,Pandora Tomorrowis more like aSplinter Cell-2.
Splinter Cell Blacklistfunctions in a similar veinfor the overall series, but also adapts many of the controversial changes ofConvictioninto more stealth-oriented gameplay.Blacklistwas theSplinter Cellgame with arguably the most gameplay variety and flexibility, emphasizing three distinct gameplay methods of “ghost,” “panther,” and “assault.” Players also had the most freedom of tackling objectives, side missions, and challenges with loot/equipment-based progression. However, gameplay freedom doesn’t necessarily translate to success, as the plot toBlacklistwas overly generic compared to past storylines. Overall, both games were largely safeSplinter Cellgames.
A-Tier: Splinter Cell
Most fans will find that the originalSplinter Cellgame genuinely holds up quite well, as it would establish most aspects that define early entries in the series. There are plenty of aspects both visually and gameplay-wise that certainly date the game, but overall the experience is still genre-defining. The at-the-time impressive lighting system, which would become the franchise’s stealth bread and butter, wasintroduced in the firstSplinter Celland still remains excellent. While mission structure is still largely linear, the minutiae of objectives and tasks emphasizes Fisher’s variable tool set greater than almost every otherSplinter Cellgame after it, save for one.
S-Tier: Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
Longtime fans ofSplinter Celllikely won’t be surprised to find thatSplinter Cell Chaos Theoryis still the franchise at its best. Even if the game is aesthetically dated by modern standards, the lighting system and stealth mechanics are still the most refined inChaos Theory. The game’s relatively complex, information warfare conflict between warring nations and organizations is still one of the most nuanced and interesting storylines inSplinter Cell.
Gameplay-wiseChaos Theorymade things far more open-ended overSplinter CellandPandoraTomorrow, with different objectives and maps playing out more like puzzles than linear stages. Standout missions like the Bank and Battery emphasize the best moments of stealth sandboxes throughout allSplinter Cellgames. Enemy AI will certainly seem generic by modern standards, but at the time,Chaos Theory’s manipulative gameplay experience was (and to an extent still is) unparalleled. If there was oneSplinter Cellgame to play definitively, it’d beSplinter CellChaos Theory.
