Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Essentials
| Splinter Cell: Essentials | |||
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| Studio |
 Ubisoft Montreal
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| Publisher |
 Ubisoft
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| Erstveröffent- lichung |
 May 21, 2006 April 6, 2006 April 7, 2006  |
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| platform | PlayStation Portable (PSP), PlayStation Vita (PSVITA) | ||
| Game engine | Unreal Engine 2 | ||
| genre | Stealth shooter | ||
| Game mode | Single player , multiplayer via ad hoc network | ||
| medium | UMD | ||
| language | Audio and Text: English ; German | ||
| Current version | 1.05 | ||
| Age rating |
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Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Essentials is the fourth installment in the Splinter Cell series , which was released in 2006 exclusively for the PlayStation Portable . Like its predecessor, Chaos Theory, it was developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft .
The action takes place in 2009 and is largely identical to the successor Double Agent , which was developed for multiple platforms. American agent Sam Fisher visits the grave of his daughter, who was killed in a car accident. At the grave he is arrested by the police, charged with the murder of his superior Irving Lambert and then interrogated. During the interrogation, Fisher recounts various events from the past that ultimately led to Lambert's death. The events he describes represent the missions that the player must complete.
The game received much worse reviews than its predecessor. The multiplayer mode was particularly criticized.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Splinter Cell: Essentials is essentially identical to that of its predecessors. The player takes control of the secret agent Sam Fisher, who plays various missions. Fisher is armed on these missions, but the focus is on camouflage and undetected movement. Therefore, most of the target areas are kept quite dark. Light sources, e.g. Fisher can either deactivate or blow out lamps or candles.
action
When Sam Fisher is standing at his daughter's grave and mourning her, he is arrested for terrorist crimes against the United States and its citizens. The National Security Agency believes Fisher went mad because of his daughter's death and joined the John Brown's Army (JBA) terrorist organization . But then Anna Grimsdóttir , a long-time partner of Sam, notices that some NSA files have been forged to Fisher's disadvantage. For example, Sam is said to have blamed the NSA and Lambert for almost killing him in a mission by American troops.
When Fisher is interrogated, the NSA discovers that his fingerprints are on the gun that killed Lambert. Sam manages to escape and explains in a conversation to the only ones he can trust, his former partners William Redding and Anna Grimsdottir, that everything was an unofficial undercover operation that only Lambert knew about. Fisher was supposed to infiltrate the JBA and destroy it from within as a double agent. However, in order to be able to come into contact with the JBA, he was smuggled into the Ellsworth State Prison and tasked with escaping with JBA member Jamie Washington . The JBA infiltration succeeded to a point where Fisher had contacted Lambert by phone and discussed how to proceed. What Fisher realized too late was that the chief of security at the JBA, Carson Moss, a former employee of the international mercenary organization Displace International, had overheard and traced the conversation. Although Fisher managed to find the recording and change it so that his camouflage was no longer in danger, he had no idea that the JBA had now intercepted and kidnapped Lambert. In an act of suspicion, the leader of the terrorist organization, Emile Dufraisne, summoned Sam to a conference room and ordered him to prove his affiliation with the JBA one last time by killing a supposed CIA contact agent - Lambert.
Development history
Splinter Cell: Essentials went on sale in Germany on May 17, 2006 for the PlayStation Portable . This game is a summary of all Splinter Cell games. The plot begins before the first Splinter Cell and runs through the three previously published games up to the beginning of the fourth part. There are nine main levels and three bonus missions, which can be activated with a cheat.
Splinter Cell: Essentials, like Splinter Cell and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, uses the Unreal Engine .
The story partly coincides with the events from Splinter Cell: Double Agent , whereby the plot of Splinter Cell: Double Agent can be influenced, which can lead to a deviation. The missions are presented as retrospectives.
reception
Rating in game magazines
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Juan Castros from the British online magazine IGN Entertainment praises the concept of Splinter Cell: Essentials , which also offers great potential on consoles. However, he criticizes the poor implementation. He criticizes the control system for being too complex. In terms of graphics, he complains about muddy textures and a generally poor visual presentation compared to the predecessors. Instead, he reports frequent jerks. Overall, he rates the game as being too early on the market because it still looks unfinished in many places.
Eurogamer's author Matt Martin rates the game similarly. Although he praises the approach of porting Splinter Cell to the PSP, he criticizes that the game is too immature. One point of criticism is the camera work, which often makes it difficult for players to orientate themselves in rooms. He also criticizes the level design, which is too dark, which has a negative effect on a game for mobile consoles. If you try to compensate for the darkness with the help of the night vision device, you have to accept severe losses in the quality of the surrounding textures.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Benjamin Schädig: Test "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Essentials". gamespot.com, May 28, 2006, accessed September 29, 2013 .
- ^ A b c Greg Mueller: Test "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Essentials". gamespot.com, April 1, 2006, accessed September 29, 2013 .
- ^ A b Matt Martin: Test "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Essentials". eurogamer.net, April 25, 2006, accessed September 29, 2013 .
- ^ A b Juan Castros: Test "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Essentials". In: IGN Entertainment . Ziff Davis , March 29, 2006, accessed September 29, 2013 .
- ↑ Various: Average rating for "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Essentials". GameRankings.com, accessed December 29, 2013 .
- ↑ Various: Average rating for "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Essentials". Metacritic.com, accessed December 29, 2013 .