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Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Essentials
Developer(s)	Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft
Series	Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
Engine	Unreal Engine 2
Platform(s)	PlayStation Portable
Release	NA: March 21, 2006 AU: April 6, 2006 EU: April 7, 2006
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, stealth
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Essentials is an action-adventure video game with heavy emphasis on stealth. It is part of the Splinter Cell series and was released for the PlayStation Portable handheld system. It was developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft on March 21, 2006. It is the fourth entry in the series and runs on the Unreal Engine 2.

Development

Ubisoft Montreal had been in development of Splinter Cell: Essentials from at least 2005, with Ubisoft Montreal officially announcing the game on January 12, 2006. Once announced, Ubisoft Montreal provided additional details regarding the gameplay, story and more as it was scheduled for spring of 2006. Following the announcement, previews of the game were shown to journalists as more info regarding specific missions and returning features from the classic Splinter Cell series were included in the game. It was revealed that Ubisoft Montreal utilized the Unreal Engine 2 for Essentials, but toned down to run properly on the PlayStation Portable.

Plot

In January 2009, Sam Fisher, a former NSA agent-turned-fugitive, sneaks into a Washington, D.C. cemetery where his daughter, Sarah, who has been recently killed by a drunk driver, is buried. Fisher is arrested at this grave site, taken into custody and interrogated at the NSA's headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland. During this time, Fisher recalls past events, that are then played as missions.

In the end, Fisher admits that he had killed his Third Echelon handler, Colonel Irving Lambert. In the final mission, Fisher steals the evidence and escapes from the NSA headquarters where he was being held.

Reception

Critical reaction to Splinter Cell: Essentials was mixed. GameRankings gave it a score of 58.22%, while Metacritic gave it 58 out of 100.

Juan Castro of IGN gave the game a score of 6.3 out of 10, saying: "It feels rushed, even slightly broken during certain parts. Beyond this, the game plays as though it doesn't belong on the PSP. It yearns for a second analog stick and an extra pair of buttons, for instance. Not only that, it suffers quite a bit in the performance department—you'll rarely see the game running smoothly. Making matters worse is that Essentials doesn't look all that spectacular. This from a series that always pushes the boundaries of current technology."

Greg Mueller of GameSpot gave Essentials a score of 5.8 out of 10, saying: "Splinter Cell: Essentials sounds like a fine idea. Take some missions from previous games, mix them up a little, add some entirely new missions, and fit it all onto the PSP. Unfortunately, due to some bad controls, oppressively dark levels, and a worthless multiplayer mode, the result is a game that is more frustrating than it is rewarding."

References

1. Castro, Juan (March 21, 2006). "Splinter Cell Essentials Sneaks to Retail". IGN. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
2. "Ubisoft - Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell® Essentials". June 14, 2006. Archived from the original on June 14, 2006. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
3. "Splinter Cell Targets PSP" IGN, Article retrieved February 2, 2015.
4. "Splinter Cell Essentials" - IGN, Article retrieved February 2, 2015.
5. ^ "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Essentials for PSP". GameRankings. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
6. ^ "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Essentials for PSP Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
7. ^ Mueller, Greg (March 29, 2006). "Splinter Cell Essentials Review". GameSpot. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
8. ^ Castro, Juan (March 29, 2006). "Splinter Cell Essentials". IGN. Retrieved July 16, 2014.

External links

• Official Splinter Cell website
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Essentials at MobyGames

v t e Tom Clancy's video games
Rainbow Six	Rainbow Six Eagle Watch Rogue Spear Urban Operations Covert Ops Essentials Black Thorn Take-Down – Missions in Korea Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield Athena Sword Black Arrow Iron Wrath Lockdown Critical Hour Vegas Vegas 2 Shadow Vanguard Patriots (cancelled) Siege DLC Extraction Mobile
Ghost Recon	Ghost Recon Desert Siege Island Thunder Jungle Storm Ghost Recon 2 Summit Strike Advanced Warfighter Advanced Warfighter 2 Predator Wii Shadow Wars Future Soldier Phantoms Wildlands Breakpoint Frontline (cancelled)
Splinter Cell	Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow Chaos Theory Essentials Double Agent Conviction Blacklist
Ryanverse	The Hunt for Red October (1987) The Hunt for Red October (1990) The Hunt for Red October (1991) The Cardinal of the Kremlin The Sum of All Fears
H.A.W.X	H.A.W.X H.A.W.X 2
The Division	The Division The Division 2 Heartland (cancelled) Resurgence The Division 3
Other games	Red Storm Rising SSN Politika ruthless.com Shadow Watch EndWar Elite Squad XDefiant
Related	Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix Untitled Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell film Untitled Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon film
Category

• 2006 video games
• PlayStation Portable games
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• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
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