Ranking every Splinter Cell game based on Metacritic score

At the end of the 1990s/beginning of the 2000s, the stealth genre was well and truly underway. Hideo Kojima had already given us the Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid series, with the former said to be an early influence on the genre. Thief gave us one of the most brooding and cool characters with Garret, while Hitman had us become the world’s deadliest assassins. Then along came Splinter Cell.

While the fate of Ubisoft’s black-ops franchise is uncertain these days, we can at least take solace in the fact that we’ve had a good run over the years. Sam Fisher – voiced by Michael Ironside in what I would consider his most iconic role – is one of the most capable agents in stealth gaming, and it would be a shame if we never got to learn more about him.

Although there is a remake of the first installment happening at some point, no word has been said about it for some time, leaving many of us to wonder if it’s still in development. So while we wait, let me present all the mainline Splinter Cell games in order of their respective Metacritic scores.

For this list, I’ll be taking into account the platform/system that shows the highest number, but it’s worth pointing out that most of them come from Xbox versions of each game.

Splinter Cell: Essentials (2006) – 58% on PSP

At a time when mobile gaming was not common – except when it came to the Nintendo DS – Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP) was an attempt to break into an emerging market. For the busy gamer on the go, having a PlayStation console for your travels was quite something. Of course, it couldn’t quite reach the lofty success of Nintendo’s own offering, but it was still pretty successful.

Along with the handheld came a host of exclusive games, one of them being Splinter Cell: Essentials. Through flashbacks, this PSP game told more of Sam Fisher’s backstory, which is always a good thing. However, criticisms aimed at the control scheme and the multiplayer function meant this one has all but been lost to time.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist (2013) – 84% on PS3

By this point, it could be argued that Splinter Cell was still hanging on, keeping its head above water in an era when stealth gaming was quite the phenomenon. The results speak for themselves, with an 84% Metacritic score for PlayStation 3. Evidently, critics and players were very happy with this most recent installment, which saw the gruff agent become commander of Fourth Echelon.

Can I be honest with you? I could not get into Blacklist, despite being a long-time fan of the series. Was it the gameplay? The controls? The story? Nope. None of that. Truth be known, it was the fact that Michael Ironside didn’t reprise his role as Sam Fisher. Instead, he was voiced by Eric Johnson of American Gods and Vikings fame. Admittedly, Ironside didn’t return due to health issues, and yes, not liking a game because it doesn’t have the original voice actor is petty and stupid. Do I care? A little bit, yes (please like me).

Splinter Cell: Conviction (2010) – 85% on Xbox 360

Over time, Splinter Cell moved away from the confines of sterile global politics, settling into gritter and edgier territory. At the point in which we got Conviction, Fisher was a changed man. Anyone who’s familiar with his story up to this point will understand why. He had very much become a maverick playing by his own rules. I can only imagine he’d received some pointers from Liam Neeson when he was in his Taken period.

Anyway, much like Blacklist, I did struggle to get into Conviction. It was a far cry from what the series was known for and what I’d loved for years. However, after at least one playthrough, I grew to really like the direction this game took things. I’d go as far as to say it’s one of my favorite entries of them all, and a Metacritic score of 85% shows I may not be alone in that.

Splinter Cell: Double Agent (2006) – 89% on original Xbox

I must admit, I didn’t even know this game was on the original Xbox. Double Agent was released in 2006, around the same time the bulky console was being discontinued worldwide. That’s cutting things fine, I must admit, so it is quite a surprise to see this port of the game holds the highest score out of all the versions (although it’s not doing terribly well on Steam).

This one is just a hair’s breadth away from being on par with the original three entries, which would make it something of a classic. The idea of Fisher having to infiltrate a terrorist organization was a big intrigue. I did, however, find it rather stressful having to gain trust among the other terrorists while maintaining good relations with your Third Echelon colleagues (especially Director Irving Lambert). Still, I’d love to revisit Double Agent at some point.

Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (2004) – 93% on original Xbox

We’re now into the old-school Splinter Cell era. What I would consider a golden age for the series. Pandora Tomorrow is the second installment, coming just a couple of years after the original set the scene and marked its place in the stealth genre.

Taking what had made the first game such a hit, Pandora Tomorrow built upwards, adding in new technologies, as well as a new online mode. Console multiplayer was pretty scarce back in the day, so I imagine this was regarded as either a novelty or just something that would appeal to a gaming minority. But overall, it was more of what the OG entry had, plus a little extra. I also remember really loving that tense and explosive intro cut scene the first time I saw it.

Splinter Cell (2002) – 93% on original Xbox

I’ve already kind of hinted at the impact the first Splinter Cell game had when it was unleashed at the start of the new millennium. While we tend to drop the name “Tom Clancy” from the titles, it’s important to remember that the author’s endorsement of the game was possibly what helped it gain public attention.

Of course, that can only go so far. What Splinter Cell did was solidify itself as a potential Metal Gear Solid and Hitman rival. The world was introduced to the cool, calm, collected (and occasionally sarcastic) Navy SEAL Sam Fisher, who’d recently become a black ops agent for the NSA. There’s a good chance this would have gone down as one of the best stealth games ever created, were it not for Thief 2 pretty much taking that title already.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (2005) – 94% on original Xbox

In any form of creative media, a third entry is always dicey. The first of something could be lightning in a bottle, and an immediate follow-up is a chance to improve on things or deliver something better based on responses to the original. It’s, therefore, quite something that Chaos Theory – the third Splinter Cell game – is highly regarded as the best of the bunch.

I said how the first game had the potential to be one of the greatest releases in the stealth genre. Well, Chaos Theory actually does find itself on these lists. If I had to pick my favorite out of the classic games of the series, it would be a hard choice. It would either be this or Pandora Tomorrow, but whichever one you decide on, there’s a reason Chaos Theory is often held aloft as one of Sam Fisher’s strongest outings.