Ubisoft and Tom Clancy Games

The first design of Conviction had me worried with Sam Fisher sporting the "bum" look. Ugly long hair too...

When “Tom Clancy’s: Splinter Cell - Conviction” was announced in 2006, I was overwhelmed with excitement. I have been a massive Splinter Cell fan since the first game was released in 2001. In 2007 “Assassin’s Creed” was released, and became a huge success, thanks in part to its introduction of a new style of stealth gameplay. Not long after the release of “Assassin’s Creed” Ubisoft announced that they were “going back to the drawing board” on ‘Splinter Cell: Conviction." I was crushed. I understood that they wanted to make a game that felt different from another one of their titles, but I was still extremely bummed out about it. 

I'm pretty sure the wet suit this operative is wearing isn't keeping him dry inside anymore!

At the time it had been two years since the release of "Splinter Cell: Double Agent." By the time Conviction was released in 2010, 4 years had passed since Double Agent. I was extremely pleased with Conviction, and how the style of gameplay was completely different from previous SC games; to this day it is one of my favorite titles to play.

On January 22, 2009, “Tom Clancy’s: Ghost Recon - Future Soldier” was announced. Future Soldier has since been pushed back several times, but finally has a release date of May 22, 2012 (US), (May 24, 2012 Europe). The game looks to be an extremely fun and unique experience, especially its Kinect functions/ability. When Ubisoft showed the demo of Future Soldier at E3 2010, it looked beautiful. The graphics were extremely clean, it was action packed, had very appealing stealth attributes and the tactics shown surpassed previous GR titles tenfold. However, it’s been nearly 2 years since the demo was shown, and even with the release of new gameplay videos, it looks like GR:FS has become outdated. The graphics need to be overhauled, and the gameplay mechanics need polished. 

Screenshot from the stage demo at "E3 2010"

The game is set for a May 2012 release date, which would give Ubisoft the adequate time to do these things, but at this point I’ve nearly lost interest. DICE proved me wrong after the release of Battlefield 3's ugly Beta with a shiny and clean final product, and I hope Ubisoft does the same for Future Soldier. The beta for “Ghost Recon: Future Soldier” is coming this April, and will give us a taste of what we can expect from its multiplayer.

Will Ubisoft follow their pattern with the Tom Clancy titles, and push the release date back again? Or will they do as they did with SC: Conviction and “go back to the drawing board”? Only time will tell, but I can say I am not as excited as I used to be. The fire has grown low, and is about to burn out.

Until next time, keep on gamin' on!