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Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Essentials for PlayStation Portable
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Essentials for PlayStation Portable has you sneak through guarded buildings and hostile territory as Sam Fisher. Following his arrest, Sam recounts earlier operations during interrogations. These memories return to his time in the Navy SEALs and his work for Third Echelon. You gather information, reach restricted locations and try to pass guards without raising an alarm. The adventure consists of separate missions and is played from a viewpoint behind Sam.
Light and sound determine how much risk you take. One meter shows how well Sam remains hidden, while another displays both his own noise and the ambient sound. You crouch, climb along pipes, grab guards from behind and hide bodies to avoid alerting patrols. Night vision and thermal vision help you investigate dark rooms. Gadgets, interrogations, lock picking and computer hacking provide the resources and information you need to proceed.
You play the campaign alone. You can also play Spy vs. Spy locally with two players: you find the other spy and try to eliminate him as many times as possible within the time limit. With your own game copies on two PSP systems with wireless networking, you play these Ad Hoc matches within range of one another. The host selects the map, time and elimination limit. This is a duel between spies, not a cooperative story campaign or an internet match.
Region and language
Our PlayStation Portable games are European editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
You receive the physical UMD edition. You need a PSP with a UMD drive to play it; a PSP Go cannot play this disc.
Manual
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Essentials for PlayStation Portable includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.
The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.
The history of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Essentials
Ubisoft Montreal developed Splinter Cell Essentials, and Ubisoft released it for PlayStation Portable in 2006. The publisher announced the game in January that year as an adventure created specifically for Sony's handheld. Sam Fisher had already appeared on other portable platforms, but Essentials became his first PSP game. The story links his earlier career with the events surrounding Double Agent, which was released for home platforms later in 2006.
The developers chose interrogations and memories as a framework linking different periods of Sam's life. This allowed his work as a Navy SEAL and his later infiltrations to sit alongside one another without forming a single continuous journey. The PSP received its own missions within that wider series, alongside familiar operations from Sam's past. The release retained sneaking, information gathering and the use of light and sound in a portable adventure; it is not a collection of complete earlier Splinter Cell games.
For the PSP, the team adapted the controls to a single analogue stick. You switch between moving Sam and controlling the camera; an alternative layout provides a different button arrangement. Familiar actions such as hanging from ledges, grabbing guards and opening locks were retained. A separate local spy duel for two players was added alongside the solo missions. The Platinum version on offer is a later budget reissue of this PSP game; that label does not mean a new campaign or remaster.
Similar games for PlayStation Portable
Killzone Liberation for PlayStation Portable also offers compact military assignments in which cover and planning ahead help you survive enemies. However, you view Templar from an angled overhead perspective and engage in much more direct gunfights. Splinter Cell Essentials stays behind Sam Fisher and more often has you wait for a patrol or approach a guard unnoticed. Killzone revolves around terrain and firefights; visibility, sound and gathering information undetected play a larger role for Sam.
Pursuit Force on PlayStation Portable also pits a specialist officer against armed enemies, but often begins where cautious sneaking ends. During chases, you leap onto moving vehicles and shoot to eliminate their occupants. Sam Fisher moves more slowly through guarded areas, uses shadows and examines doors and computers. Both combine movement with firearms, but Pursuit Force rewards quick decisions in traffic rather than preparation for a silent infiltration.
Like Splinter Cell Essentials, Gun Showdown for PlayStation Portable has you alternate firearms with other actions during a personal story. Colton White travels on horseback through a Western world and can accept paid side missions. Sam follows separate covert operations with clear infiltration objectives. Gun gives you more freedom to travel between towns; Essentials demands more attention to guards, light sources and the information behind a locked door.
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories on PlayStation Portable combines a story about crime and loyalty with driving and shooting in an open city. Splinter Cell Essentials instead leads you through self-contained missions in which Sam wants to attract as little attention as possible. Outside assignments, Toni Cipriani can choose his own vehicle and activity. Sam has less freedom to travel, but has tools for dealing deliberately with locks, computers and guards during an infiltration.
Chili Con Carnage for PlayStation Portable also uses separate action assignments and a camera behind the main character. However, Ramiro Cruz keeps moving with shooting leaps and explosive combinations to build his score. In Splinter Cell Essentials, a slow, silent movement may be the best choice instead. Both let you use firearms, but while Chili rewards visible acrobatics, Sam benefits from staying unnoticed and sometimes avoiding a confrontation altogether.
