Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

Infiltrate terrorists' positions, acquire critical intelligence by any means necessary, execute with extreme prejudice, and exit without a trace! You are Sam Fisher, a highly trained secret operative of the…

85 12 November 2002

Shooter Tactical Action Stealth

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is a shooter developed by Ubisoft Montreal, released 12 November 2002 on PlayStation 2, Xbox, Mac and PC (Microsoft Windows). The main story takes about 14 hrs to finish.

Verified 15 Oct 2026 Sources: IGDB , Steam , Wikipedia

What Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is a shooter game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and released in 2002. It was published by Ubi Soft Entertainment. It is available on PlayStation 2, Xbox, Mac and PC (Microsoft Windows). It runs on Unreal Engine 2.

The premise, in the publisher's words

In April 2004, the President of Georgia is assassinated, allowing Georgian billionaire Kombayn Nikoladze to seize power with a bloodless coup d'état. In August 2004, former U.S. Navy SEAL officer and Gulf War veteran Sam Fisher is recruited by the National Security Agency to work within its newly formed division, "Third Echelon." Working with his old friend Irving Lambert, Fisher is introduced to technical expert Anna "Grim" Grimsdóttír, and field runner Vernon Wilkes Jr. In October 2004, Fisher is dispatched to Tbilisi, Georgia to investigate the disappearance of two CIA officers. Fisher attempts to meet an informant, Thomas Gurgenidze, only to find him dying in a burning building…

Description from the publisher · source

How it plays

It is played from a first person perspective. Its themes are action and stealth. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component.

Where it sits in the Tom Clancy’s series

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is the 21st of 108 entries we hold in the Tom Clancy’s series. The next entry was Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield in 2003. Its critic score of 85 is 15 points above the series average of 70. The highest-rated entry is Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Breakpoint - Red Patriot at 96.

See all 108 Tom Clancy’s games in release order →

How it was received

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell holds a critic score of 85 out of 100. That places it above 86% of the 3,305 rated shooter games in our database, which average 70. Games released in 2002 averaged 68, so it scored 17 points above the year average. Player ratings track closely with critics at 84, across 430 votes.

How long it takes, and what that costs

The main story runs about 14 hrs.

What you need to run it

The minimum specification calls for Pentium® III or AMD Athlon™ 800 MHz and 32 MB 3D video card (64. Both tiers are compared side by side on the requirements page, and you can check your own parts against them without installing anything.

Full requirements and PC checker →

What it launched against

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell launched on 12 November 2002, within three weeks of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Metroid Prime, Metroid Fusion and Gothic II. It reviewed better than 1 of the 4.

Released around the same time: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Metroid Prime, Metroid Fusion, Gothic II.

Cheats and codes

We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.

Know one? Send it in and we will test it →