Ranked: "Splinter Cell: Conviction" and Other Tom Clancy Games

From Jack Ryan to Sam Fisher

This week's major videogame release, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction, is the latest in a long line of games endorsed by Tom Clancy. Indeed, while an older generation probably knows him best as a best-selling author of spy and military fiction, and Baltimore residents may think of him as a co-owner of baseball's Orioles, the Tom Clancy name is most closely associated these days with the world of videogames.

In the 1980s, Clancy first became a household name behind strong sales for books revolving around CIA analyst Jack Ryan. Several of these titles also became movies, including the Alec Baldwin-starring The Hunt for Red October 58 and Clear and Present Danger 74 with Harrison Ford, further boosting the author's name recognition.

After conquering the worlds of publishing and film, Clancy moved into gaming in the mid-1990s, establishing the developer Red Storm Entertainment, which, among other titles, began churning out games based on Clancy properties. The developer was so successful that it was eventually acquired by publisher Ubisoft. Over the past 15 years, the Tom Clancy brand has appeared on over three dozen game titles, including the ongoing Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, and Splinter Cell series, although Clancy's actual involvement in many of the releases is minimal.

The latter series -- all stealth action titles -- gets its newest chapter this week with Conviction for the Xbox 360 (a PC version also arrives in two weeks). The first new Splinter Cell game in four years, Conviction finds protagonist Sam Fisher, formerly an elite government anti-terrorism agent, striking out on his own in search of his daughter's murderer. Reviews are generally strong, with a lot of praise for the gameplay, though several critics feel that the new game is far too short.

Here's a better look at how the new game matches up to the previous installment in the Splinter Cell series:

Comparing Reviews: Splinter Cell: Conviction vs. Splinter Cell: Double Agent

Splinter Cell: Double Agent		Splinter Cell: Conviction
Xbox 360 (2006)	Platform and Year	Xbox 360 (2010)
85	Metascore	87
8.7	User Score	7.9
25	"Great" Critic Reviews	17
30	"Good" Critic Reviews	16
4	"Mixed" Critic Reviews	0
0	"Bad" Critic Reviews	0

All data is from April 13, 2010. The Metascore is a weighted average of scores from top professional critics, on a scale from 0 (bad) to 100 (good). User Scores represent an average of scores assigned by Metacritic.com site visitors on a scale from 0 (bad) to 10 (good). "Great" reviews have an individual grade of 90 or higher; "good" reviews have grades between 75 and 89; "mixed" represents grades between 50 and 74, and "bad" reviews have grades of 49 or lower.

Where does "Splinter Cell: Conviction" fit in?

How does the newest Tom Clancy title compare to all previous releases? Let's look at the highs and lows of the Clancy game franchise. Based on the 30+ reviews collected so far, Splinter Cell: Conviction narrowly missed cracking the all-time top 10, placing 11th.

The 10 Best-Reviewed Tom Clancy Games

	Game	Platform	Year	Developer	Metascore
1	Splinter Cell Chaos Theory	Xbox	2005	Ubisoft Montreal	94
2	Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow	Xbox	2004	Ubisoft Montreal	93
3	Splinter Cell	Xbox	2002	Ubisoft Montreal	93
4	Splinter Cell Chaos Theory	PC	2005	Ubisoft Montreal	92
5	Splinter Cell	PC	2003	Ubisoft Montreal	91
6	Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter	360	2006	Ubisoft	90
7	Splinter Cell	PS2	2003	Ubisoft Montreal	89
8	Splinter Cell Double Agent	Xbox	2006	Ubisoft Montreal/Shanghai/France	89
9	Splinter Cell	GameCube	2003	Ubisoft Montreal	89
10	Rainbow Six Vegas	360	2006	Ubisoft Montreal	88

Not every Tom Clancy game is a winner. The average Metascore for all 78 individual titles in our database is 75.8, which indicates positive reviews -- but just barely. In fact, 29 of the 78 (37%) Tom Clancy releases received mediocre reviews, with a Metascore between 50 and 74. And two releases received even lower scores. Here are the worst of the bunch:

The 10 Worst-Reviewed Tom Clancy Games

	Game	Platform	Year	Developer	Metascore
1	The Sum of All Fears	GameCube	2003	Red Storm Entertainment	36
2	Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter	PS2	2006	Ubisoft	44
3	Splinter Cell Chaos Theory	DS	2005	Ubisoft	50
4	Rainbow Six Critical Hour	Xbox	2006	Ubisoft Quebec Studio	54
5	Ghost Recon 2	GameCube	2005	Red Storm Entertainment	54
6	Splinter Cell Essentials	PSP	2006	Ubisoft Montreal	58
7	Ghost Recon 2	PS2	2004	Ubisoft Shanghai	58
8	Ghost Recon	GameCube	2003	Red Storm Entertainment	59
9	Rainbow Six: Lockdown	PC	2006	Red Storm Entertainment	59
10	Rainbow Six Vegas	PSP	2007	Ubisoft Quebec City	60

In the two tables above, games are ranked by Metascore prior to rounding. All Tom Clancy games in Metacritic's database with at least 7 reviews were eligible, although expansion packs were excluded.

Finally, here are the top-scoring titles by platform. As you can see, anyone hoping for a good portable Tom Clancy game will have to wait a bit longer.

Best-Reviewed Tom Clancy Titles by Platform

Platform	Game	Year	Metascore	Users
Game Boy Advance	Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell	2003	77	9.7
GameCube	Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell	2003	89	9.0
N-Gage	Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory	2005	85	7.6
Nintendo DS	Tom Clancy's EndWar	2008	69	n/a
PC	Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory	2005	92	7.9
Playstation 2	Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell	2003	89	7.5
Playstation 3	Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas	2007	86	7.9
Sony PSP	Tom Clancy's EndWar	2008	68	5.5
Wii	Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent	2006	61	8.2
Xbox	Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory	2005	94	9.3
Xbox 360	Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter	2006	90	8.1

Commercial success

Through the end of 2008, the entire Tom Clancy game franchise had sold more than 55 million units worldwide, a number that will grow considerably this year with the release of two major titles (Splinter Cell: Conviction and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier) and one that puts the Clancy games in the same ballpark as popular series like Call of Duty and Gran Turismo. Here are the best-selling individual releases in the series:

The Best-Selling Tom Clancy Games

	Game	Platform	Year	Metascore	Units Sold (Millions)
1	Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell	Xbox	2002	93	2.91
2	Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell	PS2	2003	89	2.44
3	Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2	360	2008	82	2.30
4	Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter	360	2006	90	2.26
5	Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas	360	2006	88	1.96
6	Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon	Xbox	2002	84	1.69
7	Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon	PS2	2002	63	1.68
8	Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six	Playstation	1999	n/a	1.64
9	Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3	Xbox	2003	86	1.58
10	Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Adv. Warfighter 2	360	2007	86	1.44

Source of sales data: VGChartz.com

Next, let's take a further look at each individual series in the Tom Clancy franchise.

Splinter Cell series

The Splinter Cell games fall into the "stealth action" genre, centering on government agent Sam Fisher, a member of the NSA's black-ops division known as the Third Echelon. While all three of the early games in the series received strong reviews, most critics feel that the third installment, Chaos Theory, is the best in the entire series (especially that game's Xbox version).

The series as a whole has drawn more critical acclaim than any Clancy game series. The average Metascore for all console releases in the Splinter Cell series is 84; the next-best series is Rainbow Six, averaging just 76.

All Releases in the Splinter Cell Series

Game	Year	360	XBX	PS3	PS2	Wii	GC	DRM	PC	DS	GBA	PSP	NG
Splinter Cell	2002		93		89		89		91		77		74
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow	2004		93		87		78		87		68
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory	2005		94		87		81		92	50			85
Splinter Cell: Essentials	2006											58
Splinter Cell: Double Agent	2006	85	89	78	84	61	64		80
Splinter Cell: Conviction	2010	87							*

* A PC version of Splinter Cell: Conviction will be released on April 27.
Years listed are the year of first release for each title. Some versions of each title may have been released in different years.

Rainbow Six series

The oldest of the three main Tom Clancy game franchises, the Rainbow Six titles are based on Clancy's 1998 novel of the same name. Games in this series are tactical first-person shooters, centering on an international anti-terrorism unit based in England. The more recent titles in the series did away with some of the tactical elements found in earlier Rainbow Six games to the disappointment of some fans, but critics seemed to like the changes: Rainbow Six: Vegas is the highest-scoring release in the series.

All Releases in the Rainbow Six Series

Game	Year	360	XBX	PS3	PS2	Wii	GC	DRM	PC	DS	GBA	PSP	NG
Rainbow Six *	1998							*	85
Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear  **	1999							75	**		76
Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield ***	2003								83
Rainbow Six 3 ***	2003		86		70		68
Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow	2004		84
Rainbow Six: Lockdown	2005		74		70		72		59
Rainbow Six: Critical Hour	2006		54
Rainbow Six: Vegas	2006	88		86					85			60
Rainbow Six: Vegas 2	2008	82		81					78

* Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six was also released for Playstation, Game Boy, Dreamcast, and Nintendo 64, but those releases are not available in Metacritic's database.
** Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear was also released for PC and Playstation, but those releases are not available in Metacritic's database.
** Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 is basically the console version of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield, but the games are different enough in story and gameplay to merit listing them as separate titles.

Ghost Recon series

Another series of tactical shooters, the Ghost Recon games focus on an Army Special Forces squad who are deployed on top-secret missions around the globe. 2006's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter impressed critics more than any other release in the series -- at least for the Xbox 360 version. The next installment, Future Soldier, is likely to surface late this year.

All Releases in the Ghost Recon Series

Game	Year	360	XBX	PS3	PS2	Wii	GC	DRM	PC	DS	GBA	PSP	NG
Ghost Recon	2001		84		63		59		80
Ghost Recon: Desert Siege	2002								82
Ghost Recon: Island Thunder	2003		81						82
Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm	2004				70								82
Ghost Recon 2	2004		80		58		54
Ghost Recon 2: Summit Strike	2005		84
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter	2006	90	66		44				80
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2	2007	86		84					76			61
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier	2010	*		*		*			*	*		*

* Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier will be released later in 2010 for the listed platforms.

Other titles

A number of additional Tom Clancy game titles have been released over the past 23 years, typically based on Clancy's novels (though there are also a few original concepts, such as the air combat simulator H.A.W.X., and EndWar, set during a future World War III). These games typically have received poor-to-middling reviews.

There is very little truth to the rumor that Clancy's next game will be titled Tom Clancy's Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too 3: Chaos Theory.

Tom Clancy Games Not in a Series

Game	Year	360	XBX	PS3	PS2	Wii	GC	DRM	PC	DS	GBA	PSP	NG
The Hunt for Red October *	1987
Red Storm Rising **	1988
The Hunt for Red October *	1990
Tom Clancy's SSN	1996								n/a
Tom Clancy's Politika	1997								n/a
Tom Clancy's ruthless.com	1998								n/a
Shadow Watch	2000								n/a
The Sum of All Fears	2002						36		72		69
Tom Clancy's EndWar	2008	77		76					68	69		68
Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.	2009	73		74					70

* There were two different games released under the name The Hunt for Red October. The 1987 version (for Atari, Amiga, Commodore 64, Macintosh, and IBM PC computers) was based on Clancy's book of the same name; the 1990 game (for various computers as well as NES and Game Boy) was based on the movie.
** Red Storm Rising was available for Commodore 64, Amiga, and Atari computers.

Your take

What is your favorite Tom Clancy-branded game? What do you think of the new Splinter Cell: Conviction? Is the series headed in a positive direction, or is it time to put it to bed? Let us know in the comments section below.