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The player begins most missions with a limited supply of less-than-lethal weapons in addition to Fisher's firearms, a suppressed FN Five-Seven sidearm that is provided for every mission, as well as a suppressed FN F2000 assault rifle during some missions, which includes a telescopic sight and a launcher for some of the less-lethal devices such as ring airfoil projectiles, "sticky shockers" and CS gas grenades. Although Sam Fisher is usually equipped with firearms, he carries limited ammunition and is not frequently provided with access to additional ammo.
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Splinter Cell strongly encourages the use of stealth over brute force. The light meter functions even when night vision goggles is activated, and it is possible to destroy lights, thus reducing the chances of exposure significantly. The game displays a "light meter" that reflects how visible the player character is to enemies, and night vision and thermal vision goggles to help the player navigate in darkness or smoke/fog, respectively. The player is encouraged to move through the shadows for concealment whenever possible. The primary focus and hallmark of Splinter Cell 's gameplay is stealth, with strong emphasis on light and darkness. A remake of Splinter Cell is currently in development by Ubisoft Toronto. The success of the game lead to multiple sequels, starting with Pandora Tomorrow in 2004, and a series of novels written under the pseudonym David Michaels. Splinter Cell received critical acclaim on release and is considered as one of the best video games ever made. A remastered high definition version was released on PlayStation 3 in September 2011, and an Xbox version was made available for Xbox One via backward compatibility in June 2019. A side-scrolling adaptation developed by Gameloft was also released in 2003 for Game Boy Advance, mobile phones and N-Gage (the latter with the subtitle Team Stealth Action). Originally released as an Xbox exclusive in 2002, the game was ported to Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, GameCube and Mac OS X in 2003.
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The game was inspired by both the Metal Gear series and games created by Looking Glass Studios, and was built using Unreal Engine 2. Endorsed by author Tom Clancy, it follows the activities of NSA black ops agent Sam Fisher (voiced by Michael Ironside). It is the first game in the Splinter Cell series. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is a 2002 stealth video game developed by Ubi Soft Montreal and published by Ubi Soft.
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