Ubisoft may make 'big' Splinter Cell announcement

Ubisoft is gearing up for the next game in its stealth action series – Splinter Cell: Blacklist. The game’s Facebook page is now getting ready for a ‘big announcement’, and has shown a part of an image. The image looks like Sam Fisher’s face that has been painted. There is also green light on the image, which hints towards him wearing the iconic nightvision goggles that adorned the covers of the earlier games in the series.

Recently, Ubisoft had released a trailer for Blacklist that showed some of the gameplay of the game. The game seems to be taking on a more action route, rather than the silent stealth route of the earlier games. Splinter Cell: Blacklist is set to take place six years after the events of Splinter Cell: Conviction. Sam Fisher is now the head of a new organisation that works directly for the President of the United States, Fourth Echelon. The gameplay of Blacklist is set to be similar to Splinter Cell: Conviction, but with more stealthy moves and faster action.

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The image that has been shown on the Facebook Page

Here is a quick summary of the story of Splinter Cell: Blacklist. In 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave what became known as the ‘Four Freedoms’ speech, laying out the quartet of fundamental liberties that people “everywhere in the world” should hold as a birthright.  Those four, brought forth as the world struggled with unprecedented barbarity, were the freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.

But it was recognised that as noble as the ideal of the Four Freedoms might be, there would be times when they would need to be defended: against oppression, against tyrants and against terror. Thus was born the Fifth Freedom, the right and responsibility to do whatever it took to protect the other four. The bearer of the Fifth Freedom has a mandate to go anywhere he need and do anything he must – kill, steal or destroy – in the interest of the greater good. Only the President can authorise the Fifth Freedom, and only the most skilled and trustworthy operatives America has to offer have ever received it.

And until now, no man has ever received it twice.

Sam Fisher initially received the Fifth Freedom as the prototype for the new Splinter Cell program. At a time when the scope of information warfare was exploding, Third Echelon needed an agent who could combine cutting-edge technology with old-fashioned tradecraft. Using the Fifth Freedom judiciously, Fisher defended the United States against biological attack, against state-sponsored cyber warfare and against domestic terrorism – before walking away.

Now, however, the stakes have been raised. Terror has targeted the American heartland and nowhere – and no one – is safe. At a time when the President cannot rely on anyone else to meet the new challenge of the Blacklist, Sam agrees to take up the burden – and the Fifth Freedom – once again.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist is set to be released in the US during spring in 2013.