The Best of Clancy

The late author Tom Clancy has had his name attached to multiple video game projects over the years, but the main split has been in the core trio of franchises - Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell.

There's been other excursions too, but that name affixed atop a title has, on average, been a cut above the usual multimedia tie-ins, and even in some cases, established important milestones within the gaming industry.

With Ubisoft's The Division the latest game to be carrying that name above the title (an interview with the managing director of which you can see here) and the release next week of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, the cinematic franchise reboot based on Clancy's characters (and an exclusive clip of which you can see below) - we look back at the five most important games released under his name, and why.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six

It'd be jarring to go back and replay the original Rainbow Six, but at the time of it's release back in 1998, it was nothing short of revolutionary. The chief antagonists were eco-terrorists (not your usual enemies) called the Phoenix Group, and the ace up their sleeve was some sort of biological weapon (Ebola if memory serves). But it wasn't the plot that set it apart, it was all in the execution.

More important than a steady aim was the ability to plan your mission out in advance, plotting waypoints and equipping your troops with the appropriate gear. Pre-planning the operation was at the heart of the experience - you needed a clear strategy for every step, corner and open area.

We still have vivid memories of approaching secluded buildings, storming through doors and taking out enemy marks. It was brutally tough, and each level took considerable planning and repeat plays, but it also offered immerse gameplay; high-quality visuals and audio just added to the package. The original PC release lead to a PSOne port, echoing numerous PC-only titles of the time that tested the waters with the console market. There was some concessions though; PlayStation players had the luxury of their weaponry being displayed on screen (PC only had the aiming reticule).

The game was developed by Red Storm Entertainment, a studio founded by Clancy himself, and was originally intended to be more American-centric, before it was decided that RAINBOW should have a more international feel. Thus was born a series that has endured to this day, with Rainbow Six: Patriots heading to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in the not-too-far-distant future. But the rock-hard difficulty has been watered down over time, something that purists of the series - and the style - still claim to be an atrocity.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

Our experience with Splinter Cell can be summed up with an anecdote. Huddled over a gigantic Xbox pad in a tiny university dorm room, we directed Sam Fisher through the streets of Tbilisi, Georgia. We were so immersed the action, so intent on avoiding patrols by shimmying across ledges and lurking in shadows, that we completely neglected to notice a friend slink in through the door, pick up an empty beer can and - in a move that would've made Sam Fisher proud - toss it over our head creating a distracting clatter. With head turned to face the diversion we were pounced on. Life had imitated art and we were thoroughly outsmarted like so many AI controlled patrols before and since.

It wasn't the first game to ever push stealth the forefront; we'd been crawling Solid Snake in and out of trouble long before Sam Fisher emerged from the darkness in 2002. But while Kojima was making his creation duck patrols through wall hugs and vents, Splinter Cell delved into the concept of light and shadow to create a gameplay mechanic that felt truly unique, the implementation of which made for incredibly tense moments. You'll rarely find any other game aping the design, and never with the same degree of depth.

It was aided by a story that was quintessential Clancy (even if he didn't write it himself). It was one of the first must-have titles on Microsoft's first Xbox console, and the game that put Ubisoft Montreal on the map. It also had one thing that no other game had, and that's the distinctive gravely voice of Michael Ironside. Splinter Cell still stands up to inspection to this day, and there's a HD version on PS3 that's well worth a look if you're feeling nostalgic.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas

Nearly a decade after the series debuted, Rainbow Six was a very different looking beast. Even if it diluted down the hardcore difficulty of its forebearers, Vegas still offered a tough challenge that set it apart from the first-person shooters that were a dime a dozen in the Xbox 360/PS3 era.

Vegas married strategic squad control with a visual bombast that'd been missing from the Clancy titles until now. Though arguably Ghost Recon did it first with Advanced Warfighter, Vegas used next-gen hardware and its namesake to create an authentic representation of America's gambling city. The Strip, both old and new, were replicated on screen, glowing neon signs blazing the screen with garish colours and slot machines brimming with coins, ready to be shot. A far cry from the conservative locations of previous Clancy adventures.

The game's squad control mapped your orders to the D-Pad, while the game's level design forced you to think about flanking and pincer manoveures; while hardly extensive in its strategy, it did mean you had to think beyond your own hide. Overwhelming enemy numbers would happily box you in, so each room could become a killing field. Checking rooms prior to entry via under-door cameras became the norm. It was far easier to die than it was to survive.

The game was released on console as well as PC, and proved one of the highlights of 2006's release line-up. A sequel was released two years later. While decent, couldn't recapture that wow factor the original so easily offered - it's arguable no other Clancy game has done the same since.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

We've revisited different entries in the Ghost Recon series over the years, but in this particular branch of Clancy-inspired games, newer is definitely better. Future Soldier was, for us, the best entry in the series. It was certainly the game where we had the most fun. Much of our enthusiasm for Future Soldier stemmed from the stellar multiplayer, which saw players squad up and take each other on in a variety of different scenarios, including one level that lingers in the memory where a sandstorm would kick up in player's faces and obscure vision (luckily there was plenty of tech that helped players get around this).

GR:FS was all about two things, hugging cover and deploying near-future tech in order to gain an advantage on the battlefield. The levels were well designed and full of variation, and the game modes complimented the action (capture points and bomb placement featured prominently and multilayered levels meant that even in cover you weren't always safe).

As DLC packs were added so were more modes, including our favourite Stockade, whereby players have to wait in the titular stockade when killed until a teammate makes a kill and they can return to the fray.

There was three distinct classes to level up in vanilla multiplayer, appealing to a variety of play-styles, although that feature wasn't available in Guerrilla, the wave/horde mode that further enhanced the multiplayer package. To top it all off the single player campaign was also playable in co-op from start to finish.

If you've got some tactically minded friends and you haven't already checked this one out, our advice is to give it a shot.

Spies Vs Mercenaries

Splinter Cell's offshoot multiplayer mode has become one of the most integral elements of the series since it debuted in Pandora Tomorrow. It proved that multiplayer a) didn't have to be crowbarred in to tick off a check list on a feature list and b) could offer an experience that built on what was laid out in single player.

While those on the Spies side played with a familiar game type - third person stealth, while avoiding gun-totting squads - those playing Mercenaries viewed the action in first-person mode, as they tried to track down Spies across a multitude of maps.

It was truly cat and mouse, and is still one of the best multiplier modes we've seen in the market today; one that's rarely copied or bettered.

Some of the new features brought into the Blacklist update might not have resonated as strongly with the community as Ubisoft might have liked, but when it's all said and done, if you're looking for multiplayer action with a twist in the tail, then Spies and Mercs offers a breath of fresh air in a stagnant shooter space.

You can read our thoughts on the latest Clancy title The Division, as part of our 14 for 2014 feature series. For more info on Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, head on over to the movie's official site.