Dear Ubisoft: Please Give Us Spies Vs. Mercs

Sincerely, Your Fans

by exterminat

©2011 Nicholas Laborde

It’s the dead of summer, and new games aren’t on the horizon just yet. The massive LAN party QuakeCon is still over a month away, and I am desperately looking to my game collection for something to do.

Whilst wallowing in the aftermath of the removal of my wisdom teeth, the lights in my room dimmed and a light from on high shined down upon one of the most glorious gems in my gaming collection: Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.

“It’s been too long!” thought I, as I reached for another ice pack to strap to my face. I’ve just completed L.A. Noire 100%, and figured, “What the hell?” and popped it in.

It’s a game that has aged too well, still proving to be one of the best games ever made, in my opinion. My next objective: “Let’s play some spies versus mercenaries!”

I then remembered that Xbox Live for original Xbox titles has been down for over a year.

Disappointed, I realized something: an experience similar to that of Spies vs. Mercs (henceforth referred to as SvM) has not yet been replicated or continued in a respectful way, and is a cash crop waiting to be farmed.

Dear Ubisoft: PLEASE give us Spies Versus Mercenaries this generation!

A history lesson

Splinter Cell is a franchise that did nothing but innovate. Its intriguing multiplayer addition in particular is what has always stolen our hearts and robbed us of our social lives.

There’s no denying that Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow took the online multiplayer scene by storm when it released in 2004.

Hot off the heels of that iteration, 2005 brought us Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, improving the multiplayer tenfold. It set a standard that was never exceeded, and no multiplayer has ever been quite like it.

Along with that, the cooperative aspect blew the doors off of what we thought was possible in a game.

All self-respecting Xbox owners shed a few tears [of manliness] on April 15th, 2010, when Microsoft officially shut down all servers for original Xbox titles.

It most certainly was the day the gaming died; Halo 2 and Chaos Theory, giants of last-generation online gaming, would never be played on Xbox Live again, along with every single other original Xbox title.

The entire gaming scene was mournful (and if it wasn’t, it should have been!).

Splinter Cell: Double Agent released in 2006 to much criticism, and most fans (myself included) don’t consider its version of Spies versus Mercenaries as an iteration in the series.

Finally, Splinter Cell: Conviction was released in April 2010, ending Sam Fisher‘s story. Disappointingly, there was no SvM, although we did get a very entertaining cooperative mode [that ended far too quickly to be enjoyed].

My point is this: Spies versus Mercenaries was a staple game mode of the last generation. No other game has done a mode similar or anywhere close to it, and it’s begging for a comeback.

The lack of it (and cooperative play) in the Splinter Cell Trilogy HD colelction clearly signifies Ubisoft’s loss of vision.

What’s in a mode?

Before I go on my rant about how this generation is lacking in variety, let’s take a step back and look at Spies Versus Mercenaries in an objective manner.

Never before had the industry seen a multiplayer mode that was so interesting. Two completely different gameplay styles, pitted directly against each other. Today, something like this simply doesn’t happen; developers would cite balance issues, and the lack of a progression system would probably repulse modern gamers.

On one side we had the Spies: elite ShadowNet operatives tasked with data retrieval, enemy elimination and badassery by sneaking, running, leaping, shocking and neck-grabbing all the way there and back.

The other side showed us the Mercenaries: the FPS junkies with tons of gadgets (including actual firearms) at their disposal; hardened soldiers that were on the hunt for those sneaky Spies, and had the objective of eliminating them and protecting their information by all means necessary.

It was a way of combining classic gameplay into a modern environment. By no means was it flawless; it had many inherent problems, particularly with some of the Mercenaries’ equipment, but it was still fun.

It was fresh. Nothing like it had ever really been done before, and it was just downright fun.

I can see the money…

Level with me here: wasn’t SvM a one-of-a-kind mode?

And Splinter Cell is still alive.

Since Splinter Cell 6 is in full development and we have no details, let’s put that out of our minds for the moment and focus on how I, Nicholas Laborde, could make Ubisoft, a global multi-million dollar company, a ton of money.

Reboot the mode. Use the Conviction engine, building off of it and modifying it of course, and optimize it for a multiplayer, versus scenario.

Make a fleshed-out, fully functional game out of the mode. Add a progression system, achievements, leaderboards, the real deal.

Smash all of that together into a $10, $15 or even $20 downloadable game, call it Spies Versus Mercenaries and you’d have an instant hit.

I’m sure I represent much of the Splinter Cell community when I say I would pay almost anything to have a decent SvM in modern day!

It’s money just screaming to be made.

Think about it, Ubisoft; with the money you make off of that, you could hire Mr. Caffeine to doodly at every press event for a decade!

Dreaming

What do you think?

Does SvM deserve a revolutionary comeback to relieve us of all this brown and bloom Call of Duty nonsense?

Or is it a pastime that was only enjoyable in generations past?

Could Ubisoft possibly bring back one of their most enjoyable franchises, or at least a very small part of it?

©2011 Nicholas Laborde

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Filed under: Xbox 360