“Who turned off the light?” “Who else is here? Anyone?” The answer comes in the form of the trademark rising squeal that Sam Fisher’s night vision activates and the muffled squelch of a muffled pistol. . This is a classic Splinter Cell scene, drawn from the latest entry in the series, Firewall. this is not a game 8-part radio drama (opens in new tab) You can find it on the BBC Sound app.
It is a faithful conversion to new media. Expect mentions of trifocal goggles and a laudable recreation of Michael Ironside’s low draw by Andonis Anthony. Andonis Anthony is an actor familiar to listeners of BBC Radio 4’s The Archers, a weekly British farming melodrama and middle-aged countryside moor.
“Having access to all the game’s sound effects allowed us to incorporate the drama into the game world,” writer Sebastian Baczkiewicz told the BBC. And show our fans that we don’t leave games behind. Instead, you’re getting a slap in the middle of the action. ”
Radio drama is an unexpected and welcome surprise.But it’s also puzzling that while its parent series entered its tenth year on hiatus, an adaptation “that no one really thought was possible” came to fruition. (opens in new tab)Firewall’s presence begs the question: Why did Ubisoft go to such lengths to revive a classic game in the medium that initially made it so successful?
A decade’s worth of sand has passed through the hourglass as Ubisoft focuses on new areas
You hadn’t heard of Ubisoft until their sudden creative and commercial achievements in the early 2000s. Against the backdrop of the Internet boom and a colorfully animated platformer named Rayman, the French company purchased his Red Storm in 2000, thereby obtaining the Tom Clancy license granting access to the US market. . Ubi leveraged his experience with Red Storm’s PC versions of Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six to bring his multiplayer shooter to the Xbox, and the fact that Microsoft’s console didn’t have his Metal Gear. Expanded his Clancyverse with Splinter Cell.
Another slick acquisition of The Learning Company’s entertainment division puts Prince of Persia on Ubisoft’s lap. Original author Jordan, with help from his Meckner, the publisher revived the series. It quickly established a new reputation for its hilarious action-adventure, historical storytelling, and exquisitely animated jungle his gym acrobatics. A few years later came Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry 2 (the latter his Ubi first open world), and these two games of his established a paradigm that was taught to developers at publishers around the world. No matter which direction you look at the current AAA landscape, you can see the consequences of that decision.
Wavering Faith
However, the world and characters established during Ubisoft’s rise are in decline, disappointing the players who made Ubisoft rich in the first place. Splinter Cell: Conviction established the cover-stealth system that Watch Dogs and The Division have relied on ever since, but Sam Fisher’s story fell through after his one entry. Assassin’s Creed, on the other hand, cannibalized many of the Prince of Persia’s parts so much that the Prince of Persia struggled to justify its existence and was eventually shattered into pieces. As Ubisoft focused on new areas, a decade’s worth of hourglasses passed, making these once-proud franchises an intractable reboot problem. It no longer fits into the business model of modern publishers.
Unlike Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell does not have a rich competitive history to contribute to its multiplayer or esports success. Nor does the tradition of intimate light-and-dark stealth scenarios lend themselves particularly naturally to open-world play. The latter attempt would quickly compete for space and identity with the recent Ghost Recon game, which is already dangerously similar to Far Cry.
Prince of Persia presents a similar challenge to Splinter Cell in that it’s rooted in a tense single-player story that doesn’t offer the retention favored by AAA publishers due to lack of funding in 2022. But it also has its own problems. Sands of Time is a story about Indians and Persians, first conceived by Canadians and Americans. “At the time, we were focusing on mythology,” creative director Patrice Désiré told me last year. doesn’t matter at all.”
Ubisoft sidestepped potential presentation issues by handing over development of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake to studios in Pune and Mumbai. It’s the first time a Ubisoft game has been led by an Indian team. However, the game has been delayed twice since his 2020 announcement, and ownership of the project has moved to Montreal. This year, Sands of Time Remake was delisted by the retailer after Ubi admitted it was “not targeting a FY23 release.”
Ubisoft has no plans to remake any other Prince of Persia games, even if that problematic game hits the shelves. Splinter Cell Remake, on the other hand, is intended as a “solid foundation for the future.” However, it remains to be seen if any of the series will end up in Ubi’s catalog after the current fashion of slapping “remake” in titles is over.
beyond bad
Who is Ubisoft remaking the classics for, and why? Are they meant to be one-off nostalgia hits, or are they the first building blocks of the next year’s franchise? do you mean to
Of course, the room has a pirate-like, space-traveling, anthropomorphic elephant. What I’ve avoided mentioning so far is its very miserable energy: Beyond Good and Evil 2. Under the direction of Michel Ancel, creator of Rayman, a more extravagant (and frankly French) game. It’s free speech somewhere between a freewheeling 9/11-themed fantasy and a Mario Sunshine and Lucasarts adventure game.
Beyond Good and Evil 2’s production struggles are well documented. In particular, his Ancel himself, who retired from Ubisoft two years ago, has been accused of toxic behavior. But the underlying problem seems to be a design mismatch. The original his Beyond Good and Evil involved a handful of characters and repetitive spaces. A small Mediterranean town backed by a Ghibli-esque lake. A bar that only plays Bulgarian rap. Mammago Garage run by Sai in a Jamaican dress.
Yes, it was science fiction. Montpellier’s pitch to the masses may suit an audience that grew up on the ever-renewing productions of No Man’s Sky and Elite: Dangerous, but they loved Jade and Page in the first place. It can also drive fans away.
Who is Ubisoft remaking the classics for, and why? Are they meant to be one-off nostalgia hits, or are they the first building blocks of the next year’s franchise? Are they meant to be? These are the search questions publishers should answer before wasting millions more people. In the meantime, we’ll have to rely on something like Splinter Cell: Firewall to keep the memories alive.
