Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

For his first assignment as a Splinter Cell, Sam Fisher is dispatched to T'bilisi, Georgia to investigate the disappearance of two CIA agents (Blaustein and Madison). During his investigation Fisher uncovers a campaign of systematic ethnic cleansing and mass murder being waged by Georgian President Kombayn Nikoladze against the neighboring Muslim population of Azerbaijan in an attempt to seize that country's vast oil resources. When NATO intervenes in the situation against Georgia and Nikoladze, Nikoladze goes underground and retaliates against the U.S. by initiating an information crisis in America, using advanced computer algorithms developed by Canadian hacker Phillip Masse to wreak havoc upon America's electronic infrastructure. Fisher is dispatched to hunt down Nikoladze and stop the crisis. Fisher eventually discovers that Nikoladze is working with rogue Chinese general Kong Feirong to develop nuclear weapons, and has even gone so far as to place a nuclear suitcase bomb codenamed the ARK on American soil. Infiltrating the Georgian Presidential Palace, Fisher assassinates Nikoladze, ending the information crisis and stopping Georgia from detonating the ARK.

The Xbox and PC versions of the game feature 3 additional levels, available over Xbox Live or a special patch from the Chaos Theory collector's edition, that continue the storyline. Since Sam killed Nikoladze, Phillip Masse is still loose, and Fisher travels to the Kola Peninsula in Russia to neutralize him. The second mission has him trying to prevent the 'Vselka', a nuclear submarine, from being taken over by Alekseevich's remaining troops. In the third mission, Alekseevich's remaining troops have taken over 'Vselka', and Fisher must determine if they have removed its nuclear warheads. The warheads in question belonged to R-39 SLBMs (mentioned by the NATO reporting name SS-N-20 Sturgeon in the game), which would make the Vselka a Typhoon class submarine.