Splinter Cell Diaries Part Four

This is my ongoing exploration of the Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell games, played in release order. I will chronicle my playthrough of each title in turn and discuss any recurring themes and noteworthy events.

Having snuck, shot, knocked out, and kidnapped my way through both an oil rig and the CIA headquarters, we had intel on how President Nikoladze had orchestrated his terror attacks...

It turned out that the company headquarters of internet startup Kalinatek was nearby, and was where the leak had been directed. Sam went over, accompanied by quartermaster Vernon Wilkes Jr, to sneak in and find an encryption key. Using that key, Third Echelon’s IT meister Anna Grímstóttir could locate Nikoladze, who had gone into hiding since his attacks began. According to a news report, there was an interim president.

I snuck through the parking garage, taking down two guards on the first level, and two on the next. We were across from the main Kalinatek building, so I had to cross on top of the covered walkway. I put a few bullets into the glass roof and dropped down, killing a guard who came out of the door ahead of me, then went inside. I could have stopped to play office-basketball, but carried on.

The Georgians had detected Grímstóttir in the system, and so had sent in Russian mercenaries to eliminate any staff member with an encryption key. To cover all bases, they had begun setting up wall mines, which would go off if too much movement was detected. I accidentally alerted them and one ran to see what was moving in the room I was hidden inside. He exploded gracefully, though I still had to shoot him and his two friends. I then went down the elevator shaft, trying to find a guy called Ivan, who was apparently safe behind the fire doors.

Before I could find a way to open the doors, however, I had to get a door code from a few techs who were still alive, but hemmed in by wall mines. I disabled the mines and spoke to the techs, who revealed that there was a time bomb attached to the gas main, and I only had a couple of minutes. Two more enemies showed up and got shot for their troubles, and I made my way through the burning rooms, careful to not move too quickly and set off one of the mines.

I reached the time bomb with about 20 seconds to spare, and could finally concentrate on opening the fire doors. I knocked out two enemies in the auditorium nearby, and went down to flick a breaker on the power box. I had to shoot three Russians down there, but managed it without too much hassle. When I went back upstairs, someone had woken up the two men I knocked out a few minutes ago, so I had to shoot all three, before leaving the floor through the back door.

There were two men chatting in a room at the top of the stairs, and unfortunately my attempts at stealth failed, resulting in some bullets trading places. I found a tech still clinging to life, but he wasn’t who I was looking for and didn’t have an encryption key. Not that it mattered, as he died begging me to get him to the infirmary…

I went into the infirmary at the end of the hall, and grabbed a couple of health packs, but alerted another guy who started looking for me. He spotted me after passing the infirmary door, but got taken down easily. I continued through the corridor and found the server room, where I took out another man and unlocked the fire doors with the computer.

Colonel Lambert came over the comm to warn me that the the FBI were taking credit for this, which covered Third Echelon’s backsides, but meant that we weren’t extracting Ivan. With the fire doors open, however, it was only a matter of time before the Russians found him, so I had to get there first.

I took out one mercenary when his buddy went to the bathroom, then I went into the bathroom and knocked him out too. I hopped into the ventilation shaft, as the corridor outside was on fire, and heard someone interrogating Ivan. I shot the guy and hopped out. Sam explained that the FBI were coming to get Ivan, but that he needed to hand over the encryption key.

After some threats, Ivan caved and I was on my way to the roof for extraction. Once the Russian mercs up there were taken care of, of course… So up the elevator I went, and got out my trusty SC-20K, with sticky shockers. Three men fell, and since the place was a building site I had to climb over some pallets of construction materials, and a wall.

Two more Russians went down, and I grabbed a health pack. Unfortunately, the trio in the adjoining room somehow saw me, and started a firefight. It didn’t last very long, with the SC-20K dropping them in under a minute. The enhanced situational awareness had affected the next troupe, so I grenaded two of them and shot the final one up close with my silenced pistol. He had tried to grenade me, so it was personal. I managed to go pretty much unseen, taking down enemies as I came across them, before blasting a final three and reaching the extraction point.

Vernon was up near the helicopter, firing at the two Russians who were attacking his position. They managed to tag him, and he went down. I killed the duo and made my way up, but wasn’t told his condition…