Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Essentials is an action-adventure video game with heavy emphasis on stealth. It is part of the Splinter Cell series and was released for the PlayStation Portable handheld system. It was developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft on March 21 2006. It is the fourth entry in the series and runs on the Unreal Engine 2. Ubisoft Montreal had been in development of Splinter Cell: Essentials from at least 2005 with Ubisoft Montreal officially announcing the game on January 12 2006. Once announced Ubisoft Montreal provided additional details regarding the gameplay story and more as it was scheduled for spring of 2006. Following the announcement previews of the game were shown to journalists as more info regarding specific missions and returning features from the classic Splinter Cell series were included in the game. It was revealed that Ubisoft Montreal utilized the Unreal Engine 2 for Essentials but toned down to run properly on the PlayStation Portable.