First videogame with opposing first- and third-person shooter gameplay

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, released in March 2004 for Xbox, PlayStation 2 and PC, introduced a new multiplayer mode based on tactical combat. Called "Spies vs Mercs", the game of cat and mouse is played from a first-person perspective as a mercenary while the opposing spy is played from a third-person perspective. The latter can crawl through air ducts and clamber around environments to gain the advantage, but if they’re not careful they’ll run into the mercenaries’ heavily armed and armoured task force. This ingenious game mode was developed by Ubisoft Annecy, also responsible for the innovative multiplayer modes found in Ubisoft’s long running Assassin’s Creed series.