Splinter Cell: Blacklist
follows the recent trend of making stealth games more appealing to the masses while still making the core hardcore stealth elements available for those that want them (see Dishonored, Hitman: Absolution). This is a good thing. You can go stealthy. You can go Rambo. Or anywhere in between, which makes it more fun for everyone.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist
is a great playing game, with good presentation, and tons of content for single and multiplayer, that stealth and action fans alike will enjoy.
Kinect Sensor Required
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Toronto
ESRB Rating: “M†for Mature
Genre: Stealth Action
Pros: Tons of content; great freedom to be as stealthy (or not) as you like; nice presentation; fantastic multiplayer
Cons: Occasionally clunky cover mechanics; scripted sequences
The story in Splinter Cell: Blacklist is really pretty interesting. A terrorist group attacks the U.S. base on Guam and issues an ultimatum that they will attack a different American target every 7 days unless the U.S. pulls its military out of every country soldiers are currently stationed in. Sam Fisher and his new Fourth Echelon team then race around the globe trying to figure out where they will attack next and stop it before it happens.
In addition to the lengthy single-player campaign, there are a number of co-op (or solo, if you want) side missions that offer almost another full game’s worth of content that is generally more challenging than the story campaign. You can also play the Spies vs. Mercs multiplayer mode that pits a team of spies
(with normal Splinter Cell abilities)
against a team of mercenaries who have to play in the first-person perspective. There is a classic SvM mode that mimics the original 2v2 mode from older Splinter Cell games as well as a new 4v4 mode that gives you customizable loadouts. Spies vs. Mercs is thinking man’s multiplayer and requires a much more thoughtful approach than a typical online multiplayer game, which is a big reason why it is so appealing and so addictive.
The best way to describe the gameplay in Blacklist is that it finds a happy middle ground between the pure stealth of
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
(still the best Splinter Cell) and the more action-oriented (but still sorta stealthy) Splinter Cell: Conviction. Pretty much any way you want to tackle a given situation is a viable option, and the levels are designed with so many alternate paths and hiding spots that you really are free to play however you want. I found myself wanting to replay missions as soon as I beat them because I could picture alternate paths and more interesting ways of progressing that you don’t really think about your first run when you are more concerned about finishing than necessarily doing it the best way. And the best part is that when my stealth skills break down (which doesn’t usually take long), even fighting it out with a room full of enemies presents a huge number of different ways to do things even when you have to resort to tossing grenades and spraying machine gun fire all over.
Whether you want to avoid enemies entirely, stealth kill everyone, or run in guns blazing, you have options. The game has an upgrade system where you can buy new weapons, items, and upgrades by spending cash you earn by completing in-game objectives (capturing specific guards instead of killing them, finding flash drives or laptops with data on them, etc.) to further personalize the way you want the game to play. When playing stealthily, why settle for a silenced pistol when you can use a silenced shotgun (!) instead? You can load up on gadgets like sticky noisemakers armed with sleeping gas or a neat little remote control drone with a dart gun to use on guards and an EMP to knock out electronic defenses. You can even change the lights on Sam’s suit and night vision goggles to a different color (yeah, I spent $80,000 to make the lights purple, what of it?).
I love games that give you the tools to have fun and then get out of your way so you can actually enjoy it. Blacklist rewards you for different playstyles - Ghost (don’t kill anyone and don’t be seen), Panther (stealthy kills if you need to), and Assault (duh) - and you are free to mix and match styles as you please. I tended to get halfway through a room nice and stealthy, then have to kill a guy, which then let me Mark and Execute (just like in SC: Conviction) the other three guys standing around. In the next room I’d hop out the window, shimmy along the outside of the building to avoid a bunch of enemies entirely, and then wait for a guard to pass by before climbing in behind him so I could sneak to the objective marker. And the next time I played the level, I did it all totally differently. The beauty of Blacklist is that it is fun and satisfying no matter which way you play it. Stealth fans will love it. Action fans will love it. Good times are had by all.
I do have a couple of nitpicks, however. First is that the cover system is a little screwy where you can seamlessly run from cover to cover, but you can’t move around a corner when you’re “stuck†to cover. I’m also not a fan of the action movie setpieces that tear control from you so you can watch Sam do cool action hero stuff. It is just weird to have Uncharted / Tomb Raider-style bombastic action sequences after you just spent the last 30-minutes stealthily infiltrating an isolated mountain base. We don’t need explosions every few minutes to hold our attention.Graphics & Sound
Splinter Cell: Blacklist offers an optional HD texture pack that you can install off of the second disc, which I highly recommend that you use. Without the texture pack, the game is kind of awful looking. With the texture pack, it is a lot closer to what you’d expect at this point in the Xbox 360′s life and actually looks pretty darn good. The levels look nice, for the most part. Lighting and weather effects are great. http://bit.ly/190rdFY
The sound is also very well done. Sam Fisher is no longer voiced by Michael Ironside, which is a pretty huge loss because his voice is so darn distinctive. I haven’t played Splinter Cell in around 3 years, though, so I got used to his replacement pretty quickly despite new VA Eric Johnson sounding completely different. Your mileage may vary, of course. The sound effects are incredible and the music is excellent throughout.
follows the recent trend of making stealth games more appealing to the masses while still making the core hardcore stealth elements available for those that want them (see Dishonored, Hitman: Absolution). This is a good thing. You can go stealthy. You can go Rambo. Or anywhere in between, which makes it more fun for everyone.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist
is a great playing game, with good presentation, and tons of content for single and multiplayer, that stealth and action fans alike will enjoy.
Kinect Sensor Required
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Toronto
ESRB Rating: “M†for Mature
Genre: Stealth Action
Pros: Tons of content; great freedom to be as stealthy (or not) as you like; nice presentation; fantastic multiplayer
Cons: Occasionally clunky cover mechanics; scripted sequences
The story in Splinter Cell: Blacklist is really pretty interesting. A terrorist group attacks the U.S. base on Guam and issues an ultimatum that they will attack a different American target every 7 days unless the U.S. pulls its military out of every country soldiers are currently stationed in. Sam Fisher and his new Fourth Echelon team then race around the globe trying to figure out where they will attack next and stop it before it happens.
In addition to the lengthy single-player campaign, there are a number of co-op (or solo, if you want) side missions that offer almost another full game’s worth of content that is generally more challenging than the story campaign. You can also play the Spies vs. Mercs multiplayer mode that pits a team of spies
(with normal Splinter Cell abilities)
against a team of mercenaries who have to play in the first-person perspective. There is a classic SvM mode that mimics the original 2v2 mode from older Splinter Cell games as well as a new 4v4 mode that gives you customizable loadouts. Spies vs. Mercs is thinking man’s multiplayer and requires a much more thoughtful approach than a typical online multiplayer game, which is a big reason why it is so appealing and so addictive.
The best way to describe the gameplay in Blacklist is that it finds a happy middle ground between the pure stealth of
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
(still the best Splinter Cell) and the more action-oriented (but still sorta stealthy) Splinter Cell: Conviction. Pretty much any way you want to tackle a given situation is a viable option, and the levels are designed with so many alternate paths and hiding spots that you really are free to play however you want. I found myself wanting to replay missions as soon as I beat them because I could picture alternate paths and more interesting ways of progressing that you don’t really think about your first run when you are more concerned about finishing than necessarily doing it the best way. And the best part is that when my stealth skills break down (which doesn’t usually take long), even fighting it out with a room full of enemies presents a huge number of different ways to do things even when you have to resort to tossing grenades and spraying machine gun fire all over.
Whether you want to avoid enemies entirely, stealth kill everyone, or run in guns blazing, you have options. The game has an upgrade system where you can buy new weapons, items, and upgrades by spending cash you earn by completing in-game objectives (capturing specific guards instead of killing them, finding flash drives or laptops with data on them, etc.) to further personalize the way you want the game to play. When playing stealthily, why settle for a silenced pistol when you can use a silenced shotgun (!) instead? You can load up on gadgets like sticky noisemakers armed with sleeping gas or a neat little remote control drone with a dart gun to use on guards and an EMP to knock out electronic defenses. You can even change the lights on Sam’s suit and night vision goggles to a different color (yeah, I spent $80,000 to make the lights purple, what of it?).
I love games that give you the tools to have fun and then get out of your way so you can actually enjoy it. Blacklist rewards you for different playstyles - Ghost (don’t kill anyone and don’t be seen), Panther (stealthy kills if you need to), and Assault (duh) - and you are free to mix and match styles as you please. I tended to get halfway through a room nice and stealthy, then have to kill a guy, which then let me Mark and Execute (just like in SC: Conviction) the other three guys standing around. In the next room I’d hop out the window, shimmy along the outside of the building to avoid a bunch of enemies entirely, and then wait for a guard to pass by before climbing in behind him so I could sneak to the objective marker. And the next time I played the level, I did it all totally differently. The beauty of Blacklist is that it is fun and satisfying no matter which way you play it. Stealth fans will love it. Action fans will love it. Good times are had by all.
I do have a couple of nitpicks, however. First is that the cover system is a little screwy where you can seamlessly run from cover to cover, but you can’t move around a corner when you’re “stuck†to cover. I’m also not a fan of the action movie setpieces that tear control from you so you can watch Sam do cool action hero stuff. It is just weird to have Uncharted / Tomb Raider-style bombastic action sequences after you just spent the last 30-minutes stealthily infiltrating an isolated mountain base. We don’t need explosions every few minutes to hold our attention.Graphics & Sound
Splinter Cell: Blacklist offers an optional HD texture pack that you can install off of the second disc, which I highly recommend that you use. Without the texture pack, the game is kind of awful looking. With the texture pack, it is a lot closer to what you’d expect at this point in the Xbox 360′s life and actually looks pretty darn good. The levels look nice, for the most part. Lighting and weather effects are great. http://bit.ly/190rdFY
The sound is also very well done. Sam Fisher is no longer voiced by Michael Ironside, which is a pretty huge loss because his voice is so darn distinctive. I haven’t played Splinter Cell in around 3 years, though, so I got used to his replacement pretty quickly despite new VA Eric Johnson sounding completely different. Your mileage may vary, of course. The sound effects are incredible and the music is excellent throughout.
