Splinter Cell: Blacklist

SHORT VERSION: Underneath the many small flaws and irritations, SplinterCell:Blacklist is still "OK" in the end, and sometimes even enjoyable. I can recommend it at the sale price.

LONG VERSION: Sorry, but I will have to go against consensus and say this is no better than SplinterCell:Conviction, which was average in my opinion. The intro video is great, but the rest of the game does not hold up quite as well.

As with the last game, the campaign story is decent - very much like a typical Hollywood action movie, and most enjoyable if you don't try to think too hard. Gameplay mechanics are OK - fairly solid and very conventional. There are the typical minor issues and inconsistencies, but nothing too bad. As usual you observe the predefined enemy patrols, and sneak past when a gap inevitably appears. If you follow this rule successfully, you are never forced to improvise (unless its scripted). Level design is still too tight and linear, offering no real freedom in how to approach an objective, but this is normal for mainstream console games. I do miss the greater freedom of movement games like IGI 2, Stalker, and ARMA offer though, when you are infiltrating enemy positions. At least the visual detail in some areas was quite good. There is also the usual over emphasis on cover in the level design. Whether you are sneaking or shooting, you will spend most of your time glued to cover and pressing a key to dash to the next conveniently placed cover object. I can put up with this, but it gets repetitive quickly - the market is already saturated with cover based shooters.

Sam's new voice actor and model are less likable. He used to be mature, calm, witty and cynical, but now he comes across like a smug jerk. And they made him younger and heavier - he looks like a steroid-pumped rip-off Commander Shepherd from Mass Effect. He also looks angry all the time and delivers so many lame pep-talk statements with a cold suave voice. I liked the main villain more! The setup of Sam's new team is less believable - A small group of super elite ex-teens with total freedom, subject to absolutely no bureaucracy, with "license to kill", who report directly to the US president? come on! Also, the depiction of technology is so full of BS, even by SplinterCell standards, that it is immersion breaking. The computer interface the protagonists use looks more like gibberish alien tech from Starwars than something from real life. It seems the devs tried too hard to impress gamers who they assume are just as dull-minded and tech illiterate as them. Most video games lack plausibility to varying extents, but Blacklist is one of the worst offenders.

The control scheme has been changed since last game, and for the worse. Who thought binding "Use", "Open/Smash Door", "Climb/Vault" and "Move to next cover" all to 1 button was a good idea? (you cannot change this). This is not a game breaking flaw, but is it really asking too much to let us use separate buttons for everything on our 100+ key controllers (aka keyboards). Controls feel a bit sluggish and sometimes even unresponsive. The 3rd person camera feels wrong - too much randomly changing perspective and mouse sensitivity. Night vision is near useless, might as well turn up gamma on my monitor. Alt-tab no longer works (at least not for me in Dx11). I did not have many of these problems in SplinterCell:Conviction.

SplinterCell:Blacklist is now obsessed with social networking, "unlockables" and "achievements" - I don't want this rammed down my throat all the time, I just want to play the game. There are ridiculous OTT cyber themed backgrounds in the menu that do nothing but irritate and make it difficult to read what is on screen. Pre-rendered cutscenes permanently have an annoying animated "loading" animation in the foreground. As usual there is a rubbish checkpoint save system: If you reload after getting killed, you may get spawned somewhere you never passed through. Want to load from before a cutscene you missed due to a no-video bug? Nope. Watch it over-compressed on youtube. FOV is often far too low, so if you get motion sick easily, don't play this game. Why did they not add a FOV slider like in FarCry3? And why did they remove the black-and-white screen effect to show you were in the shadows? It was much more intuitive than the silly LED that now lights up on Sam's back. As expected, AI detection is quite arcade or inconsistent - if you scramble (loudly) to the next cover object in plain sight, no one sees or hears you, but if a dog barks at you (while you are hidden), everyone in the area instantly telepathically knows where you are. Like in FarCry3, dogs are much more formidable foes than professional bad guys with assault rifles. Unlike in ChaosTheory, ambient noises are not realistically taken into account when AI hear you. With all these things, its all about thinking (without higher thought) like a console gamer and sticking to the scripted and contrived rules of the game even if they go against common sense. The decent orchestral soundtrack of SplinterCell Conviction has been replaced by some bland electronic bass dross - all noise and no soul, like in FarCry3 - there's no accounting for taste.

As for multiplayer: "The Splinter Cell Blacklist service is not available. Please try again later."

Overall this is by no means a 'bad game'. None of the flaws are game breaking, and if you can live with all the irritations I mentioned, you will probably enjoy it. Otherwise, you should put Ubisoft, Uplay, and this game on your blacklist.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist has something for everyone. It brings the best bits from Conviction and Chaos Theory to appease seasoned fans, and allows more freedom of choice, appealing to action gamers in general.

You are allowed one of three ways to approach a mission; Ghost (non-lethal stealth), Panther (lethal stealth), or Assault (cause as much carnage as possible). Whichever you choose, finding cover and playing tactically is vital to success.

Blacklist presents a different Sam Fisher than we're used to seeing. Gone are the witty one-liners, instead he goes about his business with stone-cold efficiency. His obvious resentment of pretty much everything paints the game with a dark overtone.

A terrorist cell creates a list of planned attacks against the US, called The Blacklist. It makes no secret of when the attacks will happen, but "where" and "what" are unknown, causing fear and hysteria. The President calls in Fisher and assigns him his own counter-terrorism unit, and told they can do whatever they need to do to get the job done.

The single player campaign is really fun but a little too short, but there are several co-op side missions to play.

The major downside to this game is definitely the Spies vs. Mercs multiplayer game. Spies vs. Mercs is so incredibly unfun and pointless. It dosen't build upon any of the strengths of the rest of the game and is a complete waste of time. I really hope they get rid of Spies vs. Mercs in any future Splinter Cell game. Instead they can concentrate on adding more co op missions and making the single player campaign longer.

Blacklist is a great addition to the series.

As someone who has followed the Splinter Cell franchise since its inception, I've always hoped it could stand shoulder to shoulder with Metal Gear Solid. While I realized early on that the two are almost entirely different beasts-one focused on narrative depth and world-building, while the other thrives on stealth and tension-I've still stuck with Sam Fisher through thick and thin. The earlier titles, particularly on the Xbox and PS2, were plagued by clunky controls that kept me at a distance, but then came the resurgence with Conviction, and now Blacklist.

In Blacklist, you find yourself hunting down a terrorist group with your trusty crew. The game is structured around levels, offering a somewhat linear experience with the freedom to choose action, stealth, or a combination of both. In many ways, I'd say Blacklist is the best installment in the series, yet it's also the most disappointing for me personally. More often than not, I leaned towards the combo style during my playthrough-because who doesn't love a little chaos alongside precision?

Right from the start, the game pulls you in with a promising tutorial level. For a moment, I was back in the thick of it, feeling like the agent I had long admired. However, as I moved on to the second level, I began to notice a couple of quirks. The optional levels felt more like arenas-some mission types focused on survival while others leaned heavily on stealth. The difficulty in those side quests kept my adrenaline pumping and made me truly feel like a tactical agent. But when I returned to the main missions afterward, I couldn't help but feel they lacked that same intensity and thrill. They almost felt too easy, which was a letdown.

The controls? Major kudos to the developers here-they've made noteworthy improvements. I used to falter with basic maneuvers in earlier games, but that was a non-issue in Blacklist. The AI is decent; nothing groundbreaking, but it serves its purpose. Weapons felt responsive too, equipped with satisfying animations and clear sounds, even though I didn't explore many of them during my playthrough. The main campaign levels were well-designed, but again, after tackling the optional content, they felt a bit lacking.

The audio design enhanced my experience without overshadowing it. The ambient music set the tone well, although character development wasn't the game's strong suit. The new voice actor for Fisher had a slightly grumpy vibe, which worked okay but lacked the nuance I expected. The antagonist? Generic, to say the least. I found the final confrontation a tad anticlimactic, leaving me wanting.

I'd be remiss not to mention the co-op feature, but I skipped that since I prefer to tackle my games solo. I've often found that I want to play at my own pace, with no added pressure from another player.

Upon completing Blacklist, I found myself in a strange place emotionally. While it wasn't a bad experience by any means, it felt like the game never quite soared to the heights I wanted. It's a solid addition to the franchise, but I'm saddened that it didn't meet sales expectations. As a long-time fan, I can only hope for more adventures with Sam Fisher in the future.

**Rating: 7/10**

I'm sure it's great if you are a hardcore gamer, but my wife and I played for 5 hours on rookie and couldn't get through a single mission. We aren't pro gamers but definitely aren't noobs either. When I play a game I play it to enjoy it, not to make me want to throw my controller through my TV. I play most games on normal or hard without a problem. Splinter cel conviction we played a lot on hard, and found it to be a lot of fun, and barely ever failed a mission. Gears of war I play on hard, halo, tons of shooters. The AI actually quite stupid on rookie, but that doesn't change the fact that taking out 6 heavily armed mercs with a wimpy gun that takes 10 straight head shots to kill and having no place to sneak behind them is a rather difficult task. Don't get me wrong, some parts of the game are so retardedly easy I could nearly play it blindfolded, but that doesn't really compensate properly. Thank goodness I bought at Costco so I can return this no fun game.

Clearly a good splinter cell, but i still dont like the action part of the game. I prefer to kill nobody and stay completely silent. We can with this game to do this alleluiah!. The story was pretty good too. They have the terrorist story and the story between Sam Fisher and his daughter. I clearly enjoyed to see this "emotion" part of the game and make the story engaging and interesting and want to keep up. This splinter cell is still a very good stealth game for sure.