Aug 20, 2013  Splinter Cell: Blacklist has you step into the role of the elite agent Sam Fisher to hunt down the rogue elements behind the Blacklist, a countdown of.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist (360) – not one of Sam’s stealthier momentsUbisoft once again try and reinvent superspy Sam Fisher, but can they balance the game’s stealth heritage with its more action-packed aspirations?Compromise is the enemy of creativity. The minute you start removing features that you fear may alienate a mainstream audience you also remove most of what made the thing distinctive in the first place.

Blacklist is not only a compromise but it goes further and attempts something even more ill-advised: to please all of the people all of the time. It doesn’t of course, but it gets surprisingly close.The problem that faces Splinter Cell, and many other long-running franchises, is that the game as it existed in its early days is no longer economically viable. The original Splinter Cell games were hardcore stealth titles that relied not just on patience and quick reflexes but also a considerable amount of trial and error. A title like that would now never be profitable on the sort of budget it takes to make a high end video game. AdvertisementClearly Ubisoft don’t want their compromise to be slashing the game’s budget, and reducing the franchise’s visibility, and so instead they’ve turned it into more of a straight action game. In fact they’ve already done that once before with 2010’s Splinter Cell: Conviction, which was also surprisingly successful in the face of what seemed to be a ruinous amount of dumbing down.Although protagonist Sam Fisher has a new voice, and is now the leader of spy organisation Fourth Echelon, this is not a series reboot and indeed continues some plot threads through from Conviction.

It also reuses a number of its game mechanics, but where Conviction used stealth only as a passing gimmick Blacklist tries to reintroduce a number of older features that were previously lost in the shuffle.The core elements though are the same as Conviction: from the mission goals appearing as text projected onto the level backdrops to the all-important cover system and the controversial mark-and-execute feature. The latter allows you to tag enemies while in hiding and then with a single button press jump out and shoot them all at once, and even add a few more to your combo if you’re close to other enemies.You can even use mark-and-execute while running now, and as much as Splinter Cell traditionalists may resent it we can’t pretend we didn’t feel a shiver of superspy badassery running through us every time we used it.In contrast Blacklist (re)introduces more options for avoiding combat, apart from simply not being spotted. You have stun guns and stun grenades, you can knock anyone out with your bare hands if you sneak up on them, and you can once again hide bodies in skips. AdvertisementAnd yet despite the return of many of the features from earlier games Blacklist is still a very different game to something like Chaos Theory, at least on the default difficulty level. Splinter Cell: Blacklist (360) – sneaking is always more fun with friendsWe’re sure many will take the harder option, not just out of an allegiance to the older games but because on its default setting the game is quite easy. That’s partly due to the sheer number of gadgets Sam has at his fingertips, from remote control dart-firing drones to surveillance cameras you can shove under a door or stick to a wall. You’ve got noisemakers, EMP devices, and enough explosives to, literally, fight a one-man war.Impressively though the artificial intelligence does pull its weight, with enemies noticing even minor changes such as doors that have suddenly become opened or light switches that have mysteriously turned themselves off.

AdvertisementAlmost, but not quite. That accolade instead goes to Spies Vs. Mercs, the much loved asynchronous multiplayer mode from Chaos Theory, that was inexplicably dropped from the more recent titles.

In the Classic mode two spies using Sam’s usual third person mode take on heavily armed mercenaries who use a first person perspective. It really is one of the great multiplayer experiences in gaming, and it’s strange that Ubisoft doesn’t do more to promote it.Blacklist is sensible enough not to mess with original formula but it does add an alternative mode that doubles the number of players and allows for custom loadouts, which adds some extra spice to proceedings.Much as we did with Conviction we almost feel guilty for enjoying Blacklist.

It’s a game that does everything very well but, except for Spies Vs. Mercs, often seems to be pulling its punches. It’s a Jenga-like tower of compromises but it’s also a surprisingly stable one.Long-term fans are likely to turn their noses up in disgust, despite the various attempts to placate them, but while this is not the Splinter Cell of old that in itself should not be a criticism. Viewed on its own merits it’s a highly entertaining and feature-packed video game, and that’s all that really matters.In Short: Complaining about what the game is not seems churlish given how much fun this unlikely collection of compromises proves to be, especially given the quality of the multiplayer.Pros: A neat balance of action and stealth elements, and some inspired mission designs. Excellent multiplayer, particularly the co-op missions and the superb Spies Vs.

Mercs.Cons: The game stumbles when it wanders into straight action territory. The story is yet another crypto-fascist whitewash, offering little political or character depth.Score: 8/10Formats: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PlayStation 3, Wii U, and PCPrice: £49.99Publisher: UbisoftDeveloper: Ubisoft TorontoRelease Date: 23rd April 2013Age Rating: 18Thoughts? Email or leave a comment below.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist is a technically impressive stealth/action game that is fun to play, yet dreadfully boring to watch. Do we even care about Sam Fisher anymore or is he simply an interactive vehicle for silently dispatching armies of AK-47-toting Bad Guys from the shadows? You wouldn’t be wrong for thinking he’s the latter by the time the dull story closes. Crossing off the BlacklistBlacklist picks up after the events of Splinter Cell: Conviction. Epic battle simulator games. Third Echelon, the now-former National Security Agency sub-branch that Fisher and his people operated out of, has been shut down. In its place is Fourth Echelon, aka 4E, a multi-disciplinary covert ops unit focused on counter-terrorism.The story focuses on 4E’s efforts to derail the actions of a terrorist group known as The Engineers. The baddies have a master plan called “The Blacklist” that amounts to a series of escalating terror attacks on United States locations and interests.

They have just one, simple demand: the U.S. Must immediately recall all of its troops operating abroad.It’s a promising synopsis that fumbles badly in the execution. Character development is sorely lacking, with the all-business pre- and post-mission cinematics exemplified by quick camera cuts and short, punchy bursts of expositional dialogue. There’s no heart to any of it, no personal connection built with any of these characters; just a constant deluge of plot-advancing information.Sam and his pals operate from the Paladin, a flying fortress that serves as 4E’s mobile home base. You are free to explore the multi-room space between each mission, and it’s here that you’re expected to forge personal connections with the rest of 4E.

Blacklist hits its highest moments when you’re able to run quickly through a room, dropping bodies as you go without ever raising an alarm.Traversal in general feels smooth and satisfying. Blacklist hits its highest moments when you’re able to run quickly through a room, dropping bodies as you go without ever raising an alarm.

You know, the “ghost-assassin” power fantasy that characterizes the more recent Splinter Cell games. Princess maker 2 trainer. Conviction went there, and provided a good foundation to work with for this follow-up.

Blacklist is even more effective than its predecessor when it comes to making you feel like a properly badass spy man.Credit goes to the level designers as well for coming up with an elaborate series of multi-path environments. There’s rarely just one option for dealing with a particular situation, even when mission parameters carry “no alarm” and/or “no kill” requirements. You’ll even find merit in failing intentionally on occasion, as a brazen dash into heavy fire often reveals the end point of an alternate route that you hadn’t noticed earlier.Experimentation and intentional failure are essential for those that want to play with all facets of Blacklist‘s story. There are separate scores at the end of each mission for your use of Ghost (non-lethal stealth), Panther (lethal stealth), and Assault (boom) play styles.

All of this is tracked on leaderboards, of course, though there’s also a social interface called ShadowNet that allows you to issue and accept challenges to/from your friends for in-game cash rewards.The only real shortcoming as far as play goes once again relates to the Paladin. The mobile base is your centralized location for accessing all content: the solo campaign, the co-op campaign, the solo/co-op secondary missions, and competitive multiplayer.

In other words, you’ve got to be on the plane to access any of the game’s various play modes. Woe to the player that chooses to jump into some multiplayer mid-mission; that’s simply not an option without sacrificing your checkpoint progress and returning to the Paladin. All the thingsThere’s a lot of content in addition to the core story missions. Grim, Charlie, Briggs, and Kobin are all mission-givers, with each one’s outings offering a different style of play. Grim’s are the most traditionally Splinter Cell of the bunch, focusing on non-lethal stealth and evasion. Kobin’s fall more in line with Conviction’s active stealth play.

Charlie swings all the way to the opposite end of the scale, with a focus on straight-up assault.While any of these missions can be played solo or in co-op, the Briggs missions can only be played in co-op. This is essentially a separate two-player campaign that sits alongside the main story in Blacklist and is friendly to all three styles of play. It serves as an epilogue of sorts to the events of Conviction. The fundamentally solid controls make all of these secondary pursuits a blast to play through. Then there’s competitive multiplayer, built on the foundation of the fan-favorite Spies Vs. These come in a number of variants, including a new 4v4 option to complement the traditionally 2v2 mode, but they all pit one team of low-health Sam Fisher-like Spies against high-health, slow-moving Mercs with machine guns. Third-person sneaking versus first-person shooting.There’s great fun to be had in Spies Vs.

Veterans of online shooters like Call of Duty and Halo should expect a brutal and bloody learning curve, but it’s worth the effort. The thrill of snuffing out a Merc that you’ve tailed and toyed with for multiple minutes is only matched by the soaring joy of capping the last fool Spy when you catch him camping in a shadowy corner.All of your progress, in the campaign, in the secondary missions, and in Spies Vs. Mercs, is recorded in a central profile. You earn in-game cash for just about everything, and you can spend it on outfitting either Sam or one of your Spy/Merc classes. A progression system on the multiplayer side trickles the unlocks, giving players time to learn what they like before they invest. Overall, it’s a solid, if conventional, system. ConclusionSplinter Cell: Blacklist is a hefty package, with Ubi Toronto establishing a solid framework for future entries in the series.

It’s an impressive amount of content that’s been stuffed in here, a huge upgrade from the already-generous helping in Conviction. Longtime fans of Sam Fisher will struggle to find anything to appreciate about these characters or the struggles that they face, but those concerns are quickly forgotten in light of Blacklist’s exceptionally well-polished play.