Splinter Cell: Blacklist

[Pro A.]

Well, the sixth Splinter Cell game, Blacklist, released their first trailer video and the series continues to be going more of an action-oriented direction with more fluid animation. It is also worth noting that Michael Ironside will not be voicing Sam Fisher this go-round. Eric Johnson is taking the helm and, to be fair, he doesn't sound horrible in the trailer, but he isn't Michael Ironside. It's like Gabe Logan switching voices after the PS-X Syphon Filter games. Not terrible, but not the same either. Not as memorable.



The SC series has been a favorite of mine, mainly because I enjoy spy stories. Chaos Theory was unquestionably the high-water mark for the franchise with a near-perfect fusion of gameplay, game design, and story. Double Agent was weird if only because the Xbox version bested the Xbox 360 version in a lot of respects. Conviction has the best gameplay of the five games, no question, but it also has the weakest story, beating Pandora Tomorrow by inches. I'm not sure what Blacklist has in mind, but hopefully they don't go too far away from what made Chaos Theory so good.

[AC!D]

Honestly the tag and execute system needs to go. Its a mechanic thats got no business in this series at all.

[JasonXe]

i miss playing the first splinter cell. I felt like a real spy in that game. Sometimes limited technology is better :3

[Segitz]

I agree... having only played the first two SC games as well as the ... first one or two hours of conviction, I feel... disenchanted. More often than not, in these games I try to avoid killing as much as possible, and the demo shown looked like you cannot do that. Granted, it was just a small glimpse into the game... I thought it looked "cool", but I already played that game and setting. Namely MGS4.

[masteratt]

This game was the most disappointing showing by far. It's even worse insult than Conviction to the SC name and seems like a shit mix between Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six.

F. U. Ubisoft. I am really really disappointed, crossing into pissed off about this one.

Conviction has the best gameplay of the five games,

For the love of god, please elaborate. You mean mechanically crafted, then maybe yeah. But as far as stealth gameplay, no way.

[Pro A.]

In terms of pacing and all the kinds of stuff you could do it was terrific. It was very fluid and very fast, but you could still act like a spy by keeping to the shadows. I wasn't thrilled with everything going black-and-white while you were in the shadows, but with no light meter they had to do something to differentiate the two worlds. Sure, I liked the precision aspect of the first three Splinter Cells, but having a more fast-paced game where you could really cut loose and still be stealthy was a lot of fun. Shame that you could gun your way through a lot of the game, but then the game's story allowed that in the first place.

I do agree mark and execute should go, though. If you want to bash people's skulls in and hold them hostage then you have to do it one at a time.

[AC!D]

I agree. I dont mind the faster pace because it lets me stealth from corner to corner faster and evade more easily if spotted. Still mark and execute should stay in team based games where it started and makes sense. Why they added this as a touchscreen feature for Liberation on Vita ill never understand.

[Diresu]

I liked Conviction. I didn't really like the first few SC games because the fail state nature of the stealth was really annoying.

[Pro A.]

Yeah, they fixed that in Chaos Theory. There are a few missions with tight parameters, but it's not overwhelming. And there are only a few places where absolute stealth is mandatory, but the situation often calls for it (like in the leaky engine room on the ship mission).

[curryking1]

Raymond: Splinter Cell popularity held back by its complexity
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...its-complexity

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*Imagine MGS3 pro video reposted*

[AC!D]

Pity to see this mentality continuing to grow and gain momentum in the industry. You would think with recent games like DmC bombing while the Soul's series is just increasingly gaining sales momentum that they would re-evaluate.

[masteratt]

Mind you, don't just take the title in to play there. She mentions the "purist mode" but says the reason it isn't popular is basically people can't be arsed to play stealth and she might not be that wrong on that really.

However trying to cater it to people who can't be arsed to play a stealth game is hardly the right way to go. There she feels so out of touch. "Let's make a game for people who can't be bothered to play our game because that'll sell".

It's sad AAA studios have the most power, yet they have to play it the safest. What's the point of having all that power if you can't do what you want to do. I used to "dream" of working in a AAA studio but am starting to realise as I grow up that it might actually be my worst nightmare. You can't seem to do what you want to do, only what "fans" want.


There was a interview [edit: actually i think it was a twitter reply to someone complaining about snipers] with the community manager/creative director of Infinity Ward after he quit and he said they made the snipers be used like that (quick scoiping super easy and fast) because that's what the fans wanted and he thought it was a crap idea.

I am sure there are many people at the Ubi office working on SC that hate the path it has taken and it's just sad.

[curryking1]

The funny thing is that Thief is being made not far away from where SC is, and it's completely the other direction of what these guys are saying.