| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| Xbox 360 | 9.30 |
| Overall | 9.30 |
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Splinter Cell has been trying to find a new identity for a few years now, which is odd cause it had a really good one before. Conviction took the series toward a more action route with slow mo targeting attacks and a bigger emphasis on run and gun. Conviction played well but it made stealth secondary. Blacklist takes the well done mechanics of Conviction and puts them into the ultimate Spinter Cell game where stealth or action can be the focus. What makes Blacklist the best Splinter Cell to me is that it finally gives the player full freedom to play as they see fit. Even though the old Splinter Cell games were great I always felt they were too strict not really allowing room for experimentation and varied play. MGS always allowed that, why couldn't Splinter Cell? Blacklist finally allows the player to play as they want; in fact they encourage playing in multiple ways. There are three scoring systems, each tree is a different style of play. One is ghost, which is full stealth and feels the most like old school Splinter Cell. One is assault and it is all about shootouts and explosions. My personal favorite is panther where you stealthily kill everyone, this is how I like to play MGS and any stealth game. Ghost playstyle is probably the most rewarding though because it makes you use all your gadgets and the shadows to get through with the fewest amount of enemies spotting you. The gadgets at your disposal are a blast to use from sleeping gas, to flying robot cameras, to sticky cameras, to electro guns for knocking foes unconscious. Your visor can go into sonar mode allowing you to briefly see through walls and mark your enemies (this is optional and removed on the hardest setting). Staying in the shadows is key, each location has multiple paths to your objective and the ghost path usually is the most difficult to navigate but it is rewarding. At the end of each level you get a score, depending on your actions the point go toward one of the three divisions, if you score high enough you get a gold rating for that level in that division. So each level can be mastered in all three types, allowing for great replay value. When you start the game Sam Fisher is kind of a weakling as you don't have access to all gadgets or guns. As you complete missions you earn money to unlock loads of items and perks. Soon you feel like a total badass spy, the upgrade system was very rewarding but you will end up with way more money than you know what to do this before you end the game. Once everything is maxed out you can go back and try to gold every level with every style, earlier levels play very differently when you have a full arsenal. One other noticeable change to Sam is that he is far more nimble and can now climb with ease. Clearly the Ubisoft Assassin’s Creed climbing mechanics made it’s way into the game and it works great. There is an added verticality to the levels which makes navigating around them that much more interesting. The levels are so well designed allowing for each style of play to shine through. I just love the opportunities to pull off group kills in a stealth manner. Each level has paths where you can quietly eliminate everyone. Other paths will allow you to simply go by undetected. One aspect that blew me away is how nearly every mission can be done in coop. The levels are designed in a way where coop can lead you to certain shortcuts but if you play alone you wouldn't even know it was a coop game. The story missions are very well done and always trying to add new elements with each one. Gadgets are introduced, some levels have timers to ratchet up the intensity. Sometimes you take control of another character and provide cover fire from drones for instance. One level has sections that play nothing like Spinter Cell, a great change of pace and I felt the game could have used more moments like it. I also love the game structure, this is not a linear go from one level to the next. A plane serves as Fourth Echelons base and your gameplay hub. You can walk around and speak to your teamates, speak to a prisoner, call your daughter and find secrets. From there you can access multiplayer, coop, see stats, and of course take on missions. There is a map of the world with various missions to tackle, story missions are marked and unlock as you beat them. There are also side missions, four types with multiple levels. These are a blast and allow for incredible speed or score runs. Plus they are varied; one is a more traditional sneak in and recover objects and sneak out. One type is all about killing every enemy without being seen. There is even a horde mode for the action fan. To top it off there are exclusive coop missions that take full advantage of coop play and are very well done. Compared to the short Conviction, this game is massive. The only issues holding it back from being an all time masterpiece is that the game is still too rigid in its design. The entire game is basically made up of the core gameplay mechanics, there are small moments of variety as I mentioned above, but nothing like MGS. There are no real boss battles and enemy variety is lacking, though better than any past SC game. Never will you play an extended action sequence that provides a change of pace and a very memorable moment like the bike chase in MGS4 or the train sequence in Uncharted 2. Every level is just a stealth playground for better or worse. The other issue is that the playground is not as free and interesting as MGS. I know I shouldn’t compare every aspect to MGS, different games I understand but I like variety in my games and MGS is the best example to explain what I would like. In Splinter Cell when the alarm goes off and the action kicks in it is kind of a mess. The assault style of play is by far the worse cause the gunplay is not that fun. Bullets from assault rifles don’t feel that powerful (outside headshots which are great in this game). Aiming feels loose and forget trying to hit anything when someone gets up close. I could spend hours messing with guards and getting into crazy situations in any MGS game, but with Splinter Cell it feels like once the alarm goes off there is no fun to be had. The plot of Blacklist is interesting but ultimately plays out like a poor mans 24 episode. A terrorist organization sets up a timer of different terrorists attacks across the US which puts the country in a panic and it is up to Sam Fisher to stop the attacks. It is exciting in all the ways an action spy show is supposed to be but it never goes deeper than that premise. The characters are all one dimensional. There is zero character development and a strange lack of twists and turns (which is usually a genre staple) to the story. It doesn’t help that they replaced the iconic Michael Ironside with generic man voice #11, not sure what went on with that decision. By the end of the game I was left expecting more from the story, still it serves its purpose to keep you moving through a large variety of locations across the globe. Spies versus mercs returns as the competitive multiplayer component, I did not play much of it but I dabbled in it. It’s fun playing as two very different playing sides, one is first person, the other plays like the rest of the game, I generally enjoy these unorthodox online modes. I dont think it is as engaging as online modes in other games like it but it seems to have a nice wealth of modes and perks to unlock. The entire game is so well organized and polished and every mode has scores, rankings and stats. Your friends progress and scores are constantly scrolling on info bars during the menus, pushing you to try to beat your friends speed run or beat his stealth score. The online integration is so well done and again, all optional, without it there is still an amazing huge game to enjoy. Graphically the game looks fine, it is hard to judge games now that I am playing next gen games, older games are far less impressive now. Sound and music is all fine, I don’t recall anything memorable though. Splinter Cell Blacklist is a stealth game classic and exactly what the series needed. It embraces its roots while providing the opportunity to play with a more modern action sensibility. It provides huge amounts of content and incentive to replay sections many times in different ways. To me this is the best stealth game outside the Metal Gear franchise and the best Splinter Cell game. |
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Posted by Dvader Fri, 20 Feb 2015 05:12:38
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robio (6m)
Yes! Awesome game. Not much I could complain about. Shame about the sales, I'm wondering if it's dead now.
I really only like to play stealthy. But there are action led missions that are optional on the ship where you have to take out a horde of soldiers and it feels good.
The story is right in line with a modern spy/action thriller. It's not crazy weird like MGS.
I already posted in these review comments, why are you trying to get my attention AGAIN?!