Splinter Cell Blacklist Review
When I started Splinter Cell Blacklist, I was dubious. I’ve played Splinter Cell games before, and I’ve played other stealth titles before, but nothing ever really resonated with me. Don’t misunderstand, I’ve enjoyed the genre, but it wasn’t even close to being my favorite. That is, until Splinter Cell Blacklist, which I found smoothly presented, beautifully detailed, and most importantly, fun.
The star of the show, as usual, is Sam Fisher, along with the newly assembled Fourth Echelon. This crew is comprised of your usual secret-agent movie characters; we have the commanding and confident lady, the somewhat geeky and awkward young man who uses computers, and we have the character who’s there in case you have a friend for co-op. Although the cast doesn’t quite have groundbreaking characters, they’re all believable and fairly well written. Not to mention the voice acting which is, as you would expect, top notch (although I’m sure many Splinter Cell veterans are still mourning the absence of Michael Ironside, but Eric Johnson does a fine job of his own).
The Fourth Echelon unit uses an airship known as Paladin to police the world and chase terrorists. Paladin is explorable, though only a few select areas are available. Walking around Paladin isn’t all that interesting, but talking to your crew may unlock new missions or gadgets, so it’s still worthwhile; not to mention that crew members may have handy advice, or maybe they’ll just chew your ear off. Paladin is also upgradable, and these upgrades are things as important as a mini-map during missions, or slightly more minor abilities, like being able to change your equipment loadout whilst in the field.
Front and center in the Paladin is the Strategic Mission Interface, or SMI for short. From this giant table-computer we can check the world map, from which we can select what we want to do, ranging from the main missions to side missions, coop and multiplayer.
Your main storyline missions are much of what one could expect, storyline wise. It spins a yarn of terrorism, lies and deceit. If you’ve watched a secret agent movie in your life, then you probably already know what to expect. But the story isn’t all that important, what really matters is the gameplay, and I’m pleased to say it works fantastically.
Each main mission has a sprawling non-linear path for you to follow, taking out enemies on the way… Or, not, if you would prefer, and that’s one of the best features that Splinter Cell: Blacklist has to offer: options. If you want, missions can be completed simply by sneaking from location to location, never having to interact with an enemy, or alternatively, you could switch to an automatic weapon, and gun down every opponent in your sight. The choice really is yours, aside from a few missions where sections must be completed stealthily, and it’s that choice which separates Splinter Cell: Blacklist from so many other stealth games.
Although, if this is a stealth game, why would you want to gun through every level? The game rewards the tactful approach. Each missions scores you based on how you performed, these three scoring systems are Ghost, Panther and Assault. Ghost gives the most points, for stealth knockouts and even more points for avoiding enemies entirely. Panther rewards your stealth kills, and finally, Assault awards those who trip the alarm and go in all-guns-blazing.
Whilst playing you’re likely to find yourself being awarded points from all three scoring systems at some point. Some missions are fairly simple to breeze through, whilst others may give you a high challenge, but the more challenging missions require a change of approach, and then everything will slowly fall into place. One mission in particular I found very difficult, but once I realized it was possible to sneak over a part of a wall where there was no barbed wire, the rest all fell into place. At times it feels unforgiving, but the amazing level design - far better than Conviction for stealth purposes, offering so many different possibilities - motivated me to keep trying again and again, until I finally found the way to overcome the enemies (which are far from stupid, at least on “Realistic” setting - sometimes, even whistling can alert them and screw the whole mission, so it has to be used carefully), almost like a slow-paced Hotline Miami, or Dark Souls with no level reset (thankfully).
Side missions prove to be just as detailed as your main story missions, with the added bonus of co-op being an option. If you have a friend to play through these missions with, either via split-screen or online, then that would definitely be your best option. In lieu of a friend, you can team up with a random stranger online, although of course this choice can meet mixed results. Some random partners left the game before we could complete a single objective, whilst others performed excellently and really added to my enjoyment of the game. As we know, getting decent online teammates is usually more luck-based than anything else.
Last but not least, there’s the multiplayer mode, Spies VS Mercs, which marks a much appreciated comeback. Even after all these years, it’s still a refreshing experience from your average multiplayer affair, with several modes to choose from: there’s the classic 2v2 match without any type of customization and the newest take, a 4v4 with the chance to customize your spy/mercenary with gadgets, armor and weapons of your choosing.
Spies control much like Sam Fisher, running about in third-person whilst mantling obstacles and crawling through air vents, whereas Mercenaries use a first-person view with automatic weaponry and a decent supply of explosive gadgets. Despite the very different control methods and weaponry selection, the two roles are surprisingly well balanced. Games are high octane and intense, and little is more satisfying than silently sneaking up behind your mercenary counterparts and cutting them down, without their team even noticing. This isn’t Call of Duty or Battlefield, but if you fancy a very different take on multiplayer, chances are you might end up loving Splinter Cell Blacklist.