14 DAY TRIAL // 
Sam Fisher is old, grizzled, a veteran that probably has as many missions under his belt as his entire force of helpers, but he can still perform some impressive stealth moves or, if required, take out enemies in the open with superior firepower.
And, thankfully, Splinter Cell: Blacklist is a game where fans of the character and his Tom Clancy-created universe have the ability to choose between the best tool for the job and the approach that makes the most sense to them.
The first titles in the franchise were known for their devotion to stealth and for the fact that straying from it was a recipe for disaster.
Splinter Cell: Conviction, launched in 2010, went running the other way and made the game action-driven, allowing players to simply mark and execute their way out of almost any situation, which cheapened the entire experience.
Blacklist restores balance to the series and Ubisoft can be proud of Sam Fisher’s latest adventure, even if there are some rough sections in the story and some weird decisions linked to gameplay.
Story
The events of Conviction mean that Sam Fisher, apparently the only intelligent and honest terrorist hunter the United States has, is now in charge of Fourth Echelon, a new organization that needs to deal with mortal threats to the security of the country.
The big threat this time around is a terror group that will continue to attack the mainland, choosing soft targets, for as long as the American military continues to be engaged in overseas operations.
The plot is solid Tom Clancy – although it’s not clear how involved he was with its creation – and filled with the kind of twists and reveals that belong in big summer movie releases, with the only big miss linked to the name of the terror-inducing group, the pedestrian Engineers.
The pleasant surprise is the fact that the supporting cast of characters is actually interesting and their interactions are nuanced and even more than a little edgy by the end of the story progression.
Fisher and his merry band of comrades get access to a flying fortress, and the team at Ubisoft has placed all the potential game mode choices around the protagonist, while also giving him plenty of occasions to interact with his team.
Gameplay
The single-player is the main course of Splinter Cell: Blacklist and it’s a delightfully tasty one, which can be approached in a variety of ways.
Long term fans will be able to enter a space, study it for approach routes, consider the moves of enemies, and then slowly take them out without being seen, making sure to erase all traces of their attack and silently progressing towards an objective.
Those who loved Conviction will be able to take down just a small number of enemies quietly in order to power up their Mark & Execute ability and eliminate all the others in a hail of gunfire before walking proudly towards their final target.
Most gamers will probably choose a more middle-of-the-road approach, as I did, trying to be stealthy and smart but without fear or resorting to violence and gunfire when I am discovered.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist enhances all approaches by giving players cash and allowing them to boost their abilities via a range of gadgets, like a drone for long range attack and detection and noise makers that add some options when dealing with heavily armored foes.
There are some moments in the game that force specific approaches, especially some firefights that must be hell to get through if aiming for a fully stealth run.
But, otherwise, the missions offer variety and it’s fun to complete them regardless of the chosen play style, even if the failure to keep style for their entire duration is at time frustrating.
Ubisoft is also smart to show gamers that no style of play is better than others via the screens after the end of each mission, which offer points for Ghost, Panther, and Assault and come complete with their own rewards.
When single-player becomes boring, gamers can choose to head into the cooperative side of Splinter Cell: Blacklist, which offers different experiences based on the chosen teammate.
There’s a lot of variety here, from wave-based combat to stealth insertions, and I suspect that, depending on play style, about one half worth of the single-player of content is included.
The biggest problem with the gameplay in Splinter Cell: Blacklist is that it’s a little bit unstructured, mainly because it aims to be everything for all gamers.
I am pretty bad at stealth, but I would have persevered in trying to be unseen and unheard as long as the game forced me to do so.
Because I always have the option to go Assault without being penalized, most of the missions in Blacklist tend to start out in Ghosts mode, move into Panther at some point and, as the climax approaches, into full firefight territory.
The checkpoint system is also disappointing, sometimes forcing me to replay ten minutes of exploration after a failed attempt at a silent takedown or sometimes moving the location of Fisher altogether.
Graphics and audio
I have played the new Splinter Cell using an Nvidia-made GeForce GTX 780, and the game looks at times spectacular, with a lot of light-based effects, areas that are ruled by shadows and an always smooth frame rate even at maximum resolution and with fill effects activated.
The graphics matter because this is a game where a players needs to spot enemies at range and be sure of whether he is visible or not in a certain area.
Sam Fisher himself is also a very detailed character, with fluid motions, although he does seem to have undergone some cosmetic surgery after Conviction, because he looks about 5 years younger.
Unfortunately, the faces of the other main characters seem a little weird and plastic-looking at times, an odd issue for an otherwise beautiful game.
The sound department is equally well-developed, but long term fans will certainly find fault with the new voice of Fisher, who frankly does sound too young for the characters he is portraying and is, at times, aiming too much to copy Ironside.
Multiplayer
Splinter Cell: Blacklist brings back the very solid Spies versus Mercs mode that has always been held up as the standard in stealth multiplayer by fans.
It’s available in both Classic and Modern incarnations and pits teams of mercenaries, who play in first person and have access to heavy firepower and armor, against spies that play from third person and must rely on stealth and speed.
The various modes are solid but the experience has a pretty steep learning curve, especially when moving from one style of play to the other.
Longtime fans of the series can always return to the classic titles in the franchise, but younger players have access to solid stealth based gameplay, as long as they are willing to deal with the learning curve, while also being able to move into assault mode in order to solve the most difficult missions. The story is a little clichéd at times, but the game features solid work on the characters which should keep gamers interested until the final mission. On top of all this, coop and multiplayer modes add content that’s almost endlessly replayable and make Splinter Cell: Blacklist a solid game to open up the fall release season.
The Good
The Bad
Conclusion
