Like most players of the Splinter Cell franchise i was excited when a new Splinter Cell was revealed. The franchise is what defies the stealth genre along with Metal Gear Solid, so I was hopeful when I first tried out the game.
First, however, you have to actually install the game as it comes with two discs. I’d recommend doing something else productive whilst you wait as it can take around about 40 minutes to install which is extremely slow.(this is optional however, but if you want better and slicker graphics it is recommended.
When you have finally waited an age to get it up and running, you find that many of the old features are still there such as the stealth meter, the sound of your footsteps according to your speed the many cool gadgets available and the tense warning when an enemy has almost spotted you (similar to Hitman)
You can choose many ways to play the game, from ultra stealthily to guns blazing, for the purists. It works to go stealthily in the shadows, but even on normal mode this is almost impossible due to the sheer number of enemies in every position. On balance it’s best to go with a mixture of stealth and action and the game balances these perfectly.
The sounds are fantastic from the thud of taking a guard out to the noise when Sam Fisher pops on his inca-red goggles. The maps around you seem to come to life as you go through them and it all seems pretty much realistic enough.
The main game can take around about 15-22 hours to complete, but there are numerous distractions to keep you playing longer such as cooperative missions with a friend.
You can’t help feeling, however, that the game has lost what it was originally intended to be: a stealth third person shooter/fp shooter. The game feels as though situations are being forced upon you rather then what made me love the previous games which was that you could choose how you wanted to play. It revolves around fast paced action gameplay, rather then waiting in the shadows whichsome may prefer. I didn’t.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist is overall disappointing to a player of the previous games. despite installing the second disc(xbox 360) the graphics are distinctly average for a game that came out late this year, be ready to put your tv colour settings on full as everything is so dark, the new cover system is amateurish, the story pointless and the gameplay boring and repetitive
Pros
Some great missions are out there but only a few
Controls are familiar
Sounds are slick, graphics are decent when outside
Missions can be replayed to score more points
Spies vs mercs is a great idea
Cons,
Voice character of sam fisher does not even compare to previous
Single player is repetitive
Story is boring
Hard to be fully in stealth mode throughout a mission
Feels dated
Overall 6/10