Splinter Cell Blacklist: I'm done.

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

It actually reminds me of the stealth in Arkham City and the Assassin's Creed games.

That is to say, any sense of challenge or tactics gets defused by the glut of gadgets and abilities you have at your disposal.

Gadgets aren't the real issue. Challenge was fine in earlier Splinter Cell games where you actually had a lot of gadgets. The problem is that those gadgets are essentially useless now, because even if your stealth approach fails, you can simply shoot everyone. You can't fail. You couldn't play like that in earlier SC games. You had to rely on stealth and tactical use of gadgets you had at your disposal.

And Fisher is not a generic soldier guy. He has an iconic voice and sense of humor. And we got to know him pretty well in Chaos Theory and Double Agent (PS2 version, which is infinitely better than PC/360 version).

 

[PurePareidolia]

That sure looks like a fun version of Alpha Protocol.

Except this is Splinter Cell and all pretense of stealth or original level design has gone out the window though (more Middle East? really). Why would you design a scenario in which a) you're infiltrating during the day when everyone's alert and b) there's a mounted machine gun that shoots at you half the time? A proper stealth game should have you take out the gunner without being seen, and not even engage the guards, let alone a prolonged gunfight then nobody in the nearby building notices.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

you could still take people out by pulling them off ledges, breaking their necks while hanging upside down, jumping down on them from above, or just sneaking up behind them and putting a knife in their back. Using your gun was always a last resort in the old games, whereas in this new game it seems to be the first port of call.

That's what hurts me the most about Conviction. Splinter Cell fans should just stop buying SC games made by that retard Beland. He doesn't seem to have a god damn clue what SC fans want. He's making a game for himself. Fine, let him play it then.

That sure looks like a fun version of Alpha Protocol.

Except this is Splinter Cell and all pretense of stealth or original level design has gone out the window though (more Middle East? really). Why would you design a scenario in which a) you're infiltrating during the day when everyone's alert and b) there's a mounted machine gun that shoots at you half the time? A proper stealth game should have you take out the gunner without being seen, and not even engage the guards, let alone a prolonged gunfight then nobody in the nearby building notices.

You can even call a freakin' airstrike. An airstrike in the middle of gameplay! In a Splinter Cell game!

 

[Ando85]

My all time favorite is Pandora Tomorrow. I liked Chaos Theory, but I found it too forgiving. I tried double agent and couldn't get into it. Haven't played one since.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

My all time favorite is Pandora Tomorrow. I liked Chaos Theory, but I found it too forgiving. I tried double agent and couldn't get into it. Haven't played one since.

You should try Double Agent on PS2 or original Xbox. It's just like old SC games. Even the story is a lot better. Really, it's almost completely different. A lot more personal.

 

[Arkley]

Fan complaints about Splinter Cell Conviction:
Omg, I can't make a noise to attract guards any more? Wtf?
I can't set up traps for guards/enemies any more!
Wtf, I can't move bodies! There's no strategy!
Jesus, there's no non-fatal takedowns!
Stealth is so unnecessary, I can just shoot my way through!
The guards are so dumb! All I have to do is stand in a corner and they lose me!
THIS ISN'T SPLINTER CELL, I'M DONE WITH THIS FRANCHISE

New Splinter Cell gameplay trailer:
Sam sneaks past two guards using cover.
Sam climbs a wall, attracts a third guard by making a noise.
Sam K.O.s the third guard, drops his body over the edge to attract attention from the first two guards.
Sam stealthily takes down the two guards, both having fallen for his trap.
Sam then drops from above onto a fourth guard, knocking him out. He has the option to move the body, but has no time because he's been discovered.
Sam then attempts to slip away, but can't because the guards aren't idiots, and must fall back on shooting skills.

Fan reaction to new Splinter Cell:
THIS ISN'T SPLINTER CELL, I'M DONE WITH THIS FRANCHISE


TL;DR
Stop fucking whining. This is closer to Splinter Cell than anything has been in years and, frankly, it's already looking better than the old Splinter Cell. Being immediately fucked when discovered isn't good game design. The current design of rewarding clever, stealthy play while still allowing players to fall back on shooting if they mess up is better.

Okay, calling in an airstrike might have been an odd choice to give him - though, we don't have context for the mission, it might have been entirely reasonable in the circumstances - and it sure does suck that Ironside isn't voicing Sam any more. But the rest of what we know so far indicates fairly clearly that this is a Splinter Cell game, and quite possibly a good one at that.

30 seconds of dashing desperately between cover and shooting a few guards doesn't remove the fact that stealth, tactics and strategy - or at least the building blocks for them - seem to be fully present.

 

[Mr Thin]

Michael Ironside "is" Sam Fisher. No ifs, buts, or maybes; he's an even more defining aspect of the character than his trademark goggles.

SC: Conviction I could handle. Sam Fisher was a man on the edge, without a government leash; he didn't have to play it quiet, so he didn't. I justified the bastardised gameplay by telling myself that it reflected the changes in Sam's character (I knew it wasn't true, but I felt better anyway).

But this? This is not Sam Fisher. And it clearly isn't Splinter Cell either.

I'm not sure what this is. An simplified spin-off, perhaps.

 

[Zhukov]

It actually reminds me of the stealth in Arkham City and the Assassin's Creed games.

That is to say, any sense of challenge or tactics gets defused by the glut of gadgets and abilities you have at your disposal.

Not fussed about the change of voice actor. The old guy didn't bring anything particularly remarkable to the table. Besides, it's not like Sam Fisher is much of a character. He's just Tough Soldier Guy #48663. I can't be bothered kicking up a fuss over exactly what flavour of grumbles he comes with.

I dunno... when you play through the games and hear all of Fisher's little comments and sideswipes, you realise that he's actually not the typical Tough Soldier Guy. Sure, he has a history of fighting in the Gulf War, hiding in ditches for says at a time, etc. But the Fisher you play in the games is an old, snarky dude who's always making cynical quips about the situations he's in and the people he's dealing with. He's certainly not your uber-aggro, gun loving super soldier. Even in the first game, he was portrayed by the developers as being too world-weary for that.

You mean to tell me that Tough Soldier Guy makes cynical remarks?

Oh, say it isn't so!

I guess I can see what you're coming from the world-weary aspect though.

 

[Woodsey]

They already explained why Michael Ironside isn't returning to voice Sam.

Which is not a very good reason. What would you rather have: arguably the most recognisable part of your series by this point, or mildly better lip-sync?

Stop fucking whining. This is closer to Splinter Cell than anything has been in years and, frankly, it's already looking better than the old Splinter Cell. Being immediately fucked when discovered isn't good game design.

Right, which is why they ditched that in Chaos Theory and still made an actual stealth game that would require more than a monkey to play.

What the game looks like is yet another game set in the vague regions of the Middle East with Action Man as the title character. What it doesn't look like is the Splinter Cell that people who play Splinter Cell played Splinter Cell for; a genre which has so suffered at the hands of the "let's put everything in the Middle East and make LOOOOOOOUUUUDDDDDDD NOOOOIIIIISSSSSEEEEESSSSSSSS!" that there is now a perfect niche for something that actually looks like Splinter Cell.

It looks absolutely nothing like Splinter Cell - even if you had only watched someone playing the first 4 games, you'd be aware of that.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

It's a sad state of affairs for my favourite pasttime when two of my favourite series (Splinter Cell and Hitman) have been dumbed down and needlessly meddled with to the point that they are now the exact same game, and it's not one I want to play.

What do you guys think? Will you be buying Splinter Cell Blacklist, or for that matter Hitman: Absolution? Do the changes bother you? Do you think they still look fun?

I had to stop the video at 1:14. As soon as he spoke, after watching that gameplay, no, I will not be buying this. Conviction was really only just a good game compared with its predecessors and this looks like a military shooter with third-person view and a Sam Fisher clone in place of a nameless mute. Conviction's mark and execute seems to have made a return too, I really want to know why any developer believes it's fun to remove gameplay from the game and have the game play itself for us.

As for Hitman, it's basically Splinter Cell: Conviction with 47 instead of Fisher. And this time he has magic vision. Yeah, I'll get right on that.

 

[Roofstone]

I actually sort of look forward to this.. The gameplay seems fun enough for me to enjoy it, and while the air strikes are a bit.. Too much, I don't really mind.

 

[kingthrall]

really as much as the first splinter cell was enjoyable, it lost that theif feeling to it ever since the started realising they could make a profit from it.

 

[sheah1]

I.... But I don't.... He was being shot at by a heavy machine gun. In a Splinter Cell game. And he didn't immediately die. In a Splinter Cell game. WHAT.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

That video was an odd mix of stuff I thought was neat: like planting the charge at one point of entry and then moving to another while the explosion distracts them.

However it was also stuff I don't think is too hot: his new voice actor sounds like a ponce, and forgive me, but I always through the whole point of the area Sam Fisher worked in was to maintain plausible deniability. UAV strikes don't quite seem to belong there. I mean the whole idea was in, and out with hardly anyone else knowing.

Also, that hanging from a building side thing and whistling might work on a lone guard, at night in total darkness, but in broad fucking daylight with two of his mates about six or ten feet from you.....doesn't quite seem as plausible.

 

[redisforever]

And yeah, Ironside is gone. Fisher. Is gone. I don't give a rat's ass about better animations and mo-cap. Technology is technology. Ironside was an icon.

If you watch the behind the scenes stuff included with the original game, they made a big deal about it all being hand-made, none of the animation was mo-capped. And you know what? It worked. Michael Ironside made Sam Fisher... well, Sam Fisher. His voice was truly terrifying. I know now why everyone pretty much instantly tells you what you want to know during the interrogations, at least in the first 4 games.