Ubisoft Says Complex Gameplay "Holds Back" Splinter Cell

[Happiness Assassin]

If I remember, Blacklist is supposed to have a perfectionist mode which essentially plays like the older splinter cell games, forcing you to be slow and methodical.

Here it is, down near the bottom:

Splinter Cell's popularity is held back by its complexity, says Blacklist studio head [http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/04/23/splinter-cells-popularity-is-held-back-by-its-complexity-says-blacklist-studio-head/]

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

"So guys, you know that game we have that appeals to a certain subset of people? Let's change it to a mainstream action game so the original fans won't buy it and so we can compete and lose to the big mainstream action games."

Sounds like a plan, Stan.

 

[Kathinka]

gif is relevant!

and as usual when something bad happens in gaming, i blame consoles. <.<

 

[MrHide-Patten]

Whilst I'm not a fan of the series, isn't this the train of thought that plagues games like Deus Ex Human: Revolution, Dishonored and Metal Gear Rising. Why should I go the hard way when it is easier to just go mental with rocket launchers?

It makes Mark of the Ninja look like a real oddity now days, a stealth game where when you are spotted, you're fucked.

 

[Atmos Duality]

It's a rare moment a publisher flat out admits it's dumbing down its game to pander to the lowest common denominator.
Says an awful lot about what they think of gamers.

On the bright side this ought to save Ubisoft a buck or two in development: since it sounds like they aren't going to put any more thought into their game design.

 

[gyroscopeboy]

If developers keep doing this, making their games appeal to such a broad audience, they lose all their talking points and become forgettable.

Think of the hardest games possible, these games STILL get talked about and played. Dumbing your game down for the masses will just mean people forget it faster.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Well now I'm definatlly not buying this game.

Besides I'm broke thanks to kickstarter, at least those devs will at least listen to gamers like me and not chase after every moron who can suck on a controller.

 

[Frotality]

is the game industry trying to kill itself? there has been a long, LOOOONG string of devs and publishers making comments that really serve no purpose other than invoking the wrath of the internet's legion of gamers. are they f**king with us? do they honestly think just "saying" theyre failing business tactics are right will convince the world to accept them?

you dont make comments concerning shareholders to the public youre trying to sell to. why on earth would you think gamers should need to hear this from you? "from a business standpoint, dumbass gameplay is good" well no f**king shit, sherlock, we all know and revile that fact, you should be trying to downplay and distract us from that, not presenting it to the world then offering no reason for why its good for anything but your wallet. this industry just needs to crash and burn again, clearly the old leadership has gone insane. i cant even decipher this quote.... what the f**k is its purpose?! who and how and what and why did anyone anywhere think it was a good idea to announce this to the public? your already alienated consumer base hates you more and a once decent stealth series blends deeper into the sea of mediocrity and blandness, indistinct from a hundred other games just like it. lose-lose, congratulations.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

April Fools! *Checks date.* Oh. Didn't Conviction sell way less than other Splinter Cell games for precisely this reason? I could be wrong, but it seems like they don't really agree with why I ever liked this series to begin with. It's kind of like what happened with Assassin's Creed. Oh well. I can always go back and play the old games. I haven't bought one of these since Pandora Tomorrow anyways, when it seemed like they got all multiplayer centric.

 

[shrekfan246]

Whilst I'm not a fan of the series, isn't this the train of thought that plagues games like Deus Ex Human: Revolution, Dishonored and Metal Gear Rising. Why should I go the hard way when it is easier to just go mental with rocket launchers?

It makes Mark of the Ninja look like a real oddity now days, a stealth game where when you are spotted, you're fucked.

Playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution on "Give Me Deus Ex" basically forces you into stealth (and admittedly subsequently hamstrings you on the boss-fights) because you die extremely quickly. And Metal Gear Rising, while having the Metal Gear name, isn't a stealth game. It's got light stealth elements in parts, sure, but the AI is dumb as a box of rocks.

OT: So long as they keep in the harder difficulties that don't do anything for you, I don't see what the big issue should be. It's basically just an extended easy mode, so long as it's optional.

 

[Hawkeye21]

This is why we cant have nice things.

 

[funksobeefy]

"You can climb up, do 3D navigation and jump over things without thinking too much or pressing buttons," Raytmond said. "Sam does it automatically. The Killing in Motion, being able to Mark and Execute while moving through the map, makes it much more accessible to more of an action gamer."

oh god no, thats just so bad! how is it an action game if it requires no action?

i just.. i dont know what to think anymore, just keep buying Dark Souls and Xcom and hope for the best i guess

 

[VoidWanderer]

...

Dear Ubisoft,

Making hardcore stealth games is easier than you would think. You should make Splinter Cell a stealth game, then give the player weapons. Players can make their own difficulty in stealth games. While I do love your three variations of 'Action', 'Stealth', and 'Stealth Action', you need to understand that players can make their own difficulty.

Think about the Thief games. Players can challenge themselves with killing or not killing. Collecting Everything or just going mission objectives only. For stealth games, let the player mold the playstyle to what they want.

 

[Arslan Aladeen]

It sounds like the game is going to play itself.

The Splinter Cell games haven't been good since Chaos Theory. I didn't think anything would have changed with this new title.

I feel the same way. Double Agent had a nice concept, but a very poor and buggy execution, and I didn't even bother with Conviction because they over-simplified it.

I'm guessing you played Double Agent for PS3/360/PC. If that's the case, I recommend you look into Double Agent for PS2 or the original Xbox. It was made by the same team that did Chaos Theory, where as the Shanghai team did the newer gen one. If you have a friend to play coop with, you get about 15 missions (actual Chaos Theory style story missions, rather than the versus training missions you get from the newer version).

 

[Pepsik]

So splinter cell bad, but dishonored very very good? It seems to me, that splinter cell doesn't need to be dumber, just throw in blink and devouring swarm. :-D No I'm kidding, what it needs is atmosphere , I mean, what is rewarding about easy stealth?

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

Someone clearly needs to watch the latest Jimquisition...

I just quote this. Everybody has to read this article & watch the Jimquisition.

I don't even know what to say anymore. Maybe those things are the main reason i basically buy no games anymore. I just noticed a few weeks ago, that i'm recycling the same games since nearly 10 years (+ pickin' the good ones like Portal out).
I'm glad there are games like DotA/LoL so i'm not influenced by the whole gaming-mess we currently have.

 

[Zetatrain]

Whilst I'm not a fan of the series, isn't this the train of thought that plagues games like Deus Ex Human: Revolution, Dishonored and Metal Gear Rising.

Well the Deus Ex series was always about choosing your own play style so I don't see how DE:HR is same as what's going on with SC:BL. As for Metal Gear Rising...stealth has nothing to do with Rising, because its a hack n' slash game. Plus the game was just a chance for Kojima productions to try something new with the Metal Gear franchise, but its not like Rising's gameplay is going to be the standard for future Metal Gear games. Never played Dishonored so I can't comment.

Why should I go the hard way when it is easier to just go mental with rocket launchers?

Because for some people its not about which choice is the easiest. Some people like a challenge even if it isn't forced upon them.

Anyway, this news is disheartening to say the least. I actually enjoyed Conviction even though I thought it wasn't as good as SC 1-3, but it looks like BL is gonna further dilute the gameplay. I'll probably rent it, but I'm sure as hell not gonna buy it.

 

[Quellist]

Its horrible but if they give the game different modes that lock out the help from the start they maybe it wont be totally horrible, still though i'm with Yahtzee, stealth isnt all about killing...

 

[Pandalisk]

And to top it all off they even got rid of the classic camera detection alarm sound from the old games, Madness