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This game made a much needed return to the stealth aspect of the Splinter Cell games. Prepare to be in the shadows for a large part of the game which is something every fan of the stealth genre in any game should enjoy but especially the die hard Splinter Cell fans. I'm currently halfway through the main campaign but that's only because I spend so much time playing the online, "Spies vs. Mercs". I must say that Splinter Cell's online gameplay is the most satisfying multiplayer I have ever played. It is so much fun!. The spies and mercs balance each other out in a way that makes this online gameplay one genius of an idea. Many people complain about the graphics but I think the graphics are fine and I have no issues with them at all. In my opinion the game actually looks great. This game was very well made on behalf of Ubisoft Toronto and you can tell they really read the reviews on Conviction and cared about their fans so they went a step backwards and gave us everything we deserved and the game conviction should have been. Not to say Conviction was bad but Blacklist is just down right badass. This game is highly recommended by someone who has always enjoyed playing Splinter Cell games. This game packs a lot of bang for your buck as it has just the right amount of campaign, 14 co-op missions, and much more. The currency system in the game works well as you earn money from missions and online games and you can use the money to buy countless amount of upgrades to help you as Sam Fisher and even as a Spy or a Merc when you play some multiplayer. And for those longtime fans who hate how they changed the voice actor of Sam and replaced Michael Ironside, all I have to say to you is don't let that one aspect keep you from continuing to be a fan and enjoying this awesome game. So much more to say about Blacklist but to sum it all up go out and pick this game up because quite simply, Sam Fisher has never been better!
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program "As I crept up the stairs, I knew I needed to be quiet as a church mouse. Crouching down, I peeked around the corner and saw my target down the corridor. I was fresh out of grenades, trickery was my only remaining option. Then I remembered the switch on the wall. I turned off the hallway lights, and the guard decided to come over and check it out. His rifle was slung low...big mistake. Before he knew what was happening, I sprang from my hiding place and took him out my karambit was the quickest thing he never saw."
This is just a small taste of what goes through my mind while playing Splinter Cell: Blacklist. And it only gets better.
+ PROS:
+ Engaging storyline
+ Lots and lots of unlockable weapons & gear to customize
+ Several ways to earn $ for upgrades
+ Single player missions, co-op missions, Spies vs. Mercs missions, Gone Dark missions, and even a mobile app "SC Spider-Bot"
+ Customize your difficulty level Rookie, Normal, Realistic or Perfectionist
CONS
Glitch on Briggs' 4th co-op mission
Occasional glitches on co-op and Spies vs. Mercs
PLOT:
In this game we play as Sam Fisher, a well-seasoned covert operative. A terrorist group which call themselves "The Engineers" are planning several escalating attacks on US interests (called The Blacklist). They will only stop their attacks if the U.S. government agrees to recall all American troops deployed abroad.
President Caldwell has tasked Sam with hunting down the Engineers and putting a stop to their plans. His base of operations is a cargo plane codenamed "Paladin", and Sam has a few allies on his 4th Echelon team: Charlie Cole, Isaac Briggs and Anna 'Grim' Grímsdóttir.
GAMEPLAY:
This is a 3rd person shooter with stealth gameplay. Sam's tasks vary from level to level on some he has to completely avoid detection, others he needs to pacify all targets, and others he needs to retrieve items or disable security devices. Sam also has some optional level objectives: he can choose to pick up intel in the form of USB devices called Dead Drops, or capture a High Value Target, or hack a Blacklist computer.
Sometimes you might find yourself as another character shooting missiles or sniping from above, but for the most part, you'll be playing as Sam Fisher have goggles, will travel.
There are some extra gameplay missions which can only be completed with a cooperative player. While in co-op mode, you can rescue your teammate if they get injured, and vice versa. To toughen the game up a bit, there are some parts in co-op mode where you're separated from your partner and you have to be self-reliant. If you get wounded or captured, they can't help you.
The first "preview" mission roped me right in to the story. It gave a full tutorial on how to move my character, how to interact with the environment, how to stay out of sight and how to take down my enemies. The storyline was very rich and kept me interested from the first grenade in Guam to the last gunshot in Site F. It's one thing to read a political thriller, it's quite another to experience it through the mindset of a seasoned operative, and Splinter Cell accomplishes this brilliantly.
You can upgrade the Paladin command center to unlock gameplay improvements such as health upgrades, radar views, prototype weapons, intel locations, faster regenerations for coop and single player, custom loadout slots, black market weapons, and even in-field customization.
The improvements don't stop with Paladin you can customize your player for the style of gameplay you want!
If you're itching to earn a Ghost rating and want to leave nothing but shadows, you can load up on proximity shock land mines and sleeping gas, wear your stealth nanofiber suit and use a crossbow with noisemaker bolts to confuse and distract your foes.
For the Rambo-style players who want an Assault rating (meaning shoot everything with a pulse), you're covered too. I personally recommend incendiary grenades, ceramic plate armor, and the SC-15 pistol, with armor piercing ammunition and an accurized barrel.
You can create 3 customized suit loadouts for the main game, and there are also several unlockable upgrades for the online games.
If the main game and side missions aren't enough to whet your appetite, give Spies vs. Mercs a try. This is an online matchup between a team of spies or mercenaries there are 6 online gameplay modes (some of which are locked until you level up). You are given a map and a task to complete in the allotted timeframe...You could be a mercenary out to steal intel from the spies, and you have to protect yourself and your teammates to bring the data home. Or, you could be a spy trying to hack into a data terminal and you have to rely on your teammates to protect you from getting killed by a gunshot or a vicious drone. At the end of the match, you're graded on the success/failure of your team, the # of kills you performed, any bonuses you may have earned, and so forth. Leveling up your character earns battle tokens, which are needed to unlock upgrades for Spies vs. Mercs.
There are daily challenges and weekly challenges to earn more in-game currency for upgrades, and you can also earn money for completing other challenges, such as knocking out 3 people with a gas grenade, or using lethal hand-to-hand combat.
TROPHIES:
There are 48 trophies to earn in this game. If a player sticks to the main storyline only, there's roughly 11 trophies to earn. However, it benefits the player to complete the extra missions from Kobin, Grim, Charlie and Briggs so they can get better weapons and armor to suit their style of gamepay. None of the trophies struck me as particularly difficult to earn, but the most tedious one was "Enhanced Lethality Demonstrated". Thankfully, there are several videos online to walk you through it. Trophy hunters can earn the Platinum in about a month or less.
I will note that 3 Spy upgrades are not available until reaching level 51, 53 and 55 in multiplayer so there's incentive to keep playing after the Platinum trophy has been earned.
PROS:
As I mentioned previously, the storyline was excellent. While I improved my gameplay, I found myself geniunely caring about the characters and understanding their motivations, whether they agreed with Sam's ideals or not. To me, this wasn't just a game of "shoot everything that moves".
There are SO MANY WAYS to earn extra money in this game. There are over 100 combined gameplay challenges for single player mode as well as co-op modes. From loud gun headshots to putting dogs to sleep, from breaching door charges to sneaking past cameras, there is no shortage of ways to put upgrade money into your pockets. If you have friends that play this game, you can beat their high scores on missions and earn even MORE money.
This is the first time I have played an app on my cell phone which ties into a PS3 game, and it was very fun, not to mention addictive. I downloaded SC Spider-Bot onto my android phone I could play Ghost, Panther or Assault style, just like the regular game, but I play as a little robot. I decided to complete all the Ghost missions and within a few days, I had unlocked Alpha Goggles and Boots for use in my regular game. I could also switch the points I earned into in-game currency, which was a nice touch.
I really enjoyed the daily "Gone Dark" missions. These were a nice change of pace from the regular gameplay, they have the same dynamic as "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego". You are given a report regarding terrorist activities, and you have to try and figure out where to go next. If you guess right, you get another clue. At the end, you need to make a decision and if you make the right one, your score multiplier increases by 0.5% over time, this will lead to more and more money for your upgrades.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist understands that you might have troubles getting through some of the harder missions, so they allow you 4 different levels of difficulty, which can be changed in the pause menu during the mission. However, completing a level on Perfectionist difficulty with a Ghost rating will earn you the most money...so it's in your best interest to learn to move like a ninja if you want to level up quickly.
Rambo time comes later.
CONS:
To be honest, I didn't have very many negative experiences with this game. The only item which caused me a bit of annoyance was a glitch at the end of Brigg's last mission.
**SLIGHT SPOILERS BELOW**
During the "Abandoned City" mission, there is a segment near the end where Briggs and Sam are sitting on the ground shooting at their enemies. My co-op partner died, and when we started from our last checkpoint, the enemies stopped spawning and the level couldn't be completed. This happened both when I joined the level, and when I was the host player. It's been reported to Ubisoft, so hopefully this will be fixed when the next patch comes out. If this happens, your only option is to restart the level.
**SPOILERS OVER**
There were occasional glitches during Spies vs. Mercs: In a game of Extraction, one of my teammates dropped the intel on a set of stairs and it couldn't be picked up by any other player...no matter what we tried. In another a game of Blacklist where I played a Merc, no one could tell which terminal was getting hacked until it was over 60% complete. The only other glitches I found were on co-op missions and they were relatively minor, flickering on one side of the screen or a phantom grenade explosion graphic that appeared out of nowhere. All in all, most of the glitches I came across weren't game-breakers.
WHAT WOULD I IMPROVE?
I'm a total sucker for branching storylines in games, and Splinter Cell Blacklist would have benefited from such a dynamic. Every mission in this game can be completed successfully, but what if the player completed a mission but failed in their task? This could have led to certain missions being either available or unavailable. With all the extra money Sam earns for completing missions, he could use some of that to bribe people into giving up information on Blacklist activities. Or, maybe he could have "purchased" information from some of Charlie's contacts to unlock shortcuts through levels (door codes, vent access, something like that).
SPECIAL PRAISE:
Whoever decided to put in the "Call Sarah" option after each mission. This part of the game is not necessary at all, but it added a layer of depth to Sam Fisher which I wasn't expecting. When a solo mission is completed, Sam can call his daughter from Paladin and check on her, makes sure she's ok, and only hangs up after he tells her he loves her. It shows me Sam Fisher isn't all business, he also cares about family.
So to whoever added that in...thank you.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
This game was an extremely pleasant experience. I would start my mornings completing a Gone Dark mission, and increase my earnings multiplier before I went to work. During my lunch hour, I'd play the SC Spider-bot game on my phone. When I got home, I'd either work on completing a few missions on Ghost/Panther/Assault style, or I'd earn some Battle Tokens in Spies vs. Mercs. In short, my days started and ended with Splinter Cell.
I didn't mind the replacement of Michael Ironside's voice with Eric Johnson It's true, Michael Ironside has a very deep and gravelly voice which commands respect...but I was totally okay with the switch to Eric Johnson's voice. There's an eerie calmness when I heard Sam Fisher speak; whether he talked to a colleague or interrogated a known terrorist with a folding chair Eric Johnson took his role very seriously, and it shows in the final product.
For people who love unlocking and upgrading weapons and gear to create the ultimate covert ops warrior, this is a great game to sink your teeth into. I highly recommend Splinter Cell: Blacklist to anyone who is a fan of the stealth genre of games. If you liked Hitman: Absolution, you'll really enjoy this one.
**Thanks again to AUB_FAN for the Perfectionist run-through assistance!**
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Story:
Returning character Sam Fisher, from Splinter Cell: Conviction, and his team are directed to stop a series of terrorist attacks that are being launched every few days by a group known only as the Engineers. Their demands are for the United States to recall all their troops in every country and bring them home. Until this is done, new attacks are launched upon aditional unknown locations. This list of places to be attacked is known as the Blacklist. The mission of you and your team is to stop these attacks.
Down time:
Your main headquarters throughout the game is a plane called the Paladin. It's 4th Echelon's version of an Air Force One on steroids. Between missions you go here and you can pick up intelligence information gathered by your team members for missions. This is also where you customize your loadout for Sam and select which mission you want to play next. You can walk around freely and talk to other characters and see what info they may have for you to use for your next mission. You also have a new tool called the Strategic Mission Interface (SMI) that updates you with info about your objectives and is sort of a mobile handheld version of Paladin, letting you access mission objectives and such throughout missions.
Game play:
While Splinter Cell is designed as a stealth game, Blacklist lets you deviate from this and play it in a whole new way. You can now chose to play each mission in Assault, Panther or Ghost mode. Ghost is your stealth mode, with your goals being getting from beginning to end with as little enemy contact as possible. Panther is a middle ground, letting to play stealthy, but with some hands on action as well. The third, Assault mode, is my favorite. In this mode you play a running gunner. You come in guns blazing and demolishing every enemy that crosses your path.
While the controller commands are both Ghost and Assault mode friendly, having smooth fast actions combined into a single button push, the cash/points system favors stealth over unloading lots of lead. Your score at the end of each mission will affect your cash payout and Ghost mode, and the objectives associated with it, tend to produce a larger monetary reward at the end. This money is then used to upgrade and unlock weapons and tools. But Splinter Cell was created originally as a stealthy game, so it's not surprising that this would be rewarded in points as the games primary objective. So if you want to run and gun (like myself) you may have to replay a mission to get enough cash to buy one of the new high tech toys you can use against your enemies.
Conclusion:
Whether playing the single player missions, co-op missions or online multi-player, Splinter Cell Blacklist has plenty to offer fans of the series. The new option to chose different levels of attack (Assault/Panther/Ghost) let those who like to go into a mission with guns blazing finally have a place in the game. In addition, since there's several modes, after you have done a mission in one version, you can then go back and replay it again, trying to complete it in the other modes. It makes each of the game's mission have more replayability, giving you a different secondary objective to try and achieve. This combined with a long singer player campaign, makes for many hours of entertaining game play.
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I love this game and would have given it 5 stars but the save game mechanism is flawed, after playing a mission to a checkpoint if I quit the game I have to start from the beginning of the mission, this appears to be a bug or at least a design flaw. If this was designed intentionally what were the developers thinking, this is a waste of time to have to start at the beginning of a mission, plus there is NO user save game option, the game decides when to save a game, not very user friendly!
Other than that the game is great, good story lines, interaction and graphics.
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The reason for me to buy a PS3 was play "Splinter Cell" coop with my brother (split screen), I'm talking when "SP Conviction" came out. I know, "Conviction" was a Xbox exclusive, but I allways wait for that game for the PS3...
The game have a cool Menu, because you have to walk in the Paladin to do things in the game.
I like the story and the way you can play the single player and coop missions. You can choose between 3 classes: Ghost, Panther and Assault. And If you play like a truly Ghost you'll earn a lot of points and money for your weapons, suits, gadgets... because you're playing like the classics splinter cell games, where you don't need to use your weapons.
I like the actors in the game. Ok! Michael Ironside (the EPIC voice) is not in the game but Eric Johnson did a new, fresh and original job in the Sam Fisher's character.
The coop (or solo, but coop is better, online or split screen) is very mixed, you have Kobin missions where you have to eliminate all the enemies. Grim missions where you have to be a ghost and take the objetives. Briggs missions where you can be a ghost but is too hard, and be a panther or assault is much easy. And the Charlie missions, these are good to get many points and money.
"Spies vs Mercs" (the Multiplayer) I like it! at first time is difficult but when you learn how to play and buy better classes of spies and mercenaries, the game will turn much easy.
If you're new in the "Splinter Cell" series and you like James Bond or you like to play spies games, you have to buy this game.
