There's no going back now, the Splinter Cell franchise has evolved. With no disregard Sam Fisher's previous adventures, the new game takes a giant leap towards the future with a new substance heavy plot and great new mechanics that changes the way we know the series entirely.
The first thing that at least I'm happy about is the fact that Blacklist is not a rip-off of the previously released Conviction, which didn't really have those stealth-heavy features the series is known for. Conviction was much more action-oriented, so it feels good to know that the typical Splinter Cell-like stealth is back at the forefront with Blacklist.
Interestingly enough, compared to the way he was earlier portrayed in Conviction, Sam Fisher actually looks quite young and rejuvenated - as if he just shed ten years of his age just like that. Running black op missions when a rogue organization is hunting you can really prematurely age a man...
The game kicks off with Sam Fisher as the commander of the newly formed Fourth Echelon, an off-the-records U.S. military team operating from a giant airship. The Fourth Echelon has been tasked with neutralizing the so-called Blacklist - a list of attacks on American soil carried out by a group of bad guys known as The Engineers.
Fisher's basic team includes: Anna Grimsdottir, analyst and long-time associate of Sam; spec-ops guy Briggs; and hacker Charlie. Luckily, Blacklist also features the age-old Splinter Cell-like features and elements, allowing Sam to mount ceiling pipes and dangle above enemies to eventually come crashing down atop them. To help out further, each of the in-game levels are filled with air ducts ,which players can explore to chart out the next path towards their destinations.
Blacklist takes a turn from the previous gameplay mechanics introduced in the first Splinter Cell title and offers an important balance, with options to go about a mission quietly, or go in with all-guns-blazing, Rambo style. Basically, the game offers you choices when you are about face a bad guy. This option remains available for each level and mode present in the game, including the thought-generating side-missions and the dedicated "Spies vs Mercs" multiplayer.
Offering more choices, Blacklist allows players to customize their weapons and load outs to their liking before the start of each mission. This also includes upgrading your suit to make it more stealth-friendly or tough, depending on the way you choose to play the game.
Out of the three styles of play, it seems like the Panther approach is actually the best and the most entertaining way to play Blacklist. While it's also fun to just shadow past enemies to complete missions, a more gun-oriented approach makes it look like a normal third-person shooter.
While the campaign mode is quite enjoyable with immense replay value, seeing how your scores differ had you taken a different approach, there are instances when the mode actually slips from its path. It feels like the developers wanted you to finish off a certain level in a certain fashion, as no other approach is viable at the point (say, for example, the Mark and Execute feature).
There are a number of in-game gadgets for players to unlock on the way, although there can be some frustrating times with sporadic poor level designing and complex controls, which can easily cause a mission to fail.
One of the neat things about Blacklist is its origin being in the middle of Chaos Theory-like stealth and Conviction-like action. It doesn't matter which way you want to start the game and play through it, it's just that feeling of "what would've happened if I took a different approach" that will draw you more and more to the game (replay value). And I'm just talking about the campaign mode.
The real treat in Blacklist remains with the Spies v Mercs multiplayer mode, where a group of covert ninja-like spies face off against heavily armored soldiers. There are a number of unlockable items to be found alongside upgradeable weapon loadouts that adds to the overall thrill of the mode. The mission here is to hack into terminals found across the map. And once connected to the terminal, the spies need to remain in a certain zone to complete the hack effectively. Naturally, excitement levels increase with the progress bar slowly reaching its destination while mercs start storming in.
The game's only small downfall was a visual issue. It felt like the developers only did so much work, providing a lifelike appearance for Sam, but nobody else. The enemies in the game have little or no real detail on their facial expressions, and look like bots. This bit aside, Blacklist is a worthy addition to the Splinter Cell franchise, coming miles ahead of Conviction.
