Interviews// Splinter Cell Blacklist

Sam Fisher is back, and this time he’s running his own operations centre in an attempt to bring down a cyber-terrorist bent on launching a string of attacks on the United States. The ransom? The removal of the country’s troops in a number of countries in which, according to the group (called The Engineers), they are not welcome. ‘You cannot stop the Blacklist,’ comes the threat.

Ubisoft is keen to revitalise the Splinter Cell franchise after attempting something of a reboot with predecessor Conviction. I spoke with lead game designer Laurent Malville to find out exactly how the new features intend to achieve that goal.


SPOnG: The most recent Splinter Cell games have tried to balance stealth and action in equal parts with mixed success. With Blacklist’s three play styles - Ghost, Panther and Assault - do you feel like you guys have nailed it this time?

Laurent Malville: Yeah, totally. The big thing we realised when working on these play styles was that, if a player could use Assault and go out there guns blazing with no consequences, why would they try the other ones? So we have to challenge each play style equally. With Assault, you can go on all-out attack, buy gadgets and armour, but you still need to play it smart. You need to take cover and move positions often because the enemy is going to find you - and throw grenades to get you to move if they can’t reach you.


SPOnG: Did you look back on past Splinter Cell titles like Conviction, do a post-mortem on them and assess what could be improved?

Laurent Malville: Definitely. I remember arriving at Ubisoft Toronto just after the new office was built - we didn’t have a cafeteria, not even a coffee machine [laughs] - and the first thing we did when we sat down was read every single review of [Conviction]. We spent a lot of time on forums to try and understand what people really liked about the game, what could be improved.

The thing is, there were areas where we moved the gameplay and style forward with Conviction, and we realised in researching feedback that we were right to do that because some elements people loved. But as well as maintaining those new elements, we were looking at ways where we could bring back some of the root of the Splinter Cell franchise.

So from the very beginning, there has been a process that has influenced the entire production of Blacklist. With this game, we wanted to bring back the best elements of the whole franchise, while keeping that leap we made in Conviction in terms of making things a bit smoother and more welcoming for new players.


SPOnG: With this renewed approach, and particularly with the new Sam Fisher performance capture... do you see Blacklist as something of a refresh, or reassertion, of what Splinter Cell is as a franchise?

Laurent Malville: It’s a good question. How would I describe it? I’m on the design side, so I’m really more attached to the mechanics. Generally, I would say that to move the series forward and have Blacklist be the biggest Splinter Cell ever made, we needed to do some work on our storytelling for sure. That’s why we invested in the performance capture facility.

I would say it’s a refresh of sorts, yes. Although not necessarily a reboot, because there are elements of Conviction - and previous games in the series - that will return here and will be familiar to fans. In terms of design and gameplay, this refresh boiled down to player choice. The player is in charge. Sam is the leader of Fourth Echelon, and the player should feel the exact same way when playing this game.


SPOnG: In terms of story, obviously Splinter Cell has always been very focused on technology. As each game is released though, times have changed with technology. Is this something of a Die Hard 4 moment for Sam Fisher? Would you say the enemies he fights in Blacklist are more technologically capable?

Laurent Malville: They are definitely more advanced than they’ve ever been before. The more you play through the game the more you discover of what we call AI Archetypes. An example of one of these is the Heavy. He’s an armoured enemy, and you can’t effectively beat him from the front, you have to sneak behind him or attack on the move.

Guard dogs challenge your stealth - before, to succeed in Splinter Cell it was always about sounds you made and line of sight, but with Blacklist you have dogs that can smell your presence and alert nearby enemies that someone is close. All of a sudden, your stealth is timed - you have to move from cover to cover to avoid being spotted.

Later on in the game we have what we call Drone Operators. These guys are in the corner of the map, throwing recon drones into the air. They patrol the surrounding area - you can either choose to deactivate them by shooting them once, or explode them by shooting them twice. That tactical element can play into the kind of style that you choose to run through the game in.

Another AI Archetype is called the Commando. If you take too much time to take these guys out, they will roll out of the way and take you down. So these enemies challenge your combat skills. But as I said, we try to support all play styles, so you’ll find that the Commandos for example are just as tough when trying to infiltrate the stage because they have thermal vision. The shadows are no longer your friend. So there are a wide variety of hi-tech enemies in the game that challenge all play styles.


SPOnG: The three play styles encourage levels in a particular way. But is player freedom in a stage simply down to choosing one of these three play styles in a linear level structure, or is it more branched and open with alternative routes?

Laurent Malville: The idea with Blacklist was to really offer players a sandbox approach that you get with an open world, while being in a linear game. There are multiple routes that you can take, but once you start to play with the three play styles you’ll realise that even more routes can be explored within those set pathways.

I have been working hard with the level designers to find that sweet spot - to ensure that things aren’t predictable. That, for example, the Ghost play style isn’t always the best approach to use in order to avoid every scenario. Maybe a certain area challenges you in another way, like finding the right window of opportunity to move ahead. When there suddenly becomes no window of opportunity, the player can create one using the gadgets that he or she has.


SPOnG: Thank you very much for your time.

Laurent Malville: Thank you!