Reviews// Splinter Cell: Blacklist

As with everything else, the different tools cover the three main playing styles - distracting noisemakers for budding Ghosts, blinding flashbangs for wannabe Panthers and explosive grenades for Assault rookies, for example. The game’s helpful enough to give you hints as to which tools might come in handy before starting each mission too, so you’ve no excuse for being caught out. Nothing’s essential of course, that would go against Blacklist’s mantra of letting you play your own way, but following the recommendations can come in handy when you’re caught in a tight spot.

Of course when push really comes to shove and you’re out of gadgets and taking heavy fire, you can always try simply exploiting the AI’s occasional laziness. Just find somewhere to hide until the enemy completely forget they were even hunting down a government operative.

Which brings me to my next ‘complaint’, and I admit I’m going to digress a little here. The more stealth games I play the more apparent this madness becomes. Even though I’m not going to specifically hold it against Blacklist per se, it has reached the point where it’s more than a little bit silly. What is the deal with air vents in these games?

They’re the ultimate escape for everyone from Adam Jenson to Batman, a safe haven which will instantly leave enemies completely stunned by your tactics. At one point in Blacklist I was pinned down in one shaft with multiple enemies stood menacingly at both exists, only for me to escape completely unscathed after popping a few bullets in their unsuspecting groins.

A point in Blacklist’s favour is that enemies at least care enough to try tossing a grenade in after me, but retreating further into the vent allowed me to escape the blast radius before returning to finish them off. It seems mind-boggling to me that none of these hired goons can be bothered to just climb in after you. Again, I’m not holding this against Blacklist because every game seems to include these amazing impenetrable vents these days. But it doesn’t win it any points either.

Visually everything holds up quite well, though some areas do hold it back. Overall presentation is slick with fittingly designed menus and a nice clear in-game UI. Blacklist’s graphics work fine in-game but a weird plastic-y effect on the characters’ skin combined with iffy facial animation means they take a detour into the uncanny valley during cutscenes. Competent if bland voice acting and a fairly standard ‘hunt down the terrorists’ plot don’t really help these manikins deliver the dramatic goods either. If you’re a fan of the spy thriller genre then this might prove gripping enough to keep you enthralled, but if you’re like me it’ll fall more to the gameplay to keep you hooked.

Lots of achievement-like challenges and the cooperative and competitive team-based multiplayer modes extend the game’s lifespan considerably, especially for those perfectionists who won’t be able to put the game away without completely mastering missions in their chosen play style. Fortunately, completed campaign missions can be replayed at any time so you’re free to hone your skills without advancing any further in the plot. Or if you’re starting to struggle you can always build up the cash for the equipment upgrades to make future missions easier. It’s a nice little touch for a game that can be relentlessly difficult in places.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist’s flexible gameplay means it’s probably a safe bet that fans of the series or genre in general will enjoy their time here. Whether you take pleasure in sneaking around entire buildings filled with guards or mowing through them all with machine gun fire, Blacklist can give you what you want and no matter which path you take it always feels rewarding as you do achieve your goals.

No doubt we’ll see more Splinter Cell games in the future but it’s entirely possible this will be the series’ last outing on this generation of consoles so it’s nice to see Sam go out on a bit of a high note.

Pros:
+ Flexible gamplay with rewards for different playing styles.
+ Great gear customisation.
+ Extra modes extend the game’s lifespan.

Cons:
- Rough graphics in places.
- Uninspired plot.
- Occasionally frustrating trial-and-error gameplay.

SPOnG score: 8/10