We Review: Splinter Cell: Blacklist

American author Tom Clancy has penned many a spy novel and since the late 90s lent his name to a range of video game sneak-em-ups including the Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, and Splinter Cell series. His involvement in the creation of the games may be questionable but there’s a Clancy-esque technical and tactical nature to them. It’s never been a match for my loose and free style of play, as such none of these titles have lit up my radar.

Times are a-changing though, what with the economy on the downturn and the cost of video game development reaching atmospheric levels. Publishers and developers can’t just target one segment of the market as freely as they might have in the past. To broaden its appeal, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist casts a wider net into the pool of gamer stereotypes. As a newcomer to the franchise, I decided to test the waters.

A day one patch and a lengthy 20-minute game installation later, we’re stuck into the story of Blacklist. Sam Fisher, formerly of Third Echelon, has taken up a job with friend Vic Coste at private military company, Paladin Nine Security. It’s not long before a crafty terrorist plot catches the world unaware, and Fisher gets a promotion from the president of the United States of America. A terrorist organization known as the Engineers have set in motion the Blacklist — a set of ever more escalating attacks on US interests until the US pulls its military presence from several countries around the world. Newly appointed as the commander the counter-terrorism unit called Fourth Echelon (4E), Fisher and his team accrue many voyager miles on a worldwide mission to stop the terrorists and end the Blacklist countdown before it hits zero.

Fisher is the main operator on the missions, and receives constant intel on-the-go from the crew in the air. Each mission has its set of parameters, you are afforded some freedom on on how you get the job done. The game features three main styles of play: ghost, panther, and assault. With ghost, you aim to stay undetected and use nonlethal techniques but in assault you terminate with extreme prejudice. Panther style is the middle ground when you stalk and kill hostiles with hand-to-hand takedowns and silenced weapons while remaining hidden. You can choose to concentrate on one play style to max out your score at the end of each mission, or mix and match your styles as you encounter and attempt to overcome the different situations.

Blacklist throws around important-sounding terms such as DCS (Defense Clandestine Service), ELINT, DEVRGU, Quds Force, and spying computer worms in an attempt to add the air of real world-ism to the game. It may be serious in its execution but the game is certainly fun to play. The difficulty is right on the mark too, with the “normal” setting providing enough of a challenge for the average player. The AI has a major role to play in challenge. For the most part, they’re not just a bunch of stupids waiting to be dispatched. Sure, Fisher can indeed attract them to his location like a killer Anglerfish, but he can’t do it too many times, lest they get overly suspicious. They’ll notice weapons lying on the ground and change the focus to searching the surrounding area, and will be quick to raise the alarm if you’ve carelessly left a body lying around (tsk tsk). They can ruthlessly efficient and will make a beeline for wherever you are. Being spotted in Blacklist isn’t a death sentence but it does become significantly harder when reinforcements start bearing down on your last known location. Naturally, being stealthy is still the easiest and least unobtrusive way to complete your objectives. It becomes an addictive and all-consuming exercise to master the ghost level, but when it leads to frustration (or impatience on my part), going into panther or assault modes is as easy as firing bullets in the direction of the fleshy bodies. Ghost, however, also nets you the most points, and more points mean more money in the bank account to upgrade your gear, from the goggles on your head to right down to the boots that you toes go into.

While some third person shooters allow you to upgrade guns by adding a sight or an extended magazine, Blacklist throws a military base’s worth of gear out at you, complete with techy terms like bolt blueprinting and barrel accurisation and explanations of what the match grade components do. Fisher has the best gadgets too. Gadgets for recon and distraction like snake cams to peek under doors, noisemakers to attracts enemies into killing distance, sticky EMPs to short out lights and electronics if he’s too lazy to shoot them, and his handy tri-rotor recon drone can be sent off on sneaky sorties. Fisher’s iconic three-eyed night vision goggles make it all the better to see in the dark. These gadgets, goggles, op suit, and weapons can all be upgraded as can Paladin, the mobile headquarters that you’re travelling on. Experimentation with gadgets is fun but does give away your position if they don’t work as intended, like in London where tear gas is not as incapacitating on English louts as you’d think. Brief sections piloting the tri-rotor and UAVs provide a change in pace but they are too short to be of any significance. There’s also an inexplicable swap between third and first person sections that also add nothing to the experience.

Powered by the ageing Unreal Engine, the graphics in Blacklist aren’t the prettiest to look at compared to some of the other titles currently available. There are noticeable screen tearing issues, texture pop-ins, and a couple of small glitches brought a little humour to a stressful situation. A downed enemy got stuck in the wall, forever flailing around. Thankfully their epileptic dance moves don’t attract their friends. The sound design is also average at best, with the usual quiet tones when one is sneaking around that elevate at critical moments when you’ve been spotted. Blacklist is the first Splinter Cell game not to feature Michael Ironside. Instead he has been replaced with a sprightlier mocap actor Eric Johnson whom Ubisoft believes is not only capable of voicing Fisher but embodying his physicality as well. He gets the job done but Johnson sounds a little young for the character he is meant to be voicing. The supporting characters too are on autopilot and don’t seem to develop all that much as the story progresses. While Charlie the tech support guru and resident nerd bring the comic relief from time to time, the interactions between the characters feels too cold and clinical.

And speaking about leaving one cold, Blacklist features a set of asymmetric multiplayer modes, collectively known as Spies vs. Mercs, where teams need to work together to complete objectives. There are a handful of modes that are variations of the traditional capture-the-flag and king-of-the-hill modes. In these 4v4 or 3v3 modes, spies need to hack terminals and the mercs must stop them. Spies play in 3rd person view while the mercs play from the first person perspective. I found the maps to be on the large side, but more irritatingly, if you’re killed there is an 11 to 13 second wait until you can return to the action. Truly, it takes an urgency out of the game. Not all the modes are unlocked off the bat. For example, team deathmatch and uplink control (control uplink towers until transmissions are complete) can only be played after you’ve progressed through the training grounds and reach level 5. It doesn’t take all that long to get there, but it feels like a grind. While the team deathmatch gives the thrill of fast-paced kills, I have the same feelings about this as I did the lacklustre and terminally boring multiplayer in Tomb Raider.

Aside from the multiplayer, there isn’t a shortage of things to do in Blacklist. You’re presented with 13 main missions in the solo campaign, and a further 16 side missions that you can undertake missions for your 4E crew mates. These can be done either solo or split-screen, or you can co-op the levels with a friend or find a random partner online. While the story is a by-the-numbers tale with shallow character depth, the customization and upgrades are a good incentive to play on. While remaining undetected is very much part of the game, the mix of ghost, panther, and assault play styles makes the traditionally stealth-heavy franchise more accessible to trigger-happy players like me. It’s an elusive balance that Ubisoft has managed to find in Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Bravo, team.

Final score: 8 surreptitious prawns out of 10

Detailed Information
Developer: Ubisoft Toronto
Publisher: Ubisoft
Distributor: Megarom
Platforms: PS3 (reviewed), Xbox360, PC
Website: http://splintercell.ubi.com/blacklist/en-us/index.aspx