'Splinter Cell: Blacklist' Quick Hit Review

Quick Hit reviews are conversation-starters about games I’m enjoying at the moment, and not intended as full reviews.

When author Tom Clancy passed away recently it reminded me of two things: First, I needed to pick up a Tom Clancy book. It’s been years, and I always enjoyed his thrillers.

And second, I needed to play the latest Splinter Cell game—a franchise I haven’t played in almost as long, but one that I enjoyed back in the day a great deal.

While I haven’t picked up a book yet—I’m reading The Lies of Locke Lamoraat the moment and don’t intend to quit—I did fire up the game on my PC. I’m glad I did, too, because so far at least it’s absolutely terrific.

Graphics, voice-acting, the action-movie story, all of that stuff is great. But it’s really the stealth mechanics, the great upgrade system, and the really tight controls that make this game so much fun.

Missions are varied, and level design encourages exploration, finding secret paths, and rewards playing as a “Ghost” most of all. The stealthy, non-lethal path doles out the highest rewards. It also poses the greatest challenge, though run-and-gun in this game isn’t really a viable option.

On top of the solo campaign, tons of co-op and multiplayer options are available, giving the game even more variety. Lots of ways to play, numerous upgrades, myriad side missions, and (so far at least) an engaging military-thriller plot, all add up to make this a really well-rounded, balanced experience.

Interestingly enough, I started playing right after finishing Beyond: Two Souls. I had just finished writing about how the QTE mechanics inBeyond were actually immersion-breaking, and described the benefits of traditional control schemes thusly:

Far from being freed from the supposed repetitiveness of more traditional games, Beyond requires that we pay attention to the buttons all the time, much more than in a game where we simply learn the controls so completely that we never even think about them. In a well designed game, controls become an extension of thought, a bodily reaction that’s almost second nature. But that mastery comes after practice and failure.

Playing Splinter Cell: Blacklist, I found myself almost instantly more immersed in the game than I ever could become in Beyond.

The fluid controls, the simple-to-learn but hard-to-master style of play, it all comes very naturally. A well designed control scheme and, in third person shooters especially, a functional camera, makes for a wonderful experience.

That’s what Blacklist gives us: good solid gameplay, through and through.

Ubisoft released Splinter Cell: Blacklist on August 20th. The PC version received an 83/100 on Metacritic. FORBES contributor David Thier gave the game a glowing 9/10.

Exit Questions:

1) What is your favorite Tom Clancy novel?

2) What is your favorite Tom Clancy video game?

3) What is the best adaptation of Tom Clancy novel to the silver screen?

4) Aren’t you glad that Tom Clancy video games are unique IPs rather than movie adaptations?

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