Is it Time for a New Splinter Cell?

"In 2013, Splinter Cell: Blacklist came out of nowhere to return the franchise to what made it so great. A combination of Xbox exclusivity and poor reviews meant before Blacklist, I hadn’t taken Sam Fisher out for a ride since he was on the PS2. The reasons for Splinter Cell’s fall from grace isn't especially difficult to nail down. In the days of Call of Duty’s dominance and development by focus groups, turning a stealth game into a shooter made sense because it was all about the mass appeal. If you alienate your core fan base in the process, it’s only a small group of basement dwellers that wouldn’t know mass appeal if it jumped down from a conveniently placed pipe and broke their necks. -- PlayStation Enthusiast

[GreetingsfromCanada]

Is this satire? Blacklist received outstanding reviews according to its 84% on metacritic and released on PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii U.

[Yi-Long]

I never understood the criticism either. GamesTM scored it a 5, and because of all the negativity around fora and some reviews, I basically wrote it off and skipped it...

... until a local shop had a deal I couldn't resist; the Special Edition including the Sam Fisher statue, for only 30 euro.

So I bought and played it, expecting a mediocre Splinter Cell game, and instead it's absolutely my favourite in the series. Good story, great gameplay, and also a complete package, which offers freedom in how you tackle your missions, which makes you return many times to try different ways and obviously you will want to go all stealth.

[LonDonE]

Agreed i absolutely loved black list! i bought in on my wiiu and it was an awesome port.
Had no screen tearing (which was awefull on 360/ps3) and had an acceptable frame rate (by ubisoft standards lol).
Its actually one of the better ports on wiiu!

I am eagerly waiting for a new iteration of the franchise.

I think its sad that allot of fans skipped an excellent game due to them not using ironside as the voice of sam.

It was a bummer for sure but looking past that the game was solid.

It had a great co op hoard mode, co op missions mode, a competitive spies vs mercs mode and a awesome campaign with missions which could be replayed in so many ways.

[XBLSkull]

Blacklist was a redemption of the series, it was fantastic. It's what gives me hope that Recon and Rainbow can still be revived after horrible iterations.

[jmc8888]

Loved it too.

It gave you the option in how you wanted to tackle the levels. You could go more guns blazing, or pretty much all stealth.

Wii U version was amazing. Pretty decent use of the gamepad as well.

Enjoyed it until my seagate drive crashed my save near the end. With a huge backlong on all my consoles and PC, just haven't gone too far in the replay.

It's a great game though.

[user9950279]

SC is one of my favorite series, and the first one will always be one of my favorite games. Pretty sure I played that OXM demo disc until it was dust.

SC was one of the things I was expecting to see at E3, was disappointing by its absence. Although it looks like Wildlands is borrowing big time from SC stealth mechanics. At first glance I thought Wildlands was an open world Splinter Cell game.

[starchild]

Next to Chaos Theory I found Blacklist to be the best of the franchise. I absolutely loved it. I can't wait for another Splinter Cell game.

[Bigpappy]

Rise Of The Tomb Raider has taken a lot of its mechanics. They need to get back to stealth, and tone down the run and gun.

[KingKionic]

Tone down run and gun? Blacklist had heavy stealth mechanics in it.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

You had lots of options and its up to you to escalate all encounters and situations if you choose too.

[Bigpappy]

Black list is the only SC I ever passed on. That is great if they went back to their roots. But the 2 prior entries left me bored. I might play it if it is added to the BC list. I used to be a big fan of the series. Especially the first, which did not allow you to be careless.

[Shadonic]

Yea they really stepped it up in terms of bringing the stealth closer to its roots but its still seems like its kinda lacking. Yea guards can hear you now if your crouch walking incredibly fast, but couple that with the increased speed in takedowns and how close you have to actually be before they hear you compared to the earlier splinter cells then there's still some changes needed to really bring it up to its peak stealth gameplay.

I've never played it but have watched a bit. I could be wrong hope I am but all in all it just seems like they are getting to the right mix of action and stealth gameplay but just need a few tweaks. improving on AI awareness making the player have to be careful on how fast they move behind an enemy. Going guns blazing shouldn't always be punished like it was in previous games but at they same time it shouldn't be pushed exactly to the point that we have aimbot combo unlocks and there's not as much.

[user9950279]

Blacklist is an amazing stealth game, and even Conviction was a blast. Both games have incredible co-op. The base defense modes in Blacklist are insane. Pakistani Embassy on hard, good luck running and gunning lol.

[KingKionic]

He would be praying and taking L`s on the embassy on hard Lol

[Metallox]

Aside from the wacky (lots of bugs which can turn into funny glitches) and deficient perfomance, Blacklist is an excellent game, one that rewards for many gameplay approaches.

Like, I don't even understand why Ubisoft doesn't make more games like this one. It is linear but more overwhelming, satisfactory and cohesive than your regular Assassin's Creed and Watch Dogs.

This is why I think Ubisoft should use the same model for a hypothetical new Splinter Cell, because also Blacklist is just so good. How unfortunate that the title didn't do well comercially.

Also, Xbox exclusivity? Like what? Early release? exclusive content? I even remember that the Wii U version launched on the same date as the others, lol. And for what it's worth it, the game did ok with critics.

[Valenka]

We do need a new Splinter Cell, but in my opinion, it needs to be a modern take on the classic games. Conviction and Blacklist were solid experiences, but didn't feel like Splinter Cell to me at all.

[Shadonic]

I remember the leaked gameplay of what conviction was going to be with using the enviornment to our advantage and mechanics moving towards the idea of stealth action instead of the usual movie action.

[_-EDMIX-_]

God no. Splinter Cell 1 was amazing...Pandora tommorrow was pretty bad....Chaos Theory...easily the best Splinter Cell game annnnnnnd the last.

The rest are just as bad as Pandora Tomorrow, the story is now a joke, Sam Fisher was suppose to be old in 1, yet he's young in Blacklist, but a little old too? LOL!

I don't know if I want any Splinter Cell right now based on its last entries. That series for me died with Chaos Theory, i'd rather play that over again then get my heart broken again (sobs uncontrollably)

We need a reboot and honestly a new character. Sam's character in 1 is very much told from the GET GO that their are many like him, if he dies, he can be replaced.

Sooooo lol

[morganfell]

Its all about youth. There have been games I couldn't continue, regardless of the fanfare surrounding them because of some of those issues.

"I'm 19 years old and I am the main guy in charge of protecting the President."

Okay. Goodbye.

There are some leaps of fantasy I can take and some I cannot. For those that can, I am happy for you. I just can't. It was part of the aura around Sam. I preferred Sam when he was older and a bit of a curmudgeon.

[Bigpappy]

I have not played Black List because I didn't like the direction of the previous 2 entries, and Ironside was no longer going the voice. It felt like and experiment and I just wanted and could stealth game with Sam as know him.

I do agree with your reasoning. If I can't convince myself that the fantasy is logical, then I am not going to enjoy playing the role.

[_-EDMIX-_]

@Morgan-agreed. I loved his character in the first 3 games as being that seasoned, older fellow that knew his way around a kill lol.

The different teams handling the series is what ultimately ruined it for me.

This man went old, to getting older, to vampire he's young again lol.

I just didn't like how they where treating it. I mean...at least in MGS4, after 4 games, clearly his age began showing and he was not performing the moves and actions like he used to lol.

Hunching over for too long would cause him to actually lose stamina, pat his back etc, or him forgetting certain events in MGS1 during one of the parts of MGS4 where you returned to its location, those small things to tell the fans that Snake is indeed old, is something I would have LOVED for them to do with Sam as Sam easily has to be older if you consider the number of entries.

Hell if anything just make a prequel with him young if they want to do some games with a younger fisher in a fictional past.

I just don't care for the direction the games are going and would actually rather just buy the HD versions put out on PS3 vs even playing a new one.

I'd rather they make his daughter the next character, I'd rather they make him train the new guy, I'd rather they do anything other then, make him seem younger ignoring the entire series and changing the voice.

I'm ready for a reboot, but I feel Ubisoft needs to have clear and set instructions for other teams.

A.The man is saying old unless its a prequel.

B.Don't mess with core series story unless 1 writer is involved in all games during that gen, next gen after etc.

C.Core mechanics and concept must remain the same.

Just give me a damn scandal to quite down, give me a rouge agent to kill, give me a political hostage to save, give me a dictator to assassinate and I'm fine lol

They literally need to reboot and change the whole series back to normal lol, make the start of the new SP game where he wakes up from a coma and the last games where some sort of PTSD soldier dream lolz.

[ScorpiusX]

It's time for a new Splinter Cell and hopefully it brings cross play between Xbox one & Windows 10 pc players in Spy V's Merc. That's what I want.

[Vegamyster]

I'm hoping if they do make another with Spy VS Merc they increase the FOV for the merc, it must have been something like 50-55 in BL which made it a bit nauseating.

[Lennoxb63]

I wanna see Splinter Cell go back to its Chaos Theory type atmosphere while taking some of the newer mechanics with it.

[nbalive89]

They need to bring back micheal ironside to voice sam fisher not eric johnson

[ShaunCameron]

Someone needs to tell the author that SC:BL wasn't an XBox exclusive, and it received rather good reviews.

[starchild]

Yeah, he must be thinking of Conviction which was console exclusive to Xbox 360, but also came out on PC

[ShaunCameron]

Probably. But even that game got some good reviews and sold well as a 360 console exclusive, almost matching Blacklist's sales as a multiplatform game.

[Summons75]

Sure, as long as they get Ironside back. Blacklist was awesome....but that wasn't Sam Fisher. Or just reboot it and have a new main character and Sam show up every once in a while or get mentioned, kinda like Rainbow Six where it's new people but they mention the original crew and Mr. Six.

[Tdmd]

I absolutely loved The Blacklist, and am very much anticipating another one. Imho, it can't come soon enough.

[Kingdomcome247]

I've only played Blacklist, and I loved it.

[Germany7]

Maybe it's not my favorite series, but Blacklist it's a great game and i would buy a new game for sure.

[FPSFox]

This is a great game and I spent a ton of time online, but I miss the older style. My favorite in the series would have to be Pandora tomorrow. The old games stressed stealth more and punished players who even attempted half the shit you can get away with in the newer ones.

[FallenAngel1984]

Blacklist was a great entry point into the series for me. I wouldn't want another game rushed out just to meet demand. I'd like the next game to have ample time to take advantage of 8th gen hardware.

[dorron]

Blacklist was an amazing game, best since Chaos Theory, so bring in another one!

[masa2009]

Blacklist was a bit conflicted. It wanted to be a power trip like so many games today, so you had a level up system, aggressive techniques... but to balance it they had to put armored heavies à la Arkham/Uncharted, scripted sequences.

It was a way above average game but it felt a little bit like a package than something with a direction.

I think in the age of online gaming, stealth can not sell that big. People are used to getting a lot for their $60, including a large community that includes their friends, and a stealth game will always to be more divisive than a shooter. It will never be something that all your friends are interested in, they are just not games for the age of social gaming.

Yes, MGS continues to sell.
But that's because they captured their audience at a time when big narrative games were rare on consoles and people have kept an attachment, so there's this community keeping the buzz going online with speculations, etc... I doubt people really buy MGS because it is a stealth game.

SC never had that sort of pro wrestling/soap opera-like following to nurture the series' buzz. It was largely about the gameplay, so when the trend evolved towards big tentpole shooter IPs, this kind of more austere games was bound to see a downturn in sales.

I think maybe they should have kept the more narrative focus of Double Agent, and maybe go a more personal route, maybe make Sam and Enrica fugitives together.
To try and build some narrative and emotional attachment around the brand, otherwise on gameplay alone it's still too austere to sell as it used to in this day and age, even with the Conviction makeover.

Look at other stealth brands, it's all niche series like Styx or indie sniper stuff like Sniper Elite/Ghost Warrior.