Splinter Cell: Blacklist is Set to Impress - Preview
by Alex St-Amour , posted on 09 June 2012 / 2,932 Views
One of the biggest titles revealed at Microsoft’s pre-E3 media briefing would definitely have to be Sam Fisher’s latest adventure, Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Sam leads the newly minted fourth Echelon against a deadly terrorist organization known as the Blacklist. To combat this new threat Sam will have to rely on his years of experience as well as new tools to help save the world yet again.
The demo that we were shown went through the same area that was shown when the game was revealed. Sam must infiltrate a terrorist encampment on the Iran/Iraq border in order to capture and interrogate a defector. The first thing you will notice is that Blacklist is definitely not your grandpa’s Splinter Cell (your grandpa is so cool). From what we’ve seen the game puts much less of an emphasis on sneaking around and hiding in the shadows than previous entries, instead Sam uses his advanced weaponry and the element of surprise to outwit his foes.
A great example of this is when Mr. Fisher finds himself outnumbered by a group of a half-dozen terrorists. By executing a stealth kill on the first one, he then gains access to his patented ‘mark and kill’ ability. What’s different in Blacklist is that once you’ve marked the order you want to hit your opponents Sam will barrel through, executing his enemies in brutal, efficient ways.
After a brief climbing section Sam arrives at the village proper. Here is where the game really shines. Sam now has numerous options as to how to get past the stronghold - you will be able to decide how to proceed. All the feasible options are there; you can go through the houses one by one, circumvent them completely, or (like the Ubisoft representative showing is the demo) climb onto the roof, distract some of the terrorists and lure them into a trap. It was cool, it was sweet, and it only got better from there.
The developers then explained to us that Splinter Cell: Blacklist is all about choices, whether through gameplay like the example above or through our good friend, the moral choice. Now we didn’t get to see many of these choices played out for us but just the thought of being able to write our own Splinter Cell story (because Tom Clancy’s a busy man) is a thrilling idea. The demo then closes with Sam finding a room filled with armed terrorists. His solution? Plant a door breaching explosive device on the door, sneak around to the side to a window, remotely detonate his bomb (drawing enemy attention) and finally breaking through the window, easily executing the baddies within.
The game is no slouch in the visuals department either. The graphics are some of the best I’ve seen, not only from the Splinter Cell universe but in general. The art direction is as ‘real’ as it get; the artists at Ubisoft have done a fantastic job re-creating the real world location presented in the demo.
From what you’ve just read it’s easy to see that I’m very excited for Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist. After my short time witnessing the game first hand I already believe that Ubisoft may just have created the most real, engaging and innovative Splinter Cell in a very long time, and I can’t wait for that controller to be in my hands guiding Sam Fisher through his mission. Splinter Cell: Blacklist will be launching in the Spring of 2013 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
