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LTTP: Splinter Cell: BLACKLIST - aka Splinter Cell Conviction Theory
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BrassDragon
Member
One of the best stealth games I played recently and the upgrades/homebase are great additions. Co-op multiplayer is also a great experience if your partner is reasonably competent.
Having said that, the story is made of eyerolls. It's ironic that Far Cry gets so much flak for being culturally insenstive and politically incorrect, while the Clancy games have far more disturbing themes and objectionable political statements.
I particularly remember my missions in Iran, where I made a point of doing everything non-lethal - after all, at that point in the story the Iranians aren't villains, they're likely the scapegoat for the conspiracy you're trying to unravel. One plot thread was about bad guys trying to push Iran and the US to war so it didn't make sense to me to kill every Iranian government worker in my path.
Then of course you exfiltrate Iran by bombarding police vehicles on a civilian highway with a US stealth drone. Yeah, that's how the fifth freedom prevents a war.
Anyway, good game, great production values, could definitely use better writing.
Having said that, the story is made of eyerolls. It's ironic that Far Cry gets so much flak for being culturally insenstive and politically incorrect, while the Clancy games have far more disturbing themes and objectionable political statements.
I particularly remember my missions in Iran, where I made a point of doing everything non-lethal - after all, at that point in the story the Iranians aren't villains, they're likely the scapegoat for the conspiracy you're trying to unravel. One plot thread was about bad guys trying to push Iran and the US to war so it didn't make sense to me to kill every Iranian government worker in my path.
Then of course you exfiltrate Iran by bombarding police vehicles on a civilian highway with a US stealth drone. Yeah, that's how the fifth freedom prevents a war.
Anyway, good game, great production values, could definitely use better writing.
Maybe not that bad but you won't see it comeback anytime soon
This. Also, I was pleased with the graphics of the PS3 version.
Is the most fun this way. Only gripe after playing hours and hours on this is that LB should've been mapped for "A" button (park our), since the LB in perfectionist is pretty much obsolete. Right now free running is a bitch since you can't turn while you run
Projectjustice
Banned
I loved this game on Wii U. All the added gamepad features and no screen tearing made this such a joy to play. It really sucks this game didnt enjoy better sales.
Refreshment.01
Member
This is not necessarily true.
If one "bad" game is the reason that killed a franchise then how about a "bad" game the initiates a franchise and from there it just starts to improve and sell even more? Even more interesting is that what disaproves the notion of Conviction killing Splinter Cell is that the publisher that owns Splinter Cell also owns Assassins Creed. You know? Assassins Creed that series with the mediocre first game XD
Interest in Splinter Cell was diminishing and Ubsifot was too busy pushing their marketing muscle into other titles. Blacklist also had the unfortunate circunstances of releasing in a generational transition with no up ports made for the new consoles. Imagine having a game of Blacklist quality launching in both PS4 and X1.
DJSebolski
Member
Still waiting for Spiec VS Mercs DLC. I was hoping for old school maps like Warehouse, Hospital, Cinema etc. UBI should release Spies vs Mercs Standalone.
grosvenor_92
Member
I enjoyed the game quite a bit as I was quite skeptical going into it. It's sucks that game didn't sell what Ubisoft was hoping for but I still think we'll see a sequel though.
Wasn't a fan of the Mass Effect hub or extra characters but there was fantastic missions in there, not enough Grim ones though. Think Ubisoft threw in the Kitchen Sink and it was a bit uneven. The game could be a lot better being more focused and less about the stats, upgrades and overindulgent presentation.
I agree, but in all fairness the writer for Blacklist did a fairly decent job with actual character development - the main garbage of a plot and everything else is questionable at best - which is a huge surprise considering literally every over Tom Clancy game has none. I can actually name the entire crew on the Paladin but not any other characters in a R6/GR/HAWX game.
Also the first Splinter Cell game was probably unremarkable until Michael Ironside saw what he was doing and decided to give Sam Fisher more depth. If he didn't (or it were someone else doing the VO) I would argue that Sam Fisher would've just joined the ranks of literally forgettable Tom Clancy characters that just spout jingoistic nonsense, and any other Splinter Cell games would be cycling random generic spy characters as the games went on.
I don't think Ironside was prepared to have to come back and back again for the role. Remember the games can continue but that point the game stays the same, the character wears thin. How many more times can Sam Fisher sneak past terrorists where you can wring more character development out of Sam Fisher? You literally had to go to route of Double Agent then Conviction, which fans hated to varying degrees.
And then by that point, Sam Fisher is literally the defining point of the series, so you need to bring him back (whereas in other TC games you can just hit "generate random character" and form some faceless, unforgettable new characters) or people won't even think twice about saying they'll skip the game. Why do you think when gamers/game sites rank characters that of any Tom Clancy franchise, the only one to even show up is Sam Fisher?
NealMcCauley
Member
Very fun. Grabbed it when it was on a psn sale a while back with Chaos Theory. I was honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed myself; did a stealth no kill run and actually felt proud. Of course I had unlocked the crossbow and all bolt types by the Chicago mission which kinda made the game ridiculously easy.
I was impressed enough that I even downloaded the mobile spider bot game, which is pretty fun too.
I was impressed enough that I even downloaded the mobile spider bot game, which is pretty fun too.
legacyzero
Banned
Dont think it sold enough IIRC
But yeah, that would have been awesome. Would love to see a couple maps from SCDA as well.
JumpJeff84
Member
Chaos Theory is my favorite Splinter Cell game, my favorite stealth game, and one of my all time favorite games period.
I had a lot of fun with Blacklist- it's easily my second favorite game in the series. I played it on WiiU for some reason. Might pick it up again on PC...
I had a lot of fun with Blacklist- it's easily my second favorite game in the series. I played it on WiiU for some reason. Might pick it up again on PC...
SupremeLoser
Member
I LOVE Blacklist. Played the hell out of this when it first came out, then after I traded it in I had remorse and bought it back a few months later on sale.
Replaying the missions and using different routes/gadgets to get the different scores was so addictive. I even played quite a bit of the Spies v. Mercs mode, and I usually don't like playing online.
The Co-Op missions were great too, except for the very last mission which glitched out on me several times for some reason. I still need to go back and platinum this someday, I think I'm only missing the hardest difficulty trophy.
I hope this game sold enough to convince Ubisoft to make another one, as the gameplay was amazing. Story could have used a little polish, and unfortunately the new voice actor is no Michael Ironside....still I understand why they felt they had to make the change.
Replaying the missions and using different routes/gadgets to get the different scores was so addictive. I even played quite a bit of the Spies v. Mercs mode, and I usually don't like playing online.
The Co-Op missions were great too, except for the very last mission which glitched out on me several times for some reason. I still need to go back and platinum this someday, I think I'm only missing the hardest difficulty trophy.
I hope this game sold enough to convince Ubisoft to make another one, as the gameplay was amazing. Story could have used a little polish, and unfortunately the new voice actor is no Michael Ironside....still I understand why they felt they had to make the change.
keltickennedy
Member
Blacklist is definitely up there with Chaos Theory. Only thing that brings it down a bit are the some of the forced combat sections. Great game that also looks great on PC. Spies VS Mercs was pretty sweet for the most part too.
Totally. There are some characters that get carried over from Conviction, but it instantly fills you in are their background. There is a nice nod in the coop portion of the game for players who played the coop in conviction also. Wish the game would of sold better. It looks like they were planning on expanding on the cliff hanger with DLC.
Totally. There are some characters that get carried over from Conviction, but it instantly fills you in are their background. There is a nice nod in the coop portion of the game for players who played the coop in conviction also. Wish the game would of sold better. It looks like they were planning on expanding on the cliff hanger with DLC.
AsfaeksBR
Member
I actually agree.
I even wrote a pretty lenghy review (in portuguese) about it, something that I only do for the games I really enjoy.
And those who liked to ghost through the levels in SC:B gotta try Styx: Master of Shadows.
I'm sure I'll write a pretty lenghy review about it too, because the game is a joy to play!
JumpJeff84
Member
Pretty sure it didn't sell enough. The game was discounted almost immediately. Too bad, because they finally made a SC game that was reminiscent of Chaos Theory and it didn't end doing good numbers.
On another note: Chaos Theory still holds up really, really well. Especially on PC. Definitely worth going back to. It amazes me how modern that game feels, even graphically. It's still fun as hell.
vasametropolis
Member
I don't think it was a money thing. Ironside got to influence the character a lot, which in large part might be why we got things like Double Agent and Conviction. I think they wanted to go back to the gameplay roots, which didn't work with Ironside's vision of the character. It seems like creative differences may have been at play. I don't think they wanted to ditch him... I think they had to. As for their replacement, I didn't care so much by the end because the game was fantastic. But yeah, he wasn't a great choice.
Rogue Agent
Banned
A friend of mine recently bought this game for his laptop - it has the following specs:
17.3 inch LED Backlit Display with Truelife and HD+ resolution (1600 x 900)
i3-4030U processor (3M Cache, 1.9 GHz)
Windows 8.1 (64Bit) English
4GB Single Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (4GBx1)
Intel® HD Graphics 4400
Can anyone (who has this on PC) please recommend what settings to use to make this game run smoothly for these specs?
17.3 inch LED Backlit Display with Truelife and HD+ resolution (1600 x 900)
i3-4030U processor (3M Cache, 1.9 GHz)
Windows 8.1 (64Bit) English
4GB Single Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (4GBx1)
Intel® HD Graphics 4400
Can anyone (who has this on PC) please recommend what settings to use to make this game run smoothly for these specs?
d00d3n
Member
I like the game, but my big complaint is that the rewards structure is kind of fucked up. Why does the game only reward you for sticking to one of the three pure styles? The game is tedious to play 100% ghost, but playing 100% panther makes it really difficult to immerse yourself as a covert military operative. I tried to do a combination of both styles (trying to stay hidden but using weapons when necessary), but the game seemed to punish me for my decision when scores were tallied at the end of each level. I guess you can ignore the scores and the game telling you that you failed to reach the designated goals as a ghost or as a panther, but for me it felt unfair to be punished for trying to play pragmatically in synch with the story.
Denton
Member
Only played singleplayer, loved it.
It was simply great. Much better than I expected, and almost as good as Chaos Theory. It mostly loses in music and writing department (especially Sam's humor is mostly gone). But gameplay and level design are so so good.
This game, as well as various good AC games and Watch Dogs and FarCrys and Raymans and what not are the reason why I am not willing to write Ubisoft off, even after their numerous PR fuckups. They still make great games when they work.
It was simply great. Much better than I expected, and almost as good as Chaos Theory. It mostly loses in music and writing department (especially Sam's humor is mostly gone). But gameplay and level design are so so good.
This game, as well as various good AC games and Watch Dogs and FarCrys and Raymans and what not are the reason why I am not willing to write Ubisoft off, even after their numerous PR fuckups. They still make great games when they work.
Rogue Agent
Banned
Me, because I need some help running it on a specific laptop!
EDIT: Never mind, ignore this now since it has been solved.
prag16
Banned
Loved this game. Feel like they really nailed the stealth mechanics compared to other games in the series and other games in the genre. So good. Need to replay it at some point.
EDIT: Haha, just realized this was a semi-necro-bumped topic in which I had already weighed in on page one. -_-
EDIT: Haha, just realized this was a semi-necro-bumped topic in which I had already weighed in on page one. -_-
SniperHunter
Banned
wow this game is REALLY fucking good.
I am on the third mission at the moment and fucking loving it. Way better than MGS GZ or any other stealth game from the past two years.
But I get strange frame drops for no reasons though, game drops to 30 fps in a linear environment and open levels run at 60 fps :/
highly enjoyable, ubisoft toronto needs to make more games
I am on the third mission at the moment and fucking loving it. Way better than MGS GZ or any other stealth game from the past two years.
But I get strange frame drops for no reasons though, game drops to 30 fps in a linear environment and open levels run at 60 fps :/
highly enjoyable, ubisoft toronto needs to make more games
prag16
Banned
I really hope the bad sales of this one don't ruin our chance to get a solid successor on any reasonable timeframe. Definitely my favorite stealth game I've played, ahead of it's predecessors and Deus Ex games.
SniperHunter
Banned
yea, after playing this i have become a fan of ubisoft toronto. I hope the studio didnt bleed talent after releasing this, i know jade left a while ago
Yup, this worries me also.
I would hate to see Ubi move the next Splinter Cell in a different direction, because of Blacklist's poor sales. It's easily the best game they made last gen.
Refreshment.01
Member
That's a comparison that calls to me. Since the first Splinter Cell, i felt the Metal Gear series has fall behind in terms of mechanics, general gameplay and accessibility in comparison.
Black List is a great game. But it was victim of that weird spell that make gamers not care even about good things because they are focusing in what trends at the moment.
GreyOcelot
Member
hopefully they realize the sales issues, like advanced warfare, are due to the problems of conviction, not due to the direction they were taking the series. if anything they should go further and make it more like chaos theory, get rid of shit like the fps sections
SniperHunter
Banned
indeed, metal gear was always behind splinter cell since the beginning. sad it bombed
GavinUK86
Member
Sounds like vsync is doing that.
I love Blacklist. Replayed it more than any other Splinter Cell game. Wasn't Jade Raymond leading a team on a SC game before she left?
It's funny how much praise this game gets from GAF. At its reveal GAF shitted all over Blacklist. At its inital showing the game didn't even look bad; it seemed obvious to me that there would be other gameplay mechanics besides guns blazing. But GAF shitted on it because of silly reasons like it was in daylight and had airstrikes and shit. And then there were gifs like this that were circulated even after Ubi showcased the stealth options avaliable:
It was evident to me that it was the player's prerogative to throw out guns and slam through doors but these gifs circulated, parroting the idea that the only way to play this game was to kill everything loudly.
In retrospect Ubisoft didn't have the best initial showing of the game but I wish people would have given it more of a fair shake at first. It's a great game and one of the best Splinter Cells.
It was evident to me that it was the player's prerogative to throw out guns and slam through doors but these gifs circulated, parroting the idea that the only way to play this game was to kill everything loudly.
In retrospect Ubisoft didn't have the best initial showing of the game but I wish people would have given it more of a fair shake at first. It's a great game and one of the best Splinter Cells.
SniperHunter
Banned
how do i enable triple buffering with amd gpu? before i used this program but it doesnt work anymore on windows 8
I can imagine Ubi looking at The Phantom Pain, and swapping out Blacklist's Mass Effect style hub, to make the next Splinter Cell more open world.
If they replace all their usual towers with Grim missions, and have Chaos Theory style story missions, I can almost see it working.
It's funny how much praise this game gets from GAF. At its reveal GAF shitted all over Blacklist. At its inital showing the game didn't even look bad; it seemed obvious to me that there would be other gameplay mechanics besides guns blazing. But GAF shitted on it because of silly reasons like it was in daylight and had airstrikes and shit. And then there were gifs like this that were circulated even after Ubi showcased the stealth options avaliable:
It was evident to me that it was the player's prerogative to throw out guns and slam through doors but these gifs circulated, parroting the idea that the only way to play this game was to kill everything loudly.
In retrospect Ubisoft didn't have the best initial showing of the game but I wish people would have given it more of a fair shake at first. It's a great game and one of the best Splinter Cells.
Significant changes were made to the game's design in response to all of the negative feedback from the reveal. They took out the interactive torture sequences, forced assault sequences, and the airstrikes (as shown in the reveal). The three play-style structure was probably still in place, but I think the story missions were going to be much closer to Conviction originally.
Edit: Shit, double post.