Support NeoGAF

[The Antitype]

I had EXACTLY the same question at the top of the last page. You don't need any devices.

I found (with Sojgat's advice) that I wasn't staying far enough away from the dog (and I was pretty far away from that damn dog). The dog circles that low wall it starts near. Tag it and wait for it to reach the end furthest from you (near the jeep). Stay close to the right hand wall and circle around as it does. There will be a guard near the jeep but he's easy to avoid, whilst the dog should be headed back to it's starting point as you reach there. Slip past the guard and hey presto!

Did that make sense? Hope it helps. The dog you encounter later is the real problem...

I did get past him eventually thanks.

As for the second dog, I think I just got luck. I doubled back to where you enter that patio section, and hopped on on the ledge to get a view of the surroundings. And then I noticed there was pretty much a straight path to the pipe that leads you up and over the fence, to the door into the house. So I just booked it, and even when I crossed through some pretty well lit areas, nobody saw me... A few alertness indicators started to fill (enough that I would have been caught by that fucking high-value target I spoke about earlier), but never enough to cause a stir. Up the pipe, over the fence and in the house, and the mission was gravy from there.

 

[Screaming Meat]

Good games on Friday, Meat. I don't know why the game had so much trouble keeping us online and on the same team. Anyway I had fun, although that last game was kind of annoying since our team was just soooooo baaaaad and your team was soooo goooooood haha.

All good, man. Luck of the draw.

Smashed

Spoiler

The Detention Centre

and absolutely loved it. Fit my playing style to a T. Pretty tough going, too. Can't say I was as keen on the two missions that followed, particularly the complete waste of time that is American Fuel. Seemed like not only a waste of player's time but developer resources, too (much like half the levels in Hitman: Absolution XD). They could've made some more Grim missions instead...

 

[Dance Inferno]

All good, man. Luck of the draw.

Smashed

Spoiler

The Detention Centre

and absolutely loved it. Fit my playing style to a T. Pretty tough going, too. Can't say I was as keen on the two missions that followed, particularly the complete waste of time that is American Fuel. Seemed like not only a waste of player's time but developer resources, too (much like half the levels in Hitman: Absolution XD). They could've made some more Grim missions instead...

Haha I actually enjoyed American Fuel for some dumb reason. It was indeed a total waste of time in terms of the narrative, but I thought it was fun to play predator in that level. I'm not looking forward to trying to ghost it though, especially the last section... We'll see when I get to it.

 

[Screaming Meat]

Haha I actually enjoyed American Fuel for some dumb reason. It was indeed a total waste of time in terms of the narrative, but I thought it was fun to play predator in that level. I'm not looking forward to trying to ghost it though, especially the last section... We'll see when I get to it.

I think I got my level names mixed up, I meant the

Spoiler

one on the plane

was particularly pointless.

 

[Dance Inferno]

I think I got my level names mixed up, I meant the

Spoiler

one on the plane

was particularly pointless.

Oh, I see. Yeah that level was kinda dumb lol. I actually knew something like that would happen in the end game because the Paladin gave me massive Mass Effect Normandy vibes, and I knew Ubisoft would pull a

Spoiler

Mass Effect 2

and have a similar event...

 

[Screaming Meat]

Oh, I see. Yeah that level was kinda dumb lol. I actually knew something like that would happen in the end game because the Paladin gave me massive Mass Effect Normandy vibes, and I knew Ubisoft would pull a

Spoiler

Mass Effect 2

and have a similar event...

That's funny because Sam reminds me of Shepard quite a bit. I hope he gets a decent redesign when/if the next one gets made.

 

[Sober]

Bump for anyone who cares, but the PC version (steam key) is 30$ on the Humble Store for today.

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p/tomclancys_splintercellblacklist_storefront

Anyone who likes stealth games and is a bit on the fence about it should pick it up.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Ya know, I bought this for $25 on eBay, but there were all kind of nasty graphical glitches on Day 1 on PC that I didn't put up with for very long. If that's been patched out, I'll have to try it again

 

[RedSwirl]

So this is on sale on Steam now. How's the SvM community on PC? Does it even have lobbies or is it all P2P?

 

[The Antitype]

That's funny because Sam reminds me of Shepard quite a bit. I hope he gets a decent redesign when/if the next one gets made.

I didn't really have any problem with Sam's design or the voice-actor in Blacklist, but apparently I'm in the minority.

Ironside's work was crossing the line into self-parody, while this Sam Fisher gave off the vibes of a thoughtful professional, rather than a cynical old war dog. His cynicism about his job and about the dangers of the world were more subdued, replaced more with a begrudging acceptance of his responsibility and the threat of the Blacklist.

There was just more intelligence to his character this time out I thought, and that combined with the kind of rough, every-man look (rather than, again, the weary old war dog that's been through hell and looks the part), made him more convincing to me as an elite special forces guy, rather than a caricature.

 

[TheSinkingKnight]

This game is certainly better than Conviction, but it is surely not a true Splinter Cell title "for me". In 2002, I was a 9 year old, but the game was one of the best that I'd ever played. It was tough to get used to at first, but once I did it was amazing. I bought every Splinter Cell after that and they only got better and better.

Of course, it stopped getting better with Double Agent, but it was still a Splinter Cell title at heart unlike Conviction and Blacklist. Everything that I loved about the games were gone from the new titles. No more lockpicking, no more challenge, no reading of computer eMails, no code inputting, no interrogations with many NPC's.

Since Blacklist may, or may not have flopped, I hope Ubisoft will go back to the ways of the old Splinter Cells and treat it as a niche title, reduce the budget and make it download only (only chance of this happening, would be to do it like that).

 

[Dance Inferno]

This game is certainly better than Conviction, but it is surely not a true Splinter Cell title "for me". In 2002, I was a 9 year old, but the game was one of the best that I'd ever played. It was tough to get used to at first, but once I did it was amazing. I bought every Splinter Cell after that and they only got better and better.

Of course, it stopped getting better with Double Agent, but it was still a Splinter Cell title at heart unlike Conviction and Blacklist. Everything that I loved about the games were gone from the new titles. No more lockpicking, no more challenge, no reading of computer eMails, no code inputting, no interrogations with many NPC's.

Since Blacklist may, or may not have flopped, I hope Ubisoft will go back to the ways of the old Splinter Cells and treat it as a niche title, reduce the budget and make it download only (only chance of this happening, would be to do it like that).

How can you say Blacklist is not challenging? This is a pretty difficult game if you crank it up to perfectionist and try to ghost the game. Yes, the game is easy in the sense that everyone will be able to finish it, but it's trying to achieve the more difficult goals of total stealth that give the game its legs.

 

[TheSinkingKnight]

How can you say Blacklist is not challenging? This is a pretty difficult game if you crank it up to perfectionist and try to ghost the game. Yes, the game is easy in the sense that everyone will be able to finish it, but it's trying to achieve the more difficult goals of total stealth that give the game its legs.

Yes, it can be challenging at times on perfectionist, but it just lacks what the other SC titles had.

 

[omonimo]

Hope it come to ps4, I have no intention to play it with tons of tearing. Please ubi.

 

[Rated-Rsuperstar]

Hope it come to ps4, I have no intention to play it with tons of tearing. Please ubi.

I've only played through the first mission on ps3 and the game would really benefit from a resolution bump on consoles.

 

[Kinyou]

I have to say the game turned out to be much better than expected, a pleasant surprise.

The "boss" battle was a bit dumb, but still okay, my only real annoyance was the new Sam Fisher. The guy we had here was just really bland and all the talks with his daughter felt rather staged. Was really missing some of old Sam's personality there. What was also done rather weird was the "SMI" which apparently figured stuff out without the characters really knowing how. Some sarcastic comment about this future crap might have helped here and there.

 

[Dance Inferno]

I have to say the game turned out to be much better than expected, a pleasant surprise.

The "boss" battle was a bit dumb, but still okay, my only real annoyance was the new Sam Fisher. The guy we had here was just really bland and all the talks with his daughter felt rather staged. Was really missing some of old Sam's personality there. What was also done rather weird was the "SMI" which apparently figured stuff out without the characters really knowing how. Some sarcastic comment about this future crap might have helped here and there.

I thought the boss battle was fun, and it at least utilized Splinter Cell's mechanics to make an encounter that felt like it made sense within the context of being a stealth game.

I know a lot of people had issues with the new Sam but I actually liked him a lot. Ironside was always calm with an undercurrent of anger, and I think Eric Johnson did a good job of pulling that off. Was he better than Ironside? No. But he was still really enjoyable to watch.

 

[MYE]

How long is the campaign?

Thinking about getting it for Wii U

 

[SonnyBoy]

I loved the game, it'll be the closet we get to a true SC experience. That being said, it was still lacking something.

 

[Dance Inferno]

How long is the campaign?

Thinking about getting it for Wii U

It really varies depending on how long it takes you to clear each mission. On my first run I think it took me on average 40-60 minutes per mission, so probably around 8 hours for 10 missions? This is one of those games where you will want to replay missions though, so it can easily balloon past that. There are also a number of side missions (Probably in the 10-20 range; I haven't played them all), but those aren't part of the campaign.

 

[scitek]

I thought the boss battle was fun, and it at least utilized Splinter Cell's mechanics to make an encounter that felt like it made sense within the context of being a stealth game.

I know a lot of people had issues with the new Sam but I actually liked him a lot. Ironside was always calm with an undercurrent of anger, and I think Eric Johnson did a good job of pulling that off. Was he better than Ironside? No. But he was still really enjoyable to watch.

I didn't have a problem with the new VA, I had a problem with the writing. This was a totally different, absolutely generic Sam Fisher, and there were no moments of levity or any discernible personality traits exhibited to make him likable in the least. I appreciated how serious he was at times, even going so far as to demote Briggs for not leaving him behind to die at one point, but still, the writers could've done more.

Now, in the side missions, there actually were some light-hearted moments, and that made a world of difference, but that stuff was nowhere to be found throughout the central campaign.

 

[thenexus6]

Game was very solid, I paid full price knowing it would drop very quickly still don't regret. I wonder if many people still play on xbox live

 

[TheAngryMonkey]

I'm enjoying about 1/3 of the game because so far I haven't been able to do a coop game or SvM on Wii U.

 

[Dance Inferno]

I didn't have a problem with the new VA, I had a problem with the writing. This was a totally different, absolutely generic Sam Fisher, and there were no moments of levity or any discernible personality traits exhibited to make him likable in the least. I appreciated how serious he was at times, even going so far as to demote Briggs for not leaving him behind to die at one point, but still, the writers could've done more.

Now, in the side missions, there actually were some light-hearted moments, and that made a world of difference, but that stuff was nowhere to be found throughout the central campaign.

Yeah I can see that, the game did take itself pretty seriously. Sam in Blacklist is a serious, no-nonsense operative on a mission, but that can make for a pretty boring character at times. I'm guessing they did that to show you how serious and effective Sam is. Hopefully they infuse a little personality in the sequel.

Game was very solid, I paid full price knowing it would drop very quickly still don't regret. I wonder if many people still play on xbox live

I haven't played online in a month or two but I never had issues finding matches in the SvM Blacklist mode at least.

 

[Kinyou]

I thought the boss battle was fun, and it at least utilized Splinter Cell's mechanics to make an encounter that felt like it made sense within the context of being a stealth game.

I know a lot of people had issues with the new Sam but I actually liked him a lot. Ironside was always calm with an undercurrent of anger, and I think Eric Johnson did a good job of pulling that off. Was he better than Ironside? No. But he was still really enjoyable to watch.

Dumb sounded maybe a little too harsh. It's just this kind of thing where it stands a bit too much of how staged it is but I guess it's always a challenge to make a rewarding ending to a game that relies on "1 shot = 1 kill". Obviously do you not want to make some Uncharted 2 bulletsponge boss. And not having some sort of finale at all would probably feel bad as well.