I love Conviction and Blacklist. Its is an absolute crime that we have not had another Splinter Cell game since. I think BLacklist is the superior game but both are great. I love the real world setting and story. Its like an episode of 24. We need this franchise back.
Respectfully I would probably loved it if they kept it that way, but they are making a remake of the first one, being Ubisoft how it is right know they would bloat it with modern gaming practices and making it "modern audience friendly" so I dont expect much from a new Splinter Cell, so yeah...another franchise that's gonna loose it's meaning. Or I could be wrong I dunno, it's hard now, Ubisoft convincing me that they are capable of making good games anymore.
There is one big problem and that's the fact that they gutted Chaos Theory's stealth to where it's still black/white visual and the ambient sound isn't taken into account.
This game introduced me to a martial art I've been training for 6 years now, kinda forgot where I heard of systema and now that I'm watching your video I remeber I owe it to this game and it's motion capture lead Kevin Secours. Systema improved my life and coordination greatly, can't imagine my life without it now
It was always a little weird that Fisher was both the leader of 4th Echelon and its main operative. A better decision for Blacklist would have been to make Fisher the new leader, and have Michael Ironside voice him, then just give the new "boots on ground" guy a different name. Given that he had a different fighting style (wider spectrum of weapons, plus preference for a karambit over a straight blade), it would have made sense.
Even though some things being as broken as they were in multiplayer, spies vs Mercs is still my favorite multiplayer experience I’ve ever played, it was genuinely fun for me.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this was first SC game with in-order executions( order of tagging the enemies for kill-shots) where executed in that exact order. That made strategic takedowns look like action movie...
I love Splinter Cell I've played all of them and Blacklist is one of my favourites despite Michael Ironside not being in it. I particularly love the co-op parts of the game i have a lot of great memories playing co-op with my nephew.
I remember loving this game and when I finished the story they kinda imply that there's more enemies to deal with. Shame they seemingly abandoned this series.
Characters and dialogues are pretty bad and flat. And Fisher is horrible here. I can understand Ubisoft decision in this case but they should find someone more charismatic and non-boring for the iconic character. Btw, the game itself is awesome.
To anyone who owns this on PC and still says it's EASY. Needs to get mods. One mod in particular changes the AI detection system and removes/alters quite a few features. You can even get rid of the mark & execute. Which i never do lol the mod allows you to hide in shadows a lot better. The mod is based on Chaos Theory. It's just missing the closer than close animations. Definitely worth checking on nexus mods
I loved this game when I was younger and wouldn’t mind a replay at some point. A sequel would be great to see especially since the last two games have a bad habit of having some shadowy organisation that then just ceases to exist by the next game. It would be interesting if they dug into the engineers supporters and see the team have to navigate the international relations of nations as they seek to cripple their ability to do something like the blacklist again. This is just what I want and I’ll take whatever. I’ll also add on (you can probably tell story is a big deal to me) that blacklist did a good job showing what Fourth Echelon was in Benghazi with Briggs, this CIA officer who I treat as being army version of Sam in terms of his resume, breathing heavily whilst Sam is fine. Showing that their pace and operation tempo takes some getting used to.
Now I'm curious. What is your opinion on conviction? That was my favourite and my introduction to SC. Blacklist was pretty good but it had some goofy bugs and bad dialogue. I have also gone back and played the originals but was only able to complete double agent. It's also worth noting that DA is different when played on OG Xbox and 360, not sure about PC.
I'd argue there is a combat playstyle that comes naturally to games like these or your modern stealth hybrid, youd see with Stealth Gamer BR. Its essentially art of war where youre using grand distractions and last known positions to trap, steer and serve up your opposition or break up the reinforcements.
This playstyle is more fun in Blacklist than ghost. Playing cat and mouse with Last Known Position, setting traps to kill the enemies trying to rush you. Very fun
Blacklist is great, It's just a little fast. The older games played a lot slower and this combined with Sam being older gave it a certain vibe. Double Agent on 360 played like this, and it felt clunky so they overhauled the movement for conviction and worked on fluidity. Thing is, if you change how the game feels to play, you're basically changing the game. Even if it's objectively better, it's like great... but it's not Splinter Cell. Conviction and Blacklist would have done great as a new IP marketed as a successor to splinter cell.
Bro thank you so much for making this video. I found your video randomly but had to watch it. I also love this game. I have played the original games and I can understand people being upset that Michael Ironside left the project, but I thought the new actor did a great job in the role and the voice work never took me out of the game. I had a blast playing though in total stealth, upgrading my equipment to max and then going balls to the wall full panther assault rapidly killing while remaining undetected is exhilarating! I agree assault is a bad option but panther affords the perfect mix of fast pace run and gun without anyone knowing or killing them before they can react! Great video!
I played both PT and CT exclusively for the unique and still unmatched multiplayer experience. I remember seeing the versus trailers when I was like 14 or 15. It was mind blowing, the coolest thing I'd ever seen. I was too busy with versus to ever finish either campaign, it was just too good. Double Agent wasn't good enough to pull me away from CT. And then Blacklist went full casual mode with the versus gameplay. "Press X to kill Merc" gameplay versus CT's much more nuanced and strategic requirements. Having said all that, Blacklist's campaign was good and I can agree with most of the video. Nowadays, I don't want anything other than a CT remaster with versus included. Ubisoft isn't capable of making anything worthy for fans in the modern age. They are a shell of their former selves.
5:40 I get there are going to be different opinions but this is the main reason I don't like Blacklist. This game is absolutely designed to be a third person shooter. Particularly a cover based one. The sneaking in this game is not fine tuned and the shadows don't work half the time. They also only apply to the player when they do instead of every character. The stealth elements were an after thought and that actually was inadvertently proven to be the case by the Community Developer when going over the E3 demo later after reveal. Unfortunately the lessened focus on stealth elements hindered the stealth quality and that's why a lot of people including myself do not like the game. Perfectionist mode in my experience just made none of the playstyles viable. The stealth doesn't work great in the game and they artificially make the game harder for assault players by limiting the amount of ammo you receive. The same goes for removing the option to Mark & Execute. Removing the option doesn't suddenly turn it into a stealth game, it just removes a game feature for a game that is designed to be a third person cover based shooter. 6:45 If they followed Conviction's method this would've actually been done better because Conviction let you do any game mode on any mission. 7:28 A lot of folks that prefer the old games are more willing to accept innovation than you'd think. The issue comes when "innovation" is mistaken for creating an entirely different game. MGSV's gameplay was more of a Splinter Cell with action elements than Blacklist was. It would've been much better if the game played like MGSV. If you like Blacklist that's fine to like it but... I disagree a lot. I think Blacklist absolutely sucks mainly because of the points I made. It could've been better even with the action elements it had. The execution of having both action and stealth in the game was just horrible.
This is such a well-thought-out response, thanks for not being a troll. All fair points I know this game won’t appeal to everyone. I will be doing an MGSV video in the near future, I also love the gameplay in that one
@@ThisIsReviewable I hope you enjoy it. it's mechanically done well. I have my own gripes about MGSV but it's mechanics are for the most part pretty well done.
Love this comment. I played and beat every game in this series at least once (the first 3 multiple times) When they moved away from slow and methodical to cover shooter in Conviction, they lost my enthusiasm, but not my money. I won't lie, if they ever release another game, remake or not, I will buy it. However, I won't hold my breath for anything remotely close to the first 3 since I don't really think modern audiences will like the playstyle.
All games in the Splinter Cell series are great. Then the first 3 Thief games and that's it. There are other games with stealth and some with partial stealth but the series i mention are the grandfathers of stealth. What ?? MGS ?? what is that ? can i eat it ?
I used to play this all the time when I was a kid & they had a local co op mode I’d play with my brother all the time. Such a good game, even now all these years later it still plays so well. I wish they would make a new splinter cell, but instead Ubisoft keeps making things like skull & bones ac mirage. 😢
The only thing missing was wall split jump in blacklist and conviction and the interrogation dialogues with Sam sarcasm humour also the melee takedowns are downgrade from conviction I like the gun point blank shots sneaking from behind over the karambit takedown other than that it's a great splinter cell I enjoyed
I had a ridiculous amount of fun with this game, so replayable and concise, it was so much fun to keep trying for he cleanest fastest runs to clear a stage or any individual area. I wished they did more of these, a mix between chaos theory for the story and game mechanics, conviction for its grittyness and art design style, and blacklist for its replayable sections and flexible gameplay
The replayability on Blacklist was one of the best things about it. Getting full marks for each of the three play styles on every board plus the challenge modes was very rewarding. I don't get why people were ever down on Blacklist. I'm a long time stealth player -- all the Hitman games, most of the Assassin's Creed Games, most of the Metal Gear games -- I played them all to the 100%. I've also played every single Splinter Cell game. I'd put Blacklist ahead of most of the SC games -- definitively behind only Chaos Theory. (Incidentally, Double Agent gets my vote for most underappreciated SC game.)
I honestly love blacklist more than chaos theory.. pandora tomorrow was my intro to sam fisher but conviction and blacklist made me connect more with his style of tackling missions
I don't get why more people need to "like" the game. All that really matters is that people like it at all and the game has a cult following. You don't need to have overly obnoxious kids in mainstream followings ruining everything. It's why the Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil fandoms are so insufferable even if the Splinter Cell reddit will do everything in it's power to remind you of MGS. That and honestly, I'm going to say it, the stealth genre never really had a mainstream appeal, any chance of that ever happening got dashed away when Deus Ex(2000) added a run and gun option to compensate for it's weak stealth mechanics. But you are right, gameplay is king, the people who complain about Blacklist not having the same tone and writing as the trilogy are just weirdos, what if you had the the same tone and writing and it played like Superman 64? Exactly.
I agree, all that matters is enough people like it, with “enough” being the key word. But with the lack of anything splinter cell in the last 10 years, sans the wishy washy updates on the original remake, I’d wager that Ubisoft don’t feel confident that enough people really do like it. I hope I’m wrong though
@@ThisIsReviewable Far Cry and Assassin's Creed are pretty much Ubisoft's money making franchises. They just have an appeal that SC doesn't have as much as it pains me to admit it. Prince of Persia Lost Crown not doing well already tells me this.
I still think Convictions story was better. But everything else about Blacklist was incredible. And it still pisses me off that blacklist was the last Splinter Cell game from the 360/ps3 era. It was so much fun to play. We've gone through nearly two whole console generations and still no Splinter Cell game.
Blacklist is a good and fun game but I can't consider it as a true Splinter Cell game due to many reasons, from the story and characters to the gameplay and level design. A lot of great things from the old games are missing. And too many mechanics are designed to support the panther playstyle, making the stealth way too easy and shallow. As a stealth purist the only moments I enjoyed in this game are some parts of Guantanamo and Site F missions, which were about 5% of the game. Other than that the tension needed to make a stealth game enjoyable just wasn't there. Splinter Cell should definitely go back to the old slow paced and methodical hardcore gameplay from the 4 firts games to retrieve its former glory. However the gameplay brought by Conviction and Blacklist still has some potential so I think Ubisoft should use it to make a spin off game or even create a new series. PS : and people who dislike Blacklist aren't saying that the formula shouldn't evolve, they're just saying that Conviction and Blacklist dumbed down the original stealth gameplay. To me that game wasn't an innovation nor an evolution of the franchise, that was a regression. There are a lot of ways Splinter Cell could evolve and innovate, by making levels bigger and more open (not open world) like in MGS Ground Zeroes, by having an AI with a permanent memory, by making our gameplay actions having more impact on the story, by adding a precise health system that would affect our abilities, by adding a level editor allowing us to replay a mission with totally different parameters,...
It’s fun it’s got splitscreen and it’s got system link so you can play a lot of the game with friends and family. It’s good to unlock weapons and the graphics are great. You can play old school stealth or go in firing. 10/10 No it’s not chaos theory which is hard and almost impossible to… but also cool but no where near as much fun or accessible for people who don’t want to play a level 1000 times to finish it
He had cancer at the time but he has since went back to playing Sam again in Ghost Recon. If Ubi is making another Splinter Cell, he'll probably be back.
I really should give Blacklist another chance. I was unfair to it when it came out in part due to the lack of Ironside and the reason they gave for him not being in the game. Which in hindsight was very respectful of Ubisoft. My other reason for being a bit unfair was the action heavy nature of the game, and what I thought back then were COD influences. The examples being the forced shooting sections, the first person section, and I'm pretty sure there is at least one mission where it is just an interactive cutscene, although I might be miss remembering this last one. Because of the above things I didn't engage with the gameplay like I had done previous entries.
Blacklist is my favourite Splinter Cell game. The corr of the game is incredible and allows for accessibility for different playstyles which is always good. Every track is a banger and the story, while simple, was elevated by the change in dynamic with Sam being the leader. Every character has an arc and the game did co-op and multiplayer beautifully.
If you are a fan of the first 3 games and have not played this game. Don't play it. Do not trust this person; he doesn't know what he's talking about. Definitely don't play on PC. You have been warned. Blacklist doesn't let you play as old games. Changing the game to suit "modern audiences" is a slap in the face to the old games and the customers. SC was about moving slowly in the dark and thinking ahead. SC takes place in dark interiors. Blacklist's movement is significantly faster, changing the feeling of the game, and you spend a lot of time outside in the sunlight. SC had gunplay that forced you to plan your shots and take your time. Blacklist aims for you so that you can sprint around. SC had enemies that would quickly spot you. Blacklist has relatively blind and deaf enemies. If you think you are "playing it similarly to the old games," it's only in your imagination. There's no wall-jumping. You can't even swap the camera to your other shoulder. The cover system is horrible. It forces you to aim places that you don't want to aim -- not the center of the screen or even in a logical direction. It will snap you to cover that you don't want to be on. It occasionally will not allow you to move to cover that you do want to be on, even when it's the only logical piece of cover. It can cause you to be spotted, and that's kind of a problem in stealth. Instead of having shadows to hide your movement, they added silly-looking animations for "gamers" to watch. There is no fluidity to the movement. They placed a cinematic look above gameplay. Animations delay, slow, or outright cancel player controls. There's a delay for shooting when moving. It forces you to stop to throw items. Reloading makes you move absurdly slowly. You can't simply drop down, as it forces you to grab every ledge on the way. Movement is based on the camera's aim, causing constant changes of direction if you're trying to move while finding/tracking enemies. The "interact" key is the same as the "climb" key, causing you to open doors and windows when you're trying to climb. Opening doors will place you in the doorway, and takedowns will occasionally put you into the open instead of pulling the enemy toward you or simply not going past their position. Sprinting forces you to jump up or down objects, including ziplines. 'You shouldn't be sprinting around in a stealth game!' First, no, sprinting is useful in stealth. Second, why have it in the game? What is the "assault" style for? You do not need armor to play the assault style. It's more of a hindrance than a benefit. I can list a bunch of other problems with the implementation and the design of the game, but I've said enough to warn you that it does not play like the first 3 games (4 if you include DA on Xbox.) Do not trust this person simply saying, 'The movement is fluid,' or 'You can play it in the same way as the older games.' As a tiny defense of the game and the video's author, the Grim missions can be enjoyable if you play them without interacting, in any way, with the enemies. However, there are only 3 of them, and they're short. Plus, you will probably be annoyed by the horrible controls and such at some point. It's not worth giving Ubisoft money. It's not Splinter Cell.
Oh, and the cover system being a replacement for hiding in shadows also looks ridiculous, as "Sam's" head is poking over the cover, and enemies will walk right up to the cover without seeing him. They would clearly see his head as they approach, and they would see his body as they get close. The game is a joke. You don't get that intense feeling of being very close to an enemy who can't see you because it's so dark but might see you if he gets close enough. Instead, you become invisible by attaching to a piece of cover, and you sit there rolling your eyes as the enemies don't see the human right in front of them in broad daylight.
The only thing I didn’t like about blacklist was sam’s voice actor and it wasn’t his fault and doesn’t mean the dude was bad but to me he was no Sam fisher.. an that gd prison level.. fck that level.
Replaying Blacklist these days. And I have to say ITS GREAT. Beautiful as f... Always loved Splinter Cell and stealth game. And Pandora tomorrow was also my first game ever. Wish we get a new SC soon.
A good stealth game will have great stealth mechanics that punish you if you go loud. An amazing stealth game will give you multiple tools to solve the puzzle as you see fit. The all time best focused stealth games, including immersive sims and rpgs like cyberpunk, are that good because they dont tailor a game in which you are forced a specific path. Including tools that can go loud but have room to improvise and adapt is an essential step to improve the game and make it even better. Hardcore fans that want the game to only be playable in a way dont realize that allowing different play styles is a key component to improve the pure stealth gameplay. See dishonored, the inclusion of tools that are lethal and loud is a key factor to make the pure stealth approach have even more variety. A great stealth game is all about environment puzzles, level design and tools. These three need to be planned and designed near perfection to make the game work.
It has no quicksave and forces you to reply entire sections, since it autosaves only rarely and in the move inconvenient areas. This is the only reason why it was a failure. I gave up on it out of frustration. I always said it, add quicksave support and it would be almost as good as Chaos Theory.
I think it's a great game for a more modern audience. However, I personally don't care for how automated the series has slowly become since Conviction (and arguably Double Agent).
I think Eric Johnson (?) who portrayed Sam in this title did a solid job, but the writing was leaning too serious and missing the old Ironside titles usual antics. The whole plot was serviceable, I don't mind that, but also was a bit too serious for characters to breath some levity in (maybe except Kobin). The gameplay is mad fun whichever way you want to play, a massive improvement and refined from Conviction (which I tended to treat that as a one-off). I have played since the first game but I'm not that hardcore, I wouldn't write this off as being an inappropriate entry to the franchise. In fact it was course-correcting back to the sweet spots if given more titles. Blacklist is a good and fun game that probably came out at the wrong time where expectations were high from both audiences and publisher, so it remains the latest entry .... Blacklist enjoyers should not be blacklisted for liking Blacklist.
@@ThisIsReviewable Sniper Elite 3, 4 and 5 are definitely where it's at, with 4 probably being the best. The Hitman games are good but I like the older games more, check out Silent Assassin, Blood Money and Contracts before moving on to the new ones. The new ones aren't particularly bad, I just felt the levels were too big and they lost some of that dark atmosphere.
I am probably the most critical Splinter Cell fan out there... I think the first game was the best one and I hate Chaos Theory for being overrated as fuck... and I have to say Blacklist is actually the second best entry in the series... if you play it on professional... the engine sucks though...
It could use a facelift for sure, but I'm a big fan of the core of what's here gameplay-wise. If I could have a graphically updated blacklist-esque sequel with some quality-of-life improvements to some of the mechanics, that would be a peak game for me
I absolutely love Blacklist..my favorite one so far and yes ive played chaos theory..i just personally love the freedom, and the overall gameplay.. i actually do love Sams new voice more im probably gonna get butchered for this but i dont care, michael ironsides voice was obviously amazing just to put that out there. And to me the story of blacklist is pretty good. Definitely hated on for no reason. I agree with you on the innovation part as well..ubisoft just improved what was already there..and personally i think having freedom to play these missions however you want is really the best move possible.. and one more thing.. maybe the reason why Sam isnt so sarcastic anymore might be because 1. Vic got severely wounded 2. He has limited time to stop the blacklist while also being in command of the whole Op. Just to put that out there..maybe that is why he aint sarcastic cuz hes extremely stressed and pressed on time..Just my way of seeing it while playing through the story.
Having played the first one when it came out, and all of the rest... I agree. Blacklist I great. My favorite one for gameplay. Too bad Sam is such a downer, otherwise it would be a clear #1 in the series for me
Blacklist is extremely fun, it’s the best stealth power trip game I’ve ever played. Me and my brother would play the crap out of Convictions Multiplayer, so when they made Blacklist FULL of Co-op missions, we went ham
@@ThisIsReviewable haha woooo OOOOOOO low key my favorite Splinter Cell moment was his cameo in Ghost Recon - where they also hint to Solid Snake having passed on.
It's a great game. I own most them. Chaos theory being my favourite. This series needs to continue ASAP
I love Conviction and Blacklist. Its is an absolute crime that we have not had another Splinter Cell game since. I think BLacklist is the superior game but both are great. I love the real world setting and story. Its like an episode of 24. We need this franchise back.
I hate that Ubisoft has shelved this and we get so many AC and Far Cry games… I understand why ($$$) but I hate it
@@ThisIsReviewable Great job on the video.
Respectfully I would probably loved it if they kept it that way, but they are making a remake of the first one, being Ubisoft how it is right know they would bloat it with modern gaming practices and making it "modern audience friendly" so I dont expect much from a new Splinter Cell, so yeah...another franchise that's gonna loose it's meaning. Or I could be wrong I dunno, it's hard now, Ubisoft convincing me that they are capable of making good games anymore.
If you love blacklist. Trust me Double agent will leave a mark on your soul for the rest of your life. The story is legendary.
There is one big problem and that's the fact that they gutted Chaos Theory's stealth to where it's still black/white visual and the ambient sound isn't taken into account.
10 years later... I'm still waiting for a new Splinter Cell game..
This game introduced me to a martial art I've been training for 6 years now, kinda forgot where I heard of systema and now that I'm watching your video I remeber I owe it to this game and it's motion capture lead Kevin Secours. Systema improved my life and coordination greatly, can't imagine my life without it now
That’s awesome, who says video games can’t leave a dramatic impact
Hahah that is correct my man!
If Sam’s character wasn’t completely fucking dogshit then this would definitely be #2 behind Chaos Theory for me
It was always a little weird that Fisher was both the leader of 4th Echelon and its main operative. A better decision for Blacklist would have been to make Fisher the new leader, and have Michael Ironside voice him, then just give the new "boots on ground" guy a different name. Given that he had a different fighting style (wider spectrum of weapons, plus preference for a karambit over a straight blade), it would have made sense.
Finally! A man of culture. My very first splinter cell was the first game on the ps2, then chaos theory, and finally blacklist.
Men of culture gotta stick together
Even though some things being as broken as they were in multiplayer, spies vs Mercs is still my favorite multiplayer experience I’ve ever played, it was genuinely fun for me.
I was too late to this game to even get to play that mode sadly
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this was first SC game with in-order executions( order of tagging the enemies for kill-shots) where executed in that exact order. That made strategic takedowns look like action movie...
Conviction was my fav/most memorable. That and lambert going "god damn it fischer!" 😂
"You Picked Some Hill, Chum!"
*cocks glock.
I love Splinter Cell I've played all of them and Blacklist is one of my favourites despite Michael Ironside not being in it. I particularly love the co-op parts of the game i have a lot of great memories playing co-op with my nephew.
It’s so underrated. I love it. The only thing it’s missing is chaos theory style missions. If it had that it’d be even better than it is
I remember loving this game and when I finished the story they kinda imply that there's more enemies to deal with. Shame they seemingly abandoned this series.
I love every Splinter Cell. I hope Ubi will bring this series back, one day.
Besides the lack of Michael Ironside as Fisher, this game ? imo ? PEAK SC !
I was just going to comment the same thing. The gameplay is just peak and it’s funny how no Ubisoft game since has felt as smooth
Characters and dialogues are pretty bad and flat. And Fisher is horrible here. I can understand Ubisoft decision in this case but they should find someone more charismatic and non-boring for the iconic character.
Btw, the game itself is awesome.
The Metal Gear Solid soundtrack on top of Splinter Cell footage felt so weird, I can't describe it.
Always pleased to provide a disorienting experience
To anyone who owns this on PC and still says it's EASY. Needs to get mods. One mod in particular changes the AI detection system and removes/alters quite a few features. You can even get rid of the mark & execute. Which i never do lol the mod allows you to hide in shadows a lot better. The mod is based on Chaos Theory. It's just missing the closer than close animations. Definitely worth checking on nexus mods
I loved this game when I was younger and wouldn’t mind a replay at some point. A sequel would be great to see especially since the last two games have a bad habit of having some shadowy organisation that then just ceases to exist by the next game.
It would be interesting if they dug into the engineers supporters and see the team have to navigate the international relations of nations as they seek to cripple their ability to do something like the blacklist again. This is just what I want and I’ll take whatever.
I’ll also add on (you can probably tell story is a big deal to me) that blacklist did a good job showing what Fourth Echelon was in Benghazi with Briggs, this CIA officer who I treat as being army version of Sam in terms of his resume, breathing heavily whilst Sam is fine. Showing that their pace and operation tempo takes some getting used to.
Easy said: Chaos Theory and Blacklist are and always been my number 1 Favourites
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Now I'm curious. What is your opinion on conviction? That was my favourite and my introduction to SC. Blacklist was pretty good but it had some goofy bugs and bad dialogue. I have also gone back and played the originals but was only able to complete double agent. It's also worth noting that DA is different when played on OG Xbox and 360, not sure about PC.
I haven’t played conviction yet, I’m sure I will at some point but it’s in a long backlog unfortunately
Yeah it's only been out since the 360 days... plenty of time no rush 🙄 ha ha.
@@AedanBlackheart so you’re telling me you’ve finished all 360 era and before games on your backlog?
I'd argue there is a combat playstyle that comes naturally to games like these or your modern stealth hybrid, youd see with Stealth Gamer BR.
Its essentially art of war where youre using grand distractions and last known positions to trap, steer and serve up your opposition or break up the reinforcements.
This playstyle is more fun in Blacklist than ghost. Playing cat and mouse with Last Known Position, setting traps to kill the enemies trying to rush you. Very fun
Stealth Gamer BR ? You mean the brazilian who use cheat mods ?
@@yinxi161 arright if thats not an example. I mean stuff like this...
th-cam.com/users/shortsVEgcbJ2kc9U?si=VPaak93fJJNQAhYy
Blacklist is great, It's just a little fast.
The older games played a lot slower and this combined with Sam being older gave it a certain vibe.
Double Agent on 360 played like this, and it felt clunky so they overhauled the movement for conviction and worked on fluidity.
Thing is, if you change how the game feels to play, you're basically changing the game.
Even if it's objectively better, it's like great... but it's not Splinter Cell.
Conviction and Blacklist would have done great as a new IP marketed as a successor to splinter cell.
Bro thank you so much for making this video. I found your video randomly but had to watch it. I also love this game. I have played the original games and I can understand people being upset that Michael Ironside left the project, but I thought the new actor did a great job in the role and the voice work never took me out of the game. I had a blast playing though in total stealth, upgrading my equipment to max and then going balls to the wall full panther assault rapidly killing while remaining undetected is exhilarating! I agree assault is a bad option but panther affords the perfect mix of fast pace run and gun without anyone knowing or killing them before they can react! Great video!
Me and my cousin spent hours playing the co op! Such a fantastic game.
I played both PT and CT exclusively for the unique and still unmatched multiplayer experience. I remember seeing the versus trailers when I was like 14 or 15. It was mind blowing, the coolest thing I'd ever seen. I was too busy with versus to ever finish either campaign, it was just too good. Double Agent wasn't good enough to pull me away from CT. And then Blacklist went full casual mode with the versus gameplay. "Press X to kill Merc" gameplay versus CT's much more nuanced and strategic requirements. Having said all that, Blacklist's campaign was good and I can agree with most of the video. Nowadays, I don't want anything other than a CT remaster with versus included. Ubisoft isn't capable of making anything worthy for fans in the modern age. They are a shell of their former selves.
Oh bro Assault is extremely fun on multiplayer, especially when your friend is playing Panther
5:40
I get there are going to be different opinions but this is the main reason I don't like Blacklist.
This game is absolutely designed to be a third person shooter. Particularly a cover based one. The sneaking in this game is not fine tuned and the shadows don't work half the time. They also only apply to the player when they do instead of every character. The stealth elements were an after thought and that actually was inadvertently proven to be the case by the Community Developer when going over the E3 demo later after reveal. Unfortunately the lessened focus on stealth elements hindered the stealth quality and that's why a lot of people including myself do not like the game.
Perfectionist mode in my experience just made none of the playstyles viable. The stealth doesn't work great in the game and they artificially make the game harder for assault players by limiting the amount of ammo you receive. The same goes for removing the option to Mark & Execute. Removing the option doesn't suddenly turn it into a stealth game, it just removes a game feature for a game that is designed to be a third person cover based shooter.
6:45
If they followed Conviction's method this would've actually been done better because Conviction let you do any game mode on any mission.
7:28
A lot of folks that prefer the old games are more willing to accept innovation than you'd think. The issue comes when "innovation" is mistaken for creating an entirely different game. MGSV's gameplay was more of a Splinter Cell with action elements than Blacklist was. It would've been much better if the game played like MGSV.
If you like Blacklist that's fine to like it but... I disagree a lot. I think Blacklist absolutely sucks mainly because of the points I made. It could've been better even with the action elements it had. The execution of having both action and stealth in the game was just horrible.
This is such a well-thought-out response, thanks for not being a troll. All fair points I know this game won’t appeal to everyone. I will be doing an MGSV video in the near future, I also love the gameplay in that one
@@ThisIsReviewable
I hope you enjoy it. it's mechanically done well. I have my own gripes about MGSV but it's mechanics are for the most part pretty well done.
Love this comment. I played and beat every game in this series at least once (the first 3 multiple times)
When they moved away from slow and methodical to cover shooter in Conviction, they lost my enthusiasm, but not my money. I won't lie, if they ever release another game, remake or not, I will buy it. However, I won't hold my breath for anything remotely close to the first 3 since I don't really think modern audiences will like the playstyle.
All games in the Splinter Cell series are great. Then the first 3 Thief games and that's it. There are other games with stealth and some with partial stealth but the series i mention are the grandfathers of stealth. What ?? MGS ?? what is that ? can i eat it ?
Great review bro, I couldn't have said it better myself. Such a professional video for only 84 subs?! Keep up the great work!!!
I used to play this all the time when I was a kid & they had a local co op mode I’d play with my brother all the time. Such a good game, even now all these years later it still plays so well. I wish they would make a new splinter cell, but instead Ubisoft keeps making things like skull & bones ac mirage. 😢
Honestly I could make this exact same video about Conviction. I f***ing love that game
I haven’t played that one yet but I imagine I’ll get to it someday
The only problem with conviction is that it’s a different splitscreen coop campaign ?? Why weird
@@briansmith4520 Blacklist coop campaign is also different from single player
@@briansmith4520archaic af splitscreen. 😂
The only thing missing was wall split jump in blacklist and conviction and the interrogation dialogues with Sam sarcasm humour also the melee takedowns are downgrade from conviction I like the gun point blank shots sneaking from behind over the karambit takedown other than that it's a great splinter cell I enjoyed
I had a ridiculous amount of fun with this game, so replayable and concise, it was so much fun to keep trying for he cleanest fastest runs to clear a stage or any individual area.
I wished they did more of these, a mix between chaos theory for the story and game mechanics, conviction for its grittyness and art design style, and blacklist for its replayable sections and flexible gameplay
The replayability on Blacklist was one of the best things about it. Getting full marks for each of the three play styles on every board plus the challenge modes was very rewarding. I don't get why people were ever down on Blacklist.
I'm a long time stealth player -- all the Hitman games, most of the Assassin's Creed Games, most of the Metal Gear games -- I played them all to the 100%. I've also played every single Splinter Cell game. I'd put Blacklist ahead of most of the SC games -- definitively behind only Chaos Theory. (Incidentally, Double Agent gets my vote for most underappreciated SC game.)
I honestly love blacklist more than chaos theory.. pandora tomorrow was my intro to sam fisher but conviction and blacklist made me connect more with his style of tackling missions
I don't get why more people need to "like" the game. All that really matters is that people like it at all and the game has a cult following. You don't need to have overly obnoxious kids in mainstream followings ruining everything. It's why the Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil fandoms are so insufferable even if the Splinter Cell reddit will do everything in it's power to remind you of MGS.
That and honestly, I'm going to say it, the stealth genre never really had a mainstream appeal, any chance of that ever happening got dashed away when Deus Ex(2000) added a run and gun option to compensate for it's weak stealth mechanics.
But you are right, gameplay is king, the people who complain about Blacklist not having the same tone and writing as the trilogy are just weirdos, what if you had the the same tone and writing and it played like Superman 64? Exactly.
I agree, all that matters is enough people like it, with “enough” being the key word. But with the lack of anything splinter cell in the last 10 years, sans the wishy washy updates on the original remake, I’d wager that Ubisoft don’t feel confident that enough people really do like it. I hope I’m wrong though
@@ThisIsReviewable
Far Cry and Assassin's Creed are pretty much Ubisoft's money making franchises. They just have an appeal that SC doesn't have as much as it pains me to admit it. Prince of Persia Lost Crown not doing well already tells me this.
I still think Convictions story was better.
But everything else about Blacklist was incredible.
And it still pisses me off that blacklist was the last Splinter Cell game from the 360/ps3 era. It was so much fun to play.
We've gone through nearly two whole console generations and still no Splinter Cell game.
I loved this game and still own a physical of it as well.
Blacklist is a good and fun game but I can't consider it as a true Splinter Cell game due to many reasons, from the story and characters to the gameplay and level design. A lot of great things from the old games are missing. And too many mechanics are designed to support the panther playstyle, making the stealth way too easy and shallow.
As a stealth purist the only moments I enjoyed in this game are some parts of Guantanamo and Site F missions, which were about 5% of the game. Other than that the tension needed to make a stealth game enjoyable just wasn't there.
Splinter Cell should definitely go back to the old slow paced and methodical hardcore gameplay from the 4 firts games to retrieve its former glory.
However the gameplay brought by Conviction and Blacklist still has some potential so I think Ubisoft should use it to make a spin off game or even create a new series.
PS : and people who dislike Blacklist aren't saying that the formula shouldn't evolve, they're just saying that Conviction and Blacklist dumbed down the original stealth gameplay. To me that game wasn't an innovation nor an evolution of the franchise, that was a regression.
There are a lot of ways Splinter Cell could evolve and innovate, by making levels bigger and more open (not open world) like in MGS Ground Zeroes, by having an AI with a permanent memory, by making our gameplay actions having more impact on the story, by adding a precise health system that would affect our abilities, by adding a level editor allowing us to replay a mission with totally different parameters,...
I think they did stealth better in Breakpoint than they did it here, but OG SC still holds the crown for slow and methodical stealth.
I LOVED THIS GAME ! I thought I was the only one.
You’re not alone friend
It’s fun it’s got splitscreen and it’s got system link so you can play a lot of the game with friends and family. It’s good to unlock weapons and the graphics are great. You can play old school stealth or go in firing. 10/10
No it’s not chaos theory which is hard and almost impossible to… but also cool but no where near as much fun or accessible for people who don’t want to play a level 1000 times to finish it
one of the last good Ubisoft games
You should check out the new Prince of Persia if you’ve ever been into Metroidvanias, it’s actually excellent
Far Cry 4.
This Is Reviewable is a pretty cool name for a channel, not gonna lie
Much appreciated!
My favorite game on 360. I accidentally ruined my disc 2 soo.. I could only do so much):
I think Ubisoft should have kept Michael Ironside's voice as Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell: Black List
Let it go. Michael Ironside had cancer and ubisoft honored his wish for not disclosing that.
@@Messi-Isaac-Beghno Elsa, no we won't.
He had cancer at the time but he has since went back to playing Sam again in Ghost Recon. If Ubi is making another Splinter Cell, he'll probably be back.
I really should give Blacklist another chance. I was unfair to it when it came out in part due to the lack of Ironside and the reason they gave for him not being in the game. Which in hindsight was very respectful of Ubisoft.
My other reason for being a bit unfair was the action heavy nature of the game, and what I thought back then were COD influences. The examples being the forced shooting sections, the first person section, and I'm pretty sure there is at least one mission where it is just an interactive cutscene, although I might be miss remembering this last one.
Because of the above things I didn't engage with the gameplay like I had done previous entries.
Let us know what you think!
Blacklist is my favourite Splinter Cell game. The corr of the game is incredible and allows for accessibility for different playstyles which is always good. Every track is a banger and the story, while simple, was elevated by the change in dynamic with Sam being the leader.
Every character has an arc and the game did co-op and multiplayer beautifully.
Splinter Cell Blacklist is one of my favorite stealth action games
If you are a fan of the first 3 games and have not played this game. Don't play it. Do not trust this person; he doesn't know what he's talking about. Definitely don't play on PC. You have been warned.
Blacklist doesn't let you play as old games. Changing the game to suit "modern audiences" is a slap in the face to the old games and the customers. SC was about moving slowly in the dark and thinking ahead. SC takes place in dark interiors. Blacklist's movement is significantly faster, changing the feeling of the game, and you spend a lot of time outside in the sunlight. SC had gunplay that forced you to plan your shots and take your time. Blacklist aims for you so that you can sprint around. SC had enemies that would quickly spot you. Blacklist has relatively blind and deaf enemies. If you think you are "playing it similarly to the old games," it's only in your imagination. There's no wall-jumping. You can't even swap the camera to your other shoulder.
The cover system is horrible. It forces you to aim places that you don't want to aim -- not the center of the screen or even in a logical direction. It will snap you to cover that you don't want to be on. It occasionally will not allow you to move to cover that you do want to be on, even when it's the only logical piece of cover. It can cause you to be spotted, and that's kind of a problem in stealth. Instead of having shadows to hide your movement, they added silly-looking animations for "gamers" to watch.
There is no fluidity to the movement. They placed a cinematic look above gameplay. Animations delay, slow, or outright cancel player controls. There's a delay for shooting when moving. It forces you to stop to throw items. Reloading makes you move absurdly slowly. You can't simply drop down, as it forces you to grab every ledge on the way. Movement is based on the camera's aim, causing constant changes of direction if you're trying to move while finding/tracking enemies. The "interact" key is the same as the "climb" key, causing you to open doors and windows when you're trying to climb. Opening doors will place you in the doorway, and takedowns will occasionally put you into the open instead of pulling the enemy toward you or simply not going past their position. Sprinting forces you to jump up or down objects, including ziplines. 'You shouldn't be sprinting around in a stealth game!' First, no, sprinting is useful in stealth. Second, why have it in the game? What is the "assault" style for?
You do not need armor to play the assault style. It's more of a hindrance than a benefit.
I can list a bunch of other problems with the implementation and the design of the game, but I've said enough to warn you that it does not play like the first 3 games (4 if you include DA on Xbox.) Do not trust this person simply saying, 'The movement is fluid,' or 'You can play it in the same way as the older games.' As a tiny defense of the game and the video's author, the Grim missions can be enjoyable if you play them without interacting, in any way, with the enemies. However, there are only 3 of them, and they're short. Plus, you will probably be annoyed by the horrible controls and such at some point. It's not worth giving Ubisoft money. It's not Splinter Cell.
Oh, and the cover system being a replacement for hiding in shadows also looks ridiculous, as "Sam's" head is poking over the cover, and enemies will walk right up to the cover without seeing him. They would clearly see his head as they approach, and they would see his body as they get close. The game is a joke. You don't get that intense feeling of being very close to an enemy who can't see you because it's so dark but might see you if he gets close enough. Instead, you become invisible by attaching to a piece of cover, and you sit there rolling your eyes as the enemies don't see the human right in front of them in broad daylight.
Womp womp 😂
*its my favorite campaign in the franchise and the online was really fun 👍 but NOTHING beats Double Agent online* 🕵
The only thing I didn’t like about blacklist was sam’s voice actor and it wasn’t his fault and doesn’t mean the dude was bad but to me he was no Sam fisher.. an that gd prison level.. fck that level.
I hope you read the novels. In fact, I believe you'll like the first novel of Splinter Cell.
Replaying Blacklist these days. And I have to say ITS GREAT. Beautiful as f...
Always loved Splinter Cell and stealth game. And Pandora tomorrow was also my first game ever. Wish we get a new SC soon.
A good stealth game will have great stealth mechanics that punish you if you go loud. An amazing stealth game will give you multiple tools to solve the puzzle as you see fit. The all time best focused stealth games, including immersive sims and rpgs like cyberpunk, are that good because they dont tailor a game in which you are forced a specific path. Including tools that can go loud but have room to improvise and adapt is an essential step to improve the game and make it even better. Hardcore fans that want the game to only be playable in a way dont realize that allowing different play styles is a key component to improve the pure stealth gameplay. See dishonored, the inclusion of tools that are lethal and loud is a key factor to make the pure stealth approach have even more variety. A great stealth game is all about environment puzzles, level design and tools. These three need to be planned and designed near perfection to make the game work.
This game is great... its like conviction and chaos theory into one bundle.. i have replaying it now after 10years. Excellent games loved all of them
This game is definitely easier than every other splinter cell game, but
It has no quicksave and forces you to reply entire sections, since it autosaves only rarely and in the move inconvenient areas.
This is the only reason why it was a failure. I gave up on it out of frustration.
I always said it, add quicksave support and it would be almost as good as Chaos Theory.
agree
Blacklist is the most playable splinter cell game by todays standards and expectations by a mile people hate it too much
a totally awesome game and splinter cell game, the only prob is obvi the voice but that doesn't make the gameplay less incredible.
I respect, but wholeheartedly disagree with your opinion. That being said, I still liked and subscribed.
Pffft based 😂
My first Splinter Cell was Conviction and fell in love with it and then Blacklist really made me love Splinter Cell
I think it's a great game for a more modern audience. However, I personally don't care for how automated the series has slowly become since Conviction (and arguably Double Agent).
Splinter Cell lite.
Why the MGS music, doesn't fit Splinter Cell
It was all a ploy to create dissonance. Although the two series are definitely tied together by virtue of them both being stealth pioneers
I think Eric Johnson (?) who portrayed Sam in this title did a solid job, but the writing was leaning too serious and missing the old Ironside titles usual antics. The whole plot was serviceable, I don't mind that, but also was a bit too serious for characters to breath some levity in (maybe except Kobin).
The gameplay is mad fun whichever way you want to play, a massive improvement and refined from Conviction (which I tended to treat that as a one-off). I have played since the first game but I'm not that hardcore, I wouldn't write this off as being an inappropriate entry to the franchise. In fact it was course-correcting back to the sweet spots if given more titles. Blacklist is a good and fun game that probably came out at the wrong time where expectations were high from both audiences and publisher, so it remains the latest entry ....
Blacklist enjoyers should not be blacklisted for liking Blacklist.
That last bit is a great slogan haha
It's good but can't go back to it after playing Sniper Elite 3, 4 and 5. Levels are too small and cramped. The AI and graphics are really good though.
Still need to make my way over to sniper elite and Hitman for that matter but I’ve heard great things
@@ThisIsReviewable Sniper Elite 3, 4 and 5 are definitely where it's at, with 4 probably being the best. The Hitman games are good but I like the older games more, check out Silent Assassin, Blood Money and Contracts before moving on to the new ones. The new ones aren't particularly bad, I just felt the levels were too big and they lost some of that dark atmosphere.
@@Particle_GhostI agree with this. But I think Sniper Elite has atrocious gameplay mechanics. Everything just feels terrible in my opinion.
I am probably the most critical Splinter Cell fan out there... I think the first game was the best one and I hate Chaos Theory for being overrated as fuck... and I have to say Blacklist is actually the second best entry in the series... if you play it on professional... the engine sucks though...
It could use a facelift for sure, but I'm a big fan of the core of what's here gameplay-wise. If I could have a graphically updated blacklist-esque sequel with some quality-of-life improvements to some of the mechanics, that would be a peak game for me
Clunky jank controls and dated graphics with lack of lethal tactics, nah.
People don’t like this game?
I think more people do than don’t thankfully, but there’s definitely a contingent online that don’t think this is a real Splinter Cell game
I love Blacklist and I really want to love chaos theory but the controls on PC are just so terrible.
Agreed, I was digging the atmosphere and it still looks not bad but I wanted to play on controller and apparently you can’t on steam?
I absolutely love Blacklist..my favorite one so far and yes ive played chaos theory..i just personally love the freedom, and the overall gameplay.. i actually do love Sams new voice more im probably gonna get butchered for this but i dont care, michael ironsides voice was obviously amazing just to put that out there. And to me the story of blacklist is pretty good. Definitely hated on for no reason. I agree with you on the innovation part as well..ubisoft just improved what was already there..and personally i think having freedom to play these missions however you want is really the best move possible.. and one more thing.. maybe the reason why Sam isnt so sarcastic anymore might be because 1. Vic got severely wounded
2. He has limited time to stop the blacklist while also being in command of the whole Op.
Just to put that out there..maybe that is why he aint sarcastic cuz hes extremely stressed and pressed on time..Just my way of seeing it while playing through the story.
Metal Gear?
Having played the first one when it came out, and all of the rest... I agree. Blacklist I great. My favorite one for gameplay. Too bad Sam is such a downer, otherwise it would be a clear #1 in the series for me
It's a great Splinter Cell game.
Blacklist is extremely fun, it’s the best stealth power trip game I’ve ever played. Me and my brother would play the crap out of Convictions Multiplayer, so when they made Blacklist FULL of Co-op missions, we went ham
Conviction was better...
People disliked this game? it was great, I saw nothing but praise for it
There’s definitely a contingent that hates this game, mostly upset old-school fans
and metal gear solid musi cintro lol
And outro my friend
@@ThisIsReviewable haha woooo OOOOOOO
low key my favorite Splinter Cell moment was his cameo in Ghost Recon - where they also hint to Solid Snake having passed on.
100%
Well, you should be
Same.