Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Toronto
Genre: Third-Person Action
Platform: PC, PS3, PSN, X360, Xbox Live, Wii U
Released: August 20, 2013

Ratings

Story: 9/10
Design: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Presentation: 9/10
Overall score: 9/10

The game begins with an attack on a US Air Force base, from which our hero, field operative Sam Fisher barely escapes. The terrorist organisation who take responsibility for this attack call themselves The Engineers, and they demand that the United States withdraw all troops deployed overseas, or they will continue with their attack on United States’ military assets. To make things more intense, they begin a countdown to the next attack called Blacklist, and The Engineers promise that each attack will be deadlier than the previous one.

Meanwhile, we learn that the counter terrorist agency Third Echelon, which had been shut down due to corruption, has now been replaced with Fourth Echelon headed by Fisher. Returning to Fisher’s team is Anna 'Grim' Grímsdóttir, with whom Fisher has had friction in the past. What is immediately noticeable in Blacklist is the lack of actor Michael Ironside, who has been behind the deep and often sarcastic voice of the hero. Although Ubisoft’s official stance is that Ironside wasn’t “compatible with their new technology”, rumours of creative differences between Ironside and Ubisoft had been surfacing for years.

The new actor, Eric Johnson, does a serviceable job in Blacklist, but lacks the maturity of Ironside’s voice. This is especially odd considering that Fisher is a character with greying hair, yet his new voice is of a much younger man. Unfortunately for Johnson, there isn’t much dialog for him to work with in Blacklist either, and this is the least personal Sam Fisher adventure I’ve ever played since the first Splinter Cell. Perhaps the decision was taken because Ubisoft are still familiarising fans with the new voice, but Blacklist keeps its laser sights firmly focused on the main storyline.

In terms of style, Blacklist seems to have been inspired to some degree by Mass Effect. Similarly to the ship Normandy in the sci-fi game, Blacklist features an airborne HQ called The Paladin, where Sam can walk around and talk to crew members to unlock their personal missions, perform upgrades, and also select the main missions from a large map in the centre of the aircraft’s bridge. What’s more, Sam can be personally upgraded like Commander Shepherd from the Mass Effect series, through a menu where he shows off his gear in a pose that seems to have come straight out of the Bioware game. The entire flying HQ aspect certainly adds an interesting dynamic to the game, although I was waiting for Sam Fisher to plan his next mission against The Collectors.

On a last generation console such as the Xbox 360, Blacklist looks quite good, but on a decent PC, the game looks fantastic, featuring awesome graphics with excellent shadow effects that complement the game’s stealthy style. For a stealth game where you must often go undetected, the sound effects are as crucial as the visuals, and Blacklist is an audio feast in this area, especially for those with surround sound systems.

For fans of Conviction, the initial gameplay would seem instantly familiar. Playing in the 3rd person camera perspective as Sam Fisher, you go in and out of cover between objects elegantly, in a style that was popularised by Gears of War, but perhaps most revolutionised by Conviction. But unlike Conviction, this game doesn’t ask you to kill, rewarding shadowy styles in the same manner as Chaos Theory. That being said, Blacklist often gives you the freedom to kill should you choose, adding an improved version of the enjoyable ‘Mark & Execute’ gimmick, which allows you to tag specific targets and then shoot all of them like an expert marksman with a single press of a button.

What I liked most about the gameplay is that Blacklist gives you some amount of freedom to play your preferred style. You can go in with a mixture of stealth and aggression a la Conviction, or try to play as a shadow while remaining undetected. The game gives you these options with various equipment that you have at your disposal, including both deadly and non-lethal weapons. Most of the equipment has been featured in previous Splinter Cell games, but the game does include new toys including a drone that can be used to put guards to sleep with its darts.

For fans of Chaos Theory, the only way to play the game is at its highest difficulty, which is challenging and quite realistic, and takes away the ‘Mark & Execute’ feature. Well, as realistic as a grown man openly hiding under the shadow of a small plant in a room full of baddies can be. Making a return to the series is the green light detection meter on Fisher’s back, which lights up in the shadows. This replaces the visual cue from Conviction, where the environment would grey out when our hero was hidden. I am not sure if this is an improvement, because the light detection meter is quite obvious, and it is a wonder why the enemies don’t see the glowing green LEDs in the middle of a dark room.

Blacklist features excellent level design, offering excellent variety in missions that are mostly quite tense and a blast to play. Some are quite frustrating however, especially because the gameplay is unable to meet the stealthy rules of certain missions. Conversely, other missions are clearly designed for action gamers, and such levels are infuriating for those wishing to stick to the ‘Ghost’ style. I have especially mixed feelings about the final mission, which resorted to gratuitous action, and didn’t stick to the earlier conviction of the game.

These complaints aside, Blacklist features an excellent single player campaign, which is worth your time and money. Fortunately, the game also sports a brilliant 14 mission cooperative component that is as impressive as the main game. What’s more, the returning ‘Spies vs. Mercs’ multiplayer mode is a source of endless joy.

Blacklist finds great balance between stealth and action, allowing gamers to play mostly their preferred style with great effect by combining the best mechanics of Conviction with Chaos Theory. It may not be a perfect marriage, and some counselling is still required, but Blacklist is easily the best Splinter Cell game since Chaos Theory.