@Casey25 said:
I respect your opinion.
But I felt quite the opposite.
I've played all the splinter cells. The first, Pandora Tomorrow, Chaos Theory, Double Agent, Conviction. I didnt play the original xbox version of double agent though. Anyway, I've pretty much played them all.
Below is my verbose response/rant that probably isnt worth reading. TLDR is below the spoiler.
To me, Splinter Cell games historically have had slow, shallow, and all around dull storylines. The main attraction was Sam Fisher who is a kinda-realistic version of solid snake or any other super-military-spy-type-dude that goes on insane covert missions for the government and is an all around badass. In terms of gameplay, they revolved around completing missions that could last an hour and a half or more. Parts of levels required trial and error, learning what gadgets might work where, and getting to grips with the clumsy interaction system and controls. You had to slow down, take your time, and make a plan almost every moment in those games, often times because the controls and ui dont allow for any sort of fluidity or natural movement. A lot of people seem to forget how touchy it could be simply to choose one of 3 options when you're approaching a door or like trying to grab an enemy and having to be directly behind them while they're walking and not having the grab option appear but DONT GET TOOO CLOSE or they'll detect you.
I see SCV or Conviction as a sort of reboot and simultaneously a conclusion of the old Sam Fisher's style and story, respectively. Ubisoft had experimented with more fluid and actiony controls with SC Chaos Theory and DA's spies vs mercs mode, where spies had a much easier time moving around and getting stuff done compared to the Single Player's "Okay, lets do this simple contextual action. K now activate it, wait, i moved too far to the right so i cant do this action. Wait,i just did something else, wtf, this is taking forever."
I like SCV and I like the look of Blacklist because, like how i remember ubi's PR talk went, it makes you feel like Sam is a Predator and not a clumsy, inept meter-maniac who cant handle himself when shit just needs to die. It did stealth combat and stealth tactics well enough and it was uncommon that i felt like i didnt have control. And it had excuses for sam to be more aggressive-stealth than passive-stealth because Sam wasn't just Fifth Freedom status, he was Fifth Freedom AND a furious renegade trying to kill his way to finding his daughter. The Coop in Conviction was REALLY GOOD too but i imagine people who didnt have friends to play coop wouldn't know.
To me, Blacklist looks like the game Ubisoft WANTED Conviction to be, but couldn't quite make it to be. It looks extremely fluid with gorgeous (gruesome) animations and a stronger cinematic intensity. I expect it to play much like Conviction while still capturing a taste of the multitudinous paths players can take in certain parts of the missions.
I'm not going to address every single point where i disagree with you because this is already too long and because opinions, yo. I personally agree with the direction Ubi has taken SC and the balance between fluidity and diversity.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist is looking great. And i'm very happy, because they took a game I've enjoyed for what it's worth since original xbox times, rebooted it with SC Conviction, and refined that to make a new, sexy looking, contemporary product. And finally, they'll likely gain many new fans, because what they showed today looked quite compelling. (seewutididthar?)
Man, if only they made the old school splinter cells in HD so people could go revisit those fond memori-OH WAIT THEY DID IT'S CALLED THE SPLINTER CELL HD COLLECTION GO PLAY IT NOW!
Ahem, so yeah this e3 demo of SCB got me super stoked for more details. I'll definitely be throwing my money at that. They also said Coop was back and bigger, so that'll be badass. AND...Spies vc Mercs is back! OMG!?!?!
I am looking forward to this game, if you couldn't tell.
EXACTLY how I feel about the series. I loved the original Splinter Cell games from last gen. I played all three start to finish multiple times. When the Chaos Theory demo was first released on an OXM disc, I played that one level probably 40 times just learning every minute detail, every possible way to pass it.
Double Agent was disappointing, but you could see the direction they wanted to go in. Conviction built on a few of those ideas, and I welcomed the change of pace.
I'm eager to see more of Blacklist. One of the dudes from Ubisoft stated during the Gamespot stage demo that they built the game to accommodate different play styles, which says to me that you could very easily play the level we've seen without nearly as much bloodshed and gunfire. Personally, I welcome the challenge of trying to stay invisible in broad daylight, rather than crawling around a darkened compound shooting out every light source.
Much like Hitman Absolution, I can almost guarantee that Ubisoft decided to show the "sizzle" demo for Blacklist, rather than the methodically paced stealth action that is sure to be present in the game as well. E3 isn't for fans, after all. It is first and foremost a show for buyers and investors, and sadly, 30 minutes of studying guard patterns and using your wits to avoid being spotted probably doesn't sell to well on the E3 stage.
As far as Michael Ironside goes, there were reports Ubisoft was trying to cut ties with him going back as far as Double Agent. Every thing I've ever read or heard suggests that he's difficult to work with and not worth the price tag, and his voice work in Conviction was shoddy at best. I'm sure part of me will miss his presence, but I play Splinter Cell games for the gameplay, not the voice work. I'll get over it.
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