Ten Narrated Minutes of Splinter Cell: Blacklist

Let this title shuffle off this mortal coil and fade into that good night. It was a great run but this title seems to be abusing the shiveled tit of the cash cow that was the Splinter cell franchise. Also I will wholeheartedly agree with many people here that without Michael Ironsides voicing Sam Fisher I could give even less of a fuck about this release than I thought possible.

@blacklab: but killing people is a perfectly ok thing to do?

@MightyDuck: Go Ducks!

@mrcraggle said:

@blacklab: but killing people is a perfectly ok thing to do?

Don't play dumb. Of course it is.

@Alwaysrun said:

Let this title suffle off this mortal coil and fade into that good night. It was a great run and every title since Conviction seems to be abusing the shiveled tit of the cash cow that was the Splinter cell franchise. Also I will wholeheartedly agree with many people here that without Michael Ironsides voicing Sam fisher I could give even less of a fuck about this release than I thought possible.

I can empathize with your sentiment, but the only title since Conviction is this one.

Splinter Creed: Modern uncharted opsfare gear solid.

A non-stealth based stealth game based in a universe where you don't need to do be stealthy to actually be extra stealthy, also pull the trigger to kill everyone at once.

Moral Choice A: Kill dude.

Moral Choice B: Knife dude, knock him out, let bleed to death.

I never thought I'd see the day that Splinter Cell would jump the shark.

Dark days are ahead my friends.

This just looks lame. And like so many people have said, that "moral choice" was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen in a game. It's like the developers just looked at popular mechanics in other games and threw it in, just so they could say the game has choices. Another back of the box point.

It's like if in BioShock you could beat the shit out of a Little Sister then use the plasmid to save her from the slug. Just plain stupid.

@TorMasturba said:

Splinter Creed: Modern uncharted opsfare gear solid.

A non-stealth based stealth game based in a universe where you don't need to do be stealthy to actually be extra stealthy, also pull the trigger to kill everyone at once.

Yeah.

More Conviction? No, I'm good, thanks.

@AssInAss: Thanks for bringing that article to my attention. My bit about how everyone who thinks it's vomitous should say so was also directed at the simpering f***wits in this comments section who seem to be taking the "Well, if you don't like gruesome, torture-glorifying garbage, don't play it," as if that somehow invalidates any criticism of the phenomenon.

WTF. This looks nothing like Splinter Cell.

@blacklab said:

I will not buy a game where dogs are injured.

I'm just disappointed he didn't perform that overly aggressive chiropractic move on a cat too. The speciesist violence in video games and mass media at large has gone on for far too long. It's high time four-legged critters start biting the big one in ficition just as much as humans. Equality.

As for the "killing after tortue isn't a moral dilemma" discussion going on...

This is just me here, but if someone stabs me in the shoulder with a knife and twists it around, I would still rather he not kill me. You know, that shoulder might act up years later when the weather changes, but when you're dead you're kind of... you know... dead. That lasts a while.

And the game doesn't look much like previous Splinter Cell games at all. It actually looks suspiciously like a game I would want to play. Major difference there.

Ubisoft needs to take from Kojima's playbook and just end Fisher's story for good. That or actually commit to making Sam actually older and more decrepit. Or maybe Ubi is following exactly in Kojima's footsteps and what we're seeing is the first 2-3 hours while the rest of the game is played by a younger spy who now takes orders from Fisher.

I DON’T LIKE TOUTURE! IT’S A KILLFEST ACTION TITLE, THINK OF THE CHILDREN! IT’S NOT SPLINTER CELL ANYMORE! MICHAEL IRONSIDE ISN’T VOCING SAM FISHER 0/10! Seriously?!

It seems like the gaming community now consists of a bunch of whiny entitled morons who try to find reasons to hate what looks like a solid game. A shame...

@blacklab: So you didnt play Tomb Raider, CODMW2? It's a game, if you are disturbed by this, i'm afraid video games just isn't your thing matey. Maybe cross stitiching woud suit you better :)

Why's there so much bitching about a voice change and artistic liberty with Sam's age. If we can let it slide with 007 we can let it slide with a (ex)CIA agent. Game looks fun though I'm pumped for it.

@MooseyMcMan: so if a rabid dog was attacking you and biting your arm off and possibly killing you, you would not try your best to get it off you? "Sit boy" isn't really an option.

I am against hurting innocent animals, but that damn dog wasn't innocent

so are we done with stealth in Splinter cell?

I think I can see how PETA would make some publicity for themselves out of this game when it's out.

Special operator.......

So, I guess the Miguito storyline must have been dropped. Even though it is a sequel to Conviction.

Meh.

Mark and Execute is back? Uggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh.

And why does Sam sound like he's in his late 20s?

I understand that everything changes over time and you have to stay with it or become an old fart... but I really really don't like these new splintercell games, they seem too generic and like they're trying too hard to be "cool" and "relevant". I'd kill for a splintercell game like the originals.

I don't know why people are hating on this game. It looks awesome! No one is complaining about the "killing in motion" of the new Assassins Creed game.

@Delta_Ass said:

Mark and Execute is back? Uggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh.

And why does Sam sound like he's in his late 20s?

Because he's now being played by a guy who in his early 30's.

Even though Sam is in his late mid to late 50's. Kinda jarring, actually. Aside from a now Ironside-less Fisher, it's weird that it's a continuation, and not just a reboot.

Remember when Splinter was in the dark? Or when it was different than all the other shooters? Also I second the sound of "ugggh!" from all those sick of Mark and Execute. I can kill them myself, thanks.

Edit: I do however appreciate some of the AC additions to the game.

A quick couple of facts.

Sam Fisher's age was frozen at 48 as of Double Agent. According to articles at the time, they basically decided that he's a perpetual Bond type character that they wanted to keep around, even though in 1 through 3 he visibly - and this was supported by the fiction - aged.

Ubi have had problems getting Michael Ironside to stick around for a long time. He apparently complained a lot about the writing - which I guess is understandable given that he was mostly just a silent avatar, responding to orders in the first couple of games. Supposedly Double Agent was influenced somewhat by the desire to flesh Sam out as a character, but as we all know that went basically nowhere. When they showed off Double Agent, they had a different voice in trailers and whatnot, but got Michael Ironside to do it eventually. Dennis Haysbert was already replaced by a sound-a-like by Chaos Theory, however.

Thirdly, the performance capture technique they use now allows an actor to physically act out a scene with another actor, while simultaneously recording the dialogue. Apparently they had a difficult time getting a man of Ironside's physique to do combat rolls. Obviously, you can have one actor do the physical acting and one do the voice work, but then you're basically defeating the purpose. Also, when all the previous factors add up, you can see why they opted for a new guy.

I think it's too bad that they didn't stick with a deep voice, but hey if you're gonna bring in something new, maybe you don't want to ape what was a pretty iconic representation of the character.

Whether this "is Splinter Cell" or not isn't really an issue for me. I've been playing games for a good 20 years, and really, one of the most off putting things I know is when you play a series that makes the constant treading of water - that is frankly pretty prevalent when you stop and think about it - utterly palpable. For better or worse, Ubisoft change things up. Prince of Persia 2008 was a dramatic departure from the Sands of Time trilogy, and I swear people seem to genuinely wish they still played Sands of Time over and over with different tapestry. It used to be that video game companies could create new games with new names willy nilly, but that's simply not the reality of the industry any more. Conviction was effectively a new game playing to the rules of how the industry works, developed within the narrative/brand framework of Splinter Cell for brand awareness purposes. This is something people either need to get used to, or let go of somehow, because it's not going to change. Or whine about it some more I guess. As long as you're not making yourself miserable, I guess have at it.

They gimmicked the fuck out of my Splinter Cell.

RIP

Looks like another conviction, and I'm all up for that, specially if there's Coop,

@blacklab: That's the part that you picked out to hate on? There're a dozen other things that're fundamnetally wrong with this game.

Ubisoft are idiots. Everyone complained about how the quick execute made the game too easy... Now they put it in again and make it even easier... WTF are you doing Ubisoft? Also this isn't Sam Fisher... Just make a new character geez. Goodbye Splinter Cell.

The loss of Michael Ironside is really sad. His voice is Sam Fisher. To me it was almost like how Naughty Dog uses Nolan North for Nathan Drake. Without that iconic voice I feel like the game will be extremely lacking. Good luck new voice actor.

When you're trying to sell your in-game yet real-world murder techniques like you would a new car feature, it comes off as kinda fucked up.

No thanks.

It's too bad about losing Michael Ironside, but otherwise this looks awesome.

Looking more and more like Assassins Creed with guns every time I see it. That's not a good thing either...

...Chaos Theory was an awesome game. I guess that's the extent of my input on this series. This doesn't look like or as good as Chaos Theory, so boo.

Sam shoots two guys in the head, breaks the wrist of a third, jams a knife in his clavicle and tortures him. But before he's off to slice the throat of a guy and kill six more of his buddies, MORAL CHOICE.

Reminds me of the Doom comic.

And the moral choice is to kill the guy, or to knock him out, most likely leaving him to bleed to death.

I think someone didn't think this through.

And why did they blur out some of the button prompts?

I kept waiting for them to switch to a "And now lets see the same mission played out like a real splinter cell game instead of another generic modern shooter." but sadly that never came. Oh well.

@mlarrabee: Agreed. They've turned the character of Sam into a psychopath and the game into just another action shooter.

Most awkward thumbnail on the site.