Personally I absolutely love Michael Ironside's voice acting as Fisher in this series, even if he sometimes descends into slightly slurring his words for the sake of 'grittiness'.

However with this new entry in the franchise not featuring the voice of Mr Ironside, I kinda wish they'd created a new character, with maybe Ironside's voice on the other end of the headset.

This guy could have been someone Fisher trained over time, therefore explaining why/how he handles like Fisher, but then that also allows them to add new animation and abilities that would be slightly incongruous with an ever-aging Fisher (even though with the last game they just said 'fuck it'). I kinda thought the new guy in the E3 demo sounded almost like he was doing an impression of Fisher, although I understand he has to maintain consistency with the older games.

Anyway what do you guys think? Is Fisher as big as Snake or Drake as an iconic main character with a very definable voice, or are you happy with other people voicing him in a similar fashion?

Would a new character work in a game like this? Narratively I think they could totally tell the story of different SC agents and how Third Echelon keep them secret from each other.

Thoughts?

Cheers!

I just don't understand why they didn't pull a Bourne Legacy and introduce Sam Fisher's prodige. That would have been way better and easier to do and still leave consistency 100% intact.
 
But no.

@N7 said:

I just don't understand why they didn't pull a Bourne Legacy and introduce Sam Fisher's prodige. That would have been way better and easier to do and still leave consistency 100% intact.

But no.

I know... Seriously.

@N7 said:

I just don't understand why they didn't pull a Bourne Legacy and introduce Sam Fisher's prodige. That would have been way better and easier to do and still leave consistency 100% intact.

But no.

Totally man, I actually would have preferred that, because I think Fisher's story is DONE.

Exactly the way they should have done it. If they don't want Michael Ironside anymore (for whatever reasons), then just use a new character. The universe isn't THAT developed that Fisher is the only possible character. Changing the voice actor pisses off more people than changing the character would have.

While I agree I wont be playing it so it doesn't matter in the long run and the people they are targeting (new players) wont care.

I agree, though, making it someone new would have made sense if handled correctly. The game was never one where I felt it had to have Sam Fisher, and since he is getting old them replacing Fisher with someone younger would make sense.

But whatever haha- they wouldn't handle it well even if they did that and people would complain Fisher isn't in it at all.

Nah it is Fisher...a dev dude who is on these forums told me and linked me this article.

They needed a dude for the Mocap and voice acting AT the same time. So sadly no Ironside.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/06/04/splinter-cell-blacklist-video-michael-ironside/

@ShalashaskaUK666 said:

Personally I absolutely love Michael Ironside's voice acting as Fisher in this series, even if he sometimes descends into slightly slurring his words for the sake of 'grittiness'.

However with this new entry in the franchise not featuring the voice of Mr Ironside, I kinda wish they'd created a new character, with maybe Ironside's voice on the other end of the headset.

This guy could have been someone Fisher trained over time, therefore explaining why/how he handles like Fisher, but then that also allows them to add new animation and abilities that would be slightly incongruous with an ever-aging Fisher (even though with the last game they just said 'fuck it'). I kinda thought the new guy in the E3 demo sounded almost like he was doing an impression of Fisher, although I understand he has to maintain consistency with the older games.

Anyway what do you guys think? Is Fisher as big as Snake or Drake as an iconic main character with a very definable voice, or are you happy with other people voicing him in a similar fashion?

Would a new character work in a game like this? Narratively I think they could totally tell the story of different SC agents and how Third Echelon keep them secret from each other.

Thoughts?

Cheers!

Awww no I thought it was just a placeholder voice for the presentation :( I loved michael ironsides world-weary lines, with a younger guy it just doesnt fit.

@ShalashaskaUK666: Call me crazy, but Sam Fisher looks awful young in that demonstration. Coupled with the new voice, is it possible for this to be a prequel?

No Ironside, no purchase.

@project343 said:

@ShalashaskaUK666: Call me crazy, but Sam Fisher looks awful young in that demonstration. Coupled with the new voice, is it possible for this to be a prequel?

Nope, not unless we're really bad at math. Sam is part of "4th Echelon" in Blacklist which comes after "3rd Echelon".

QUAID!!!!!!!!!

(insert three boobed girl)

@project343 said:

@ShalashaskaUK666: Call me crazy, but Sam Fisher looks awful young in that demonstration. Coupled with the new voice, is it possible for this to be a prequel?

Sadly not, the dudes guiding the demo said Fisher was the head of 3rd Echelon, and that only happens after certain plot events! :D

@Salarn said:

@project343 said:

@ShalashaskaUK666: Call me crazy, but Sam Fisher looks awful young in that demonstration. Coupled with the new voice, is it possible for this to be a prequel?

Nope, not unless we're really bad at math. Sam is part of "4th Echelon" in Blacklist which comes after "3rd Echelon".

Oh was it 4th? I thought i heard 3rd!

I agree, a new main character is in order here, He was a real old man in SP and Pandora Tomorrow, but then they kinda threw that premise out with Chaos Theory and he's appeared younger in each subsequent game.

He was a SEAL in the first Gulf war, around 20 years ago, so it'd be safe to say he's had atleast 25 to 30 years in the Military... which would make him about 30.

Michael Ironside was awesome. Loved that character in Conviction.

@ShalashaskaUK666: I definitely agree. This new guy sucks. And I didn't think he was trying to sound the part at all. So disappointed.

I was sort of excited for a new splinter cell game but was so thrown off about the new voice I just couldn't get back into it. I mean imagine having having someone else voice snake, max payne, or drake. remember the hot water r* was in when they weren't sure if the original guy was gonna voice max then made a big deal about him voicing max. To be honest I hope the game get's pushed back because of blowback for this to get ironside in there or else with spring 2013 looking just as good as fall 2012 i will just pass it up.

How old is Sam Fischer at this point?

I'm pretty convinced that making Fisher the leader of Third Echelon is just their way of saying: "Yeah, we know it's dumb. Fuck it".

Everybody will forget Ironside isn't in it by an hour into the game. Besides, his performance in Conviction was by far the weakest part of the game.

What was the whole Fourth Echelon thing about in that CG trailer they showed? I was kind of not paying attention then and Sam looked very, very young.

It could just be placeholder voice until the record with ironside, games do it all the time.

I'd rather they switch the protagonist to someone else, maybe like that Leon Coltrane dude mentioned in some endewar tie-in

there's no sam fisher without ironside

@allworkandlowpay said:

Everybody will forget Ironside isn't in it by an hour into the game. Besides, his performance in Conviction was by far the weakest part of the game.

Right, I don't get this at all. Granted I'm no Splinter Cell fan, but Ideally I would want what's best. I've only heard bad things about his voice in Conviction, funny, but bad. Now unless the new guy is just as bad in an entirely different way, then I think it's a good idea.

@Death_Burnout: I recall Ironside from the first three Splinter Cell's he did on the original Xbox which were freaking amazing. Problem is Ubisoft dragged that series too far past it's prime and beat it like a dead horse like CoD.

I was upset as much as anyone that Ironside is not doing the voice for Sam Fisher. I can't find anything online but isn't Ironside having health issues? I would have sworn that when I was buying groceries that there was an article in a tab mag that he was having severe health problems. If that's the reason he was not cast as Fisher than I completely understand as much as I hate the circumstance.

@maskedarcstrike said:

I was upset as much as anyone that Ironside is not doing the voice for Sam Fisher. I can't find anything online but isn't Ironside having health issues? I would have sworn that when I was buying groceries that there was an article in a tab mag that he was having severe health problems. If that's the reason he was not cast as Fisher than I completely understand as much as I hate the circumstance.

Well he did sound like he was constantly having a stroke during Conviction.

Man I hope he doesn't have a stroke now.

Can anyone explain simply why they didn't make a new character. I don't know how to reach out to studios but if anyone here can speak from a more 'inside' point of view, maybe it'd help us to understand why this apparently awful idea was out through. I'm asking as a huge fan of the whole series - someone who actuall enjoyed chaos theory as the greatest distillation of the original three games roots and appreciated conviction as another incredibly well made stealth/action game (you could play that game so quietly if you wanted to). I also thought the gameplay looked great in blacklist as I'm sure that those super action heavy parts are available as options rather than necessities. Thanks.

I completely agree. I have no problem with the concept that Michael Ironside is too old/busy/doesn't care any more, so they didn't get him, but then it shouldn't be Sam Fisher. Or if it is, it should be a full on reboot, and they should say it is. But this doesn't look like a reboot at all.

@TrueHeresy said:

Can anyone explain simply why they didn't make a new character. I don't know how to reach out to studios but if anyone here can speak from a more 'inside' point of view, maybe it'd help us to understand why this apparently awful idea was out through. I'm asking as a huge fan of the whole series - someone who actuall enjoyed chaos theory as the greatest distillation of the original three games roots and appreciated conviction as another incredibly well made stealth/action game (you could play that game so quietly if you wanted to). I also thought the gameplay looked great in blacklist as I'm sure that those super action heavy parts are available as options rather than necessities. Thanks.

Game production takes a long time, and the characters and story of Splinter Cell still revolves around Sam Fisher. Creating a new character is not a simple find and replace of someone's name, there is a lot of time that would be need to be spent on an origin story, introducing the new character, and explaining what happened to Sam. I see the backlash about a voice change, and can only imagine what would happen if there was a character change. Spending a large amount of production on introducing a new character instead of other elements of story was a choice to be made, and as always no choice can make everyone happy.

This is something that has happened in TV and Movies all the time, some actors change jobs, get injured or even die in production and the show must go on. Thankfully Mr. Ironhide is alive and well, but physically acting as a character in a stealth action game is just out of scope for him. Give the new actor a chance, hopefully when you see the full game the pay off for how much improvement there is in performance capture will make the change in voice more understandable to you.

@project343: I can't speak to the history of Splinter Cell but I will agree that he did look oddly young, both facially and physically. He seemed "slimmer", or maybe it was just his good old fashion spandex suit being such a contrast to his Conviction outfit.

At least Ironside is still involved.

@Salarn - thank you so much for the reply, I appreciate a lot of the points you're making and honestly the new actor seemed great. It just feels jarring as a long time fan to have such a big difference and I think that's why a character change seems like it would have been easier to accept. For me conviction felt like the terminus of Sam as a playable character and that he was headed for a more Lambert like role I'm the universe. We know there are other equally skilled agents at work as seen from the chaos theory co-op, and from kestrel and archer. I don't know, it just 'feels' off at the minute but the gameplay does look fun.