Splinter Cell: Blacklist

The new voice actor is shit.

Yes he is.

Obviously anyone coming after Ironside was going to have their work cut out for them but really. This guy is no good, Ironside or not.


I also like how the game runs at 4 frames per second.

Strange. Not having that issue here. Get the latest beta drivers and all that good stuff?
 
SvM Classic isn't too half bad... the 4v4 can be a clusterf@ck. Also the default key bindings can make anyone rage pretty hard, especially when using cover,scaling walls.
 
The game insists on starting up in windowed mode no matter what I do.

I had the same problem, I updated to the latest Nvidia drivers last night and it seemed to resolve my issue. Not sure if it's directly related but it hasn't happened once since doing so.

I'm really loving it so far and definitely the best Splinter Cell release yet. I was pissed off that Ironside was voicing Sam but it's actually not bothered me too much. I'm really liking all the different ways you can approach each mission, the loadout and customization stuff is a welcomed edition as well. My only gripe is that the save systems sucks, it's a checkpoint system and it seems to take them at the worst times. I wish I had the ability to quick save before approaching a situation so I could try a couple different approaches in a row, like I would in dishonored or older SC games.
 
I had the same problem, I updated to the latest Nvidia drivers last night and it seemed to resolve my issue. Not sure if it's directly related but it hasn't happened once since doing so.

Yup, that and the advice I was given to not to press anything twice when it loads up made that go away.

I'm really loving it so far and definitely the best Splinter Cell release yet. I was pissed off that Ironside was voicing Sam but it's actually not bothered me too much. I'm really liking all the different ways you can approach each mission, the loadout and customization stuff is a welcomed edition as well. My only gripe is that the save systems sucks, it's a checkpoint system and it seems to take them at the worst times. I wish I had the ability to quick save before approaching a situation so I could try a couple different approaches in a row, like I would in dishonored or older SC games.

Agreed although I'm sure you've seen the arguments both ways on the use of quick saves. ;)
 
Yup, that and the advice I was given to not to press anything twice when it loads up made that go away.



Agreed although I'm sure you've seen the arguments both ways on the use of quick saves. ;)

Yeah, it wouldn't both me so much if I could go back to my choice of checkpoints but as far as I can tell you can only go back to the most recent or the beginning of the level. I see how quicksaves can make things less challenging but it's up to the user not to abuse it. I've been playing on realistic and have been enjoying it so far. It's not infuriatingly hard but it's challenging enough, though I recently upgraded some weapons and got the sonar scope and it seems to have gotten easier I may kick it up a notch.
 
Only have about an hour under my belt so far, but having played all the previous SC's, I can't say I'm very fond of this one. Perhaps it's coming from a polished stealth game (Dishonored's Brigmore Witches) to this, but I find the controls clunky, the cover mechanic hurts me more than helps me, the enemies range from dence to mind readers and the animations are particularly horrible and constantly breaking immersion. The way they progress you through the storyline is also broken and immersionless.

I do like the Paladin, but only because it reminds me of the Normandy (sans character development). Hopefully after I get used to the controls and figure out how they want me to use the gadgets, it will grow on me. As of now I think it needs to go back on the shelf until they can finish it.
 
Just alt tabbed out, have to say, this game is graphically gorgeous. The appearance of the main characters is outstanding, and the voice acting isn't bad at all. Very cool game.
 
I'm totally confused. I thought Blacklist was supposed to be a massive re-imagining of the franchise, since everyone hated Conviction for some strange reason. (I thought it was a great game, as the narrative was compelling and personal for Sam even if the gameplay and stealth mechanics were dumbed down).

Blacklist trailers showed a more Call of Duty-like game with more killing and combat, and a new, younger Fisher who was also more unjustifiably violent (main reason why Ironside didn't bother coming back). So imagine my surprise when I start the game and find out it's the SAME GAME as Conviction, with stage objectives projected onto the walls, execution kills, and cover-to-cover mechanics.

Why didn't they just, um, make a real Splinter Cell game? (By real, I mean, with a world that actually feels consistent with the universe developed from the previous games. Blacklist feels more like it's set in the overly militaristic Call of Duty.)
 
So is this the Hitman Absolution of the Splinter Cell franchise? Absolution had potential to be good, but lacked alot of what the older hitman games did well.
 
just played 2.5 hours of Mercs Vs spy. My fav mode is when the mercs have to extract the intel. shit is sooo gooood.
 
I'm totally confused. I thought Blacklist was supposed to be a massive re-imagining of the franchise, since everyone hated Conviction for some strange reason. (I thought it was a great game, as the narrative was compelling and personal for Sam even if the gameplay and stealth mechanics were dumbed down).

Blacklist trailers showed a more Call of Duty-like game with more killing and combat, and a new, younger Fisher who was also more unjustifiably violent (main reason why Ironside didn't bother coming back). So imagine my surprise when I start the game and find out it's the SAME GAME as Conviction, with stage objectives projected onto the walls, execution kills, and cover-to-cover mechanics.

Why didn't they just, um, make a real Splinter Cell game? (By real, I mean, with a world that actually feels consistent with the universe developed from the previous games. Blacklist feels more like it's set in the overly militaristic Call of Duty.)

you surely are confused, I'm gonna go ahead and call this a knee jerk and just assume you never got past the opening level.

if you've ever played chaos theory, the real benchmark this is going to be judged by and not the trash in between, I think you would see way more similar with that than conviction. of course they kept mark and execution for the noobs, of course we still have the fancy billboard eye candy (which you can still shut off here, just like conviction so I don't know why posers continue to whine about it). but spend more than 30 minutes with it and pay attention to mechanics and level design, beyond the fluff you'll find a solid game underneath that rivals chaos theory itself imo.

any real fans of the series who still doubt that I will vouch for it, but only if you do it like this - go straight to perfectionist, do not even bother with anything below that and once you get through the opening level, before you continue talk to Grim and Charlie to check out their side missions. complete the seafort with zero kills and tell me this is the same game as conviction. survive 5 or 20 waves while you dip and dodge through the embassy, you don't even have to kill anyone there if you don't want to either, and tell me this is calladoody.

right off the bat (no doubt intentionally) they're going to show you exactly what they did differently here, and bring back some nostalgia. I'm willing to overlook the obvious corners cut, like piss poor animations and sound design, because they do not matter when the rest of the game is actually enjoyable. I plan to take my sweet time with this so I watched most of it already, but I fully intend to finish a no kill ghost playthrough. watch any real vets playing on realistic or above, not the run n gun executioners aggroing everything in their path, you can see everything about it including the score system was designed around stealth and non lethal combat.
 
of course we still have the fancy billboard eye candy (which you can still shut off here, just like conviction so I don't know why posers continue to whine about it).

Please explain. What is fancy billboard eye candy?
 
The animations aren't that bad, I don't understand why "posers" keep whining about it. ;)
 
you surely are confused, I'm gonna go ahead and call this a knee jerk and just assume you never got past the opening level.

if you've ever played chaos theory, the real benchmark this is going to be judged by and not the trash in between, I think you would see way more similar with that than conviction. of course they kept mark and execution for the noobs, of course we still have the fancy billboard eye candy (which you can still shut off here, just like conviction so I don't know why posers continue to whine about it). but spend more than 30 minutes with it and pay attention to mechanics and level design, beyond the fluff you'll find a solid game underneath that rivals chaos theory itself imo.

any real fans of the series who still doubt that I will vouch for it, but only if you do it like this - go straight to perfectionist, do not even bother with anything below that and once you get through the opening level, before you continue talk to Grim and Charlie to check out their side missions. complete the seafort with zero kills and tell me this is the same game as conviction. survive 5 or 20 waves while you dip and dodge through the embassy, you don't even have to kill anyone there if you don't want to either, and tell me this is calladoody.

right off the bat (no doubt intentionally) they're going to show you exactly what they did differently here, and bring back some nostalgia. I'm willing to overlook the obvious corners cut, like piss poor animations and sound design, because they do not matter when the rest of the game is actually enjoyable. I plan to take my sweet time with this so I watched most of it already, but I fully intend to finish a no kill ghost playthrough. watch any real vets playing on realistic or above, not the run n gun executioners aggroing everything in their path, you can see everything about it including the score system was designed around stealth and non lethal combat.

FWIW I haven't played the game yet and I'll probably skip until a substantial dip in price, if at all. About me; I absolutely loved all Splinter Cell games until Conviction.

Fair enough if the game is a decent PC experience on "perfectionist", but in this case the dev should be open about it and recommend this difficulty for pc gamers. It's frustrating to read apologetic opinions like this from pc gamers who should be vocal critics about the lack of attention to the pc experience which is very evident in a lot of the way they shaped the game, in order for it to work well as a console experience. These devs are trying to milk two cows at once and saying to the pc crowd; "we dont like you but we will sell it to you anyway" and then people like you are defending that. I just don't understand why. We had better times ages ago, they made it worse, you are applauding. Why?
 
Splinter Cell 1 2 & 3 fans will love the game. Play it on Perfectionist.
 
Splinter Cell 1 2 & 3 fans will love the game. Play it on Perfectionist.

I agree. Splinter Cell: The Next Generation is finally here.

The only real complaint I have is, of course, Michael Ironside's glaring absence.

I really could see this and Saints Row 4 hitting my GOTY shortlist before it's all said and done.
 
You bastards made me buy this. Thank god for FS/FT. :D

EDIT: Is there any reason story-wise to finish Conviction before playing Blacklist?
 
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How is the story? Ironside being absent hurts a lot...especially considering this is suppose to be a older Fisher that some how looks younger and sounds like he's 20...but Ironside said he didn't want to do this one because it's over violent and the story is too thin.

Can anyone comment on this?
 
How is the story? Ironside being absent hurts a lot...especially considering this is suppose to be a older Fisher that some how looks younger and sounds like he's 20...but Ironside said he didn't want to do this one because it's over violent and the story is too thin.

Can anyone comment on this?

it's Tom Clancy, what do you want. none of these plot devices have ever been very intriguing at all so I really couldn't care tbh. Fisher's youth is never acknowledged, and the story continues right from where they left off, if that's what you can call it. the guy voiced 5 or 6 titles already let it go, it's not like he's going to stay in the game forever. this rumor of 'violence' or whatever other bs reason the superfans are passing around these days are just that, excuses. if he doesn't want to do it someone else will. I love me some Ironside as much as the next guy but you got to admit, this character is not all that deep, and it's one of the most boring cliches in the business. which is probably why it revolved around his voice, but they chose to just phone in the dialog this time (literally), so I can see why he would pass.

FWIW I haven't played the game yet and I'll probably skip until a substantial dip in price, if at all. About me; I absolutely loved all Splinter Cell games until Conviction.

Fair enough if the game is a decent PC experience on "perfectionist", but in this case the dev should be open about it and recommend this difficulty for pc gamers. It's frustrating to read apologetic opinions like this from pc gamers who should be vocal critics about the lack of attention to the pc experience which is very evident in a lot of the way they shaped the game, in order for it to work well as a console experience. These devs are trying to milk two cows at once and saying to the pc crowd; "we dont like you but we will sell it to you anyway" and then people like you are defending that. I just don't understand why. We had better times ages ago, they made it worse, you are applauding. Why?

applauding what? I don't recall making any mention of how it runs or controls, which is also pretty damn great, so let's go over that now. aside from THE DROOLING RETARD who chose to combine the use and grapple keys, I had no problem with controls at all. but it won't take long to realise why this is a terrible idea, and proof positive whoever did it never once touched a splinter cell game on mkb. even more baffling is the controller scheme doesn't even combine these functions, so it was done purposely just for the keyboard. probably hackable in configs but it's a pain.

in fact you'll be hard pressed to find anything specific to whine about, which is how you should do it by the way, if you want to whine about platforms. fov isn't adjustable but it doesn't suck. everything is rebindable, including all your devices on the radial menu, besides the 2 most important controls in the game just mentioned. built in borderless windowed mode. mouse driven ui, scroll bars are pretty broken but there's no menu lag or frame locked smoothing. optimised graphics with all the dx11 features, ssao, tesselation, no forced vsync.

uplay sucks too, but resourceful people will find a way around that. sorry what were we complaining about again? having to choose a particular mode to get the best experience? not sure what your problem is with that or how you propose to do it better but I don't hate it, when it's what you would choose if you really wanted a challenge anyway. this is a real petty criticism tbh, when either way you could always choose not to use certain mechanics like mark and execute. the key here is gameplay wasn't designed around that this time, which is where the credit is due.
 
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it's Tom Clancy, what do you want. none of these plot devices have ever been very intriguing at all so I really couldn't care tbh. Fisher's youth is never acknowledged, and the story continues right from where they left off, if that's what you can call it. the guy voiced 5 or 6 titles already let it go, it's not like he's going to stay in the game forever. this rumor of 'violence' or whatever other bs reason the superfans are passing around these days are just that, excuses. if he doesn't want to do it someone else will. I love me some Ironside as much as the next guy but you got to admit, this character is not all that deep, and it's one of the most boring cliches in the business. which is probably why it revolved around his voice, but they chose to just phone in the dialog this time (literally), so I can see why he would pass.

Meh...pure opinion. Sam Fisher is a deep character if you care to look into him. Read all the Splinter Cell novels.

And to say fans should "let it go" is so fucking dumb dude. Ironside IS Same Fisher. You can't just replace him with some 20 year old dude and say "Meh good enough". It's been the same guy for the past 5 games...so changing him is kind of a big deal. Attitudes like that that allow game publishers to just do whatever they want and shit on classic titles.

Come on man...
 
"let it go" not meaning you shouldn't care, just saying at some point they're going to have to replace him, and he's had a good run. and I don't blame him for losing interest in the series at all, anyone would have given up on it by now. they're going to shit on classic titles no matter what you want.

Please explain. What is fancy billboard eye candy?

this is how they post your hints and objectives, projected on the scenery instead of just text or dialog boxes, which you can reduce or disable as you please.
 
"let it go" not meaning you shouldn't care, just saying at some point they're going to have to replace him, and he's had a good run. I don't blame him for losing interest in the series, at all, anyone would have given up on it by now. they're going to shit on classic titles no matter what you want.

He didn't let it go because he was sick of the series, he loves being Sam Fisher, he let it go because the series is going to shit and he didn't want to tarnish what he has done with the character.

Also I'm all for a change in the actor, but to keep the same character is fucking dumb. I mean, at least Sutherland doing Solid Snake makes sense...replacing Ironside with someone who isn't even 30 yet and sounds NOTHING like the character we've all come to know and love over the past decade is a blatant mistake.

Do they explain in the game how Sam is older yet sounds like he's 20?
 
He didn't let it go because he was sick of the series, he loves being Sam Fisher, he let it go because the series is going to shit and he didn't want to tarnish what he has done with the character.

Also I'm all for a change in the actor, but to keep the same character is fucking dumb. I mean, at least Sutherland doing Solid Snake makes sense...replacing Ironside with someone who isn't even 30 yet and sounds NOTHING like the character we've all come to know and love over the past decade is a blatant mistake.

Do they explain in the game how Sam is older yet sounds like he's 20?

ha nope, and this guy with gray hair sounds pretty ridiculous with that voice tbh, it makes no sense at all. it's like he's phoning his wife on the paladin when he's supposed to be calling his daughter. if he didn't want to tarnish the character, he did way more damage by passing on the role than taking it imo. this is why I think it's pointless to speculate, if it was really all up to him then he made a bad decision since it would have been a good reprieve for the most recent installments, or otherwise ubisoft just could not care enough to get him onboard.

but what's important to me is the game, as long as they at least made an effort to craft a plausible premise around these missions I'm going to play them.

Mr. Ironside can speak on this himself... I think he was still involved in writing the story or as a consultant as you can see him in this video on set.

http://youtu.be/qlUnTcjlkd8

right a ubisoft sponsored clip with him calling the script shallow... what does this mean, read between the lines it's just apologetic fanservice. if they really cared about him as a character anyone else could just as easily have done the mocap with Ironside dubbed in, all manner of animation and film productions do this all the time as a standard. but they would rather use a cheaper va who can go through the motions as well, so that's what they did. could be the most sensible option going forward, if only they at least tried to make a reasonable transition.

my idea was instead of, or during that abomination they called conviction, they should've had Fisher train a new guy or something. I never read Clancy so I don't know how any of that would fit into his writing or how he handled it, but this would've made much more sense if they intend to continue on with the series.
 
The clues seem kind of lame. I bought this game today and am going to play it this weekend.
 
Just alt tabbed out, have to say, this game is graphically gorgeous.

In a DirectX 9 with a few DX11 features slapped on kind of way, yes. Admittedly I have high standards. That said, the improvements are appreciated.


any real fans of the series who still doubt that I will vouch for it, but only if you do it like this - go straight to perfectionist, do not even bother with anything below that and once you get through the opening level, before you continue talk to Grim and Charlie to check out their side missions. complete the seafort with zero kills and tell me this is the same game as conviction. survive 5 or 20 waves while you dip and dodge through the embassy, you don't even have to kill anyone there if you don't want to either, and tell me this is calladoody.

Solid advice. I did this last night. Restarted the game completely in Perfectionist, with every assist turned off and UI removed. My goal is to complete the game with 100% ghost. Went through the Seafort level without alerting or engaging anyone, found the dead drop, laptop and priority target (who I skipped to get the Gold award). Took me 6 attempts, but finished in 17 minutes (not trying) with the Gold. THIS IS MORE LIKE IT!

There is still a lot of things that drive me crazy about the game. You can only climb when and where they want you too. You can scale walls a story high, but cannot jump to a ledge 2' above you if it is not their planned path for you. Imo, if they were going to "update" the franchise, they should have taken the Assassins Creed / Tomb Raider approach to platforming and let you carve your own way.

Finding the exact spot on an object, like a door, to get the right interaction context to pop up can be a pain as well. Don't know how many times I opened a door trying to turn off a light switch or peek underneath it. Given that it usually gave away my position and caused me to start at the beginning of the mission, it was particularly annoying. Same goes for trying to close a door quickly after you've gone through it. There is nothing "quick" about this game's mechanics. Speaking of the checkpoint saving, I understand this save system on Perfectionist, but for every difficulty setting I think it's a poor move to start you at the beginning of the mission when things go awry. The learning curve for newcomers is high enough. Often times if I got caught, I would just run out and let them kill me hoping there was a save that didn't erase ALL my progress.

The "give me a boost" and door opening / closing animations (examples again) cause Sam to float across the floor into his mocap animation starting pose. Immersion destroyers are a pet peeve of mine, so I apologize if this seems nit-picky.

Despite my many complaints, the game does have its fair share of pros. It does look good, the sneaking is a fun challenge, the unlock system adds some persistence to the game, some of the voice acting is believable (I like the IT guy, Charlie) and it has some creative missions and maps. I'm still early in the game, so my opinions may improve with time. ;)
 
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Do you guys have the black bars on the top/bottom of your screen when playing this? Is is because it's a console port?

I'm playing @ 2560x1600 fullscreen on my 30" and have the bars on my screen as if its set to a 16:9 aspect ratio even though I clearly have it set to 16:10.

Anything I'm doing wrong here?
 
Seems like a good game so far. I'm still on the 1st level but very interested. It looks good to on ultra
 
He didn't let it go because he was sick of the series, he loves being Sam Fisher, he let it go because the series is going to shit and he didn't want to tarnish what he has done with the character.

lolwut

Ironside didn't voluntarily leave; he was not chosen for the role because he was apparently too old and out of shape to do the mo-cap work.

You'll have to ask Ubisoft why they couldn't have a different person doing each, but you'd get a retarded response.
 
Yes he is.

Obviously anyone coming after Ironside was going to have their work cut out for them but really. This guy is no good, Ironside or not.




Strange. Not having that issue here. Get the latest beta drivers and all that good stuff?

I think the new voice actors are pretty damn good, and Ironside sucks. Then again, I think he's a shit actor as well.
 
Yeah I'm not too broken up about it not being Ironside. He did a great job, but I'm not really a voice actor purist, and the new guy sounds close enough for me.
 
but I'm not really a voice actor purist, and the new guy sounds close enough for me.

normally I feel the same way but there are a few notable exceptions...Mark Hamill as the Joker, Kevin Conroy as Batman and Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime...no one can replace them
 
I agree. Splinter Cell: The Next Generation is finally here.

The only real complaint I have is, of course, Michael Ironside's glaring absence.

I really could see this and Saints Row 4 hitting my GOTY shortlist before it's all said and done.

While I miss ironside. This new guy really delivers too. A great splinter cell game for sure. Funny that it runs a modified Unreal 2.5 engine :p
 
While I miss ironside. This new guy really delivers too. A great splinter cell game for sure. Funny that it runs a modified Unreal 2.5 engine :p

Yeah, I've already gotten over it. I miss Ironside but what I'm hearing is competent enough.

The rest of the game easily makes up for any possible deficiency on that front anyways.

This game kicks ass.
 
So, I'm a little confused. When you're in the darkness your lights glow, right? (Doesn't make logical sense, but game mechanic...okay). Yet, guys are still able to see me from quite a ways away even in darkness. Stealth mechanic seems a little broken in this regard.

Perfectionist difficulty, so maybe that's part of it. Still, in the old games you could do pretty much whatever you wanted in the dark.
 
So, I'm a little confused. When you're in the darkness your lights glow, right? (Doesn't make logical sense, but game mechanic...okay). Yet, guys are still able to see me from quite a ways away even in darkness. Stealth mechanic seems a little broken in this regard.

Perfectionist difficulty, so maybe that's part of it. Still, in the old games you could do pretty much whatever you wanted in the dark.

I think that is actually an improvement. In the old games, if you were in the shadows it was almost the equivalent of being invisible. In this one you are masked, but not undetectable. If you move while not in "cover" mode especially, guards can pick up on it. Still, as long as you're out of sight before their detection bar maxes out, it is generally not a big deal... though they may come to investigate (which I usually use to my advantage).

I've played almost all the side missions on Perfectionist, except for COOP and Charlie's (hate hoard mode) and gotten Gold on everything so far. I noticed on some of the missions if you capture the high value target, it screws up your chance at Gold. Not sure why that is, but it will require a second play through for me.

The game is growing on me. Choosing to do Ghost Gold Perfectionist definitely changed things for me. The save system and some of the mechanics are still irritating, but I notice them less now. The story is starting to kick in too, which has sucked me in more. There may be hope for this game yet. ;)
 
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