Splinter Cell: Blacklist
I've been a Splinter Cell fan since the very beginning. I watched it start as this little spy game and then peak with Chaos Theory. Seen it try new things and introduce player choice with Double Agent. I've also been there when they turned one of the best stealth games into a full blown (and crappy) action title, what with Conviction.
With this newest title it seems they want to get back to basics. To try and recapture that magic of the first three games... (Splinter Cell, Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory) and they've succeeded to a degree.
You can still play however you want. But now they reward you. There's Stealth – not being detected or killing anyone; Panther – which is a combination of run n' gun and stealth, and finally Assault – which is full blown guns blazing. They took ideas from Mass Effect too. In between missions Fisher can walk around Paladin; a massive plan which serves as a command ship. You can talk to the crew, update you weapons and set up side missions. What sucks though is Michael Ironside is no more. The man who brought life to the character is replaced by Joe Blow from who-the-f**k-cares. I am enjoying the game but after seven entries and twelve years since its beginning, it feels like a shell of its former self.
