2013.28: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

Completed in 13 hours on PERFECTIONIST with 79.3% GHOST style (10.1% Panther - 10.6% Assault)

Oh man, I was going for 100% Ghost but some sections they really put you up against that style. VERY rare though because overall I have to say this was very true to the SC franchise on Perfectionist.

First thing is, the game awards most points for Ghost style and what I liked about the most in the pointing system is it awards you for leaving people untouched. Usually, I am of the mind "well, why not kill them and hide them, just to be safe?"...Well here along with points for leaving them undisturbed, the AI is also smart enough that when one of the patrolling man is missing, they'll go looking for him. This means you lose your Ghost play as that is only applied when people have no idea you've been there. If someone realises people are missing but you go through without being seen, you get Panther Avoided points (as opposed to Ghost Undisturbed points).

Anyway that's the cool point system that encourages you to be a true Ghost. Better yet the checkpoints are set before each 'section' so you can take your time mastering an area and it's really fun finding the perfect Ghost path through each section.

It has cool sceneries and cool story sections. I also like your HQ is a plane and they kind of go for the Mass Effect thing where you can interact with your crew between missions but they act more like a HUB menu to access your gear or your progress etc than actual interaction. But still, there is a hint of a crew feeling in there thanks to that. You can also call your daughter which is a clever touch as you see the effect of your missions in the 'real world' and also it adds a personal touch to Fisher.

I actually didn't mind the story, it was a bit of a mixed bag but told well. Although the villain's voice actor I felt was much better than new Fisher. Your team mates are likeable as well and I shared a couple of chuckles with them. The villain is smart, doesn't do anything silly and the same goes for the POTUS as well. So all characters are sensible and well written into the story.


Overall any stealth fan should have a GREAT time here. Ubisoft, I have to give them huge kudos, this a very strong outing that I can see can challenge people's favourite SC over Chaos Theory and after Conviction is a superb and confident step towards the classic SC experience while keeping some Conviction systems that made sense to keep (cover switching is very handy).

The BS like mark and execute and seeing through walls are GONE in perfectionist. Really, any SC or stealth fan should not even look at the other difficulty options. It's not unfair or anything like that, it really is the perfect classic SC experience on the Perfectionist difficulty.

So yeah, great game, and I definitely hope Ubisoft builds on this;

8/10.