As you might have expected, I’m not satisfied with Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist (PC)... no, I won’t complain about Sam Fisher’s redesing, as there are more important flaws to the game, which make me think of it as not a very good game (and after TCSC:PT the 2nd worse of the series).My complains regard mainly gameplay issues as well as a lack of immersion.
I really appreciate that you can play TCS:B as you like (ghost, panther, assault), but the levels are not only unspectacular, they have a very constructed, angularly feeling to them, too, where they should have been organic; they not only lack (immersive) detail (I excpected some eyecandy like in [b]Hitman: Absolution[/n]), but I always felt like I’m guided through the levels on linear rails with very few junctions, too. Especially i miss the moment of exploration, which was so dominant in the precedessors (see below). This was the worst gameplay experience for the series since TCSC:PT (with its try’n’die leveldesign) and technically as well as artistically the whole game looks in no way as good as its direct precedessor TCSC:C, TCSC:DA or TCSC:CT; it lacks both style and (especially, but not only ligthing) atmosphere.
The dialogs with Sarah Fischer and your team aboard the Paladin are a nice addition, but could’ve been elaborated a lot more; what about some multiple choice dialogs and/or the changing of them based on your playstyle, your success and/or your absolved side missions in your previous played mission(s), a little bit like in Mass Effect? You did rather kill than capture a certain NSC in the mission before? Give us a consequence, let the team complain about it and let it have some impact on the next mission, e.g.: The NSC could’ve had some intel about an alternative entry for a building in our next mission, which is now not available to us. This, as well as the general progression and stuffing of the (thin) story, should’ve been the purpose of the side missions, too, not just farming credits for customizations and the stretching of the playtime... You could’ve linked specific side missions to specific main missions, e.g.: In one side mission you’ve to sabotage something and if you succeed, a obstacle in the corresponding main mission will be gone.
The main missions aren’t any better; I really miss interesting, exceptional setpieces, areas with several infiltration and exfiltration points and something to explore: Besides avoiding or eliminating every NSC in the main missions and besides eliminating every enemy or bugging certain spots in the side missions, there are always exactly the same three optional objectives, which just resemble some frumpy collect missions: 1.) Collect comething from a dead drop. 2.) Use a laptop to download something. 3.) Capture a HVT alive. This are the equivalents to collecting all the flags in Assassin’s Creed and as such this tasks are unbelieveable boring... instead you should’ve given us something to discover.
In the first four games you had more diversified, mission specific optional objectives. A laptop wasn’t just a singular something you search for just to hold a button in front of it to earn some credits, you had several laptops, terminals etc. that gave you information about the world you play in or even vital information for your mission (e.g. access to new routes, codes for certain locks etc.), which where packed in immersive texts that seemed to be written by people living in this world. That added to the flesh, to the souls of the games! It made them a more immersive and it encouraged you to explore your environment. NSC weren’t there just as whipping boys for you to gain more credits, you could interrogate them and get vital information from them or you could just observe them for a while and eavesdrop on the dialogs between two NSCs, which wheren’t only interesting, but added a lot to the atmosphere.
And what about dividing the levels into several dislodged areas? I raise the alarm in the first area and turn it into the war zone but all is forgottten as soon as I enter through a certain door? C’mon... that was one of the major problems with Hitman: Absolution last year, too.
The story is somewhat shallow and not well presented; i’ve never had the feeling, that the Blacklist is something like a real thread to the USA... what about a TV in the hub, where you can swtich severel news broadcasts with some terrifying news?
And I lied... I’ll complain about the redesing: The abscence of Michael Ironside is a great loss, but the game’s synchronisation is nonetheless excellend. A greater loss is the one of Sam Fisher’s cynism.
There is one good thing to say about TCSC:B; it has a nice amount of customization. But other than that, I’m not satisfied. I hoped for a combination of TCSC:CT and TCSC:C, but I was disappointed... :-(
Stealth lives from choises, atmospehre and immersion... as such things are lacking or at least not very elaborated in this title, it has a hard stand against other games of this genre and its own precedessors.
I really appreciate that you can play TCS:B as you like (ghost, panther, assault), but the levels are not only unspectacular, they have a very constructed, angularly feeling to them, too, where they should have been organic; they not only lack (immersive) detail (I excpected some eyecandy like in [b]Hitman: Absolution[/n]), but I always felt like I’m guided through the levels on linear rails with very few junctions, too. Especially i miss the moment of exploration, which was so dominant in the precedessors (see below). This was the worst gameplay experience for the series since TCSC:PT (with its try’n’die leveldesign) and technically as well as artistically the whole game looks in no way as good as its direct precedessor TCSC:C, TCSC:DA or TCSC:CT; it lacks both style and (especially, but not only ligthing) atmosphere.
The dialogs with Sarah Fischer and your team aboard the Paladin are a nice addition, but could’ve been elaborated a lot more; what about some multiple choice dialogs and/or the changing of them based on your playstyle, your success and/or your absolved side missions in your previous played mission(s), a little bit like in Mass Effect? You did rather kill than capture a certain NSC in the mission before? Give us a consequence, let the team complain about it and let it have some impact on the next mission, e.g.: The NSC could’ve had some intel about an alternative entry for a building in our next mission, which is now not available to us. This, as well as the general progression and stuffing of the (thin) story, should’ve been the purpose of the side missions, too, not just farming credits for customizations and the stretching of the playtime... You could’ve linked specific side missions to specific main missions, e.g.: In one side mission you’ve to sabotage something and if you succeed, a obstacle in the corresponding main mission will be gone.
The main missions aren’t any better; I really miss interesting, exceptional setpieces, areas with several infiltration and exfiltration points and something to explore: Besides avoiding or eliminating every NSC in the main missions and besides eliminating every enemy or bugging certain spots in the side missions, there are always exactly the same three optional objectives, which just resemble some frumpy collect missions: 1.) Collect comething from a dead drop. 2.) Use a laptop to download something. 3.) Capture a HVT alive. This are the equivalents to collecting all the flags in Assassin’s Creed and as such this tasks are unbelieveable boring... instead you should’ve given us something to discover.
In the first four games you had more diversified, mission specific optional objectives. A laptop wasn’t just a singular something you search for just to hold a button in front of it to earn some credits, you had several laptops, terminals etc. that gave you information about the world you play in or even vital information for your mission (e.g. access to new routes, codes for certain locks etc.), which where packed in immersive texts that seemed to be written by people living in this world. That added to the flesh, to the souls of the games! It made them a more immersive and it encouraged you to explore your environment. NSC weren’t there just as whipping boys for you to gain more credits, you could interrogate them and get vital information from them or you could just observe them for a while and eavesdrop on the dialogs between two NSCs, which wheren’t only interesting, but added a lot to the atmosphere.
And what about dividing the levels into several dislodged areas? I raise the alarm in the first area and turn it into the war zone but all is forgottten as soon as I enter through a certain door? C’mon... that was one of the major problems with Hitman: Absolution last year, too.
The story is somewhat shallow and not well presented; i’ve never had the feeling, that the Blacklist is something like a real thread to the USA... what about a TV in the hub, where you can swtich severel news broadcasts with some terrifying news?
And I lied... I’ll complain about the redesing: The abscence of Michael Ironside is a great loss, but the game’s synchronisation is nonetheless excellend. A greater loss is the one of Sam Fisher’s cynism.
There is one good thing to say about TCSC:B; it has a nice amount of customization. But other than that, I’m not satisfied. I hoped for a combination of TCSC:CT and TCSC:C, but I was disappointed... :-(
Stealth lives from choises, atmospehre and immersion... as such things are lacking or at least not very elaborated in this title, it has a hard stand against other games of this genre and its own precedessors.