The reviews are very positive right now (87% at gamerankings), some even saying its the best one since Chaos Theory.
Anyone already playing it ?
No one ?? WHere is the covert ops love around here ??
One interesting thing I noticed on the vid below is how its more viable to "ghost" the missions now. It was something really dificult to do in the previous games (you were forced to take the opposition out, even if non-lethally):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtYRd3o0rUQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtYRd3o0rUQ)
Im on the way to third mission, and my initial impression is that the game is a compromise between Chaos Theory and Conviction. By that I mean the engine is the Conviction one and the missions design is Chaos Theory stuff.
Is this better than Chaos Theory ? Right now I dont think so, but it clearly has some advantages over it. I will cite both advantages and disadvantages:
Advantages:
- Missions are more "open" spatially speaking than Chaos Theory (read this as more "larger corridors" instead of true open-maps like Hitman). Though the side missions seem truly open - the first one I just did (the first for Grim) feels a bit like Dishonored where you have a wide open map with multiples objectives that you can choose the order and how to approach, then must come back to the initial point for extraction. Its really clever, and is designed to acomodate 2 players co-op mode (though I did it alone). Ive never seen this level of openess in a Splinter Cell game.
- Missions are more "open" procedurally than Chaos Theory. Read this as more ways to pass through each point of conflict, be it total ghost, or assassin mode, or full-assault, and with a wide combination of gadgets and weapons and drones and maneuvers possible.
- The campaign structure is also more open and interactive, with side-missions popping up as the main campaign progresses and previous side-missions are completed. You even has a central base that you can upgrade with money you earn through missions.
- customizability. the shit is a min-maxer paradise. All your crap has stats that can be upgraded or customized: your suit, your boots, your gloves, your goggles, your gadgets, your drone, your weapons, etc.
- For the first time in the series its really possible (even if very hard) to ghost missions from start to finish, without needing to knock people out. In fact this is the best way to gain points - passing through enemies without knocking them out. This is something I always felt Chaos Theory lacked.
Disadvantages:
- The Conviction engine is made for action and it shows - the game pace, even if slower than Conviction, is still faster than Chaos Theory. Fisher movement, even if you just touch the control a little bit, is too fast, and nothing like the almost slow-motion, snake-like walking of Sam in Chaos Theory. Also, while its possible (and even necessary) to calmly study enemy positions and plan ahead your next move, you never have all the time you would like, with enemies rotating in patrol in a faster (and more random) pace that makes it hard for you to really get calm.
- What leads us to the next point: if in Chaos Theory the patrolling enemies always felt natural and organic (one enemy could be calmly smoking a weed, the other taking a piss, etc) in Blacklist this is swaped by a little bit more artificial, game-like behaviour, as if the enemies know that its all a game and they must move faster so it makes player life harder. At least it feels like that in the Perfectionist difficult that Im playing.
- No interrogations. Sometimes Fisher tells some joke when you knockout (or human shileds) the enemies but thats adds nothing, really.
- No quicksave. The game auto-saves as you reach some sub-objectives within missions. While this gives tension to some parts, it more often just leads to extreme frustration (specially if you play on Perfectionist, like me).
- The atmosphere, while good, is not really on par with Chaos Theory. This is a subjective impression, I know, but I feel this way. Maybe its the sum of all the factors above, or maybe its the Blacklist story thats too crap and irrelevant, dont know, but thats how I definitely feel.
All in all, Im finding it a pretty good game. Dont have the atmosphere, slow-pace or personality of Chaos Theory, but is easily the second best game in the series so far. I would rate it 8.5/10 for now.