Blacklist feels like a more polished version of Conviction. A rating system has been reintroduced, and this time your rating directly affects how much money you earn and, consequently, how many upgrades you can buy. The missions have been made more challenging with the introduction of heavy infantry, who cannot be dispatched with a single headshot, and guard dogs, which smell you from a distance and alert the guards, unless quickly silenced. On the other hand, you are presented with additional opportunities to boost your rating, like high value targets, who can be captured for a fee, terrorist laptops to be hacked, and dead drops to be collected; there are also optional side missions that you can complete at your leisure. Bodies can now be moved and hidden, which only makes sense. The story is a lot more engaging than in the last game and creates a real sense of urgency, even though some important questions are ultimately left unanswered. What the game sorely lacks is the deniable ops mode or its equivalent, since the campaign missions are pretty linear, just like they were in Conviction. The spies vs. mercs mode that has come to replace it is sort of fun, but it's more action than stealth, and half of the match is played in first person mode, which is inconvenient if you play with an Xbox controller like I do. On the whole, a solid addition to the series, but nothing remarkable.
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