Reboots. Hollywood has been infected with the itch, the itch to reboot any semi-decent idea with a different imaging of that idea. Some will claim its for the purpose of story telling, while most will note its just for money. Splinter Cell: Blacklist does a good job of making you completely unsure of either one. I say that because, the game is made with a general sense of love and compassion. However, all too often it trends into the been there done that formula with story telling that Michael Bay would happily approve of. Regardless, Splinter Cell: Blacklist is a notable entry into the franchise that was on its death bed.
Splinter Cell, like Indiana Jones, is made great because of its core characters, in particular Sam Fisher, NSA clandestine operative with the ability to do human things inhumanly, and sound like a bad ass whilst doing them. Michael Ironside brought the character to life, and unfortunately is absent, notably. Eric Johnson takes over the role as Fisher, and its clear from the first few minutes, he's not Ironside. He lacks the stone cold conviction of Fisher, his brutality and icy sarcasm. However, the story is enough to side step the voice acting with a relatively entertaining, Blockbuster-esque narrative that is action packed. The Engineers, a group of radical terrorists is bent on forcing the military to move out all of it's foreign bases immediately, or else they will plague the US with dynamic, and unstoppable events of domestic terrorism.
Despite the narrative being mission driven, and those missions never really 'pulse pounding', you do get a sense of tempo and pacing that adds to the tension writer Matt MacLennan just so desperately writes. His ability to create set ups, and action pieces is worth noting, but at times his dialogue is flat, uneven and contrived. Sam Fisher is not nearly as intriguing as a character as he once was, and a lot of that rests on Eric Johnson's flat delivery.
Silence is the name of the game, but Conviction added in elements of action that allow you to go for a more gung-ho approach. While being fun for moments, its clear Splinter Cell was meant to be played one way, stealthy. It is more fun, more clever and far more developed than the straight shooter approach. Sam's arsenal of weaponry which is different assortments of lethal and non-lethal weaponry is fun to play with, and even experiment with. I used every tool I could to develop the best course of action, and the open level design allows for creativity, even in controlled environments. Its this sort of understanding that allows Ubisoft to be successful, even while telling a deliberate, clear cut story.
Production values are one of the hallmarks of this game. While voice acting might not be superb, it is stronger than most games. Music is cinematic, adding layers of a Hans Zimmer esque feel to the background that establishes a greater sense of purpose in the gaming itself. Graphics are stellar, and playing on a gaming laptop, 45 FPS while at high settings you will definitely see some nice environments, as well as decent character models (Fisher's model looks far more developed than the supporting cast). Movements are tracked with actual humans, and this allows for more fluidity between actions, whether it be kill scenes, shooting or general dialogue scenes. Its clear that time was taken, as well as money.
Splinter Cell, at its height, might be one of the best stealth games ever created. It changed a genre in need of re-tooling and re-working. It too, unfortunately, needed a re-tooling and re-working and with that comes Blacklist. While uneven at times, it does principle itself on being well made, with notable action set pieces that cause a sense of awe and noticeable entertainment that will take you at least 6-8 hours to get through. Its fun, even if its a far cry from what it used to be.