It has been almost 10 years since the original Splinter Cell debuted on the PlayStation 2 and a year since the release of the most recent entry in the franchise, Splinter Cell: Conviction. Now here we are at the tail-end of 2011 and another HD re-mastering of old PS2-era classics appears with Splinter Cell HD Collection. This collection contains the first 3 games of the franchise which appeared on the PS2, Xbox, and PC. Packed within the HD Collection are Splinter Cell HD, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow HD, and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory HD. Sadly, that’s about it. If you want a refresher course in the historical rise of Sam Fisher and third Echelon, there is no better way to do it than with this set. But if you want to keep up with the adventure and were hoping to pick up Splinter Cell: Double Agent, and Splinter Cell: Conviction in this collection, it turns out that that wasn’t meant to be and you’ll have to pick up the current generation iterations separately.
"In 2013, Splinter Cell: Blacklist came out of nowhere to return the franchise to what made it so great. A combination of Xbox exclusivity and poor reviews meant before Blacklist, I hadn’t taken Sam Fisher out for a ride since he was on the PS2. The reasons for Splinter Cell’s fall from grace isn't especially difficult to nail down. In the days of Call of Duty’s dominance and development by focus groups, turning a stealth game into a shooter made sense because it was all about the mass appeal. If you alienate your core fan base in the process, it’s only a small group of basement dwellers that wouldn’t know mass appeal if it jumped down from a conveniently placed pipe and broke their necks. -- PlayStation Enthusiast
Is this satire? Blacklist received outstanding reviews according to its 84% on metacritic and released on PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii U.
I never understood the criticism either. GamesTM scored it a 5, and because of all the negativity around fora and some reviews, I basically wrote it off and skipped it...
... until a local shop had a deal I couldn't resist; the Special Edition including the Sam Fisher statue, for only 30 euro.
So I bought and played it, expecting a mediocre Splinter Cell game, and instead it's absolutely my favourite in the series. Good story, great gameplay, and also a complete package, which offers freedom in how you tackle your missions, which makes you return many times to try different ways and obviously you will want to go all stealth.
Agreed i absolutely loved black list! i bought in on my wiiu and it was an awesome port.
Had no screen tearing (which was awefull on 360/ps3) and had an acceptable frame rate (by ubisoft standards lol).
Its actually one of the better ports on wiiu!
I am eagerly waiting for a new iteration of the franchise.
I think its sad that allot of fans skipped an excellent game due to them not using ironside as the voice of sam.
It was a bummer for sure but looking past that the game was solid.
It had a great co op hoard mode, co op missions mode, a competitive spies vs mercs mode and a awesome campaign with missions which could be replayed in so many ways.
Blacklist was a redemption of the series, it was fantastic. It's what gives me hope that Recon and Rainbow can still be revived after horrible iterations.
Loved it too.
It gave you the option in how you wanted to tackle the levels. You could go more guns blazing, or pretty much all stealth.
Wii U version was amazing. Pretty decent use of the gamepad as well.
Enjoyed it until my seagate drive crashed my save near the end. With a huge backlong on all my consoles and PC, just haven't gone too far in the replay.
It's a great game though.
SC is one of my favorite series, and the first one will always be one of my favorite games. Pretty sure I played that OXM demo disc until it was dust.
SC was one of the things I was expecting to see at E3, was disappointing by its absence. Although it looks like Wildlands is borrowing big time from SC stealth mechanics. At first glance I thought Wildlands was an open world Splinter Cell game.
Next to Chaos Theory I found Blacklist to be the best of the franchise. I absolutely loved it. I can't wait for another Splinter Cell game.
Rise Of The Tomb Raider has taken a lot of its mechanics. They need to get back to stealth, and tone down the run and gun.
Tone down run and gun? Blacklist had heavy stealth mechanics in it.
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
You had lots of options and its up to you to escalate all encounters and situations if you choose too.
Black list is the only SC I ever passed on. That is great if they went back to their roots. But the 2 prior entries left me bored. I might play it if it is added to the BC list. I used to be a big fan of the series. Especially the first, which did not allow you to be careless.
Yea they really stepped it up in terms of bringing the stealth closer to its roots but its still seems like its kinda lacking. Yea guards can hear you now if your crouch walking incredibly fast, but couple that with the increased speed in takedowns and how close you have to actually be before they hear you compared to the earlier splinter cells then there's still some changes needed to really bring it up to its peak stealth gameplay.
I've never played it but have watched a bit. I could be wrong hope I am but all in all it just seems like they are getting to the right mix of action and stealth gameplay but just need a few tweaks. improving on AI awareness making the player have to be careful on how fast they move behind an enemy. Going guns blazing shouldn't always be punished like it was in previous games but at they same time it shouldn't be pushed exactly to the point that we have aimbot combo unlocks and there's not as much.
Blacklist is an amazing stealth game, and even Conviction was a blast. Both games have incredible co-op. The base defense modes in Blacklist are insane. Pakistani Embassy on hard, good luck running and gunning lol.
Aside from the wacky (lots of bugs which can turn into funny glitches) and deficient perfomance, Blacklist is an excellent game, one that rewards for many gameplay approaches.
Like, I don't even understand why Ubisoft doesn't make more games like this one. It is linear but more overwhelming, satisfactory and cohesive than your regular Assassin's Creed and Watch Dogs.
This is why I think Ubisoft should use the same model for a hypothetical new Splinter Cell, because also Blacklist is just so good. How unfortunate that the title didn't do well comercially.
Also, Xbox exclusivity? Like what? Early release? exclusive content? I even remember that the Wii U version launched on the same date as the others, lol. And for what it's worth it, the game did ok with critics.
Replies(1)
We do need a new Splinter Cell, but in my opinion, it needs to be a modern take on the classic games. Conviction and Blacklist were solid experiences, but didn't feel like Splinter Cell to me at all.
I remember the leaked gameplay of what conviction was going to be with using the enviornment to our advantage and mechanics moving towards the idea of stealth action instead of the usual movie action.
Oscar Nominated Screenwriter, Sheldon Turner, has been tasked to pen the adaptation of Splinter Cell: he replaces another Oscar nominated writer Eric Singer (American Hustle).
After being lucky enough to see an early screening of The Raid 2 last night, Hollywood has to seriously step it's game up in the action movie genre.
The action in The Raid 2 $h!ts on the mundane garbage that Hollywood spews out from outer space.
Hollywood needs to get more creative minds within the industry who can craft something fresh rather than the endless, faceless muscle bound nonentities prancing about in spandex costumes and dancing around the overused cgi explosions and sh!tty rapid cut choppy editing to hide the badly choreographed fight scenes.
Deadline and various movies news websites have been reporting that Doug Liman has signed on to direct and produce the Tom Hardy vehicle Splinter Cell.
WELL about DARN TIME we get a great Director directing a Video Game movie.
Now all I hope for is a GREAT script and some really good actors.
and for Gaming Heaven's sakes DO NOT attach Mark Walberg or Shia Lebouef to this movie.
Glad to see Tom hardy as Sam Fisher. NICE!
"Iwanyk has produced The Town, The Expendables series, and The Clash of the Titans remakes. So it is easy to say that with this writer and producer, Ubisoft Motion Pictures has gotten serious talent who has experience with bigger budget affairs."
O_o
The Town was good, but did these guys see The Expendables or the Clash of the Titans films?
Experience and talent are not always the same thing.
No inverted aim on any of the 3 games is an instant fail.
The titles are not PS2 upgrades but rather ports of the PC versions. All of which had this feature (as did the console versions).
In the EU the games were sold individually. In the US, they are only available as a bundle. It seems the lack of inverted Y, when discovered in the first title, prevented sales of the latter two in the EU. Ubisoft and Sony seem to have found a way to insure they get all of your money in one shot stateside.
It should be understood that the lack of inverted controls is not a feature without which a gamer can manage. Just as no one chose to be right or left handed, the need for inverted controls is not a player decision.
When the game is rendered unplayable for such a large portion of the population, it loses an immediate 5 points in my book even before I look at the fact all multiplayer was removed.