Only once – when my partner and I had to simultaneously shimmy up pipes on opposite-facing buildings in order to coordinate a synchronized dispatching of snipers in windows who would’ve blown the opposite spy away had either one of us faltered – did I feel like I was truly cooperating with my partner. The rest of the time it felt like more of a two-player mode than a co-op one, though in Blacklist’s open-ended playground it’s still a treat to tag-team a group of bad guys. Yes, there are buddy moves like a boost and dual breach, but it’s nothing like the tight-knit teamwork required in Chaos Theory’s groundbreaking co-op mode.
Perhaps recognizing this, the designers split Blacklist’s multiplayer missions into batches of three or four, with each set assigned by a different member of your Fourth Echelon team and reflecting that person’s play style. Charlie’s quartet of scenarios are a Horde mode in which you must survive wave after wave of progressively more difficult opponents, while Grim’s ops are pure ghost jobs that are failed if you’re spotted. I much prefer the latter myself, though I appreciate the variety. Even the Charlie missions are a hoot to tackle in different ways – non-lethally one time, then guns-blazing another. The only mission that falls flat is the second of Briggs’ set, which devolves into an exact rip-off of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s classic AC-130 Spec Ops mission where one player rains missiles from above and the other tries to survive on the ground. We’ve just seen that one too many times, and it’s a misfit in a game that’s supposed to be about stealth.
It’s the long-awaited comeback of asymmetrical multiplayer mode Spies vs. Mercs – last seen in 2006's Double Agent – that’s likely to be the most enduring portion of the powerful Blacklist package. It pits Fisher-esque spies (playing in third-person view) against slower, well-armed Mercenaries (playing in first-person). In both the 2v2 Classic mode that mimics the original Pandora Tomorrow mode as much as possible and the new 4v4 Blacklist version (that adds customizable loadouts) the cat-and-mouse battles between the diametrically opposed classes makes for some of the freshest multiplayer in gaming today. You’re wholly dependent on your partner in Classic, though the larger player groups in Blacklist mode invite welcome chaos as the spies try to hack the terminal and the mercs try to stop them.
All in all, though, the new Spies vs. Mercs is not quite as good as its progenitor because it lacks some of the more inventive features. For instance, neither team has gadgets that enable them to listen in on the voice chatter of their rivals, nor can the spies grab mercs from behind and taunt them over the mic, but it’s an impressive modernization. It plays much faster than ever – spies can slit the throats of their foes with a run-by tap of the X button, for example – and most if its game modes are home runs. Team Deathmatch is the exception to that. It allows you to have spies and mercs on the same team, but it’s both unappealing and confusing since you’ll have a tough time deciphering who’s a friend and who’s a foe. Uplink, on the other hand, is where the mixed teams shine, as tug-of-war control points organically funnel all of the action to one hotspot, and here cooperation between classes allow for more creative and intelligent strategies. I’m going to be playing this for weeks, if not months, just as I did in Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory.
The Verdict
Splinter Cell: Blacklist is a sweet middle ground between the Panther-like action of Conviction and the Ghost-like stealth of Chaos Theory. The delightful improbable success of this compromise is a testament to game design that always has choice in mind. It’s well worth replaying the campaign with an alternate playstyle, a different set of preferred gadgets, and/or on Perfectionist mode. And, like the series’ Chaos Theory peak it can’t help but be compared to, Blacklist’s also packing a pair of multiplayer modes that could stand proudly on their own. Splinter Cell is back on the right shadowy track.
9.2
Amazing
Multiple-choice gameplay rooted in stealth plus co-op and the return of Spies vs. Mercs make Blacklist a great package.
Perhaps recognizing this, the designers split Blacklist’s multiplayer missions into batches of three or four, with each set assigned by a different member of your Fourth Echelon team and reflecting that person’s play style. Charlie’s quartet of scenarios are a Horde mode in which you must survive wave after wave of progressively more difficult opponents, while Grim’s ops are pure ghost jobs that are failed if you’re spotted. I much prefer the latter myself, though I appreciate the variety. Even the Charlie missions are a hoot to tackle in different ways – non-lethally one time, then guns-blazing another. The only mission that falls flat is the second of Briggs’ set, which devolves into an exact rip-off of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s classic AC-130 Spec Ops mission where one player rains missiles from above and the other tries to survive on the ground. We’ve just seen that one too many times, and it’s a misfit in a game that’s supposed to be about stealth.
It’s the long-awaited comeback of asymmetrical multiplayer mode Spies vs. Mercs – last seen in 2006's Double Agent – that’s likely to be the most enduring portion of the powerful Blacklist package. It pits Fisher-esque spies (playing in third-person view) against slower, well-armed Mercenaries (playing in first-person). In both the 2v2 Classic mode that mimics the original Pandora Tomorrow mode as much as possible and the new 4v4 Blacklist version (that adds customizable loadouts) the cat-and-mouse battles between the diametrically opposed classes makes for some of the freshest multiplayer in gaming today. You’re wholly dependent on your partner in Classic, though the larger player groups in Blacklist mode invite welcome chaos as the spies try to hack the terminal and the mercs try to stop them.
All in all, though, the new Spies vs. Mercs is not quite as good as its progenitor because it lacks some of the more inventive features. For instance, neither team has gadgets that enable them to listen in on the voice chatter of their rivals, nor can the spies grab mercs from behind and taunt them over the mic, but it’s an impressive modernization. It plays much faster than ever – spies can slit the throats of their foes with a run-by tap of the X button, for example – and most if its game modes are home runs. Team Deathmatch is the exception to that. It allows you to have spies and mercs on the same team, but it’s both unappealing and confusing since you’ll have a tough time deciphering who’s a friend and who’s a foe. Uplink, on the other hand, is where the mixed teams shine, as tug-of-war control points organically funnel all of the action to one hotspot, and here cooperation between classes allow for more creative and intelligent strategies. I’m going to be playing this for weeks, if not months, just as I did in Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory.
The Verdict
Splinter Cell: Blacklist is a sweet middle ground between the Panther-like action of Conviction and the Ghost-like stealth of Chaos Theory. The delightful improbable success of this compromise is a testament to game design that always has choice in mind. It’s well worth replaying the campaign with an alternate playstyle, a different set of preferred gadgets, and/or on Perfectionist mode. And, like the series’ Chaos Theory peak it can’t help but be compared to, Blacklist’s also packing a pair of multiplayer modes that could stand proudly on their own. Splinter Cell is back on the right shadowy track.
9.2
Amazing
Multiple-choice gameplay rooted in stealth plus co-op and the return of Spies vs. Mercs make Blacklist a great package.
