Splinter Cell Blacklist: First Hour Gameplay & Impressions

For those of you that have been waiting for more gaming content on our site, the wait is over! To kick things off, today we picked up a couple of new releases on steam, and to begin with I’m bringing you guys my first hour impressions of Splinter Cell Blacklist.

One obvious noticeable change right off the bat with this installment is that the game is a lot more forgiving when it comes to players that want to take an all out combat approach to things. While the game is still heavily flavored and in favor of you taking the stealth route, through a variety of weapon and gear options, players are able to build Sam as less of a sneaky quiet type player and more of a walking, killing tank of destruction.

Player’s go through the game in a more episodic style by doing missions between taking breaks in your central command center within a plane, being able to use funds from successful missions to buy Plane upgrades that allow for better gear options or HUD enhancements, as well as buying and modifying gear used on the ground whether thats stealth suits that emphasize stealth or toughness, and guns that go between quiet and efficient, to loud and deadly.

While the game returns to it’s roots of professions stealth missions overseas and at home, a lot of the core mechanics of Conviction have made a return, including the ability to tag multiple enemies for a quick and easy multi-kill (albeit after earning the right to with at least some skillful playing), and a ghost marker that let’s you know exactly where enemies remember seeing you last if you end up getting caught in a firefight.

Overall based on the one hour of gameplay I’ve had, the game’s stealth mechanics are fluid and easy to learn, and on the whole I’m quite happy with them. The game’s presentation on the other hand has a few things that bother me, including a new somewhat out of place sounding voice actor for Sam Fisher, and the oddest need to have as much of your gear as possible light up when you’re in the dark….because bright shiny lights is a good thing for hiding right?

I’m also a little bothered by how often the game throws resupply stations your way throughout levels, which really cripples the usual difficulty of stealth games that comes from carefully using and saving up your equipment, though to be fair as I’ve said I’ve only played through the first hour, so it could just be an issue with early no levels holding your hand.

There’s still a ton of content left for me to experience before bringing you guys a full proper review, especially since I have yet to even touch the Co-op and multiplayer options many of you care about. Just think of this is a quick little morsel to whet your appetite, or just a quick peak on day 1 for those of you wanting to buy it ASAP. If you guys want to hear my thoughts on the game while also seeing actual gameplay, check out the video embedded above.