Splinter Cell: Blacklist Assaults the Ghost Panther

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Splinter Cell: Blacklist Assaults the Ghost Panther

Splinter Cell: Blacklist will let you play super-spy Sam Fisher as a ghost, a panther or just a crazy dude with a machine gun.

How do you like your Sam Fisher? A smooth pro who's in and out without ever being seen? Or a loose cannon psycho with enough firepower to overthrow Ecuador? Perhaps something in between is more your speed - all the murder with none of the mess. However you want it, you can have it in Splinter Cell: Blacklist, which as Ubisoft's new trailer so helpfully explains lets you play stealthily, violent or stealthily violently.

I'm not entirely convinced that the choice between quiet and noisy really qualifies as "groundbreaking" and I'm pretty sure the "mark-and-execute" and "last known position" things aren't new either. Then again, I'm still mad that Michael Ironside is out, so maybe I'm letting my bitterness cloud my judgment; but I can't help thinking that by trying to be all things for all gamers, the new Splinter Cell is at great risk of being not much of anything for anyone.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist comes out on August 20 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and Wii U. The delay of the PC version has not yet been announced.


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PBMcNair

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DVS BSTrD said:
Wait, if the enemy can't see you. shouldn't they be focused on your "last known position" anyway?
That would make sense if they had you pinned down and moved to surround you as a team. But if its anything like Convictions last known position mechanic, then they'll just sit in cover staring at the last place they saw you, occasionally taking disturbingly accurate shots at it.


Andy Chalk said:
Then again, I'm still mad that Michael Ironside is out
Don't worry, so are we.
 

VonKlaw

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Jan 30, 2012
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Andy Chalk said:
Splinter Cell: Ghost Panther Assault would be a great title.
"What was that? Over there! Shoot them!"

*gang of goons/terrorists/arabs/russians fires entire clips at an oddly silhouetted group*

"OH NO! Our bullets are useless! It's the GHOST PANTHER ASSAULT SQUAD!"

*flash to logo and release date*

---

See, I've done the advert already.
 

1337mokro

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Dec 24, 2008
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OH... oh... NOOOO... Chaos theory! Help me.... remind me of what a good Splinter Cell game is like!


Thank you... I needed that... now to get to criticizing this... well I can't call it a betrayal because that happened 2 games ago. This is just a combination of light and images that respond to user input.

This looks absolutely horrible. For one simple reason. ASSAULT MODE!? They have been pushing Splinter Cell into this ridiculous TPS direction ever since Double Agent flopped hard. Now they just dropped the pretension and said "Hey college guys with your call of duties and your halos! This game has guns too and you can shoot with them and red stuff flies out of people when you do so! So buy this game!"

This is gonna suck harder than Conviction, which I finished in 4 hours and which had what is basically the stupidest level in Splinter Cell history where you frontally assault the white house fighting off waves of enemies charging at you and one of the stupidest plots imaginable. I was joking about this months before with my friends, you know why didn't Cheney just kill Bush and take over control... that was the plot they went with.

However even in Conviction the hands off violence could be explained. He was a pissed off ex-agent, a free dad pissed off and hunting for his daughter. Here he is supposed to be a reinstated agent again and he's blowing up entire installations and running and gunning all over the place?!

Go ahead Ubisoft. Go after that frat boy money. Sam Fisher is dead anyway when you fired him for a younger guy who could be all hip with the young people.

I'm going to play some Chaos Theory now. The good thing about PC games? They can't shut off support for it.
 

SmilesX-23

Isn't much of anything
Dec 15, 2009
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Looks good,always nice to have choices.

I really wish people would stop complaining about how much of a betrayal this is, or how real splinter cell was only ever pure stealth. Yes chaos theory was a great stealth game but there was always the option to go loud; you had the assault loadout just for that very option. Also the first game had forced combat sections where you had no choice but to fight or run.

So can we all stop complaining about how having the option to go in fighting is a big betrayal when in reality one of the things which made the game fun was the ability to choose your own approach. Its not some big betrayal.

Now the Michael Ironside thing that we can complain about.
 

MCerberus

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Well in my day, Splinter Cell would only give you an automatic weapon in a level that gives you a game over for shooting anyone. You had to ration ammo for the thing like a bastard too.
 

IronMit

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You can knock everyone out in 'ghost'. So Ghost and Panther are 99% similar. You just press the stab button instead of the strangle.

Basically potentially Deus ex:HR , Farcry 3, even Fallout new vegas, Dishonoured had these 3 playstyles.

Actually labelling playstyles is such a major step backwards. To have an entire marketing campaign dedicated to it shows how limited and simple this game is
 

Frezzato

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Andy Chalk said:
The delay of the PC version has not yet been announced.
Hee hee, very nice.

I can't wait to not use the mark/execute. Granted, I may not even buy this game. I already own five Splinter Cell titles, don't want another. All I want from Ubisoft at this point is perhaps one of the next gen titles and Beyond Good and Evil 2.
 

Arslan Aladeen

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I feel like this is a good place to mention that Double Agent for Xbox/PS2 is a very different game from it's big brother on PS3/360/PC. It plays pretty much like Chaos Theory 2, and therefore is vastly superior to it's counterpart. I suggest anyone who hasn't tried it to give it a go. The coop mode has about 15 levels too, compared to Chaos Theory which had about 6 if I remember right (I think 2 of them were downloadable later on), so if you have a buddy, it's even more worth it.
 

ninjaRiv

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Yeah, I'm gonna be different: This looks fucking awesome and I'm happy with Ironside's replacement. Ironside sucked in the last game.
 

Phoenixmgs_v1legacy

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Sep 1, 2010
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1337mokro said:
This looks absolutely horrible. For one simple reason. ASSAULT MODE!? They have been pushing Splinter Cell into this ridiculous TPS direction ever since Double Agent flopped hard. Now they just dropped the pretension and said "Hey college guys with your call of duties and your halos! This game has guns too and you can shoot with them and red stuff flies out of people when you do so! So buy this game!"
What's wrong with a game getting fluid controls? Splinter Cell has always been a TPS, why not have solid TPS controls? When a game like Splinter Cell does get fluid TPS controls, you'll naturally be able to gun your way through areas. But there's nothing wrong with that as long and the stealth elements are still there in spades. It's like the same logic Demon's/Dark Souls fans have about an easy mode being added to the game. Adding an easy mode to Dark Souls or a run and gun option to Splinter Cell doesn't change YOUR gameplay experience whatsoever. The Metal Gear Solid community didn't care that MGS4 became a smooth as shit TPS because the core MGS gameplay was still there. I'm pretty sure the Hitman community didn't care that Absolution got fluid controls either as long as the game was still Hitman; I haven't played Absolution myself but I have Hitman friends that loved it and I think the main complaint I've heard is the linearity of the levels compare to the previous games, not that you can run and gun (because that is an OPTION).

I only ever played the 1st Splinter Cell game and it just didn't grab me at all as the stealth felt very basic, just basically hiding in shadows, and the controls were kinda clunky. I just watched the gameplay in that SDCC Splinter Cell video and the game looks fucking awesome. You have so many options at your disposal. I love the fact that there's a trophy for a "no-kill" run, it gives me that MGS feel.

A game getting better and more fluid controls is only a good thing. The era of shooters where you get stiff and clunky controls is pretty much over and I'm very glad about that.
 

Atlas13

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Phoenixmgs said:
1337mokro said:
This looks absolutely horrible. For one simple reason. ASSAULT MODE!? They have been pushing Splinter Cell into this ridiculous TPS direction ever since Double Agent flopped hard. Now they just dropped the pretension and said "Hey college guys with your call of duties and your halos! This game has guns too and you can shoot with them and red stuff flies out of people when you do so! So buy this game!"
What's wrong with a game getting fluid controls? Splinter Cell has always been a TPS, why not have solid TPS controls? When a game like Splinter Cell does get fluid TPS controls, you'll naturally be able to gun your way through areas. But there's nothing wrong with that as long and the stealth elements are still there in spades. It's like the same logic Demon's/Dark Souls fans have about an easy mode being added to the game. Adding an easy mode to Dark Souls or a run and gun option to Splinter Cell doesn't change YOUR gameplay experience whatsoever. The Metal Gear Solid community didn't care that MGS4 became a smooth as shit TPS because the core MGS gameplay was still there. I'm pretty sure the Hitman community didn't care that Absolution got fluid controls either as long as the game was still Hitman; I haven't played Absolution myself but I have Hitman friends that loved it and I think the main complaint I've heard is the linearity of the levels compare to the previous games, not that you can run and gun (because that is an OPTION).

I only ever played the 1st Splinter Cell game and it just didn't grab me at all as the stealth felt very basic, just basically hiding in shadows, and the controls were kinda clunky. I just watched the gameplay in that SDCC Splinter Cell video and the game looks fucking awesome. You have so many options at your disposal. I love the fact that there's a trophy for a "no-kill" run, it gives me that MGS feel.

A game getting better and more fluid controls is only a good thing. The era of shooters where you get stiff and clunky controls is pretty much over and I'm very glad about that.
Yea, ok, you don't like splinter cell games. So instead of changing splinter cell to be a game it's not, how about you play any other run of the mill shooter out there.

You aren't SUPPOSED to have options, you aren't SUPPOSED to be able to just take thousands of bullets while gunning everyone down. That isn't stealth. And no, Dark Souls should NOT have an easy mode. It's meant to be a hard game. Don't want to get better at Dark Souls? Don't ask for it to cater to you then.

There's such a thing as niche games. Not everyone wants to play Call of Duty clone #65. Some people want a challenge, some people want stealth. By mucking up the core elements of the gameplay, you're pretty much just making it a shooter "Oh, but you can crouch and hit that guy with a gun, so sneaky."

Games like this aren't supposed to cater to you, you're supposed to find away around the limits the game gives you. Yes, you should be able to die. And yes, if you're bad at the game, you shouldn't be able to progress until you get better. Enemies are supposed to be a threat, instead of just a minor annoyance.
 

Phoenixmgs_v1legacy

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Sep 1, 2010
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Atlas13 said:
Yea, ok, you don't like splinter cell games. So instead of changing splinter cell to be a game it's not, how about you play any other run of the mill shooter out there.

You aren't SUPPOSED to have options, you aren't SUPPOSED to be able to just take thousands of bullets while gunning everyone down. That isn't stealth. And no, Dark Souls should NOT have an easy mode. It's meant to be a hard game. Don't want to get better at Dark Souls? Don't ask for it to cater to you then.

There's such a thing as niche games. Not everyone wants to play Call of Duty clone #65. Some people want a challenge, some people want stealth. By mucking up the core elements of the gameplay, you're pretty much just making it a shooter "Oh, but you can crouch and hit that guy with a gun, so sneaky."

Games like this aren't supposed to cater to you, you're supposed to find away around the limits the game gives you. Yes, you should be able to die. And yes, if you're bad at the game, you shouldn't be able to progress until you get better. Enemies are supposed to be a threat, instead of just a minor annoyance.
I only ever played the one Splinter Cell game, I'm sure the games changed/improved over time. I remember wanting to try that Spies vs Mercs mode way back but I never took my PS2 online so I just never even got that game. It's not that I don't like Splinter Cell, the 1st game just didn't grab me and I never picked up any of the other games. I like stealth games, I love MGS and Hitman, I just never got into Splinter Cell. I loved playing Deus Ex all stealthily, the fact that you could play Deus Ex a different way didn't bother me.

If you give a game like Splinter Cell fluid and solid TPS controls, you just will naturally be able to gun your way through areas just solely due to the controls. I don't see what's wrong with that. I'm not going to play like that, but I like the option of being able to do that when shit goes wrong and I can take an enemy hostage and have smooth shooting and aiming to take out the other enemies. The SDCC video I saw looked like an awesome stealth game to me, that's all that matters to me.

So you're one of THOSE Dark Souls fans. Not only do you think Dark Souls is hard, but you think having an easy mode is stupid as well. I was actually hoping Dark Souls 2 would get a hard mode this time around because Dark Souls was a fucking easy game disguised as a hard game. Bayonetta has a fucking casual mode and it's basically the best damn hack and slash this gen because (Oh, I don't know) you don't have to fucking play on casual mode. Why not like people just experience the story and characters of Bayonetta if they want? It's literally not hurting anyone.
 

1337mokro

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Phoenixmgs said:
1337mokro said:
This looks absolutely horrible. For one simple reason. ASSAULT MODE!? They have been pushing Splinter Cell into this ridiculous TPS direction ever since Double Agent flopped hard. Now they just dropped the pretension and said "Hey college guys with your call of duties and your halos! This game has guns too and you can shoot with them and red stuff flies out of people when you do so! So buy this game!"
What's wrong with a game getting fluid controls? Splinter Cell has always been a TPS, why not have solid TPS controls? When a game like Splinter Cell does get fluid TPS controls, you'll naturally be able to gun your way through areas. But there's nothing wrong with that as long and the stealth elements are still there in spades. It's like the same logic Demon's/Dark Souls fans have about an easy mode being added to the game. Adding an easy mode to Dark Souls or a run and gun option to Splinter Cell doesn't change YOUR gameplay experience whatsoever. The Metal Gear Solid community didn't care that MGS4 became a smooth as shit TPS because the core MGS gameplay was still there. I'm pretty sure the Hitman community didn't care that Absolution got fluid controls either as long as the game was still Hitman; I haven't played Absolution myself but I have Hitman friends that loved it and I think the main complaint I've heard is the linearity of the levels compare to the previous games, not that you can run and gun (because that is an OPTION).

I only ever played the 1st Splinter Cell game and it just didn't grab me at all as the stealth felt very basic, just basically hiding in shadows, and the controls were kinda clunky. I just watched the gameplay in that SDCC Splinter Cell video and the game looks fucking awesome. You have so many options at your disposal. I love the fact that there's a trophy for a "no-kill" run, it gives me that MGS feel.

A game getting better and more fluid controls is only a good thing. The era of shooters where you get stiff and clunky controls is pretty much over and I'm very glad about that.
When did I ever mention controls?

I was talking about the gameplay. You see there is a huge difference between a TPS and a stealth game that is not just tied into controls. You should really not project your own excuses for why you like this game onto other people. I call it an excuse because really all you are going on about is controls and nothing else. So you didn't like the controls in other splinter cell games? So what? Why does this now mean that it has to become a TPShooter rather than a TPStealth game? Why don't they just tighten the controls, which to be quite honest were perfectly functional in my opinion. You bring up a wonderful example yourself. Namely Hitman Absolution and MSG4 the movie the game. I'll leave MSG4 to the sides because I never actually bothered to play it and instead will focus on the game that I completed on the hardest difficulty whilst fighting it's counter-stealth mechanics every step of the way, Hitman.

You do know the nickname Hitman Absolution got from fans right? Shitman Abomination, how mature, but wholly accurate, is what it's usually called. Not because people inherently hate fluid controls or because having to dig through 6 menu screens is the true epitome of fun. But because it stopped being a Hitman game. Literally. There are no HITS in that game besides the very first level, which is scripted to shit. Other than that we have the absolutely broken disguise system and a horrible story where a weapons manufacturer is trying to make a deal for a few million dollars. The average revenue of your run of the mill arms manufacturer these days is in the billions and here we have an idiot running across half the country trying to exchange an assassin clone for pocket change. Why all the changes though? Because it had to be more action oriented. Hitman was old and clunky and who the hell ever wanted to explore levels and carefully plan out hits?! No it was all about shooting and running and jumping and so on being hip with the young people! All the same signs were all over the Shitman Abomination production like they are with Splinter Cell: Black Ops.

The same mentality went into Splinter Cell Conviction. Where you can literally instakill people even when they are shooting you in the guts. You can only jump and climb in specific places, no I don't mean specific ledges or pipes, no I mean you have to stand in exactly the right spot in front of a specific ledge or pipe to activate the bend knee sub routine in robot Fisher's brain. It has forgotten what kind of TPS it is in favour of bland mass appeal. I wholly invite you to play this because hey to you it looks awesome, congratulations Ubisoft gutted the game I liked so it could appeal to you! At least one of us will be happy with this game right? After all you get your highly improved controls in a game that you haven't played at all which means you couldn't possibly know what the game even feels like!

Your last paragraph betrays it all really. You never liked Splinter Cell. You just didn't get what was so fun about pressing up against a wall or hanging from girders waiting for your moment to shine. You didn't get the fun of hanging around corners listening in on guards or bypassing security. You just flat out don't get nor like stealth, getting spotted is death simply because you are NOT an action hero. You are outgunned, outclassed and fighting your way out should be near impossible in any good stealth game. Hiding, picking off targets, then silencing the alarms. That is how stealth action is done. However you want to be able to shoot your way through the level! Which is all fine! You want shooters. No problem here, why would there be? Go buy your shooters. There are only a few million of them released every day. However I humbly request that you leave my niche to me. I only get like 2 or 3 of these games if I am lucky.

Because I can't leave on an amiable note though I will just end by saying that it's people like you that look at games like Silent Hill and say: "Man these controls suck and why is there mist everywhere! We should really get rid of this fog so I can see better."

PS: No there shouldn't be an easy mode in Dark Souls. There isn't a fucking hard mode in Assassin's Creed either now is there? Catering to everyone is not a solution, it will never be because guess what, the people that don't play Dark Souls already will be bored to shit on easy mode because it's all about the repeated challenges. The game IS the struggle to overcome the odds against you, not to go sightseeing through the world squashing enemies with your 78+ electric damage blade. This again betrays that you simply don't get what makes these games have their appeal in the first place.

I wouldn't buy Assassin's Creed any more or less if there was a hard mode because really the AC games are not about the combat.