I was pondering in my head about how I would justify wiping off all that  the Splinter Cell franchise stood for before this game. Because that's  what the developers did with this one. They created a completely  different game. And they haven't stopped at there either. They even went  as far as to repurpose characters. For example they took Grimsdottir (a  character I was very fond of in the previous games) and redesigned her  into some badass field agent, they even changed her look completely. I  assume of course that their goal was to appeal to wider audiences with  the game. I don't presume to know if that worked out for them or not.  What I do know is that they managed to piss off almost every fan of the  previous games with these changes (including me).

They really tried hard to shove every popular cliche into the game: conspiracy, kidnapping, traitor, Iraq, the most important tools that make a season of 24. And of course they couldn't refrain from using the most banal cliches of them all: Let's show the last scene of the game, and then jump a random amount of time into the past.

I see this tool used more & more. But while I can justify its usage in TV, where you want to persuade the viewer not to switch to another channel, in a video game it's pointless. I already bought the damn game if I'm playing it, you don't need to show me some juicy scene from the middle, or the end, to make me want to play it. And I don't want to see where the story will eventually lead to, you have the opportunity to build it up, you don't have to start with a loud bang, I won't switch to the "Atari channel". I didn't throw away Unreal because it started with a completely non-combat level, I didn't throw away Half-Life because it started with a ten minute long "pointless" tram journey.

The funny thing is they already had a good story, so this just made the usage of all the cliches that more pointless. Sometimes Video Game designers really come through as blatantly stupid to me.

What becomes apparent from the minute you start playing, is that the visuals was of paramount importance to them. For example some cutscenes are projected onto the walls within the game word. I could appreciate that in a tech demo, or in demoscene. But in a story driven game? Not so much. It really looks cool, and I applaud their programmers for being able to do that, but it's distracting, and you can't see the cutscene clearly either. I admit it has some benefits in terms of building tension. But if it were up to me, the idea would've went down the scrapper.

But the bigger problem is, that they project your objectives onto the game world using the same method. Nothing can throw you off the experience quite the same way as seeing your mission objectives spelled out on the wall in ARIAL BLACK when entering a room. And projection is the right word, because if you step close to the wall, the letters are shown on your character. (If this were a forum post I'd put a facepalm meme here)

The gameplay is not even reminiscent of the Splinter Cell I used to know. It's 90 percent action, and 10 percent stealth. But you have no choice in it at all. The level design and scripts make sure of that. On the levels they intended as action levels you can't use stealth, because you can only progress after wasting everyone in cold blood. Yes in cold blood, this is one thing I really disliked about the game. That now Sam kills everyone without a second thought, there are no longer non-lethal takedowns in the game. And most of the people you kill are just soldiers or agents like you following orders, who ended up on the wrong side of the story. It's not like you're killing enemy combatants.

As I've said ninety percent of the game is action. So they implemented a combo system in the game, which works like this: If you kill someone in close combat you get the opportunity to mark three or four (depending on your weapon) other guys to death. And after marking the unfortunate victims, Sam executes them in a cutscene, serving one bullet to the head to each. And you're forced to this method, because the one thing they managed to carry over from previous games is that you're still useless in open gunfights. So through the game you'll be striving to somehow separate one soldier from the rest to kill that in hand to hand combat, so then you're able to take down a few more like this.

The interrogations have lost their importance again. You can only question a few key characters through the game, and even those are comical. Sam holds the person with one hand by the throat like some terminator, and you're confined to a four by four square you can't move outside. If you take the person to some object within this space then Sam will automatically use that object to "aid" the interrogation. But since there are only three or four interrogations in the entire game this didn't take too much effort to implement. But if you don't move close to any object, then one animation repeats itself all the time. Yes ONE, pathetic.

The most annoying design flaw in the game to me is that the game now indicates that you're hidden by turning the screen to black and white. Unbelievable. Of course there are no more spy tools in the game either like nigh vision goggles and thermal cameras, since you can see like an eagle in pitch black, only in black and white. (facepalm no. 2)

The save system is a checkpoint based one. And one that won't be your friend. The checkpoints are very sparse, and many times they're placed before a long animation. So if you die you have to watch the same goddamn animation over and over again, because there is no option to skip it even after the 10th time. And it also does happen that the game puts you into a serious firefight against waves of enemies and there is no checkpoint after it. Instead you go forward and have another firefight, and if you die you have to do the first one again too. It was challenging even on Normal difficulty.

They completely overhauled the controls yet again. Almost every action is contextual, so it happened often that Sam didn't do what I intended him to do. For example rolling and taking cover are bound to the same button. It was hilarious and mind numbing at the same time when Sam instead of taking cover near a door frame rolled into the room filled with enemies like a hedgehog. And this happened almost a third of the time when I tried to take cover in the game. But at the same time there are other functions that should and could use one button or be more intelligent. Like the mark&execute function. You have a separate button to mark enemies, another one to unmark them, and to carry out the executions you use a third button. And also if there are two enemies standing behind each other, no matter what you do you can only mark the one standing in front. And also if an enemy walks out of the room you're staying in, his mark doesn't automatically get cancelled, but you have to cancel all the marks to get him unmarked. A small inconvenience, but one that annoys you through the whole game.

The various gadgets and equipment you can have through the game like grenades, mines, remote bombs, and such are completely useless, because they have so small yields, that they only take out an enemy if he's standing right on top of it. And even then it can only take out one enemy, or maybe two if you're extremely lucky. But if I have the opportunity to throw a grenade at an enemy, why shouldn't I shoot him instead? At least that's silenced. There are also flashbang and emp grenades in the game, that affect a larger area, but they only disorient/disable enemies for a few seconds, so basically all they're good for is to announce your presence to everyone in the area.

If a checkpoint is located close to a weapons stash, then after loading you always loose your weapon apart from the basic pistol. And you have to pick up the weapon again. But this is tricky, because the action is not paused so the enemies might come at you at once after you load the save, so you don't have time to properly gear up, sometimes you hardly have enough time to pick up the first weapon you can get your hands on.

After the lots of negativity, I can only mention one aspect of the game I  actually liked. The enemy AI: They are constantly throwing grenades at  you, use blind shooting, try to flank you, and never leave you the  opportunity to catch your breath.

+

  •    Atmosphere (Some levels are actually well designed, they can't ruin it completely with the projections)
  •    Gameplay (at first glance it's horrible if you're expecting a stealth game, but for a brainless shooter it's pretty good)
  •    Cover system (when it actually works)
  •    decent AI (although sometimes they do act like livestock in a slaugherhouse)

-

  •    Short
  •    I got stuck in objects more than once, this is especially joyful  when you just finished off a ton of enemies but not yet reached the  next checkpoint.
  •    Sometimes enemies see you through walls
  •    Bullets often reach you in cover
  •    Rewritten characters from previous games
  •    Cliches in the story
  •    No decisions
  •    Completely linear levels
  •    You're forced to use action, you can't choose your gameplay style
  •    Objectives projected on walls
  •    Badly placed checkpoints
  •    Not much  similarity to prevoious games.
  •    Control issues
  •    Black & White darkness
  •    There is no hacking, or lockpicking or any similar minigame.

If I try to value the game objectively it would be a 7/10, but I just  can't forgive that they threw everything out the window that Splinter  Cell was before. So I'll be harsh and give it a 6 out of 10