14 DAY TRIAL // The team at Ubisoft Toronto that created Splinter Cell: Blacklist says that the game was not designed to encourage players to shoot their way to the levels and that the studio eliminated none of the mechanics that made the series special.
James Everett, a designer working on the experience, tells GamesIndustry.biz that, “At a root level, at a gameplay level, we took nothing away. We just made everything easier to get at, and we made it feel better. I think if you take the things people love and you find a way to amp them up without diluting them, I think that’s probably your best bet.”
Splinter Cell: Blacklist allows gamers to use classic shooter mechanics to clear out groups of enemies, but the game also rewards those who are patient, stalk their targets and take them out without being noticed by anyone.
The developer also says that his team has introduced a number of gameplay elements to make it harder for shooter fans to progress.
He adds, “The heavy character was brutally hard if you run straight in like a shooter. We needed that moment of something hard to shake people lose a little bit from maybe how they’re used to playing a standard third-person game.”
When Splinter Cell: Blacklist was launched, plenty of fans of the franchise that focuses on the character of Sam Fisher complained that it was too easy for them to progress in the game because they never felt like they needed to stick to the shadows.
But the game does offer plenty of tools for those who value stealth over direct confrontation.
The game deals with a classic Tom Clancy story about a group that is attacking Americans and can only be stopped by a tightly knit group of operatives.
Since Splinter Cell: Blacklist was launched, Ubisoft has not commented on the future of the franchise.