By Nathan Grayson on January 17th, 2013 at 12:00 pm.
Have you been eagerly awaiting Sam Fisher’s sneaky, skulky return from wherever he’s been for the past few years? Well, how do you know he’s not already right in your living room? I mean, this man’s a near-future ninja. Look closely: are you sure that’s a lamp, and not a disarmingly spry geriatric infiltration machine with a lampshade expertly positioned atop his head? Here, let’s run a test. Try turning it on. Is the general bulbular region made up of three green lights? Also, did it kill you? Congratulations! You found Sam. Unfortunately, however, it looks like the rest of us are gonna have to wait, as Ubisoft’s sent Splinter Cell: Blacklist behind August’s all-too-distant frontlines. A delay heralding trailer’s after the break, courtesy of IGN.
SERVE, PROTECT, AND DEFEND. SAM FISHER IS… THE PRESIDENT.
Wait, no, sorry. Still Splinter Cell. Most presidents (Andrew Jackson aside) hardly even execute brutal stealth takedowns on half that many men. But yes, Blacklist continues to look distinctly more Chaos-Theory-y than Conviction in many places, though who’s to say Ubi’s not just focusing on one or two levels for the sake of scoring a few brownie points from diehards? Time will tell.
More time now, as a matter of fact. August 20th’s the new date – a semi-lengthy hop, skip, and ceiling-pipe-shimmy from the previous window of “spring” – but at least it’s concrete. Admittedly, that’s far from a guarantee against another slip (especially on PC), but it’s something. Hopefully, I’ll get to see Sam soon. Unless he’s so sneaky that he’s already knocked me out, thrown me in a broom closet, and– oh! Duh. Wow, I feel so silly now. Yep: The brooms. Me currently being unconscious. Gosh, why didn’t I see all the signs sooner? How embarrassing.
17/01/2013 at 12:08 FurryLippedSquid says:
“Have you been eagerly awaiting Sam Fisher’s sneaky, skulky return”
No.
17/01/2013 at 12:12 Bhazor says:
As far as “skulking stealth takedowns” go Batman Arkham has ruined me.
17/01/2013 at 13:27 Low Life says:
I have, but this game doesn’t seem to be it.
18/01/2013 at 02:20 qitabebas says:
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17/01/2013 at 12:09 Bhazor says:
Richard “Milhouse” Nixon?
That amuses me more than Splinter Cell has since Chaos Theory.
17/01/2013 at 16:51 Stellar Duck says:
Why?
I mean, that’s his name. Well, it’s Milhous, but yea.
17/01/2013 at 12:21 Nova says:
“We stop ALL the attacks.”
17/01/2013 at 13:17 Simon Hawthorne says:
Someone really needs to tell Sam that:
IF
[Sam stops] ALL [attacks];
THEN
[Sam stops] THIS [attack].
17/01/2013 at 13:48 Heliocentric says:
I’m hoping for an alternate ending where you just stop half of the attacks.
17/01/2013 at 13:55 Bhazor says:
I hope theres an ending where we see panning shot of America a true peaceful utopia, not even an angry word, just everyone in perfect harmony. Then just before the credits roll someone runs in to shot and kicks the President square in the balls, I mean dead center, and we crash zoom to Sam Fisher watching as a single tear rolls down his cheek. Cut to black.
17/01/2013 at 13:58 Heliocentric says:
President is a she, YOU MISOGYNIST!
*ducks*
17/01/2013 at 14:46 Bhazor says:
Huh, honestly never would have thought Clancy would ever put a woman in that role.
Even so being kicked in the joy department is painful for every age, gender, race and sexuality. It’s actually quite beautiful that we all have a unifying experience.
17/01/2013 at 12:23 Njordsk says:
Preparing the “Now with stealth” DLC eh?
17/01/2013 at 12:37 phelix says:
More ‘hold F to perform canned takedown?’ I can hardly wait.
17/01/2013 at 12:39 c-Row says:
Pre-aug months?
“My calendar is augmented.”
17/01/2013 at 12:46 Screamer says:
If I see more of this kind of game play I might be tempted to remove this from my Blacklist.
17/01/2013 at 12:51 CelticPixel says:
I would describe my feelings as ‘tentatively excited’.
17/01/2013 at 13:08 The Lord of Leisure says:
I would describe my feelings as flatulent. It seemed to me from looking at the gameplay shown so far, that they were changing Splinter Cell to be more like their other franchises, and therefore too much the same thing again, which is a shame as Splinter Cell was a real refreshing change when it came on the scene.
The final nail, even though it probably doesn’t matter to some, is Mr Ironside being absent. They could have still had Sam, older etc, but a new upstart coming in as the guy you control, and Sam took on the role that Lambert left behind. Would have a natural continuation to the series.
17/01/2013 at 14:21 Snargelfargen says:
“I would describe my feelings as flatulent.”
You’re full of hot air? ;-)
I would describe my post as fatuous.
17/01/2013 at 14:27 The Lord of Leisure says:
lol, seeing as you know I’m full of it, you’ve met me then! :D
17/01/2013 at 13:20 Simon Hawthorne says:
I might actually enjoy this game if it wasn’t a younger Sam without Ironside. I can’t understand how they didn’t put Sam in the 3/4 Echelon Director seat and introduce a new character. That would make this far more palatable.
It would be even better if this was introduced as a new IP. Even then it just seems clichéd to the hilt. “Last line of defence”, “We’re going to stop ALL the attacks” etc, etc.
I actually enjoyed Conviction, even if it wasn’t the Splinter Cell we knew and loved. Despite that I’m not interested in this one bit.
17/01/2013 at 13:51 Heliocentric says:
” I can’t understand how they didn’t put Sam in the 3/4 Echelon Director seat and introduce a new character.” oh god yes, you still get to here him going on about being old, and then they can confuse things and have Sam’s daughter be the new protagonists love interest and it can get all “meet the fockers” where sam is torturing you and you must scape without killing him or the wedding cant go ahead…
What?
18/01/2013 at 11:57 Dilapinated says:
This made me laugh so much, thankyou.
Now I will be forever raptly watching for Splinter Cell updates, in the hopes that this becomes at least some sort of DLC episode.
17/01/2013 at 13:36 Discopanda says:
I’m looking forward to Spies Vs. Mercs. …and since they haven’t actually mentioned a peep about the mode yet, they’re probably going to screw it up with a lame deathmatch mode. Also Simon, Sam isn’t younger. He’s younger, AND he’s older! Because that makes perfect sense! Maybe there will be a subplot about all the roids he’s taking to stay in shape…
17/01/2013 at 13:53 Heliocentric says:
This is my main interest, deniable ops was a fun little thing but it lacked 2 things, servers and a server browser.
I think ubisoft are outright abandoning the server/client architecture as to protect themselves from piracy.
17/01/2013 at 19:40 KenTWOu says:
At least Conviction has LAN.
17/01/2013 at 14:06 Simon Hawthorne says:
Ah, younger AND older. That makes much more sense! Much like how the game is both actionier and stealthier. I think I’m finally getting it.
17/01/2013 at 20:37 DaftPunk says:
After Conviction i didn’t expect anything good from them and they proved themself.
18/01/2013 at 02:36 qwlphowo says:
This gun exist, kind of:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEu9LLQpOF8
Ah, and in the video, the gun doesnt have a alt fire, he just ripped the head of the alien cockroach, and use it as a flamethrower.
18/01/2013 at 12:10 Dilapinated says:
I wonder if that high-pitched powering up “wheeeeeeeeeeee” noise is going to be remembered as the Star Trek “widdly-weep, widdly-weep” of the 2000s.
I’m not saying it’s not cool. Just getting a bit cliched. (I think BWAAAAAAAAMMM has safely taken the spot of ubiquitous action movie noise for the next few years, though.)