Ubisoft Toronto boss, Jade Raymond has expressed her view that Splinter Cell has never managed to reach a big enough audience due to the complex nature of the stealth based franchise in a recent interview with Eurogamer.
“One of the things that held it back is despite all of the changes that have happened over the years, it’s still one of the more complex and difficult games to play, Even though we do have core fans who are like, ‘Oh, I want to have more of this experience,’ when you play any other game that has stealth elements, they’re all a lot more forgiving than Splinter Cell.”
“I guess Splinter Cell stayed with the most pure approach to that stealth experience.”
– Jade Raymond, Ubisoft Toronto
Her statement certainly isn’t inaccurate, however it would also be fair to say that some of the games stealth roots were partially pushed aside in Splinter Cell: Conviction. However Jade also referenced the game as an example of how the franchise has repeatedly put stealth as the most important factor in beating the game, despite the heavier focus on action.
“The first thing you have to do when you start in a map, even in Conviction, which did go quite a bit more action-oriented than the past, is the planning phase, So before entering a room you’ve got to spend some time thinking, right, so where are the guys positioned? How will I get through here? Where’s cover? How do I hide? Okay, I’m going to shoot out those lights. ‘This is my strategy’ is an important first phase.”
“By default there aren’t many games where that’s the phase. Most games you can walk in and you start shooting right away, or you just walk in and you improvise as you go along.”
– Jade Raymond, Ubisoft Toronto
She then explained that while this has always been the way that Splinter Cell games have played out, Splinter Cell: Blacklist will break the mold and instead will be playable from a variety of different strategies and that if you wish to go in all-guns-blazing, then that’s going to be an option too this time. She also mentioned that the original fanbase will be able to play the game without killing a single person or being seen at all if they wish.
“In this game we do have a broader range of play styles possible than ever before, We brought back the purest hardcore version, which is, you want to ghost through the level and get through it without killing a single person. Every single thing you want to do you can do in a non-lethal way. That requires the most planning and being the most strategic.”
“You can even play that in Perfectionist Mode, which means if you want you don’t have any of the added things, such as Mark and Execute, that make it easier. That’s for those who want to plan it out and feel really smart, and, ‘I’m going to use the Sticky Cam with the Sleeping Gas and them I’m going to whistle and the guy’s going to come,’ and do the full set-up.”
– Jade Raymond, Ubisoft Toronto
Usually it would be concerning to hear that a stealth based franchise is opening itself up to action based gameplay, however the inclusion of Perfectionist Mode could mean that Blacklist will be closer to the gameplay of the originals than Conviction was.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist is due out in August on PC, PlayStation 3, Wii U and Xbox 360.
