Splinter Cell: Blacklist Reenlists Sam's Night Vision Goggles

One of the biggest problems with Splinter Cell: Conviction was that the game wasn't really Splinter Cell. As an action third-person shooter it was all right, but everything that made the series popular was either missing or altered. Ubisoft is aiming to get back to the roots with Blacklist and as the new trailer indicates, Sam is getting his old night vision goggles back.

The series was built on what I liked to call hard-knocks stealth. Gamers were given uncompromising situations where you had to use smarts and patience to get past relentless AI opponents, something that was magically missing from Conviction. In fact, the AI in Conviction was a huge step backward from the very capable, adapt and improvisational AI from Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.

Hopefully, by combining the new with the old, we'll see Blacklist reenlist the challenging AI from the previous games along with the actual requirement of stealth. In some terms playing Splinter Cell: Conviction felt like a less fanciful version of 007: Bloodstone and any fan of the series noting James Bond and Sam Fisher being compared in the same sentence instantly employs frowns, furrowed brows and the wrinkled creases of a cringe.

On the upside, Ubisoft has listened enough to fan feedback and has added stealth to Blacklist from the outset to at along with the game's over-the-top action elements.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist is set for release this fall for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Need more info? Feel free to visit the Official Website.