Three years ago at E3, Ubisoft gave an absolutely stunning demonstration of Splinter Cell: Conviction and its revamped gameplay mechanics. Overnight, the series went from languishing under the shadow of Assassin’s Creed to … well, the least you can say is that it got a new lease on life. This year at E3, Sam Fisher is back in action in Splinter Cell: Blacklist. In this game, he brings all the new stuff from Conviction, and also goes back to the well for some of his old tricks.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adlr-UaA0Rc[/youtube]
Based on the gameplay, we see that Ubisoft is bringing back some of Fisher’s previously used technology such as the Nightvision/IR goggles and the slower, more methodical movement of Fisher. One of the flaws in early SC games is the awkwardness of the transitions between stealth and action. Conviction made strides to correct this, but Blacklist looks to have really nailed it with ‘Killing In Motion’. This mechanic allows you to seamlessly alternate between melee takedowns and Mark and Execute animations without missing a beat. It will be interesting to see whether it translates to PC controls when it is released in Spring of 2013.