When the trailer for this game was first shown, I was in the middle of playing Ghost Recon: FS for the PC. It was was of the most broken, poorly-optimized, and disappointing ports I've ever played. Conviction wasn't much better on the PC. The trailer for Blacklist showed no stealth, no multiplayer, and showed a game that was nothing like what Splinter Cell used to be.

I had NO intention of buying it... Until I started to read that it was actually a decent port. For the first time since Chaos Theory, people started saying the game wasn't broken on PC, the optimization was decent, and the actual game play was good as well.And then I saw spiesvsmercs gameplay on youtube... and I had to give this a shot.

Boy, was I wrong about this game. SvM is fucking awesome. I would say BETTER than Chaos Theory's. And people are playing it a LOT. Finding a match is easy, there are people with really high levels, and the icing on the cake is voice chat works. The multiplayer as a whole is new and refreshing and it all works, even the co-op.

Guys, if you liked Chaos Theory, buy this game. Ubisoft needs to see that PC gamers still want this.

Good to hear that the PC version is good. I never was into the SC series since its style of stealth was very trial and error to me. I had a lot of fun with Conviction though, as I felt that there was no need to restart to the latest checkpoint every time I fucked up.

Does the voice chat work the way it was meant to in Chaos Theory? Where you could only hear the other team under certain conditions?

@doskias:

Yes

The game looks pretty good. I've meant to play the last several Splinter cell games for a while now. Guess I'll add this to the backlog.

@jace: That is rad. The idea of whispering into someone's ear while you have them by the neck appeals to me in a way that I probably need to consult a therapist about.

@jace: That is rad. The idea of whispering into someone's ear while you have them by the neck appeals to me in a way that I probably need to consult a therapist about.

I thought Conviction was great on PC>

Is the controller support fixed yet? I'm not playing it till that's patched

The first mangled blue screen of death that appeared on my recently-built PC went to Splinter Cell Conviction just a few days ago, so I'm a little cautious of picking this up, let alone due its price (I usually buy things on sale) and supposed bad performance on PC despite your praise for it. Saying it's even better than Chaos Theory is almost forgoing my usual buying process as that was the last game I truly enjoyed in the series, and want more of it now before I move on to other games.

I couldn't care less about multiplayer however, and that seems to be the main focus and draw of the game to you. As long as it's more like Chaos Theory where handling things is a bit more methodical in single-player rather than a full-blown shootout like in Conviction, call me pretty damn excited.

Say, is there a whistle key to draw guards to you?

hmm... interesting.

I'll give it a shot eventually, regardless (just because I've played all the splinter cell's) and while I think its lame they didn't just spin it off to another character since Michael Ironside is replaced (which had to happen eventually) and the character doesnt even look like Sam- but I can put that aside if the game is good at least.

So, we'll see.

I'd actually be open to seeing a Splinter Cell prequel where you play as an inexperienced fresh eyed Sam Fisher. Just feels like Sam is taking some sort of PEDs or found the fountain of youth the way the character has progressed over the past 3 games. I forget where I heard it but its kind of nerve racking when you hear him call his daughter and because of the change in Sam's VA they both sound around the same age.

I beat it a few days ago and thought it was excellent. They actually strattled the line between old splinter cell games and conviction perfectly. This breeds a stealth game that you don't need to move at a snails pace to accomplish somethin. Don't get me wrong, I like those games too but it just felt refreshing to silently take down 3 enemies in one well thought out swoop.

I would recommend it to any fan of splinter cell or the stealth genera. As for the pc port it ran pretty well. I had a few areas of slowdown but other than that it's a smooth 60

@i_stay_puft: ya, but why does it have to be Sam Fisher? Its not about Sam Fisher- it's about Splinter Cell, And there are other Splinter Cell agents haha. Say it's Sam's Protege' or something if that even matters (I've played them all, and it doesnt honestly).

It doesn't have to be Sam Fisher. People don't buy Splinter Cell for Sam Fisher and if they do the fact that Michael Ironside is old and cant do it anymore probably already drove them away haha

I mean, don't get me wrong, Sam is a great character, but it'd be totally fine (and luckily for them technically in canon) for them to say Sam is retiring.

I don't for the life of me get why they haven't done that.

Man, I really did enjoy the gameplay, but the deadened voice acting and horrid writing was a constant bummer for me. Sam Fisher is a dreadfully boring, robotic shithead in this game, they really should have just made him a new character. Why even keep the continuity going, your middle aged lead now sounds younger than his daughter.

I have had some crashing issues in Spies vs Mercs after about an hour play session. Disabling dx11 helps a lot. However, I have had zero crashes or performance issues in coop or campaign.

My issue seems to be exclusive to SvM. And yes, "z" will taunt a guard to come over to you so you can ask him how his day has been.

Oh by no means am I 100% for a Sam Fisher in the next game, I seriously felt like Ubisoft has fucked over the character story in too many ways that it became a really really bad military soap opera. I just feel that if Sam was taken out this series inches that much closer to a Tom Clancy game where the narration and the main character becomes a revolving door of nameless military faces. For what its worth I thought the paladin talk to your crew side stuff in Blacklist was actually pretty great and gives the npc and Fisher more character. Another reason why I suggested having a prequel with Sam in it is because there's alot of Sam's backstory that's still shrouded in mystery from earlier Splinter Cell games that I for one would still like to see answered. It might also be a little jarring for fans of the series to see a new character take up the mantle, I remember hearing a lot of people up in arms earlier this year because Ironside was no longer doing the voice. I think eventually they're setting up the series for Isaac Briggs to takeover as the lead in the franchise, not sure how I feel about this considering we know next to nothing about him by the end of the game. That ending revelation where you find out the splinter cell agent you were playing as was actually Briggs not Sam was a nice surprise and showcases that maybe Briggs isn't so bad as he too can also be bad ass.