Splinter Cell 2015: 10 Essential Improvements It Must Have

6. More Experimental, Contextual Kills

Something that always feels great in newer stealth titles like Blacklist, Shadow of Mordor or Assassin's Creed is knowing that regardless of what direction or placement an enemy is to you, a quick reaction can save your hide. The first Splinter Cell introduced the 'split jump' that let you scarper up a thin corridor before waiting for your prey below, Chaos Theory the idea of leaping up to pull guys over ledges, and the AC games the idea of pouncing on multiple targets at once. But it's always been in the combination of your entire repertoire of moves that we've had so much fun. Part of the appeal in the original games was exploring every facet of the levels to experiment with what happened if you did something like throwing a guard off a balcony onto some glass below, or in Chaos Theory in particular just lobbing them off all manner of things to see how the ragdoll physics would cope. Strange? Absolutely, but that sense of experimentation with guard patrols and enemies in general is something that's almost gone away completely in the last three titles. With the general direction of level design going the way of allowing greater experimentation, there's no shortage of unique situations we're sure to find ourselves in - something that adding more kill-animations to every possible occurrence would make all the more enjoyable.