What Splinter Cell MUST Learn From Metal Gear Solid 5

Kept You Speculating, Huh?

So, why do I mean by "learning from MGSV"? It's definitely not the insinuation that Splinter Cell is boring and needs sprucing up, far from it.

It's just that it's been seven years since Blacklist, and whilst that did mix up the formula somewhat, times have moved on in both stealth and action gaming. The Hitman franchise tried the same route: Absolution went for a more arcade, score-based grindhouse aesthetic and largely gets derided for it. So, it went back to what it does best but also incorporates a more modern touch to it, such as easier opportunities, a hint system and Target-O-Vision to stop things from getting stale.

Since then, Hitman's 2016 "reboot" and its sequel have reignited the flame for Agent 47's love affair with garrotes, with a third one on the way next year (also in VR, which will be immense). But it's not just old franchises favouring more upbeat methods.

Sucker Punch's excellent Ghost of Tsushima could also be considered an MGS-lite: open world, multi-approach gameplay that favours either stealthing or action. Admittedly though, it did gear more towards the "stand and fight" nature of the samurai over true Ghosting, but still entertaining sneaking about nonetheless.

My point being that stealth games have to move with times to offer that level of fluidity if people want it, but not overly rely on insisting players devolve into balls-to-the-wall action if things go wrong.

And this is where Metal Gear Solid V comes in.