What Splinter Cell MUST Learn From Metal Gear Solid 5

Splintering? Barely Even Branching Out

By comparison, Splinter Cell has never really deviated from its original template. The first two were fairly linear, corridor-based affairs. Chaos Theory expanded on that by allowing a bit more versatility in your approach, then largely reined it by the events of Double Agent. Conviction, as mentioned early, favoured action whilst Blacklist at least expanded on different playstyles.

But in the face of ever-changing world of more active stealth games, like MGSV, Dishono(u)red and even Hitman, Ubisoft's sneaky spy series is a bit behind the times. Even I, a long term fan of the series, find it a struggle to go back and play the early ones.

Blacklist, though, had the potential to be on to something great for the series. Pooling previous efforts, the choice of passive or lethal stealth, or straight-up gunfights, was a start. It gave us some new freedom, but it still boiled down to corridor-esque gameplay. Sure, some levels had a bit of variety, but it wasn't much of a freedom, just a choice in which order you completed certain objectives.

It's a shame it didn't meet Ubisoft's sales expectations, lofty as they were, that they essentially put the series on ice, only to thaw out Fisher when they needed him for guest appearances. It's all well and good bringing back Michael ironside for these cameos now, Ubisoft, but maybe you shouldn't have taken him out of Blacklist in the first place.

However, don't take this as me ragging on the series. As I said, long term fan. But when all the other series' you've grown up with make adjustments (for better or worse) and still keep growing, it's hard to accept that some are dragging their feet with change.

Splinter Cell doesn't need "reinvention", they tried that with the early Conviction concepts, and nobody wanted that. Hobo-looking Fisher, anyone...?

But when it comes to learning from successful peers, then Metal Gear Solid V is the one to look up to.