What Splinter Cell MUST Learn From Metal Gear Solid 5

Only A Fool Trusts His Life To A Weapon

Again, not to keep ragging on the series, but when it comes to the gun - and fist - fight side of things, Splinter Cell has always been a bit lacking. Granted, Fisher is a covert operative, it's a pretty self-explanatory job title.

Over time, it has [thankfully] progressed from the precise, context-sensitive grab from the first two, to the more fluid love tap in Chaos Theory, right up to the karambit-heavy focus in Blacklist. But even then, it's still always felt a bit static. Again, Fisher is not kitted out to one-man army things, we know this.

Yet whilst I'm not suggesting that Fisher starts carrying prototype Honeybee missile launchers into missions with him, he could learn the basics of some decent CQC.

Honestly, Chaos Theory had the best use of knocking a guard out from any angle, before it devolved into mostly "choke or throat slice" by Blacklist. Yes, the karambit is cool, but why is my only other option grabbing a guard and choking him out? Why can't I just smack him upside the head, or quickly chain it into a few guards, Batman-style?

Of course, I'm not implying that Splinter Cell should favour action over stealth. We've had that, it was Conviction. It's possibly my least favourite, after Double Agent. It's just that it needs to be spiced up with the same fluidity of the aforementioned exploration.

It's the same with gunplay. Allow us a bit more freedom to say, shoot walls or metallic objects to distract a guard before bum-rushing him with a knockout punch. Shooting lights in previous titles was fun, but it was always very scripted. Add some degree of versatility and fluidity to the gunplay, as well as the melee, and expand on what Blacklist started.