Today at PAX Australia we had a taste of what Ubisoft had to deliver with their latest game Splinter Cell: Blacklist.
We had two chances at the Multiplayer in which two teams were pitted against one another to either defend or hack three individual points. When you play as the defending team known only as “Mercs”, you are put into first person and your only light source was the flashlight at the edge of your gun. This was a great asset, as you could easily blind the enemies and kill them before they had the chance to react.
On the other side we played as the “Spies” and our objective was to hack the terminals and gather “Important Information”. While playing as the Spies, you get put in 3rd Person and have the advantage of using your night vision goggles to out maneuver the enemies, as well as using your 1 shot stun weapon to escape from the enemy. This is particularly useful if you were put into a corner and had no other means of escape.
This was a game type that definitely needed communication between the players for the objective to be successful. We found it fun hoping from ledge to ledge, being as stealthy as possible to accomplish our mission. It was tough later on when we were spotted by the enemy or tried to actually hack, as the opposing team would get notified and all come rushing to you. This could be a good thing though as you could set up proximity mines at the entrances so they would be taken out when they least expect it.
Unfortunately, both times that we participated the game crashed roughly halfway through each playthrough. This could be explained by the wireless connection between the players, but we can’t be sure and the exhibitors didn’t give us any insights as to what might have happened. With a month left till launch, it makes us a bit wary as to how much the game will need to improve and it would be expected that a day one patch is needed to fix some of the bugs that we were experiencing.
Splinter Cell : Blacklist launches on the 22nd of August for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.