I'll admit it, I was a bit skeptical going into Blacklist. As a jilted fan of the original stealth focused Splinter Cell (yes, I'm one of those), I was extremely let down by the action first style of games like Double Agent and Conviction. So when I heard that Blacklist would blend the two styles together, I mentally prepared myself to be disappointed. Except something strange happened - I wasn't disappointed at all - Blacklist is easily the best Splinter Cell in years and is the game that finally delivers on what Ubisoft has been promising for years.
Blacklist is a direct sequel to 2010's Splinter Cell: Conviction and finds Sam in a new an interesting spot in his career. After the events of Conviction, which found him on the run from Third Echelon, Sam becomes the commander of a new unit known only as fourth echelon (because four is better than three, duh), which answers only to the President of the United States of America. Their current task is to stop a terrorist who aims to unleash a series of escalating attacks on America unless the country pulls all of its troops from abroad.

"It's really an interesting and well paced story..."

It's really an interesting and well paced story, which will take you around the world and even surprise you a bit. There's just one problem though - it doesn't seem like Ubisoft really knew what they wanted to do with the franchise before writing the story and the result is a mixed bag to say the least. Sam and the other characters we knew from previous games all look younger and Sam is voiced by a new younger sounding actor (that's right, no Michael Ironside here), so the game feels like a reboot, but the characters are constantly referencing previous games. The story would have worked a lot better if the development team just made this a younger Sam Fisher or hell, even kept it going with the same story, but retire the aging Sam. As it stands right now, the story may be strong but it also feels quite unnatural.

Blacklist works mostly because of how smoothly it blends the two gameplay styles the series is known for. At the core of this is the new killing in motion system which allows Sam to chain lethal and non-lethal attacks together all while choosing just how to play the game. That's perhaps the beauty of this new system, there's so much choice in just how you want to play the game that you're not bound to a single style, and you're likely going to have a different experience than someone else playing the game.

"...and devise a plan on just how to take them out."

It's extremely satisfying to stake out a herd of bad guys and devise a plan on just how to take them out. The patented “watch the bad guys and learn their patterns before you strike” gameplay of Splinter Cell is still here but be warned, I was caught off guard by guards doing something I didn't expect them to on a number of occasions. If you get caught you're still going to have what seems like every enemy in the game coming after you, but Blacklist does a great job letting you improvise to escape, and most missions won't penalize you for killing this go-round either.

Even after you complete the campaign, complete with second and third objectives, you can go back and play through making different decisions about the missions you take and the gear you use to come out with a wildly different outcome for the game. All of this on top of the robust multiplayer suite which includes the returning Spies VS Mercs multiplayer mode and a co-op campaign meaning that Blacklist is no bare-bones package.

Blacklist is the Splinter Cell you've been waiting for, regardless of on which side of the old school VS new gameplay dispute you fall on. It balances stealth, strategy and incredibly well paced action like no game before it and allows for some great replays. It may have some identity issues, but those fade in the face of a great story. Whether it was on your radar or not, Splinter Cell: Blacklist is one of the best action games of the year.