First Byte: Splinter Cell: Blacklist

Back when my brothers and I first bought a Xbox 360, Splinter Cell: Conviction was among the titles we specifically bought the 360 just to play.  After watching demos and reading reviews, we finally got a chance to pick up Conviction a few months after its April 2010 release.  For the first Splinter Cell game that we ever got our hands on, Conviction blew us away.  The smoothness of the controls, the stylishness of the executions and the slickness of the stealth all combined with the phenomenal story of a burned CIA agent pulled back into the game in order to correct past wrongs and get revenge on those who betrayed him.  This writer's fond experiences with Splinter Cell: Conviction has put a huge amount of expectations on Ubisoft's newest entry, Blacklist.  Developed by their newest studio, Ubisoft Toronto, Splinter Cell: Blacklist looks to combine Conviction's action-pack Mark and Execute system with the hardcore stealth found in the earlier Splinter Cell games (Splinter Cell, Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory).  There have been quite a few posts on Blacklist already up on Silver Bit.  Instead of regurgitating the same points mentioned in earlier articles, I will share my first impressions on Splinter Cell: Blacklist in this edition of First Byte.

Due to many commitments and an ever-growing backlog of games, this writer has not been able to spend as much time as he has wanted to on Splinter Cell: Blacklist.  Even though I have not spent most of my free time playing Blacklist, I have put in just under ten hours into the game.  Funny enough, I have only finished two story missions outside of the intro mission in those ten hours.  A ton of my time has been spent on playing the optional side missions, trying out the co-op missions with my brothers and dying multiple times.  It has been well over three years since yours truly has played Conviction.  Due to the long time away from this series, it is taking some time to get back into the intricacies of Splinter Cell's mechanics.  Blacklist does an admirable of making the tutorials scattered throughout the first few hours as unobtrusive as possible.  Every mission in Blacklist supports three types of play styles: Ghost (stealth approach by using non-lethal takedowns), Panther (stealth approach by using lethal takedowns) and Assault (guns-blazing approach).  After each mission, you are shown the amount of points gained in each play style to see which one you lean towards and to post to leaderboards for bragging rights.  During my time with Blacklist, I have personally leaned towards Ghost with a little Panther mixed in every once and a while.  There are so many options to dispatch enemies from plain takedowns to guns to gadgets to the Killing in Motion system, Blacklist's version of Mark and Execute.  Speaking of Killing in Motion, it is the natural evolution of the Mark and Execute system.  While I have not pulled off anything as smooth and slick as what Ubisoft has shown off, it is a lot of fun to take out one enemy with a takedown and in a few quick button presses mark and execute a few other enemies in the immediate vicinity.  It is very smooth and incredibly empowering.  Apart from the sonar googles, there were not many gadgets to use to dispatch foes in Conviction.  Things are much different in Blacklist with Sam Fisher's new placement as the leader of Fourth Echelon.  There are tons of gadgets for you to use against the foes that guard your mission objective.  My personal favourites are the shock mines, sleeping gas and Tri-Rotor, but each gadget offers tons of options to tackle missions.  Aside from the story missions, which are all great so far, there are a number of side missions to complete.  Each of these side missions can be opened up from the SMI, Blacklist's centralized mission select screen, or by individually talking to each character on the Paladin, Fourth Echelon's mobile base and Blacklist's hub.  Grimm's missions focus on infiltration, Charlie's missions focus on wave-defense, Kobin's missions focus on taking out all enemies and Briggs' missions are a combination of all of the above.  These missions can be played solo or cooperatively both on and offline.  The side missions serve as great diversions from the main missions and allows the player to sharpen their skills solo or with a friend.  The Briggs and Kobin missions are the ones I have been spending the most time playing as I have not tried a Charlie mission yet and the only Grimm mission my brother and I tried was a two hour disaster.

Personally, I can dissect every little piece of Splinter Cell: Blacklist, but this post would go on for far too long.  In conclusion, Splinter Cell: Blacklist is a great game so far.  The pacing of the story is not the greatest especially compared to Conviction's campaign, the Grimm side missions can be unnecessarily unforgiving and Sam's new voice is quite jarring.  I have not run into any glitches or problems that hinder Blacklist in any way, but I have only played a little slice of the entire game.  I am hoping to put up a full review of Splinter Cell: Blacklist in the near future.

Rent, borrow or buy it.  Splinter Cell: Blacklist is a game that deserves some of your attention especially before the holiday flood of games sweeps it under the rug.

Most Anticipated Games of the Next Half

Just last week, this writer reflected upon his favourite games from the first half of 2013.  While there were some great games already available to play, there are some stellar ones coming out in the next six months.  The summer is definitely slow on releases, but the holiday season sure makes up for the slack.  There are the regulars like Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed that rake in the big bucks yet are losing traction with more gamers with each yearly release.  The most exciting new releases of the upcoming months are sequels that have not been diluted by a yearly release schedule or brand new experiences that uses new interesting ideas to grasp our attention and money.  Here is this writer’s list of his most anticipated games of this Summer and Fall.  

Splinter Cell:  Blacklist

Splinter Cell: Conviction was one of the games that this writer bought an Xbox 360 just to play.  While some of the Splinter Cell hardcore were not fond with Sam Fisher’s new direction, yours truly found Conviction unbelievably fun.  The stealth was smooth, the guns felt great and the Mark and Execute system made clearing a room of enemies such an adrenaline pumping experience.  With Blacklist, Ubisoft Toronto looks to expand on what made Conviction so much fun with the Killing in Motion system.  Killing in Motion allows Sam to string together stealth kills with the Mark and Execute moves in one fluid motion.  Along with an interconnected campaign that allows you to access both single and multiplayer levels from the same mobile base and the return of the Mercs vs. Spies multiplayer mode, Blacklist is shaping up to be one of the standout games of the Summer.

Rayman Legends

Ubisoft broke many hearts with the seven-month delay of Rayman Legends and the loss of Wii U exclusivity.  The thought of Ubisoft’s betrayal still stings, but this French publisher has at least made an effort to mend the bridges they burnt with the free Challenge App on Wii , which gives early access to Legend’s multiplayer Challenge mode.  There are both weekly and daily challenges in various difficulty levels to complete and earn trophies in order to increase your Awesomeness level.  Having this leaderboard-focused multiplayer mode along with an incredible single-player should easily keep Legends stuck in many disc drives for months after release.

The Wonderful 101

Put the vast number of controllable units from a game like Pikmin with the B-movie superhero hijacks of Viewtiful Joe and the result would be Platinum’s Wonderful 101.  The first game in Nintendo’s exclusive deal with this extraordinary Japanese developer, The Wonderful 101 has the player taking control of one hundred different superheroes much like Captain Olimar controls Pikmin.  While it is neat to control the entire horde of little heroes, Wonderful 101’s hook comes from all the various ways you can use these heroes' Unite powers, which are activated these by drawing a different symbols on the Gamepad’s touch screen.  These Unite powers allow these heroes to form into either a ladder, a sword or even a giant fist.  Each of these Unite powers can be used to interact with the environment or fight off all the enemies that stand in your way.  The Wonderful 101 looks to be the beginning of a beautiful partnership that this writer hopes to see continue in the years to come.

Watch Dogs

Chicago is your playground and weapon.  In the world of Watch Dogs, the Windy City is in the palm of your hands and you are free to do whatever you want with it.  Hacking into the city’s systems to spy on strangers, evade the law, complete your agenda and cause as much chaos as humanly possible are some of the activities you can get up to in Watch Dogs.  Funny enough those activities are only the tip of the iceberg in this open-world.  Watch Dogs immerses the player with multiplayer that seamlessly integrates with the single-player campaign.  No need to log into a separate lobby to play with others, just have to be connected to the internet or playing on the companion app for iOS and Android platforms.  The potential of Ubisoft Montreal’s newest venture is limitless, which has this writer and many others excited.

The Legend of Zelda:  A Link Between Worlds

It has been ages since Nintendo has delivered a proper top-down Zelda adventure to gamers.  The announcement of true return to the top down format with A Link Between Worlds left many including yours truly weeping tears of joy.  On top of the return of the top-down perspective, A Link Between Worlds is a direct sequel to A Link to the Past, a game among the top echelon of the Legend of Zelda series.  The brand new mechanic in A Link Between Worlds is Link’s ability to merge with the wall as a painting.  This mechanic opens up the door for some unique platforming-like puzzles for the developers at Nintendo to test gamers with.  Much of the game is still under wraps by the Big N, but what has been shown so far looks very promising.  No matter what, A Link Between Worlds should be a stellar game to wrap up the 3DS’s phenomenal year.

Off the Newsstand: Game Informer Issue 232

Just two months removed from the events of E3 2012, magazines are still covering all the big news from the huge conference.  While the July issues of each magazine covered most of the games showed off to the press before E3, the August issues are usually when each magazine breaks down everything at E3.  Giving their grades for each of the Big Three, ranking the games at this year's event and giving away their Best of E3 awards.  For those of us that cannot see every single thing at E3 due to publishers and developers keeping certain games and demos behind closed doors, these issues of each video game magazine serves as our one stop shop for everything that we may have missed at E3.

Being the annual E3 issue, every article excluding the reviews and Game Over sections are all about E3 2012.  From Game Informer's annual breakdown of the Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo's showings at E3 to the humongous cover story, which includes previews of Game Informer's Top 50 Games at E3 2012, you are in for some of the most comprehensive coverage of E3 found in any magazine.  For collector's Issue 232 of Game Informer has six different covers.  Each cover showcases a game highlighted in the E3 Hot 50 cover story.  They are all pretty cool, but my personal favourites are the Castlevania, Resident Evil 6 and Splinter Cell Blacklist covers.  The bulk of the issue is dedicated to the cover story which is more or less an expanded previews section and that is not a bad thing.  I am baffled at how Game Informer picked some of the games on this Top 50 Games of E3 list such as Gears of War: Judgment and Star Wars 1313 when they had little to nothing to show at E3 this year, but everybody is entitled to their opinion.  Honestly I do not really see the purpose of even making this a Top 50 when each writer is essentially writing a preview and not selling why a certain game is at a certain spot on the list.  For the sheer amount and quality of the content in this cover story, it is a must-read for any gamer.  Just forget about the numbering because it does not mean much of anything.  This issue of Game Informer also includes interviews with some big names in the industry, an in-depth analysis of Square Enix's Agni's Philosophy tech demo, a rundown of the most interesting downloadable games and Action MMOs of E3 2012, an in-depth interview with Jason Rubin on his new role at THQ and his plans for the future of the struggling company, reviews and a retrospective look at the first game Rod Fergusson, the director of production at Epic Games, ever worked on.

If you have been living under a rock for the past two months and completely missed out E3 2012, Issue 232 of Game Informer is your one stop shop on all the big announcements and up-to-date game previews.  The sheer amount of content crammed into these 116 pages is incredible.  Definitely an issue of Game Informer that any gamer should go out of their way to read.

Top 5 Games of E3 2012

Due to work and the fact I have not had to time to watch every single demo of every single game at E3 2012, I have decided on a Top 5 Games of E3 2012.  There are tons of games at E3 each and every year, but few stand above the rest.  While a lot of games looked good, they were very similar to other experiences we have seen and/or played before.  These five games and one honourable mention really impressed me and brought something new and interesting that the numerous run-of-the mill sequels did not come close to bringing.  Yes, I am talking about Halo 4, God of War: Ascension and Crysis 3 just to name a few.  As with past years, I do not include games that did not have demos on the show floor.  So games such as Watch Dogs and Beyond: Two Souls were not considered for this list even though they both had good showings.  Also a quick notice, there will not be a post until late Tuesday evening as I am working two 14 hour days in a row so I will have absolutely no time to write anything tomorrow.  Now let us get down to one man's opinion of the best games of E3 2012.

Honourable Mention

Quantum Conundrum- XB360, PS3, PC
While it is just short of my Top 5 Games of E3 2012, Quantum Conundrum is creative and unique enough to deserve some love in this post.  From the mind of Kim Swift, the lead designer on a little physics-based puzzle game by the name of Portal, and the team at Airtight Games, Quantum Conundrum is a first-person physics-based puzzle game in which you manipulate objects and the environment by switching dimensions on the fly.  You are in control of the Interdimensional Shift Device (ISD) that allows you to shift between four dimensions (fluffy, heavy, anti-gravity and slow-mo) to solve puzzles in each room of Professor Quadwrangle's mansion.  Quantum Conundrum looks to test your brain in different ways as you jump between dimensions to solve difficult problems.  After learning to think with portals, it is time to think with dimensions.  Quantum Conundrum looks to be a must download when it releases later this month.

5.  Pikmin 3- Wii U
Miyamoto did confirm that Pikmin 3 would be at E3 this year, but most fans including myself needed to see it to believe it.  We were not disappointed as Pikmin 3 is among the best games announced for Wii U.  Pikmin is a real-time strategy game has you directing a horde of up to 100 Pikmin, little plant-like creatures that can be used to accomplish various tasks such as building a bridge, collecting resources or fighting off a dangerous enemy.  With the announcement of the new Rock Pikmin, the use of four leaders and the Wii MotionPlus enhanced controls, Pikmin 3 has the potential of being the best first-party offering for the Wii U come launch.

4.  Paper Mario: Sticker Star- 3DS
Paper Mario: Sticker Star was not even on my radar until I saw the demo Nintendo showed at their 3DS Showcase.  Every single action you do in Sticker Star from combat to solving puzzles involves using stickers.  For example, in order to use the classic jump and hammer attacks in battle you have to use the corresponding jump and hammer stickers or using a fan sticker to move a blade of a windmill from blocking a door needed to advance in the game.  It is an incredibly unique game mechanic that turns the typical Mario RPG on it's head.  Something I personally find completely reinvigorating and exciting and something that has made Paper Mario: Sticker Star a must-buy for my 3DS this holiday season.

3.  Splinter Cell: Blacklist- XB360, PS3, PC
The fruit of Ubisoft Toronto's labour came to light this past Monday with the official reveal of Splinter Cell: Blacklist at the Microsoft Press Conference.  The seven to eight minute demo was perfectly paced and revealed enough of the highly refined mechanics (both new and old) to get anybody excited.  I personally loved Splinter Cell: Conviction and firmly believe it is one of the reasons to have an Xbox 360.  Blacklist takes everything that made Splinter Cell great and cranked it up to 11.  The new Killing in Motion mechanic lets you put together incredible mark-and-execute chains that will make anybodies' jaw drop.  Along with the resources of Fourth Echelon and some pretty cool Kinect voice controls, Splinter Cell: Blacklist should be an excellent debut for Ubisoft's newest studio when it releases in the Spring of 2013.

2.  Rayman Legends- Wii U
While the sequel to Rayman Origins, one of the best 2D platformers on consoles today, has been known for a while now, it does not detract from the fact how awesome Rayman Legends is.  Exclusive to the Wii U, Rayman Legends looks to take the almost perfect platforming, 2D animation and humour and give it all a shot of adrenaline.  Easily the best demo of Ubisoft's impressive Press Conference, Rayman Legends looks to use the Wii U and it's Game Pad in some creative ways.  With the touch screen of the Wii U Game Pad, you can control Murfy, who can assist Rayman and friends by cutting ropes, moving platforms, stunning enemies and collecting Lums.  The demo was capped off with an incredible level that had Rayman quickly platforming through the level while Murfy was playing a little rhythm game on the Game Pad which would help clear obstacles for Rayman.  Rayman Legends had a truly amazing showing this year at E3 that has catapulted to the very top of games to buy when I pick up the Wii U this holiday season.

1.  Tomb Raider- XB360, PS3, PC
Step aside Nathan Drake as Lara Croft is back to take her crown.  One word sums up Crystal Dynamics re-imagining of the Tomb Raider series.  That word is mature.  No more complete disproportionate assets or one liner spewing stereotype of a character.  Lara Croft is a living breathing human being caught in one horrible situation and it is time for her to step up and become a hero.  It is a coming of age story that dives into the origin of this video game icon.  It is more visceral adventure than Tomb Raider fans are use to, but exactly what this series has needed.  The seamless transition from bow and arrow to shotgun to melee keeps the action moving and the use of the environment to get the jump on enemies is absolutely incredible.  Each time Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix show off this game, it keeps getting better and better.  March 5th, 2013 cannot come soon enough as Tomb Raider is my most anticipated game of 2013.

E3 2012: Ubisoft Press Conference Impressions

E3 2012 is rolling, but other than a few announcements here and there nothing has truly stood out so far.  It is now Ubisoft's turn to impress the gaming public and put on a E3 Press Conference that does not elicit tons of jokes and disgraces like Mr. Caffeine.

Ubisoft has been notorious to have the most inconsistent press conferences in E3 history.  Going from super serious shooter like Ghost Recon right into the hilariously horrible laser tag ripoff or having James Cameron go on about Avatar for 40 minutes straight without any gameplay footage or screenshots to speak of.  It would usually end up being an incredible disaster or somehow luck out with the good far outweighing the oh so bad.  This year was different for Ubisoft.  Other than a few slip ups, which I will get to later, their conference was the best so far.  Most of the stuff that would weigh down past Ubisoft conferences were put in short montages or little clips on the big screen.  Ubisoft got to what gamers wanted, which was core games.  The first demo was Far Cry 3, which was fairly interesting and enjoyable.  It really showed off how Ubisoft was taking the definition of insanity, which was a huge focus of last year's E3 demo and making it into an entire plot point.  It was very interesting to say the least.  Next up was a trailer for Splinter Cell: Blacklist as the amazing gameplay demo was shown off at the Microsoft Press Conference.  While not as amazing as the actual gameplay demo, it was very good and kept things rolling at a good pace.  Then Ubisoft showed off a couple of their exclusives for the Wii U.  They showed a full-on gameplay demo of Rayman Legends, which I can proudly say is exclusive to Wii U.  It was the best demo of the conference as it showed off how Ubisoft is using the Wii U's unique controller to interact with the environment in real time.  My only question is how will somebody play Rayman Legends on their own?  During the stage demo had one person using the Wii U Gamepad and another using the Pro Controller.  While I do have some questions, the gameplay in that demo was just phenomenal.  Next up was the Assassin's Creed III demo, which surprisingly did not close out the show.  The demo really showcased how Ubisoft Montreal has really improved on every aspect of Assassin's Creed.  The combat flowed in a way it should have always been like, stealth and action seem to blend perfectly and the game overall looks to be much more fluid and fast-paced, which is a good thing.  To end the show, Ubisoft revealed a brand new game by the name of Watch Dogs.  You are a hacker in an endlessly interconnected city.  Everything is connected to a central computer and you are able to hack it to do whatever you want.  Search up information about anybody in the city, cause electronics to malfunction and eavesdropping on phone conversations is just a few examples of what you can do.  It looks like an incredibly interesting sci-fi world that I personally would love to explore in the near future.  Even with all the good, there was a few bad parts of the conference.  The Just Dance 4 opening concert with Flo Rida was completely unnecessary, the host was annoying beyond all reason and the ShootMania e-sport competition was soo bad that it almost derailed the entire press conference.

Overall, the Ubisoft E3 2012 Press Conference was the best press conference so far.  It had a few bad moments, but they made up for it with their great gameplay demos and reveals.  It was an entertaining one and a half hour conference that Sony and Nintendo have to strive to out do.

Grade:  B+

E3 2012: Microsoft Press Conference Impressions

Well the future of gaming is now.  The E3 press conferences are were all the big news happens.  Surprising new reveals, huge game demos, and a whole lot of hype.  That is what makes up these press conferences.  Following each press conference this year, I will be writing my impressions on each show.  The good, the bad and the absolutely ugly along with a final grade to wrap up each impression.  Let us start with the first conference of E3, the Microsoft Press Conference.

It is easy to sum up Microsoft's 2012 Press Conference in two words, inconsistent and disappointing.  In the last few years, Microsoft has fallen into a formula of sorts.  They would cram all the hardcore games in the first 30 minutes of the show then the rest of the show would be dedicated to either Kinect or other boring topics.  This year, Microsoft tried to mix things up interspersing hardcore games with casual Kinect games and new entertainment iniatives.  Instead of keeping things focused, it made the show feel all over the place and confusing.  Microsoft focused too much on the entertainment side of things rather than highlighting the reasons to own a Xbox over a PS3 or Wii U.  It came off extremely boring, uninteresting and completely unnecessary.  Microsoft could have easily did a video much like Nintendo's Pre E3 video last night and highlighted all this stuff.  Honestly I do not need or want to know that I can now search movies on my Xbox by genres.  Really?!  The SmartGlass presentation was interesting, but too long drawn out.  One of the main selling points for Internet Explorer working on Xbox when browsers have failed on other consoles is that you use your tablet and/or smartphone to control it, but that leaves one big question.  Why would I use Xbox's browser with my tablet and/or smartphone rather than just use the browser on my tablet and/or smartphone?  Answer that one, Microsoft.  The best part of Microsoft's conference were the game demos.  Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Tomb Raider stole the show while Halo 4 and Resident Evil 6 both had good showings.  I also enjoyed the little interlude for downloadable games.  While it was only a two to three minute montage of trailers, it was far more enjoyable than most of the conference.  To hit home how low this conference got was the final two acts.  To reveal Dance Central 3, Microsoft had Usher perform his new single, Scream live yet forgot to show off any real gameplay.  The final act at Microsoft's press conference went to Call of Duty: Black Ops II.  Not the reveal of the new Xbox, not a new Microsoft game, no Black Ops II.  It was disappointing and also showed how weak Microsoft's first-party development studios have become as they have to rely on a third-party developer to finish off their show.

Overall, Microsoft's E3 2012 Press Conference was a inconsistent mess that came off more of a disappointing whimper than a triumphant victory over the competition.  There are a couple of moments that were truly great, but they were crushed by all the crap that permeated this conference.  Microsoft has made it very easy for Nintendo and Sony to one up them this year.

Grade:  D+

Launch Station: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

The Tom Clancy name has graced many games over the years.  Some have been great successes (see the Splinter Cell and Rainbow 6 series) and some did not really get off the ground (see EndWar and H.A.W.X).  Among the successful Tom Clancy gaming franchises is Ghost Recon, which has lied dormant for sometime now.  After many delays, the long awaited new entry in Ghost Recon: Future Solider finally hits store shelves tomorrow.

Story has not been a key part of the Ghost Recon franchise.  All you need to know is you are a soldier in the special Ghosts unit.  You are tasked with tracking down the source of a nuclear weapon that was used on another Ghost unit.  Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is a third-person cover-based shooter that uses a first-person camera when you switch into scope view.  Unlike some other cover-based shooters, your cover in Future Soldier is complete destructible so you cannot just camp in one spot for an entire firefight.  Being a futuristic war game, Future Soldier has a lot of gadgets and other technology that players can use throughout campaign and multi-player.  You are able to control different drones to could possibly be used to scout out the surrounding area or as portable cover.  One of the most talked about futuristic gadget you can use in the game is the optical camouflage.  Optical camouflage is a form of active camouflage that allows Ghosts to blend in with any environment and become nearly invisible.  As it is only a prototype gadget in the game, the optical camo does not work when the player is moving very fast, firing a weapon or extremely close to an enemy.  The biggest new feature in Future Soldier is improved squad AI so players do not have to micromanage complete idiotic computer controlled partners.  Like in Splinter Cell: Conviction, you can mark foes, which squad mates will focus their fire on or take out if you are sneaking behind them.  Like most shooters, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier has many different multi-player modes, which can be cooperatively and competitively.  There is also a fully co-op campaign along with the Horde-like co-op mode called Guerilla.

Personally I have never been a huge fan of the Ghost Recon series.  I am a much bigger fan of Splinter Cell and highly anticipating Rainbow 6 Patriots than any Ghost Recon.  I will say that Future Soldier looks like a great tactical shooter.  I do not see me picking this game up anytime soon, but gamers looking for a shooter that is more about tactics and skill based gameplay rather than twitch shooting they will most likely enjoy the newest entry in the longest running military shooter series in gaming, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.