text: tom clancy 's splinter cell : blacklist tom clancy 's splinter cell : blacklist is an action - adventure stealth video game developed by ubisoft toronto and published by ubisoft . the sixth installment of the tom clancy 's splinter cell series , it is the sequel of splinter cell : conviction . the game was released worldwide for microsoft windows , playstation 3 , wii u , and xbox 360 in august 2013 . players control sam fisher , a spymaster working for the fourth echelon , in a mission to stop the engineers , a group of terrorists which is trying to coerce the united states into recalling all of its troops stationed abroad . blacklist 's gameplay is similar to its predecessors , with players tasked with completing objectives and defeating enemies . the game endeavors to combine elements of its predecessors , including the action focus of conviction and the stealth focus of the older games . blacklist marks the return of the asymmetrical multiplayer mode spies vs. mercs , which was introduced in pandora tomorrow . it is the first title developed by ubisoft toronto , a studio founded by ubisoft in 2009 . the game was directed by maxime béland , who had worked on conviction , and produced by jade raymond . to prepare for this game , béland studied reviews and feature lists of the latter . blacklist is the first splinter cell game starring eric johnson as sam fisher , since series veteran michael ironside was unable to perform motion capture for the game . the toronto studio focused on the game 's windows , playstation 3 and xbox 360 versions , and its later - announced wii u version was developed by ubisoft shanghai . blacklist 's pre - release reception was generally positive , despite criticism of its new voice actor . the game received generally positive reviews when it was released , with praise for its level design , story , and multiplayer mode . however , criticism was directed at its dated graphics . it failed to meet ubisoft 's sales expectations , with sales of two million copies three months after its release . gameplay in blacklist , players assume control of series protagonist sam fisher as he seeks to stop a terrorist group called the engineers . the gameplay emphasizes stealth , and utilizes the third - person perspective . during the game , players can rotate its camera , run , crouch and leap over obstacles . since blacklist intended to continue the " aggressive stealth " of conviction while retaining the traditional stealth features of the older games , it combines action and stealth , and allows players to use different approaches and methods to complete objectives and defeat enemies . players can complete levels without being noticed by the non - playable characters ' artificial intelligence by taking cover or using other traditional stealth methods . if the player chooses to kill enemies , other enemies are alerted when they see their companions ' dead bodies . to avoid this , players can hide corpses . fisher can also create a strategically advantageous dark environment by destroying nearby lights , and is equipped with customizable night - vision and sonar goggles to detect enemies in darkness and see through walls . he also has the tri - rotor , a compact surveillance drone which can spy on enemies , create distractions , give electric shocks , and self - destruct to kill enemies . players can play a more aggressive run - and - gun game by using gadgets and weapons to eliminate enemies . they can interact with environmental objects , such as ledges and zip - lines , to navigate levels . conviction 's mark - and - execute system returns in blacklist , with refinements and additions to allow players to mark several targets . when they attack , they can kill all marked targets instantly . improvements made the system work more fluidly . a variety of enemies ( including soldiers and dogs ) are encountered in the game , following the protagonist and alerting their companions . players have the option to kill them , leave them untouched , or incapacitate them , and the game classifies their choices in one of three categories : ghost ( stealthy play ) , panther ( stealthy , aggressive play ) , and assault ( aggressive play ) . when players kill ( or avoid ) targets and complete objectives , experience points and money are awarded to buy ( or improve ) weapons , and upgrade the paladin airship and sam 's suit and equipment ; the upgrades improve efficiency in completing missions . experience gained depends on the difficulty level and how the game is played ; the greater the stealth , the greater the reward . according to ubisoft toronto , the system , known as " universal economy " , was intended to satisfy players ; every action has a corresponding reward . the paladin is the game 's hub . between missions , players can interact with crew members on the ship and view the game 's objectives . crew members also offer the protagonist side missions to complete . before a mission fisher can deploy the strategic mission interface , allowing players to see enemy positions and plan attacks and routes . players can also use the interface to access multiplayer modes and missions . although the game has interrogation sequences involving questioning ( or torturing ) targets , it does not have conviction 's interactive torture scenes . players can still decide whether to spare their targets or kill them after interrogation , and these decisions influence the relationship between fisher and other crew members . blacklist has platform - specific features , including voice integration with xbox 360 's kinect peripheral which allows players to distract enemies before attacking . a player can also use the kinect sensor to control the protagonist with their body instead of the xbox 360 controller . in the wii u version , the gamepad controller 's touchscreen is an interface , accessing gadgets and other features from the protagonist 's arm - mounted computer ( ) , and incorporating screen and motion controls to highlight enemies with thermal vision when using killing in motion . the wii u version was not shipped with the game 's cooperative mode . multiplayer modes the " spies vs. mercs " competitive mode introduced in pandora tomorrow again appears in blacklist . an asymmetrical multiplayer mode , it pits two teams ( with different gadgets , playing as spies or mercenaries ) against each other . spies , in third - person perspective , are equipped with smoke grenades and flashbangs and are tasked with hacking computer stations heavily guarded by mercenaries . mercenaries , in first person , can access lethal and longer - range weapons despite being unable to stealth - kill enemies . the mode has two varieties : classic , supporting four players , and blacklist , supporting eight . blacklist also has a co - operative multiplayer mode , where each mission can be accessed by talking with the crew of the paladin . crew members offer a variety of missions and requirements for completing them , and players play as fisher or his colleague briggs ; both have the same abilities . the game has a total of 14 missions , with split - screen play supported . in addition to co - op and spies vs. mercs , blacklist has other multiplayer modes including uplink control , team deathmatch , and extraction . synopsis characters blacklist again features sam fisher , who is now the spymaster and commander of the newly installed fourth echelon . the game also sees the return of fisher 's old ally , anna ( grim ) , and new characters such as isaac briggs and charlie cole . several supporting characters from conviction reappear , including victor coste , patricia caldwell , and andriy kobin . main campaign sam fisher is leaving andersen air force base when a terrorist organization assaults the base , wounding paladin nine security co - worker and best friend victor coste . soon afterwards a faction known as the engineers takes responsibility , announcing a series of attacks on the united states , the titular blacklist , which will continue until the u.s. recalls its troops deployed abroad . u.s. president caldwell assigns fisher , his colleague charlie cole , cia agent isaac briggs and anna to fourth echelon , a new special - ops and counter - terrorism unit . charged with stopping the engineers , the group uses the cargo plane paladin as its command center . fourth echelon first aims to secure andriy kobin , a cia hostage believed to possess information on the engineers . fisher extracts him from a safe house in benghazi , and learns that his associates have ties to the engineers . infiltrating an insurgent stronghold , he finds an executed u.s. soldier and learns from a video recording that the executioner is majid sadiq ; a former mi6 agent , sadiq demands the fourth echelon to stop interfering . believing that their next target is a water - filtration plant near navy pier , fisher infiltrates the engineers and prevents the release of a biological toxin into the water supply . kobin then tells him that mercenary supplier reza nouri may be allied with the engineers . sam assaults nouri 's mansion , capturing him for questioning . when he learns about an engineer sleeper cell in london , fisher infiltrates an abandoned mill and discovers chemical bombs in a shipping bay . opening a bomb to plant a tracking device , he is exposed to nerve gas . incapacitated and apparently dying , fisher is captured by sadiq and rescued by briggs ; in the ensuing confrontation , sadiq escapes while briggs provides first aid to sam . the fully healed fisher and briggs then deploy to philadelphia . when they find four bombs being loaded onto trains , they follow the bombs to a rail yard and disarm them . boarding a departing train of engineers , fisher fights his way through the cars and pursues an engineer leader ( who escapes into a station and is killed by a police officer ) . briggs uses his cia credentials to have fisher sent to the guantanamo bay detention camp , allowing him to continue interrogating nouri . nouri confirms that sadiq is head of the engineers , and says that sadiq knows the identities of the fourth echelon leaders . escaping from the prison , briggs and fisher reach the paladin in yucatán and escape when the plane is attacked by sadiq . fourth echelon restarts the plane with kobin 's help , and sadiq executes a blacklist attack on the largest u.s. gas reserve in louisiana . as the president begins continuity - of - government procedures , fisher shuts down the burning plant and averts a chain reaction to the next reserve . when he captures another senior engineer , he learns about sadiq 's final plan : to disclose all u.s. military secrets . sadiq kidnaps the secretary of defense and holds them at the site f government bunker under denver international airport . disregarding the president 's order , fourth echelon infiltrates the base . despite cole 's infiltration of sadiq 's team , sadiq 's men capture briggs and torture the secretary of defense into authorizing the transfer . briggs intervenes , killing the secretary and halting sadiq 's plan . the engineers try to flee site f , using briggs and the hostages as human shields . fisher , disguised as an air force hostage , helps delta force marksmen open fire on sadiq and his men . sadiq escapes on foot , and fisher disarms and seriously wounds him . sadiq boasts that he has already won ; if he dies twelve nations supporting the engineers will declare war on the u.s. and if he is tried , he will leak u.s. information . although fisher spares sadiq , he detains him . president caldwell publicly covers sadiq 's imprisonment by announcing his death , and the game ends as fourth echelon continues its operations ; in a post - credits scene , a recovered coste and fisher prepare to interrogate sadiq . co - op missions intertwined with the main plot , the co - op missions begin with fisher and briggs infiltrating kashmir . finding a group of smugglers linked to the engineers , fisher and briggs discover intelligence connecting them to the russian intelligence organization voron , before they escape during a drone attack . following a lead to a friendly missile base in bangalore , they find the indian inhabitants dead and voron agents stealing the warhead from a missile . securing the missile and learning that the agents are led by a man named cherski , fisher and briggs escape as the building is destroyed and indian authorities arrive . unaware of cherski 's identity , fisher and briggs track him to a voron base in chittagong and find him living in a nearby apartment . they breach cherski 's panic room and find two people ; uncertain which one is cherski , they begin interrogating both and learn about a secret base in russia . fisher and briggs reach an abandoned , surviving a drone attack , and find a secure medical facility said to contain an ( satellite uplink device used by fourth echelon operatives ) with vital voron information . instead , the base contains a comatose man . rescuing the man , fisher and briggs narrowly escape as the base self - destructs and return the patient to the paladin . grim identifies him as mikhail " kestrel " and kobin confirms his identity , noting that they have a history ( detailed in conviction ) . when he questions kobin ( who asks if kestrel 's gunshot wound has put him into a coma ) , fisher notes that no one had told kobin how kestrel had been incapacitated . development ubisoft montreal 's success inspired the company to continue its canadian expansion , and a new studio , ubisoft toronto , was announced on july 6 , 2009 . headed by jade raymond , the studio focuses on the creation of triple - a video games and intellectual property . it worked on a new installment of the splinter cell series , which was in parallel development with an unnamed project , and the toronto team was made up of ubisoft montreal 's core conviction team . maxime béland , who had worked on conviction , was the game 's creative director , and in november 2010 raymond confirmed that her studio was developing splinter cell 6 . ubisoft toronto was the game 's lead developer , with assistance from ubisoft montreal . ubisoft shanghai developed the game 's co - operative multiplayer mode . the toronto studio focused on the game 's windows , playstation 3 and xbox 360 versions , with the wii u version developed by ubisoft shanghai . in 2010 , the series ' fifth installment , conviction , was released . although it received generally positive reviews , it was criticized by series fans for lacking some features . béland considered conviction a " stepping stone " for him when he prepared for the development of blacklist . the development team studied conviction 's reviews and feature lists , deciding to discard its " black - and - white " stealth approach , and also deciding to bring back the spies vs. mercs mode introduced in pandora tomorrow . béland called the mode 's return " the easiest decision of [ his ] life " , since the team considered its absence conviction 's greatest misstep . ubisoft sent questionnaires through uplay to thousands of players to collect feedback on conviction 's new features . when players called conviction 's campaign weak and short , the team added a stronger storyline and greater character depth by introducing the fourth echelon and fisher as a leader ( a series first ) . to encourage repeat play the team introduced the aircraft hub and the strategic mission interface , a player menu . according to ubisoft toronto founder jade raymond , the series had become too grueling and complicated for modern gamers , and its popularity had suffered relative to ubisoft flagship franchises such as assassin 's creed and far cry . the toronto studio hoped to introduce the franchise to a broader audience , while remaining tactical and hardcore for long - term series fans . it introduced a perfectionist mode , significantly increasing the game 's difficulty by removing some of fisher 's abilities . the team also introduced accessible , action - oriented gameplay segments which would suit new players , crafting open - ended levels which could be reached with different approaches to broaden the variety of play . the developers re - worked the controls to increase gameplay fluidity , allowing players to automatically leap over objects and traverse a simplified environment . during blacklist 's development , its team faced a variety of challenges . the first was to create stealth which was satisfying and fun for players . according to the team , players gain satisfaction from stealth with freedom and choices which allow them to develop a plan . players must experiment , with each decision having consequences . game director patrick redding compared it to the development of an ecosystem ; the team designed a dynamic artificial intelligence which would react differently to players ' actions , making levels feel alive and adding randomness . encouraging the " panther " style of play ( aggressive stealth ) , the team incorporated elements from the original tom clancy 's splinter cell ( where one mistake would abort a mission ) and conviction ( where stealth seamlessly becomes combat ) . this approach , the team thought , could help players to feel like elite , silent predators . series veteran michael ironside did not reprise his role as the voice of sam fisher . his part was played by eric johnson , who also performed the motion capture . in a blacklist developer diary , ironside said that he was passing the torch to another actor . according to ubisoft executives the change was made to take advantage of new performance - capture technology to enrich the game experience , and ironside assisted johnson with the role . elias , voice and performance - capture actor for andriy kobin in splinter cell : conviction , said that he would return for the new game . unlike conviction , the game would have no interactive torture sequences . instead , players could choose whether to kill or incapacitate a target after interrogation . the system was not complex , and it was hoped that players would choose based on instinct . according to béland , every player choice is gray and there are no right or wrong choices . however , the game demo has an interactive torture scene in which players can decide how deeply a knife penetrates a person 's shoulder . after a mixed - to - negative response , ubisoft removed the scene from its final product . marketing splinter cell : blacklist was introduced at e3 2012 's microsoft press conference on june 4 , 2012 , for microsoft windows , playstation 3 , and xbox 360 . in february 2013 , a wii u version was rumored to be in development , and ubisoft confirmed the report two months later . originally scheduled for release in early 2013 , the game was pushed back to august on january 16 , 2013 . on august 3 , 2013 , ubisoft confirmed that the game had been declared gold , indicating that it was being prepared for duplication and release . splinter cell : blacklist was released in north america on august 20 and in europe three days later for microsoft windows , playstation 3 , wii u , and xbox 360 . the paladin collector 's edition , a limited edition of the game , has a remote - controlled plane , the graphic novel splinter cell echoes , a billionaire 's yacht co - op map , an upper echelon pack with a dead coast map , gold sonar goggles , and a limited - edition poster . splinter cell : blacklist - spider bot , a 2d puzzle game tie - in , was released for android and ios platforms on june 10 , 2013 and is available on google play and the app store respectively . homeland , downloadable content for the game , was released on september 26 , 2013 . it added a crossbow , several new costumes , and two new missions which can be completed alone or with another player . reception before release although joystiq 's mike schramm praised blacklist 's early screenshots and videos for removing conviction 's monochromatic visuals , its new voice actor was not received well by some fans . ubisoft responded with a statement that ironside was not returning as fisher because an actor " physically capable " of a motion - capture performance was needed , and johnson was hired for the role . critical reception tom clancy 's splinter cell : blacklist received positive reviews . the review aggregator websites gamerankings and metacritic rated the playstation 3 version at 85 % and 84 out of 100 , the xbox 360 version 84 % and 82 out of 100 , the pc version 80 % and 82 out of 100 , and the wii u version 79 % and 75 out of 100 . the game 's design was praised by most reviewers . ryan mccaffrey of ign praised the gameplay 's variety and player options , which he thought made blacklist the best installment in the series since tom clancy 's splinter cell : chaos theory . according to mccaffrey , the game was a satisfying stealth experience and an excellent , capable shooter ( increasing its replay value ) . he noted that several segments forced players to use the mark and execute feature , frustrating players who favored stealth over action . ben reeves of game informer praised the return and refinement of mark and execute , which he found satisfying , and praised the game 's intense , varied mission design . tom bramwell of eurogamer disliked the game 's direction , particularly its action elements ( which he compared to 2012 's hitman : absolution ) . blacklist 's campaign was also generally praised . according to ign 's mccaffrey , the game 's story is superior to those of its predecessors : well - balanced and believable . he criticized sam fisher 's new voice actor , whom he thought failed to replicate ironside 's charm . ben reeves praised the story 's plot twists and sympathetic characters . on the joystiq blog , xav de matos liked the game 's narrative urgency and engaging plot twists but criticized its rushed ending . simon miller of videogamer.com called the game forgettable and boring , with fisher 's new voice actor failing to bring personality to the character . eurogamer 's bramwell also criticized the game 's lack of character development . its multiplayer features were praised ; according to mccaffrey , the co - operative multiplayer mode had enough content for a separate game . although he appreciated spies vs. mercs ' faster pace , he found the mode less innovative than its predecessor . reeves partially agreed , describing the revived spies vs. mercs mode as refreshing , intense , and bloody . de matos wrote that it was one of the best multiplayer modes he had ever experienced , and the blacklist version had evolved and modernized while remaining creative . daniel bloodworth of gametrailers praised the game 's satisfying co - op design , which tasks players to plan and coordinate strategy . blacklist 's graphics and lack of difficulty were criticized . mccaffrey found the visuals unimpressive and most character models to be ugly ; he also noted technical problems , such as screen - tearing and frame rate issues . bloodworth criticized the game 's invisible wall and unresponsive controls in certain segments , although he thought those minor issues did not drag down its overall experience . mccaffrey noted that even when the game is played in perfectionist mode , it is less challenging than its predecessors . he thought blacklist gave players too many rewards , making its universal - economy system a useless feature . bloodworth was puzzled by the game 's unlock system , which he said hindered its credibility . sales ubisoft hoped that tom clancy 's splinter cell : blacklist would sell at least five million copies . the game debuted at number two on the uk retail software sales chart in its first week of release , behind saints row iv . it was august 's fourth - bestselling game in the united states . on october 16 , 2013 ubisoft announced that blacklist had failed to meet sales expectations , and on november 13 it was announced that the game had sold two million copies worldwide .