In the middle of the hype and hoopla surrounding Watch Dogs and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, most of us forgot about Ubisoft Toronto’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Considering that it appealed to some fans while rubbing others the wrong way, it’s no wonder that it’s been somewhat relegated to the background. That being said, animation director Kristjan Zadziuk believes that the studio is yet to perfect the formula.
In conversation with OXM, he stated that, “If you look at them, there’s no two Splinter Cells that are the same. They’ve all evolved and adapted. That, to me, is what makes it really exciting. We’re getting closer to what that game is, and maybe it isn’t necessarily about Splinter Cell being a 15-16 million Call of Duty-type best-seller. Maybe it’s just about it being the best Splinter Cell that it can be.”
While the team may take inspiration here and there from other Ubisoft games, Zadziuk doesn’t believe in taking ideas just because it’s there. “It’s not like we sit around and go ‘I’m having that’; it’s what works for each game.
“Far Cry 3 is such an expansive game, so they’re trying to find you an organic way of giving you a map. That wouldn’t work for Splinter Cell – there’d be no point in Sam climbing to the top of a tower and pressing a button. But then again, we have our version of active sprint. It’s not a way of copying Assassin’s Creed, it’s our way of making Sam more fluid.”
What are your thoughts on the same? Did you enjoy Splinter Cell: Blacklist or loathe it? Let us know in the comments below.