After the disappointment of the latest iteration of Thief, I’m of a mind to play a good stealth game, and these are the first two to come to mind. I haven’t played a game in either series since the first, so am really not up to speed on either one. Which would be the better of the two, and why? BTW, this is the PC version I’m talking about.
If there’s another alternative that I may not know about, I’d be open to that as well.
Let’s see, my ranking of Hitman games, SC and Thief would be like this:
Hitman: Blood Money > Splinter Cell: Blacklist > Thief >> Hitman: Absolution
Would you play multiplayer? In my mind the SC:Blacklist spies vs. mercs is some of the best multiplayer there is.
Get Hitman: Blood Money now, and Blacklist during the steam sale. Although note that Blood Money isn’t sneaking stealth, but social/puzzle stealth.
I neglected to mention I’m exclusively single player (unless either game supports PBEM, heh.)
I would prefer Splinter Cell: Blacklist over Absolution, but as the other person said, you can probably get them both cheap during the sale.
Steam just had Blacklist for $10 but I dithered around too long and missed it. I can get Blood Money for less than that right now from GMG, so I will probably go with that and wait for Splinter Cell to come around again during the Steam sale next week.
Absolution is worth playing for atmosphere and visual design, but as a game, Blacklist is vastly better.
Yeah, Blacklist is the last word on stealth as far as I’m concerned. It strikes a great balance between action and stealth, often in the same mode. It also lets you play how you want to play, as forgiving or demanding as you want, single-player or co-op, with consistent rewards no matter how you play, all applied to a grand RPG structure based on unlocking and improving your equipment. I can’t recommend it enough.
-TomAnd it looks like Gamersgate just put Blacklist on sale for $10, so I don’t have to wait after all. Thanks, all.
You can’t go wrong with that price. Definitely will get more your money’s worth and more.
FYI
I don’t know if this matters to you, but that is not a Steam key. You will have to redeem it on UPlay.
-Todd
I picked up Blacklist during the $10 sale and it’s been great. I love Panther mode, it’s exactly how I like to play but it also kind of forces you to kill everybody if you want to master that level. Sometimes I like to partially ghost through but that’s all a very minor complaint.
I knew that and it doesn’t. Thanks, anyway
Just prepare for the fact that Blacklist does not have traditional menu. When I first started the game and was thrown into the game without actually seeing any menu and being able to setup my graphics, I was mildly annoyed. But it can be done from in-game, and basically the plane serves as menu.
Blacklist all the way. I can’t see you being disappointed with it. Absolution shares a bunch of flaws with Thief and can be quite a frustrating experience, especially if you’re trying to ghost the game. Blacklist is super accommodating to how the player feels like playing moment-to-moment.
Everyone is talking “Ghost, Panther, etc” (even in our Thief thread) like these are established terms for stealth gaming. Did I miss something? Are these particular to Blacklist, or do they come from some other source?
Panther and Assault are particular to Blacklist.
Ghost/ghosting is a long-established term for sneaking through a level without ever being detected. I think it actually originated with the Thief games.
For all that Blacklist seemingly got no buzz around its release, it’s a really solid game – my favorite entry in the Splinter Cell universe since Chaos Theory.
Now you guys are making me feel bad for ignoring Blacklist even though I have it…