I played through Splinter Cell conviction a while back and enjoyed, but it didn't really feel like Splinter Cell. It was a bit to linear for my taste, and forced you into specific play styles. In my opinion, Blacklist is the best Splinter Cell game since Chaos Theory, with one exception. The new voice and look for Sam is horrible. Both the look and voice appear/sound much more generic, and considering this is supposed to be a Sam from [i]after[/i] conviction and all the previous games, making him look/sound younger seems mind-blowingly stupid. *takes a breath* That said, the levels are so far varied and really fun, and they let you play them how you want to play them (for the most part). I remember in the first level there's a part where you need to get a hostage to safety. I got all the way to the extraction point without being seen [i]with a hostage under my arms[/i] only to realize I was supposed to actually kill everyone in the area. Lame. Hopefully those parts are few and far between, as everything else seems to provide a ton of variety in terms of big environments with multiple paths. That said, the BEST part of this game is the Spies vs Mercs multiplayer. I absolutely loved that mode in Chaos Theory, but it was quickly overrun with people who could glitch out the spies to make them overpowered. They are still powerful in this version, but not overly so. In fact, I've been surprised at how balanced it seems. Sure, I've gotten my ass handed to me by people double to triple my level who are all on a team, but that's because they work incredibly well together. Like many modern games, teamwork is key. To be honest, I feel like this game is worth it just for the multiplayer alone. There is even a "classic" game type that takes it from 4v4 to 2v2 with different rules. So much more intense! Anyways, not many of my friends have this game currently, so if you guys get it shoot me a message and I'll send a FR (if you send me a FR i will probably delete it since i receive them regularly from strangers). As always, I'm "the smi1ey".