In spite of its uninspiring story, Splinter Cell: Blacklist creates a sense of urgency that few games can match. It gives you the tools - the guns, the high-tech devices, the goggles - to accomplish your mission and then lets you use them as you see fit.
Right from the get-go, Blacklist presses you for time; A countdown to the next wave of The Engineers' attacks is always visible inside the Paladin, a large airplane that serves as your main HQ; Some missions have a time limit.
Despite a small twist or two, the tale of The Engineers and their grandiose plan to threaten the U.S; government quickly lost my interest; It moved at a brisk pace through some good-looking locations around the world, but everything else was just noise.