Gameplay
Conviction caught a lot of slack from series purists with its turn to a more action oriented approach as is the common progression with most games baring the Stealth-action tag but with Blacklist the stealth has indeed made a return. That is not to say fans of the more action oriented Conviction are left in the dark either. In actuality the game offers a choice of three different play styles, each with their own challenges to complete and rewards to achieve letting you be free to play how you want. Don’t want to sneak around an area and whittle down the opposition one by one? Simply grab the closest enemy and use him as a human shield during your firefight.
The aforementioned stealth aspect of the game is generally accomplished through avoiding the light, recognizing movement patterns in your enemies and moving quickly from cover to cover. The enemy AI isn’t stupid, however, and will change thing up on you from time to time and have a knack for noticing when a few of their own just happen to be missing. Quick takedowns are your friend and it never hurts to move a few incapacitated enemies to a place where their buddies won’t find them.
Another aspect of the game is the sheer amount of customization in your load out for each mission. An array of real world armament and more than a few neat superspy gadgets are at your disposal lending even more to the multiple path, multiple play style design that offers a little bit of something for everybody.
Throughout the game you acquire money which lets you purchase better and better weaponry and armor, more gadgets and even the ability to upgrade your tricked out aerial command center.
Each member of your Fourth Echelon team offers side missions to net you more and more resources. These missions range from solo capture and recovery missions to coop missions that let you play with others to accomplish your goal. These missions are able to be completed how you want but all of them have specific bonus conditions that net you greater rewards for following them. Personally I didn’t get involved much in the coop aspect of the game but I did notice that there were different paths even in solo missions designed for multiple players.