Round 1, I was thrown into a level called Cartel. The brief said that a town fest had seriously gone wrong and two factions were fighting over a piece of intel. I have been away from the Spies vs Mercs mode in Splinter Cell: Conviction for more than two years now and I knew I was losing it already. When I was spawned I could see a whole town magnified in front of me, in the First Person perspective. Of course I was assigned as a heavy duty Merc with a partner, oh I was playing the Classic Spies vs Mercs mode that is brought back into Splinter Cell: Blacklist from its precursor Conviction. I accidentally pressed my Up Arrow key in the PS3 controller and the glowing torch light shut off by its own, leaving me alone in the darkness, as my partner had nearly vanished inside the level. I was scared. Simply because my previous experiences with Splinter Cell: Spies vs Mercs weren’t that good, as every now and then I’d get stabbed from right, left and up, and I won’t see a thing coming!
So I quickly switched back my torch light and went ahead crying out to my other partner. Hardly took 20 steps when I could already see an intel station right ahead of me. In a flash, I saw a cat like figure dashing through one of those balconies. I was officially reintroduced to the mayhem. Luckily the spy didn’t see me coming, so he started hacking the device that was right next to me. I sneaked in from behind, of course turning off my torch and was about to shoot his head open. Saw another figure dash through the ceilings, and I was so furious at my vagabond partner who was exploring the outskirts leaving me to die at the hands of these knife throwers. Well I was in for a big surprise, the Spy started shooting at me, yes he was shooting! I have never seen a Spy shoot at me, like never. The previous editions of Spies vs. Mercs would always be a tough gunman vs. a stealth ninja, who would attempt to stab you and eliminate you from the game for seconds, while he hacks the intel and finds a safe place to hide until 100% data upload completion. This one was shooting at me. All I tried was to run away, to replenish some of my health. As I pressed the Cross button to dash, my line of sight shifted from the horizon to my feet level, and I knew this was one scary fun SVM revamp. And before you start worshipping me for wrong reasons let me tell you, I was stabbed in that very second.
If there’s anyone in the room who has tasted Spies vs. Mercs before, I’d say this is the big fest that you ought to give yourself if you are a fan of smart, stealthy multiplayer games. And I was coming back straight from The Last Of Us Factions: Interrogation to play this one, and I already let go of the brand new mode in my annual favourite. Spies vs. Mercs may not be an expansive, elaborate multiplayer arena like Battlefield 3, but the impression that the mode leaves behind is not only unique but addictive. Even if you’re beaten up several times in a row, you’d still want to restart a game and better your moves.
THE MERCS
As a Merc you have some custom classes you can play as:
Peacemaker – They are equipped with the Adrenaline suit that can brighten their vision even in the darkest of corners, they run faster than other classes and have better health regeneration
Hunter – The Hunters are the strike force of any clan, trust me. Next time you see a Hunter partner, stick to him. Hunters come with UAV for remote control recon, and gadgets like the exploding drone comes in handy when you send it into the corner where a Spy is slyly taking refuge.
Disruptor – They are the assist recon of any team, the Disruptor Suit disables Spy gadgets and can leave the enemies’ tagging systems broken.
The delight of any Splinter Cell game is its gadgets, and Blacklist exploits that USP. As a Merc you have tons of gadgets to help you through. You can rig charges/proximity mines as ambush plans against Intel stations, set an Intel Device in the room that tags nearby Spies, or simply throw Frag or Smoke Grenades at enemies to take them down slowly.
The First Person View totally sets the Merc right, as you would need a clear vision up ahead and some 6th sense rubbing it in to catch a Spy in a corner and ultimately gunning him down. It is as scary as the FPS view in Doom or F.E.A.R. and the whole ploy of unpredictability kills you within. Sometimes the best strategy is to shoot whenever your heart tells you that there is something wrong about this strange shadow here. Undoubtedly, playing as a Merc is a much tougher job than roleplaying a Spy. The Merc comes with a default Spy Detector on the screen, so when there’s a green dot in your radar, brace yourself for a ‘Hello, there’
Coming back to my tragic Spies vs Mercs story, we were hacked two times out of three stations and I just knew that my partner must be cursing me, the way I am cursing him at the moment. If you are planning to play Spies vs. Mercs with a complete stranger, it might cost you a lot. Playing with friends and having a microphone is a lot more easier. So I respawned as a Spy this time. A Spy with a submachine gun, hell yeah! I literally parkoured through vents, rooftops and crouched against the dark corners of walls to reach one Intel Station. And before I could do anything clever, two shots were fired at my feet. I spotted the Merc shooting at me and parkoured through one of the shafts into oblivion. The fool came hunting for me. So I jumped through one of those windows and firstly hacked the system. Now I needed to stay alive for the next couple of seconds. I am no forgiver, I set my eyes on killing the Merc first. Tiptoed where I last saw him and coincidentally found him investigating one of those ledges above him. Sneaked right behind him and drew my Square Button, pure knife party! I quickly changed my location and waited for the data upload.
In came another Merc. And for the first time, my respect for my partner grew stronger. In order to save my ass he pretended that he’s the hacker. Drawing the Merc from my attention, he vanished into the corner. Through my goggles vision I could see him jumping from a ledge and drop killing him in an instant. The data upload was complete. These were some of the longest lasting seconds of my life!
THE SPIES
As a Spy, one needs to hack the device and stay hidden for ever, while the rest need to defend his position and if at all required, act as decoys and draw them away from the uploader as he safely uploads the intel. If he dies, they get a few seconds until the Mercs refresh the upload automatically. As a Spy, I think it is even more important to act as a team. Because these Mercs are tough nuts to crack, they attack you if you come near and you will always have to kill them silently, with one lethal blow. Of course you can stun them for some seconds or use your guns, but that will prove costly unless you are a decoy (a firefight is the best way to keep a Merc busy as your partner uploads the link)
The Spies are classified in three Sub Classes:
Intel Scout – This Spy can send out a wave that comes back to him as a sonar blue print of the important items inside the map and nearby enemies get tagged as well. The enemy tag is shared with the rest of the clan.
Predator – The best Spy class you can opt for if you are a better decoy. These Spies come with a Digital Ghillie Suit that camo them for a short space of time, leaving the Merc wondering unless he too is using a gadget of his own.
Saboteur – The direct opposite of the Merc Disruptor class is a Saboteur Spy. Their special suit tags and detonates bombs and other ambushes against their owners.
Since the Spies need to stay as sharp as possible and use their intelligence in order to cover up for their light body armour, the third person view (where you see each pipeline, rack and second storey) and gadgets become essential for any Spy. The Thermal, EMF and Sonar vision modes are standalone tagging devices that tell you exactly where the nearest Merc is positioned, so that you can run down and stab him from behind. Use Smoke Grenades to take down two or more Mercs in proximity, use EMP Grenades to temporarily shut down the lights of a certain zone, use Flashbangs to blind the Merc for some time or simply use the Spy Cam. The Spy Cam is by far my favourite Spy gadget, giving me plenty of stealth to make my next move. The Spy Cam attracts the Merc’s attention just like in the Single Player Story. The beep will feature in the Merc’s radar and he will proceed with caution thinking it’s you. Now you have two options with you. Sneak in from behind and kill him instantly, and wait for the next fool to repeat the result. Or you explode the spy cam when the Merc is near, killing him instantly.
The levels are designed in perfect harmony, lots of ledging spaces (for Spies), tons of open spaces (for the Merc vision). There are dark corners where no Merc will never doubt you to be hiding in. However, their torchlight is so strong that my previous sentence can actually be contradicted. Spies vs. Mercs Blacklist is Heaven and Hell. So stay strong (as a Merc), or stay sharp (as a Spy) in order to prove your worth to players who arrive with higher ranks. Your presence of mind will guide you as a Spy, while your vision reading will do you great as a Merc, as the levels are harmlessly designed to give every class equal rights.
Blacklist has revived and brought back tons of new Spies vs. Mercs action, like the SVM Blacklist 4V4 Infiltration, Extraction (where the Mercs try to infiltrate while the Spies protect), Uplink Control (mixed group matches, your clan can consist of 2 Spies and 2 Mercs) and of course the no-objective relief Team Deathmatch. The levels are few but can add great excitement to the stealth loving nature of yours.
Hope you enjoy this Spies vs. Mercs Edition as much as I did!
Image Credit: Ubiblog
