Breathe a sigh of relief: Splinter Cell Blacklist is actually a stealth game after all, as this explosion-free walkthrough reveals

Explosions. Throat-stabbings. Strobe-lights. Dubstep bass drops. Omnipresent machine gun fire. Sensory-overload inflicted vomit. That's pretty much my resounding memory of E3 2012, and no big game shown off at this year's mega-expo ended up with more of my stress-puke on its metaphorical hands than Splinter Cell: Blacklist.

Thanks to the angle of attack taken by its on-stage demo, the once brutally puristic stealth series looked to have 'evolved' into a broad-daylight killing spree time trial. But now? Praise Ironside's great gravelly vocal chords, for that no longer appears to be the case.

Ubisoft has, you see, just released a much slower, much more methodical, and mercifully almost kill-free run-through of the same level. The architecture and baddoes remain the same, but the experience itself is utterly different. In fact it's really rather soothing in comparison.

What do you say? Heartened by the much more Splinter Celly Splinter Cell on show? Or did you prefer it when stealth master Sam Fisher was blind-firing over a crate before sprinting through a hail of rocket fire while shooting up anything still possessing of a functioning pulse?

David Houghton
Long-time GR+ writer Dave has been gaming with immense dedication ever since he failed dismally at some '80s arcade racer on a childhood day at the seaside (due to being too small to reach the controls without help). These days he's an enigmatic blend of beard-stroking narrative discussion and hard-hitting Psycho Crushers.