He's growing on me, but there's just nothing in the script that even gives him a chance. He's not written like Ironside's Fisher at all.
I don't think he's a bad actor/VA but he's nowhere near Sam Fisher simply because of his age. When you talk to Sarah on the phone, it sounds more like a brother talking to a sister simply because his voice doesn't have that age to it as he's a young actor afterall. That's where the big problem comes in for me in terms of the change because he just doesn't even sold old enough at all.
I think a lot of this game has done the character a lot of harm and I can see why Ironside didn't want to do it if it truly was because where they were taking his character. I still think they should have made Sam the new Lambert except as sarcastic and vocal as ever and have a new agent take over as the player like Briggs if they truly want to continue the story. If they came out and said each game was separate from the last one, at least it would make sense but as it stands, there's no progression in the character and he keeps changing. You don't often see the leaders of agencies out in the field either.
I'm fine with a new character if it makes sense afterall and it would be less jarring than the current situation.
As far as SvM goes, I still despise Blacklist but Classic is a lot of fun even though I wish I could have my shotgun Merc again.
Edit: I agree that the coop is the best part of the game. I hope they can give us more coop missions since it's the most fun I've had with the game. The best part about being individual missions is that they can take us anywhere and it still makes sense giving us a huge variety. A mission in the jungles of Colombia taking out a drug cartel's lab? Awesome. Stopping a shipment of weapons or explosives on a ship? I'm there! Stopping a defector from selling information in a cold and desolate Siberia? Fuck yea!