Written by: Ian

 

 

 

"Splinter Cell: Conviction" only missed its original release date by a mere three years. Does the resulting game work after such a messy development cycle?

 

The plot may have remained the same, but everything else from the game engine to gameplay has been reworked from head to toe, and anticipation for the title is unsurprisingly at an all-time high- so here’s hoping that the game lives up to expectations!

 

 

Sam Fisher, international super-spy is back, but not as you know him. Looking older and greyer than before, several years have passed. Sam believes his daughter to be dead; he killed Lambert with his own hands, and has left Third Eschelon.

 

It’s a more violent tale than before, and one with less technology as Sam is working outside the confines of his secret government agency. The story races along, and is generally scripted well, although Michael Ironside’s portrayal of Fisher sometimes comes across as more of a drunken hobo than a pissed-off super-agent.

 

There’s also a good twist at the end of the game too, which I won’t spoil for anyone here- find out for yourselves!

 

 

If you’ve ever played a Splinter Cell game before, then you may be disappointed by Conviction- Ubisoft have attempted to ‘modernise’ the game- and by that, I mean make it more of an action game.

 

 

Guards still have set patterns, and still can be distracted, but the game penalizes you less for being detected- this time round, there are few places where being found will trigger the retry screen- instead, you can either choose to reload, or, take out the guards in a fierce firefight, using the light to your advantage.

 

You can also trigger execution moves by taking out guards silently with hand-to-hand manoeuvres. This lets you mark out guards and then silently kill them all with headshots, which never ceases to feel awesome, and often gets you out of some sticky situations.

 

The gunplay itself also feels much improved over the previous incarnations, with accurate (almost too much) aiming, and a vast variety of weaponry, that includes fully automatic weapons, shotguns, as well as Sam’s usual trusty pistol collection.

 

Whilst you no longer have to be stealthy to complete a level, there normally is a stealth approach, which is pleasing, and for those more hardcore people, there is still plenty of crawling along pipes, using sticky cameras, and peeping under doors- you just don’t have to if you don’t want to any more- it actually adds depth to the gameplay, as there are now multiple ways of completing most levels, although at the same time, Sam is now so deadly, there is little incentive, even on realistic, to be particularly stealthy, which longtime fans will no doubt lament. In fact, there are several shootouts you have no choice but to engage in, in some areas, which shows how much the game has changed- there’s even a COD style health system, which recovers after a few seconds if you hide in the shadows.

 

 

The single player lasts a reasonable time, at about 7-8 hours first time, and I guess it has reasonable replay value. There are always more challenges to complete, and another attempt at sneaking through the level without shooting anyone, but I expect most people will just have the one playthrough though; it’s not really compelling enough for many to play a second time; perhaps apart from the last level to see the two different endings.