Splinter Cell: Conviction

If video games are an art form, Conviction is a Van Gough

Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Sam Fisher may have grown older but that is just one of many things that are new and improved about our faithful hero in Splinter Cell: Conviction. The law is no longer compulsory in our quest for revenge and that makes the experience all the more rich. Splinter Cell: Conviction is bloody awesome.

This game is not like the previous games in the series, it is an entirely new kind of beast. One that feeds Fishers anger, his obsession with revenge and in turns allows us to do everything we always wanted to in previous Splinter Cell titles but couldn’t due to Third Echelon and their “rules”. You see, Sam has lost everything. His daughter is dead, his country has turned its back on him, his best friend killed by his own very hands in the name of the mission and the organisation he dedicated his life too has betrayed him. It is this very capitulation of his life that has led Sam to his current path of revenge. What else is there to focus on if everything has been torn away from you?

Upon booting up Conviction the first thing I noticed is how sleek the interface is. After more than one delay and a massive shift in gameplay focus, the game has come out the other end with shining colours. Everything is stylish, from the way the objectives are painted across the in game scenery to the vicious takedowns Fisher implements on his many victims, Splinter Cell: Conviction is all about the style points. It is a good thing then that the actual gameplay developed around the ideal fits perfectly. Conviction implements a very new kind of stealth action, one that revolves less around hiding bodies, covering tracks and moving slowly to all-out guerrilla tactics, popping out of the shadows for the split second to takedown the patrolling guard with a neck snap or silenced shot to the face.

All of this is aided by the new mark and execute system and the last known position indicator. See this time around we don’t have to be silent, just deadly and we can use that aspect to our advantage. Give away your position to the guards and a silhouette of Fisher will appear where you were seen allowing you to see the guards focal point and allowing you to flank them and take them out while their backs are turned. It’s a fundamental gameplay element and it changes up the everything. It opens up new ways to approach any given situation and works so well. Mark and execute created a bit of a stir when it was announced. Essentially a button allowing you to perform an insta-kill sounded a bit (well more than a bit) over-powered but when it comes to the actual implementation I am surprised to say that it works. To actually gain the ability to mark and execute you must first perform a takedown move, by sneaking up on an unsuspecting enemy and pressing “B”. After which you are awarded a mark and execute move. Mark targets by painting them with “RB” and then press “Y” to take them out in a display showing off Fishers prowess and years on the job.

These new elements are a fantastic addition to the series and help make Conviction feel all the more refreshing. The regular light shooting, wall scaling antics of course are here as well, and spatial awareness helps in most situations but knowing that you are more of a predator this time around is an awesome feeling. As I said before, everything about Conviction is stylish. And brutal. Oh so brutal. Nothing more so than the interrogation scenes. It is in these scenes that the anger that is Sam Fisher is unleashed. The areas are damage specific and you will be smashing heads through walls, toilets, pianos, desks and anything else around in an effort to “extract” the information needed. They are so much fun, and helps pull you into the story and Ubisoft are crafting.

Speaking of that story, I personally love it. It isn’t that in-depth and a lot of the new characters aren’t fleshed out as well as they could be, but this is Sam’s story and in that regard it’s excellent. I was drawn in the entire time, and what starts out purely as revenge soon evolves into something more, which I won’t spoil for you here. That being said I do have some problems with the way the story is told. The flashback mechanic feels a bit all over the place and on more than one occasion had me a little confused as to what was exactly happening. And there is an Iraqi run and gun mission thrown in at the start of the game that is just so stupidly out of place it had me crying for it to end.

The campaign will take around 8-10 hours depending on player skill and after that there is a plethora of multiplayer options to partake in. Unfortunately no Spies vs. Mercs mode, but what is here is an excellent offering. First off the block is the co-op campaign. Set as a prequel story to Conviction it sees you taking control of one of two Splinter Cell agents. The co-op mode is more based around traditional stealth elements like the earlier games in the series and is a nice break up to the more action focus of the main storyline. The story itself is good but nothing I can really talk about here. I don’t want to spoil anything and it is hard not too when talking about it. After co-op is done with (and it’ll take around six hours) you’ve got the “Deniable Ops” mode which sees two players work together in a variety of game types. Working together to execute enemies, create distractions, and draw enemy fire is amazing fun, and should help bolster the somewhat short campaign and provide as much replayability as gamers need. There are a number of game modes, including a versus stage where players do battle amidst waves of enemies ala Firefight and Horde.

When it comes down to it I loved Splinter Cell: Conviction. I have always been a massive fan of the series and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the rather big gameplay shift has paid off. Everything about the game screams for me to love it, and love it I do. The game has a very modernised, stylistic feel too it and is the first game I’ve played for a while that fully feels next-generation. Not that it couldn’t have been made on previous consoles (but with all the hits it would take from the inferior hardware) but there is next-gen thinking here. Multiple ways to approach a situation, a complete reinvention of a formula, a new way to look at in game direction and presentation. I really loved Conviction and I implore you all to pick it up. It’s been a while since I’ve been so thoroughly impressed with a game in all aspects.

Splinter Cell: Conviction – Game Detail Page

*Originally written by Ryan Fernance (aka Dimorphic)