Splinter Cell: Conviction - Xbox 360

Revenge Is A Dish Best Served By Sam Fisher

Andrew Reiner — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:45:00 GMT

In Splinter Cell: Conviction, Sam Fisher’s humanity is demolished, leaving nothing but an emotionally frail and agitated shell of a man. He lost his daughter. Everyone he trusted betrayed him. He’s teetering on the edge of madness, and his thirst for revenge is the only thing driving him.

Conviction follows Sam as he wrenches answers from those who have wronged him. His methods are brutal, often making Jack Bauer’s interrogations look like relaxing massages. Heads are smashed through urinals, hands are impaled by knives, and most people who exchange words with Fisher likely won’t talk again.

Artfully constructed flashback sequences bring Sam’s darkest days into full frame, giving the hunt ahead a twisted sense of justification. The plot races forward with the urgency of a Jason Bourne film and skirts most of the clichés associated with revenge stories. Who Sam ends up hunting is a twist I didn’t see coming. This development is an eye-roller, but it gives a concrete and satisfying conclusion to Sam’s story. The last act, and the means with which Sam handles a high-ranking official, are worthy of a fist pump.

With the story transitioning seamlessly from a tale of revenge to one of hope, the gameplay also takes on a new identity. Conviction is not a slow-moving stealth game, nor is it a fast-paced shooter. Ubisoft finds the happy medium. With solid gunplay and intuitive movement at your fingertips, Conviction offers the best of both worlds. I didn’t feel like I was railroaded into using one or the other – I approached combat the way I wanted to.

The game’s sense of urgency spills over into the stealth mechanics. I rarely found myself sitting in one spot waiting for a guard to turn his back to me. The level designs embrace player choice in how you traverse environments as well. Walls can be ascended with the grace of Ezio from Assassin’s Creed, and a sprinting slide maneuver can quickly lower you from an enemy’s line of sight should you need to cover a large distance in a single effort.

Gunplay is highlighted by Sam’s new “mark and execute” ability, which uses cinematic slow motion to frame the brain-bursting shots. When this move is used, Sam quickly chains together a series of silent headshots. I used this ability religiously to make short work of small pockets of enemies, and also to save my ass in shootouts that were heading toward game over screens.

Conviction’s only glaring oddity is the logic that enemies exhibit. They empty clips and toss grenades with the best of gaming’s foes, yet are overly vocal in their pursuit of you. These chatty Cathys yell taunts so frequently that you’re always sure of their location. I don’t know about you, but if I spotted one of the world’s greatest killers I wouldn’t antagonize him. They feel more like Dr. Evil henchmen than believable adversaries.

I also have mixed feelings on Conviction’s stylistic visuals. I love how mission objectives and memory sequences are projected on the game world, but the transitions to black and white – an effect used to tell the player they are hidden from enemy sight – are jarring. I know Ubisoft’s intent was to reduce the reliance on the HUD, but I’d much rather look at a stealth meter than have the game’s gorgeous visuals fade to shades of gray.

Conviction’s single-player campaign is a finely crafted thrill ride that puts Sam front and center. The game’s second campaign (yes, there are two completely different stories) focuses on two characters named Archer and Kestrel. This co-op only experience is heavy on action, pumping out adrenaline-filled “they’re everywhere, man!” sequences almost every step of the way. Coordinating mark and execute maneuvers with a friend to combat the onslaught is a gaming moment I’ll cherish forever. While light on narrative, this campaign is every bit as good as Sam’s. It’s my favorite Splinter Cell co-op endeavor yet.

It may surprise longtime series fans, but Conviction’s multiplayer disappoints outside of the co-op. Ubisoft has included a one-on-one, spy-versus-spy competitive component, but it lacks the flair and depth of previous installments’ spies-versus-mercenaries mode.

Splinter Cell: Conviction isn’t the series’ high point, but it does get the franchise back on track. Fans who have been at Sam’s side since day one should walk away with a sense of closure and optimism for future installments. At the same time, this is a great jumping-on point for newcomers. The fiction includes all the relevant plot points of the series’ past without the Tom Clancy techno-babble that bogged down previous entries.

Splinter Cell: Conviction’s Co-op Campaign In Pictures

Ben Reeves — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:30:00 GMT

At last year's E3 convention, Splinter Cell: Conviction jumped out from the shadows and knifed us in the back with one of the most impressive demos of the show. Since then we’ve gotten our hands on the game and our enthusiasm for Sam Fisher’s latest outing has only grown. However, this time around Sam has to share the shadows with the two stars of Conviction’s co-op campaign. Ubisoft recently stopped by the office to let us play through this two-player mode, and we almost didn’t let them leave. This four-level prequel campaign isn’t an afterthought. Gamers will want to set aside some time and work through this mode with a friend.

Weapons of Mass Power Outage

The story follows two covert operatives, Archer and Kestrel – the former an agent of Third Echelon, and the latter an agent of Voron, a covert Russian military organization. Four Russian EMP weapons have been stolen and it’s up to Archer and Kestrel to retrieve the warheads before they are sold on the black market. This hunt takes the duo on a worldwide jaunt that includes locations in Russia and the U.S.

Expanded Single Player Features

All of the features found in Conviction’s main campaign will be available in co-op. However they will be slightly adapted for the two-player experience. Last known position, a feature that displays a dark silhouette in the last position you were seen, can be used to lure guards into a trap set up by your partner.

Similarly, the mark and execute feature will also be shared in co-op. Mark and execute allows players to tag enemies and then quickly take out all marked targets with the touch of a button. Archer and Kestrel will share each other’s marks, so while one player marks enemies from a bird’s eye vantage, his partner can perform the executions from below.

Watching Your Partner’s Back

Conviction’s co-op will also feature some new ways for players to work together. Archer and Kestrel will help each other breach doors, interrogate enemies, and resurrect each other when they take too many bullets in the vest. If an enemy grabs one player from behind and starts using him as a human shield, both players will have to work together to get him out of that jam. The player who has been grabbed can elbow his capture, giving his partner a window of opportunity to headshot the enemy guard and free his buddy. Teammates who stick together and share their tactics will have the most success tackling Conviction’s co-op experience.

Persistent Elite Creation System

Plenty of online games feature persistent experience boosting systems, but Conviction’s PEC system will actually bleed over into the single-player and co-op game modes. Players who accomplish various achievement-style challenges within the game will be awarded points that can be used to purchase new weapons, upgrade their gadgets, and customize their outfits. Players who get stuck in the single player campaign can play through a few online matches and earn extra tools to help them progress.

Fisher Is Back And Crankier Than Ever In Splinter Cell: Conviction

Ben Reeves — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:05:00 GMT

No perfect formula exists for making a great game. Even a game from an established studio with solid concepts can sometimes turn flat during development. Sometimes to do a project right, you need a little extra time. Splinter Cell: Conviction went through such a trial, but it looks like the extra incubation time was well spent, because the game emerged at this year’s E3 looking like one of the most polished titles of the show.

In 2006’s Double Agent, Sam Fisher’s only daughter was killed by a drunk driver. In Conviction, new evidence surfaces that leads Sam to believe that Sarah was killed as part of a more elaborate government plot. The game starts with Sam looking for clues, hot on the trail of an arms dealer named Andre Kobin.

From the get-go, it’s obvious that Conviction is focused on delivering a brutal and fast-paced gameplay experience. The demo starts with Sam kicking one of Kobin’s enforcers into a public bathroom’s urinal. The other men in the room scatter as Sam’s opponent draws a gun, but Sam is faster than the man’s trigger finger and wrenches the man’s arm into an awkward angle. The stray bullet chunks into a nearby wall. A man on a toilet fumbles for his trousers as Sam throws the goon against the stall’s wooden door. In Conviction, most areas feel alive with activity. But Sam is focused on the man in front of him. His hand wraps around his victim’s throat as he barks, “Who killed my daughter?”

Sam’s gone rogue. He doesn’t have friends back at Third Echelon chirping in his ear anymore. In order to give players all the relevant information they’ll need, Ubisoft devised a novel projection system. As Sam interrogates his victim, several pictures of Kolbin flash across the walls of the bathroom. These are visual representations of the thoughts going through each character’s head. This projection trick is used throughout the game to direct players through the levels, provide contextual flashbacks, and accentuate dramatic moments.

Once Sam has the information he needs, he throws the man’s face through a porcelain sink, and we get to see how smoothly Conviction transitions from one scene to the next. The camera zooms in on the blood in the sink. With a snap it zooms back out, but now we’re looking at a painting inside an art gallery. The camera continues to zoom out, passing backwards through a keyhole until we see the outside of the building. This is Kobin’s mansion. The camera winds past several guards, down a nearby city street, and around a dark alley where we see Sam step into view and the controls are back in the players’ hands. The whole transition flashes by in a matter of moments, masking the game’s loads better than the elite super spy himself.

Being a lone wolf, Sam no longer has easy access to many high-end government weapons. However, he’s still a formidable opponent thanks to a few handy spy tricks. One new feature, called Last Known Position, displays a shadow in the last position where Sam was seen. While enemies are focused on his former location, Sam can sneak up behind guards and take them out with a variety of close combat takedowns. These hand-to-hand maneuvers earn Sam the opportunity to mark and execute targets. With this skill, Sam can queue up targets then execute them in quick succession. We see Sam look under a door, marking a light and a guard. After hitting the execute button, he kicks down the door and shoots out both targets in a matter of seconds.

Let’s just hope Sam doesn’t sneak past his fall release, because we’ve been waiting long enough to play what’s looking like one of the best games of the year.