Like my Heavy Rain review, I’m not sure that this is completely finished as there is quite a lot to cover. Anyway, here’s my (hopefully) final draft.
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction– PC & Xbox 360.
Rating – 17+, M.
At last another chance to play as the legendary Sam Fisher as he embarks on another challenging and exciting mission. But does this mission live up to the hype and the Splinter Cell franchise’s standards? In short: For die-hard fans, no. For everyone else: Yes. Sort of.
I won’t bother getting into what the franchise is about as it’s been around for many years, so I’m sure most gamers are aware of it. I’ll just jump right into Conviction.
Conviction portrays Sam in a slightly different light from previous titles. He’s no longer working for Third Echelon; the sub-division within the NSA, and is tracking down the killer of his daughter Sarah who allegedly died from a drunk driving accident at the beginning of Double Agent. However, he also encounters a huge terrorist threat to the US and must work with some old colleagues, including the infamous Anna Grímsdóttir. So if you thought that Double Agent was a departure from the franchise (as did I), then you’ll be shocked at just how much Conviction throws the entire franchise out the window. They way the story is told reminded me of several episodes of 24. This is both a good and a bad thing. It’s good because the game introduces some new, interesting and well-implemented features and ideas but also takes some of the other things that fans have grown to love over the years away from them.
First, the good stuff – Splinter Cell: Conviction has a totally different art style from any of the previous titles. Instead of using your OPSAT to view objectives, they are now projected onto the environment in big white letters (pictured above). Only Sam can see them so they work well and keep you immersed in the world without removing you by taking you to an objectives menu. Flashbacks and introductions of new characters are also projected onto the environment in movie-form which also work really well.
Another cool feature is the “Last Known Position”. Basically if Sam is spotted and he is able to sneak back into the shadows, a silhouette of where he was once was will appear. This is where the enemy thinks Sam is and they will try to flank it. While they’re doing this, Sam can use it to his advantage and take the enemy out with ease.
Probably the biggest and coolest new feature in Conviction is “Mark & Execute”. Sam can scan a room for enemies and then “mark” them, which places a red arrow above their heads. When he is ready he can “execute” them all by shooting them quickly and simultaneously at the press of a button. Sam looks totally awesome when he does this; kind of like Jack Bauer from (again) 24, and it makes the player feel like a predator. No more hiding in the shadows for uncle Sam. You can also upgrade your weapons so that they can mark more enemies, creating a deeper level of strategy that the franchise hasn’t seen before. However, marking and executing every enemy makes the game pretty easy and the whole feature is pretty much taken right out of Rainbow Six: Vegas; another game developed by Ubisoft Montreal.
As for the upgradeable weapons – they’re pretty pointless. Apart from increasing the number of marks you can use you won’t find yourself rushing to upgrade anything else such as ammo capacity as there’s barely ever too many enemies in a room at once for one clip to take out. Silencers are pretty much useless unless your playing the game in stealth, but why would you need guns for that? And all the pistols have unlimited ammo making all the other guns and grenade-types irrelevant. I mean seriously, does Sam really need proxy mines and an automatic assault rifle?
Those who played the previous titles can expect plenty of sneaking around in the shadows, using enemies as human shields, hanging from pipes, peeking under doors, shooting lights, the works. The game pulls it all off perfectly. In addition, the game switches from colour to black and white whenever Sam is hidden in the shadows. But with the Mark & Execute system, you’ll be tempted to go guns blazing and murder everyone in your path. And with the amount of guns that are on offer, including a new and improved SC30K, that can all be upgraded, Conviction doesn’t always feel like a Splinter Cell game. Or a stealth game for that matter. At times I felt like I was playing Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon or Double Agent again, and that’s not a good thing.
Splinter Cell: Conviction is by no means the prettiest in the franchise. It’s certainly better looking than the first two games, but it simply cannot hold a candle to Chaos Theory or even Double Agent. The character models look good and the lighting can be pretty eye-catching at times. Unfortunately the weapons and environments are a little low-res and the lip-sync is unforgivably bad. Almost as bad as Pandora Tomorrow’s.
Sound-wise however, Conviction is top notch. Explosions, gunshots, shattering glass and music sound magnificent. But where the game really shines is the voice acting. Michael Ironside returns as Sam Fisher and does a great job at it. The original voice of Grímsdóttir, Claudia Besso also reprises her role, and even Don Jordan comes back for a small audio recording of Irving Lambert, Sam’s old boss.
Now for the stuff that simply doesn’t work – opening doors. Yes, it sounds like a simple task. Sam’s never had any trouble with it before. But in Conviction, you need to be looking at a specific spot of a door so that a “open door” prompt appears onscreen. This works for other things too; look at the bottom of a door to display the “peek under door” prompt, a specific spot on a wall to display the “climb wall” prompt, and so on. Those prompts are little too specific for my liking. Whatever happened to the little drop down menu that every Splinter Cell title has had up until now? Why fix what isn’t broken?
I’ve saved the worst ’til last, the AI – it’s dumb. And I mean really, really dumb. When they spot Sam they will immediately alert each other of his presence, attack in groups and attempt to assault his position. That’s all well and good, until they loose sight of him and his position turns into his Last Known Position. They will do everything in their power to empty every clip, lob every grenade and shout every swear word under the sun at this Last Known Position, and when they realise he’s not there they will aimlessly search the same square yard of floor space before giving up. I remember one time after interrogating one of the villains in the game, a bunch of Splinter Cell agents (pictured below) repelled in from the roof to intercept Sam. Not only were they incredibly late, but all I had to do to take them down was remain in the small room I was in, wait for them to rush in one by one and shoot them in the head from around a corner. Talk about unprofessional and moronic. They also appeared to have they’re goggles on wonky.
Splinter Cell: Conviction is one of those games that is good on its surface but once you dig down to its core, it’s just average. Newcomers to the franchise will like what they see and will enjoy the ride, but die-hard fans will no doubt be disappointed with a broken, unfulfilled, basic and fatigued mess.
The Good
• It may be taken straight out of 24, but the storyline is still good and takes the franchise in a different direction.
• Great sound and voice acting, original cast members return with brilliant performances.
• A decent cover system – point where you want Sam to go and press a button, simple.
• When used properly, the Mark & Execute system is brutally effective and deadly.
• Visual effects such as projected text and Last Known Position work well and add a sense of art to the game.
The Bad
• The AI is as thick as pig shit. They also swear far too much (which is fucking rich coming from me).
• Cover system can be clunky and unresponsive.
• Upgrading weapons seems pointless.
• Onscreen prompts make for some tricky manoeuvres such as opening doors or jumping over things.
• Mark & Execute makes the game far too easy and not feel like Splinter Cell at all.
• The DRM that Ubisoft brought out for Conviction and Assassin’s Creed II, while I never had any problems with it as my internet connection is pretty stable, will drive some PC gamers insane. It constantly prevents you from playing the game when the slightest blip in your connection appears.
My Score
6.5/10.
