Game Review: Splinter Cell: Conviction

Stephanie Chung - Military.com

If you didn't finish Splinter Cell: Double Agent, this game will quickly fill you in on what happened.

Splinter Cell: Conviction, developed by Ubisoft for X-box, features Sam Fisher, who is a member of the Third Echelon (a secret branch of the National Security Agency). It was revealed in a flashback early on in the game, he formally served as a Navy Seal in Iraq. His daughter was killed in a hit and run. He murdered his best friend, Colonel Irving Lambert. After one sacrifice too many, he became a free agent, leaving the NSA. After establishing that his daughter's death was no accident, he goes on a solo mission to find his daughter's killer and find out whom he can trust or if he should trust anyone at all.

Game play

Splinter Cell: Conviction definitely hits a tactical stride with a realistic feel to the missions performed in the military. Pacing is optimized with no loading screens unless you die. Ubisoft did not give a moment for the player to wonder when something is going to happen. Things are constantly happening and you can definitely feel the storyline pushing forward. This is very different from real world military where everything is "hurry and wait."

The stealth in this game isn't like any other. You don't have to wonder if you're going to be seen. When you can't be seen, the color fades out and changes to black and white. As soon as you can be detected, the color comes back. Once you're actually seen, the game flashes in capital red letters, "detected" above your character. This makes it easier to plan your attack and less of a wonder if the enemy is going to spot you. There is also a cover system where Sam can take cover and dash from one cover to another staying hidden. Squeezing the left trigger when standing near a wall, he will take cover behind it. When you're in the open with no enemies in sight, squeezing the right trigger, Sam will crouch to minimize his visibility.

You've got quick ways of killing multiple targets. Mark to Execute lets you pick out targets that you can execute in a single move. This allows for a quick lethal takedown (usually head or neck shot). One great thing is that the shots fired cannot miss and the enemies cannot dodge out of the way. Prior to learning this technique, the game was more challenging (still not impossible) trying to kill a room full of enemies without getting shot down.

Another feature of the game is the Last Known Position. LKP is a system that shows where enemies last saw you and more often than not, that is where they're shooting or running to. The LKP displays as a white silhouette that appears after engaging the enemy and retreating back into cover. With some quickness, you can keep them thinking that you're stilling hiding in one spot while sneaking up behind them and knocking them out from behind.

Ubisoft also put in an experience system which rewards points for achieving challenges and achieving objectives. The points can be spent upgrading weapons, gadgets and other upgrades to be used in multiplayer mode. The weapon stashes are pretty frequent in the game, giving you plenty of opportunity to upgrade or change weapons. All the weapons you pick up from enemies during the game have limited ammunition; however the FN Five-seveN pistol that is given to you seems to carry an infinite amount of bullets.

Multiplayer

A downside of this game is that Ubisoft did not incorporate player vs. player. In both single and co-op mode, there's a main objective and the standing objection to kill everything on the map. Ubisoft definitely missed out on the player-vs-player feature of the game which could hurt the overall appeal. However, they probably thought they made up for their lack of player vs. player with an unlimited number of times you can revive your teammate. A shock from a defibrillator fixes everything in this game.

Splinter Cell: Conviction connects to X-box live, allowing for online game play. Other multiplayer options are system link or a split screen setting.

Graphics

The graphics are smooth and realistic. The game's box says that it was meant for HDTV. While it does look nice on an HDTV, it does not go over and beyond any boundary that another game hasn't achieved. However, the animation is smooth and there is a realistic look and feel to the game.

Moving the camera around feels a bit slow. Ubisoft could have made the camera motions a bit faster without sacrificing any details.

Sound

There seems to be a constant sound which really adds to the environment. Ubisoft did not miss out on giving the real feel for a disgruntled Sam Fisher. There is constant talking over the radio and enemies calling you out of your hiding places.

Replay Value

Unless you really like the story line, the tactical stride that the game hits, or just the fun, there's no real value in playing through the game again. One can also go back and collect all the weapons to unlock them for Co-Op mode as well. However, after everything is unlocked, the game's replay value is little to none.

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Copyright 2012 by Military.com