Ubisoft’s latest entry into the critically acclaimed series sets out to take the Splinter Cell games in an exciting and more action oriented new direction but does it pay off?
Splinter Cell: Conviction is very different from previous Splinter Cells. Ubisoft succeeded in making the game more accessible by giving it a much faster pace. Luckily the story is fitting for the change in gameplay; it has been three years since the events in Splinter Cell: Double Agent and Sam Fisher the series’ protagonist is now a fugitive wanted by Third Echelon which is the government organization he used to work for. Now that Sam is on the run and trying to figure out who killed his daughter by dishing out his own brand of justice, it stands to reason that he’ll being moving through the levels a lot faster rather than taking his time and sneaking around.
The game will feel rather unfamiliar to Splinter Cell veterans. You still sneak around in the shadows and assassinate targets while trying to attract as little attention as possible but there are a bunch of times when you won’t be able to hide and will end up in firefights against small groups of enemies. To keep the action moving quickly while still encouraging a level of stealth they have added a new feature to the game called Mark and Execute. Whenever you sneak up on someone and assassinate them with your bare hands you are given the ability to select a few targets with a simple button press then press another button and watch as Sam automatically pulls off head shots on everyone you targeted. This makes the game much easier for first time players to get the hang of and a cake walk for veterans who are used to taking everyone out without ever being seen. I’m in the former of the two groups; the only Splinter Cell experience I have prior to this game is Double Agent in which I only played multiplayer with my friend. That being said the game is actually a lot of fun it combines the stealth and shooting action really well and allows you to play pretty much however you want. If you want to be super sneaky go ahead, if you want to run and gun it will be much harder but you can in most instances and if you’re like me and want to use a combination of the two like you’re supposed to do, you can.
Another new feature is the interrogation mode in which you force a suspect to give you information by dragging them by the throat around the room and interacting with certain items, like a sink which you bash the suspect’s face into. While the scenes are cool and work well inside the story I wish they made them a little deeper. No I don’t mean I want to see the bad guys suffer more. I mean there are probably six-twelve interrogation moves you have access to in every scene and yet all it takes is any three to break the guy despite the fact that some moves are way worse than others. Think of it this way, isn’t it weird that if I punch a guy in the face he gives me the same info as if I shoot him in the knee? They should have made it so you still have three tries to break them but if you don’t cause a certain level of fear in the suspect he won’t give you all the info you want and you’ll have to go in to missions with limited intel which maybe causes you to enter at the wrong spot where there are increased guards or it doesn’t tell you what you have to do next or something so that the interrogations have more of a point.
The game’s graphics have been greatly improved since the last Splinter Cell. The characters are all wonderfully detailed and the lighting/shadow effects that the series has always received praise for are still top notch. An interesting new visual touch is how your objectives are now projected on to walls and floors so that you know what you have to do without going into a menu. It looks really cool and sometimes it shows what Sam’s thinking kind of like a bigger automatic version of the thoughts over your head in Heavy Rain except with pictures which helps you understand what he is going through a lot more if you’re new to the series. The game’s audio is great, all of the guns sound great and it’s fun sneaking around and you hear whispers of a guard so you walk slower so your steps aren’t as loud then when you’re right behind them you silently execute them and hear their neck snap. The music is also very dark and intense and does a great job building the incredible tension throughout the game.
The game’s biggest problem for me was its length; the game is between 6-8 hours. The game is fun and the story is cool but it’s over really quickly because it has a good sense of pace and keeps you playing but there just isn’t much to play. The game has a lot of challenges for different types of kills and stuff in order to get you to play through the game multiple times but I didn’t really care about getting 500 stealth kills or whatever. The game does have other cool modes you can play once you’re done the campaign however like Deniable Ops which allows you to do challenge levels either by yourself or with friends. There is a competitive mode but it isn’t anywhere near as much fun as Double Agent’s Spies vs. Mercenaries. The game also has a co-op story mode which serves as a prologue to the game’s single player. That being said you don’t have to play co-op first to understand the single player. The co-op levels are pretty good but not as good as the single player’s and the story isn’t either but it does have a very interesting ending.
If you are a fan of Splinter Cell you probably want to see what is going to happen with Sam Fisher next and while the game will be different you should still enjoy it. If you haven’t played Splinter Cell before because you were put off by the stealth gameplay or just never got around to it this is a good game to enter in on and you might want to give it a rental because of its length. Overall the game is short and sweet and has gotten me interested in the series.
Score: 3/5
