Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction

Ubisoft Montreal

4 stars out of 5

“Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction,” the latest title in Ubisoft’s stealth action franchise, was a very different game a couple of years ago. The game was initially planned for release in Nov. 2007, but as that date neared, Ubisoft Montreal was not happy with the way the game was turning out. They soon announced that the project was on hold indefinitely, while designers went back to the drawing board to redefine the game from the ground up.The original version featured a grizzled, long-haired, washed-up looking Sam Fisher, who is the game’s protagonist. The focus was on the idea of “hiding in a crowd” and featured areas very reminiscent of Ubisoft’s other popular franchise, Assassin’s Creed 2. The team decided that the game had lost its identity as a Splinter Cell title, and felt that a top-to-bottom overhaul was in order.

 And oh what a difference a year-and-half makes. The game was shown again at 2009’s E3 Expo, the gaming industry’s most important yearly press event, and it was immediately clear that the extra development time had paid off. Sam Fisher still looked a bit roguish, but in a more Jack Bauer from “24” sort of way. The game play had also gone back to the classic Splinter Cell style of sneaking and shooting in even measure, with a bit of environmental interaction built in.

 This new Splinter Cell also showed some modern updates to the classic formula that only time and inspiration could have produced. The new game still puts the player in Sam Fisher’s shoes on a globetrotting mission to unravel an international conspiracy, but Fisher has a different motivation this time around.

 In 2006’s “Splinter Cell: Double Agent” it was revealed that Fisher’s daughter, the only thing he had left in the world, had been killed by a drunk driver, but nothing gets resolved on that front by the end of the game. In Conviction, Fisher, who is already on the verge of a complete breakdown, receives information regarding the man responsible for killing his daughter, and he grudgingly reenters the world of international espionage for a shot at revenge.

Right from the outset, “Conviction” is more personal and engaging than any previous game in the series, and this really helps immerse the player in the action. The moment-to-moment game play is also more visceral and exciting this time around. Had this series rested on its laurels and given players exactly what they were expecting from the next Splinter Cell game, it would not have had the chance of becoming the truly great experience that it is.

As soon as you boot the game up, you will notice just how streamlined and polished of an experience “Conviction” provides. In-game instructions are integrated into the game world, and there is no on-screen HUD (Heads-up Display) at all. The tutorial phase at the beginning, which is so often monotonous and hand-holding in other games, instead integrates the instructions on how to play the game seamlessly into the opening events. One of the game’s first scenes is a flashback, showing Fisher tucking his young daughter into bed and easing her fears about the dark.

 As part of the scene, Fisher must turn the light on and off a couple of times using the light switch, and the game uses this plot point as an opportunity to teach the player both how to interact with in-game objects – like light switches – and how the game communicates to the player whether or not they are hidden from sight.

  During the scene, as the lights go out, Fisher tells his daughter that she shouldn’t fear the dark because, “in the dark, you can see the bad guys, but they can’t see you.” And, to drive the point home, when the light is turned off, the scene turns black and white, demonstrating to the player that a similar palette swap will occur throughout the game whenever Fisher is hidden from enemy view.

 This sweet father-daughter moment accomplishes multiple goals. It humanizes the game’s main protagonist, makes us feel his love for his daughter, and teaches us about a couple of critical game mechanics. This seamless integration of game play and story continues throughout the roughly eight-hour single-player campaign, and makes for an enjoyably polished experience.

 In addition to the presentation, the game also excels at making its stealth-game play, which can be extremely trial and error based in other games, both fluid and exciting. In many stealth games (including previous Splinter Cell titles), players are required to sneak through the levels, and if they are detected, it’s basically “game over, try again.” Not so in Conviction.

 Here, there are at least three ways to play through any section of the game, and some new game play systems aid in making each route a unique and exciting option. The first new feature is called “Last Known Position,” and it is the solution to the previously mentioned “get caught, game over” stealth game scenario.

 When the player is seen by the enemy, that enemy becomes aware of where it was that they saw you (or in other words, your “Last Known Position”). But instead of this being a failure on the player’s part, it can be used to their advantage. Because the enemy assumes they know where you are, you can move quickly away from that position, jumping from cover to cover, to sneak up on the unsuspecting foe.

 A similar feature appeared last year in a game called “Wanted: Weapons of Fate,” with mixed results. Although it’s not a revolutionary concept, it is executed far more effectively in “Conviction.”

 The other big new feature is called is called “Mark and Execute,” and involves selecting targets first, and then pressing a button to trigger an action where Fisher kills them all, one after another, in quick succession. This easy way to kill enemies would make the game simplistic and boring if it was an unlimited feature, but instead, it can only be triggered after the player completes a close-quarters takedown of an enemy.

 This forces players to play sneakily at first, in order to approach and kill an enemy at close range to earn a “Mark and Execute,” but then allows them to let loose and release their pent up aggression in a volley of bullets. In playing through the game, I felt that this added a really nice ebb and flow to the game play, and really enhanced the pacing of the experience. These new game play systems, coupled with the engrossing story, propel the player through the campaign at an ever-increasing clip.

 As good as the single player campaign is, however, the best part of “Conviction” lies in some rather deep multiplayer content. First there is the co-op campaign, which allows two players to team up, like in previous Splinter Cell titles, to accomplish tasks as a team. This second, smaller campaign acts as a prequel to the main story, and fleshes out the international politics underlying both campaigns. There are also some competitive multiplayer modes which I didn’t have time to fully delve into, but which promise to add even more play time to the overall experience.

 As a complete experience, “Splinter Cell: Conviction” is highly polished and action packed, and will thrill gamers of every skill level. This is the first Splinter Cell game that can really be played by any gamer, as it gives the player a choice as to whether they want to go stealth or press forward guns a blazing. There is nothing revolutionary here, but as an evolution of one of the most solid franchises in all of gaming, “Conviction” certainly delivers.