Gamersmint Review : Splinter Cell – Conviction
First teased in May 2007, Ubisoft showed off some tantalizing gameplay footage and trailers which promised an evolution in the series. After a handful of painful delays and postponements, Splinter Cell: Conviction has finally arrived on shores. Fisher gears up to embark on his most intense mission yet in Conviction. Should You?
Story
Conviction takes place a few years after the events of Splinter Cell: Double Agent. A tormented and retired Fisher sets off with a single focus in mind, to find his daughter’s murderer. You soon find yourself dealing with a conspiracy far greater than what meets the eye. Questions will be answered and you will be re acquainted with similar faces. Newcomers may be lost amidst the name dropping and references to previous games of the series.
The Co-op campaign serves as a prologue to Fisher’s tale. You are placed in the boots of Archer, a Third Echelon agent and Kestrel, a member the Russian Voron embarking on a mission to recover stolen Russian warheads. The plot in the co-op campaign is more than worthy of being a companion to Fisher’s tale. Trust me, the ending of the co-op campaign will turn some heads.
Presentation
The presentation of the story compliments the plot in various ingenious ways. It’s a brilliant and fresh approach to storytelling. Flashbacks are projected on the walls and even your enemies taunt you about your past actions in prior games. Objectives are painted on the walls, so you never need to pause the game to find out what you need to do. The presentation succeeds in truly immersing you in the shoes of our once stealthy protagonist. Like one of the characters in the game mentions, the Sam we knew is dead. Sam Fisher means business this time, and his ferocity is conveyed brilliantly. The developers always mentioned that they wanted Sam to be the predator instead of the prey and that filters through into the game; Sam is a panther – and no prey escapes this panther.
Gameplay
Fisher seeks revenge and is as ruthless as ever. He is no longer avoiding his enemies, but hunting them down. Conviction gives birth to a host of new gameplay mechanics and features. Whenever you are in hiding, the game switches to black and white and shifts back to color whenever you emerge out of it. While this may seem as an innovative decision, sometimes you would be wishing that the developers would have reconsidered their decision, especially when you will be playing majority of the game in monochrome but you won’t spend as much time in the shadows as you did in previous games. Another significant addition is the Mark and Execute mechanic which lets you mark your opponents and execute them at the press of a key. You need to earn them by performing close range kills. This isn’t restricted to just foes but also environmental objects which lets you set up booby traps and ambushes. The maximum number of enemies you can mark is restricted by your weapon.
In co-op both the players can team up to perform a dual execution. These moments never fail to look amazing. The game’s arsenal is nothing out of the ordinary but it gets the job done. Weapons are customizable, to improve range, accuracy, maximum number of enemies you can mark, etc. Sam also has at his disposal a large number of gadgets pulled right from the 3rd Echelon’s armory including sonar goggles to track the position of your enemies, an array of grenades, etc. A large part of the fun in Conviction is figuring out which precise combination of guns would let you most effectively dispatch your foes and finish the mission. When your cover is blown, your last known position is highlighted with a white silhouette. Enemies close in at this position. This will prove to be extremely useful in getting around your enemies or escaping very tight situations.
