Splinter Cell Conviction Review
Xbox 360 (Rated 15)
Sam Fisher has been in the shadows for some time, biding his time, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Splinter Cell Conviction was first announced on May 23rd 2007 and had a totally different look and feel to what a traditional Splinter Cell game should be. Sam Fisher was exploring large environments with the ability to blend into crowds and utilise the scenery to his advantage. One year later the game was put on indefinite hold presumably due to the game looking and playing a lot like another popular series from Ubi Soft; Assassins Creed.
The primary goal with Splinter Cell Conviction was to make it more accessible to players who struggled with the previous games by introducing new features such as Last Known Position, Mark and Execute and Sonar Goggles. That’s right; we no longer have Night Vision. Sam Fisher is also more versatile with a brand new user interface for players to navigate the levels with. Context Sensitive actions are a definite improvement but can rarely get in the way when the game spirals into chaos leaving the player vaulting over a desk into death instead of opening a door or climbing up a ledge.
Last Known Position will leave a silhouette behind where you were last spotted by the enemy, giving you a better idea of where the enemies’ attention will be heading to for the next minute or so leaving them vulnerable for attack. Searching for Sam Fisher gives you prime opportunity to set up another surprise attack by climbing onto ledges, pipes or hanging out of windows to execute your foe in sight.
Performing a hand-to-hand takedown will earn you the ability to Mark and Execute, a feature which really does what it says on the tin. Pressing the RB button on your Xbox 360 control pad will mark up to four enemies depending on which weapon you have equipped and pressing the Y button when all marks have illuminated to red will see the game take control and execute all enemies in the area. A fantastic risk/reward idea which is probably a little too overpowering at times leaving the game a little too easy even if it’s ultimately the most satisfying feature in the game.
Sonar Goggles replace the traditional three green lights of night vision which allows the player to see through walls but will distort upon movement to prevent you from unbalancing the game overall. It’s a shame that the Sonar Goggles don’t have the ability to see in the dark and the overall effect is no way near as satisfying as before but they do come in handy from time to time. Upon obtaining the Sonar Goggles somewhat removes other functions from the game all together such as peeking under doors and hiding behind cover to see what’s coming next.
The fifth in the series follows on the storyline from Splinter Cell Double Agent but for the most part the story was lost on me, luckily this didn’t intrude on my enjoyment of the single player mode while it lasted. Only lasting around six hours of single player time leaves you wanting more which is where the handy co-operative modes come in handy.
Unfortunately there’s no Spy Vs Mercs competitive mode which is a real shame but instead we do have a whole new story mode to be played in co-operative either online or split-screen. Introducing six new levels for you and a friend to navigate and communicate around shows the games true colours.
Alongside we have ‘Deniable Ops’; a co-operative mode which involves you and a friend to take out terrorists room by room, it’s simple but effective and if you’ve played Rainbow Six’s ‘Terrorist Hunt’ mode you’ll know exactly what to expect.
‘Infiltration’ is one of the hardest modes to play with the objective of reaching the goal without being spotted and another not-so interesting mode which sees you defending an EMP against hordes of enemies.
In order to make your way through these levels you are in need of weaponry and gadgetry which Splinter Cell Conviction over provides the player will too much choice which results in neglect and confusion. Why would I ever take a gun without a silencer? Sure, most guns in the locker room can be upgraded by earning P.E.C Challenge points which will see a silencer placed on the end of your weapon of choice but does anyone really use anything other than a silenced pistol? I know I didn’t for about 95% of the game.
As well as offering too many guns for the player you will also find yourself overloaded with gadgets which I found myself throwing, placing and exploding all over the place just because I could. Ubi Soft could’ve kept the gadget count down a little bit to give the player a little bit more sense of tension rather than making the game far too easy when combined with the aforementioned features in the game.
Ubi Soft have probably swung the pendulum too far in the other direction compared to other efforts in the series, making it far too easy for players thus removing a lot of the tension out of the levels. Hopefully while keeping the new features and tweaking them a little bit more for the next iteration of Splinter Cell we could see a true gem here but with these over powering problems and a graphical look which is both sub-par and for most of the time is spent in black and white it prevents the game from reaching the dizzy heights of Assassins Creed or Prince of Persia.
8/10
