What do you get if you cross Jack Bauer with Jason Bourne; probably one kick-ass agent who everyone should fear, and that is exactly the type of persona and image Ubisoft is giving Sam Fisher in his latest adventure.  Gone are the moments of relaying info back to agencies for help and advice as Sam Fisher is set to etch his own path against the people who murdered his daughter.  Things have gotten a lot darker and personal for Fisher, and Conviction looks to be more explosive and emotional than the past Splinter Cell games.

Ubisoft has kept a tight lid of Splinter Cell: Conviction for a while and there has been literally no news at all for over a year about Fisher’s newest espionage exploits.  The gameplay footage shown at E3 definitely shocked a lot of people, mainly for the fact that the “daylight stealth” segments that were mentioned from the previous Conviction game have been taken away and replaced with a much more action-oriented stealth game.  What it boils down to is that Ubisoft stated that they wanted a stealth game without the slow “hide and wait” style of gameplay.  Think of how Jack Bauer acts in 24, watching him briskly move from shadow to shadow silently downing enemies and kicking ass along the way.

Because Conviction follows Sam’s personal revenge against the people that killed his daughter, many of the game’s missions will involve tracking down the people in charge and beating information out of them.  Interrogations have been added that allow Sam to learn news sets of info, such as the location of a certain character.  Because Sam is not bogged down by agency rules or protocols, anything goes when you get your hands on an unwilling foe to interrogate.  Sam can put enemies into headlocks, sleeper holds and bash their heads on anything, and since all of the objects in the world are fully interactive you can use this to your advantage by breaking skulls over sinks and creating head-shaped holes in doors.  A realistic edge has also been incorporated into interrogations as well, forcing you to determine when the limit of beating someone up should end, because enemies can die and that means finding new leads to your next objective.

Another neat feature about Conviction is how simple and slick the combat is.  A “mark and execute” style of combat allows Sam to look behind closed doors, similar to the snake cam from Rainbow Six, and target foes.  With these foes targeted, Sam will automatically target them when he bursts into the door, which can be a quite effective maneuver for storming rooms full of baddies.  Because the Splinter Cell name focuses heavily on stealth, that option is still highly valid as well.  When Sam is silently hidden in any portion of a level, the game will turn to a light hue of black and white to let players know they are safely hidden, but if Sam engages in combat, that hue than turns to full color that lets you know to find cover immediately.  While in cover a new feature called the “last known position” will create a ghost-like figure in the spot where enemies caught sight of Sam last.  Using this tactical approach can allow Sam to flank enemies who will spend time searching that area or give him enough time to escape.

Sticking to the theme of incorporating the visual style into the gameplay, everything in Conviction will play out through real-time.   All of the game’s cutscenes and story segments will be shown on the ceilings of buildings, walls of houses and other various objects that will resemble a stylized telling of a film-noir movie.  Other segments, such as when people communicate with Sam, will be shown directly in front of his position, similar to how Dead Space exemplified dialogue.  This style of story-telling will surely keep players addicted to the gameplay and not force anyone to be stuck watching scenes too long away from the action.

Splinter Cell: Conviction looks to be one of the top titles of the year, and with the addition of new interrogation scenes, refined combat and a seamless story experience, Sam Fisher’s latest adventure might be his best yet.  Although no release date has been confirmed so far, expect Conviction to hit stores sometime later this year around the holiday season for the Xbox 360 and PC.

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About This Author: Josh Schwartzman

Been into gaming for as long as I can remember and have enjoyed every minute of it. I enjoy playing with everyone and anyone online and I am an avid PS3 and Xbox 360 player.

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