Thread: Splinter Cell Conviction - XBF Review

I?ll preface this review with a shocking confession; I?ve never played a Splinter Cell game before. I?ve seen them being played and thought it looked quite boring with slightly retarded enemies who forget that you just shot their mate in the head if you hide in a cupboard for long enough.

So you can imagine my surprise when I unwrapped this little gem and found that stalking these mentally challenged foes is actually quite a lot of fun. Sure they never look up and are conveniently blind when they walk into a dimly lit area but it still doesn?t diminish the satisfaction of luring one away from the group by activating a car alarm then executing one of the highly satisfying hand to hand kills. You can?t help but feel like a predator stalking your prey until the moment is right to strike.

The weapons are heavily skewed in favour of simply using the pistol in every situation, and why wouldn?t you? They have unlimited ammo and fire as fast as you can pull the trigger. So while you may never use any of the wide range of ?heavier? weaponry it?s nice to have the option of turning it into a Gears style 3rd person all action romp should you wish (waist high walls are everywhere).

The stealth works well for the most part (hiding in dark corners etc?) but is generally optional should you wish to go in all guns blazing, there are no penalties for doing so. However in the latter stages of the game I did develop the feeling I was simply going from one set piece to another, grinding my way through the enemy?s ranks.

The action really hot?s up when your former colleagues from Third Echelon turn up to take you down (the guys with the goggles) and the playing field suddenly levels out as they have the same kit you and can see your movements through walls just as you can see them. Hunter > Hunted.

I have yet to play the multiplayer and co-op parts of the game but if these can meet the same high standard as the single player campaign, this (now budget title) looks to be an absolute corker.

8/10 - Well worth a look.

In a sort of point counter point idea and having played the shockingly awful Double Agent & now Conviction.. heres my thoughts :

Much improved over Double Agent.. Sam Fisher returns from Prison & follows the story that DA started... except, he's much older, now with a daughter, and conviction takes place soonish after the events in DA... The time line just doesnt match, and you'd be better off assuming the games are like James Bond stories.. Same Codename, but a different person.

The gameplay works well as BK says, with excellent set pieces close up takedowns then allows a mark & execute method of taking multiple people down.. Its much more streamlined on how to play. But it comes with a downside.. With 3 difficulties, theres no reason to even both with Rookie or Normal, as even on Realistic it was a simple stroll through the storyline (completed in 1 day too) - Though wit the co-op & PEC challenges, it'll take much longer to complete.


The downsides continue with the speech from the AI enemies.. Whilst theyre generally fine whilst following set patterns and seeing on of their friend dead on the floor.. its the comments they make whilst doing so 'Come on out Fisher!', ' We'll get you Fisher!' So they know who he is, & generally once they find a dead comrade will not be lured into chasing after you, they will then shout out stupid phrases at the player, thus giving their actions away..
The best one is just after the airport level.. 'I was at the airport Fisher, I saw what you did!'

Someone really should have done play testing on the enemy phrases, theyre really poor.

The story itself is quite involving (assuming your not following details from DA) and enjoyable, though I wonder how much of these games are actually penned by Clancy...

In particular mention is the rather excellent art direction where walls and surroundings will display instructions as to your current objective.. Its a great way to display new/current objectives and extend some parts of the storyline within the game.
A downside is everyone you interrogate suffers from the '3 beatings and talk', seriously ubisoft? couldnt vary that amount somewhat?

In summary, as BK says, great game, good replay value to complete the challenges.. Far too easy difficulty levels, clancy cashes another large paycheque

I don't think Clancy has anything to do with the new titles.

I prefer the Xbox SC's the tension was just awesome and the game was better through simplicity imo. That's not to say this SC is bad I just prefer the first 2

When this game was first release it caused quite a stir amongst the hardcore SC fans as it is such a departure from the original gameplay. I for one thought they have done this for the good of the IP. Its just a shame that they have not done very much on the DLC side of things.
thought the only level that le it down was the Iraq level. for a standard run and gun it was poor, even Ao2 is better

Mark and execute really makes this game. sneak around to set up a hand to hand kill followed by a smart takedown for the rest of the cronies. It is true that the difficulty level does not really matter on single player but for MP it can be at times rather hard. Survive 20 rounds on one the game types is a hard one to get (still missing it)

PEC challenges can be a little awkward to get, but there is a rooom dubbed as "the kill room" which can be played time and again (its at the start of a checkpoint) to grab the points. It is a grind but vary the manoeuvres and it isnt too bad. Dont collect the downloadable guns that are free as it may upset the achivement to upgrade all weapons, you need most of the PEC points to upgrade what you have and grab the different kits. collect them if you want when this is done, there is a nice machine pistol to be nabbed.

it is true about the pistol. its the best gun you have and when you get the one that lets you have 4 marks, you pretty much dont use anything else. which is a shame