A screenshot from Splinter Cell: Conviction.
I'm often conflicted while playing games in Ubisoft's Tom Clancy library. They're fantastic fun-several entries in the Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, and Splinter Cell franchises have provided some of the most memorable moments I've experienced in military-themed gaming-but I've always had a problem with Clancy's politics. America's forces typically act as world police in his games, conducting overt or clandestine operations in foreign lands with little regard for local governments and citizens and usually with impunity. It makes me feel a little guilty for enjoying myself so much while playing.
And that's what makes Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction such a welcome change of pace. It delivers the sort of high quality and innovative action that players have come to expect from Clancy-branded games while giving us a hero who is actually rebelling against the American military industrial complex. It feels great.
That hero, super spy Sam Fisher, has always been one of my favourite video game protagonists-and not just because he is voiced by beloved Canadian character actor Michael Ironside (who I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing earlier this month). He comes across not just as some mindless jarhead, but as an adult with authentic relationships, problems, and emotions. His friendships with his handlers, Anna Grimsdóttír and Irving Lambert, have been genuine, and his ongoing suffering due to the loss of his daughter, who was killed in a hit-and-run car accident, is palpable; a fire keeping his anger close to the boiling point.
That's why when, early on in Conviction, Sam receives new information about his daughter that had been held from him by the people for whom he once worked and had trusted, he goes ballistic and decides to take on the system.
In previous Splinter Cell games Sam used his seemingly superhuman stealth abilities to move through the world undetected, accomplishing objectives without being seen, sometimes without even hurting anyone. In Conviction, he uses those skills to get close to his enemies and kill them. He is a predator who goes looking for fights, not avoiding them.
Sneakiness is still important. Sam moves around in shadows, climbs pipes, hangs from ledges, and employs distraction aids such as noisemakers and small electromagnetic pulses. He no longer has his high-tech headgear (well, at least not until later in the game), but he has excellent night vision that turns pitch black areas into detailed grayscale. And Sam can run and dive from one covered position to another in speedy, cinematic fashion.
However, should you happen to be spotted-and there are many areas in Conviction in which detection is all but unavoidable-Sam is more than capable of defending himself.
For starters, he has a great new ability called "mark and execute." If you manage a covert kill, you unlock the ability to mark between two and four enemies (depending on your equipped weapon and its upgrades) for instant death should the need arise. I typically marked enemies as soon as I saw them. I'd try to go about dispatching them silently, but if I was noticed I could just press the Y-button to quickly dispatch all marks within range before darting back into darkness.
Another neat new feature that helps with combat is a ghost image. Whenever Sam successfully slips out of sight a white silhouette remains in the place he was last seen. That's where his enemies will direct their attention, firing on that location, flanking it, or charging it until they realize Sam's no longer there. It's a very believable mechanic, not only from the perspective of artificial intelligence but also in terms of giving Sam a plausible opportunity to maneuver around the environment to find a better angle of attack or simply escape.
And, unlike previous games, there's rarely a shortage of weapons or ammunition. Should you find yourself pinned down in an all-out firefight you'll have the ability to defend yourself to the bitter end. There's even a lengthy set of challenges-such as using frag grenades to kill a set number of enemies and marking and executing certain configurations of targets-that encourage the use of weapons and gadgets and result in points that can be used to upgrade Sam's gear.
Note, though, that these changes don't necessarily make the game any easier than previous Splinter Cells. Ubisoft has gone on record saying they wanted Conviction to be more accessible than its predecessors, and the ability to fight our way out of our mistakes is a step towards that goal, but our enemies are sometimes frightfully intelligent and it takes only one or two shots to kill Sam. This isn't a criticism-I love a good challenge-but it's worth saying that some of the old trial-and-error play for which the franchise has long been chastised by its detractors occasionally creeps in.
There's a lot more I could discuss. The four-mission co-operative campaign (from which Sam is regrettably absent) acts as a prequel to the main story and gives players the ability to engage in tandem mark-and-execute tactics. Plus, there are several extra modes that offer players bite-sized bits of stealth and combat that can be enjoyed alone or with a friend, playing as allies or competitors. And then there's the unique in-game messaging system that has mission directives-as well as images of Sam's memories-projected via white light onto environmental objects (I thought it was an engaging and original way to convey information, though some people might find it distracting).
But I want to keep the focus on the game's soul, Sam Fisher. Conviction opens a new chapter in the life of Ubisoft's heavily conflicted spy. He's bucked the chains of authority and now operates according to a single criterion: His conscience. He's a much more compelling and sympathetic character for it, and it's led to some positive changes in the way the game is played.
Just don't make him angry. You wouldn't like Sam when he's angry.
Splinter Cell: Conviction
Developer/Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: Xbox 360 (reviewed), Windows PC (coming later this month)
ESRB: Mature
Score: 3.5/4
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