I’ve been looking forward to the new chapter of the Splinter Cell series since the day it was first announced. All I wanted was a real Splinter Cell game since I haven’t enjoyed one fully since Chaos Theory. I’m not afraid to admit that I’ve always felt like Ubisoft Montréal owed me big time for breaking my heart with Splinter Cell Double Agent. It ranks among my biggest disappointments in the current console generation. After countless delays, which only served to make me more nervous, I finally got to hang out with Sam Fisher once again.

So how was it? Excellent!

Gameplay

Splinter Cell Conviction’s storyline takes place a few years after the events of Double Agent. Sam Fisher decided to go rogue after finding out that his daughter’s murder may have not been accidental. As he tries to find out who was behind the killing in Malta, he comes face to face with Third Echelon. Only then does he realize that his quest for truth and inner peace has something to do with the agency he once devoted his life to.

In the first minutes of the game, the changes in the Splinter Cell world will since the first game will be immediately apparent. In the four previous games, we’ve seen a constant evolution in respect to specific gameplay mechanics, such as hiding bodies from guards and finishing levels without being seen. In this fifth instalment, you no longer have to follow specific mission protocols or listen to your superiors constantly telling what you should and shouldn’t do. Since Sam now gets to do things his own way, his bitterness and anger translates into the way he handles each situation. Not being part of Third Echelon also means that Sam won’t have easy access to high-tech gadgets. You will come accross some key weapons and gadgets during the story, because there’s no way to make a Splinter Cell game without them, but only when you find them during a mission or when a contact you meet hands them over to you.

Remember how past Splinter Cell games always emphasized avoiding detection entirely and if your cover was blown, Lambert would tell you that and you’d have to restart? Well, if you blow your cover in Conviction, the mission isn’t necessarily over and you can keep making those in your way pay. Grab a rifle, throw a fragmentation grenade, deal out a few headshots, or shoot at explosive barrels to create havoc; this is a new Sam Fisher. If you get spotted by an enemy, even though the game indicates your last known position, you can still run to a hiding spot, as you will get to use your blown cover as bait. The enemy A.I will attack your last known position, which will appear as shadow. In the meantime, you can use the shadows and your wits to get rid of them.

Conviction features a brand new core gameplay mechanic called Mark and Execute. With it, you can strategize your attacks before putting your deadly plans into motion. Similar to what we’ve seen in Rainbow Six, you can now tag enemies from a distance and then, with the press of a button, instantly eliminate them in the order you marked them. This might seem odd at first, like a ’win button’ per se, but in reality, you will need to earn the right to “execute”. Performing special takedown moves through close combat, dropping from above, grabbing an enemy and using them as a human shield or pulling your silenced gun on an enemy while hanging from a ledge will earn you the right to mark and execute enemies on sight. You start with two but later on the game will allow you to increase the mark and execute ability with some weapons to four. That’s right, not all weapons get use of this commodity. So when weapon upgrade time comes, you will face the choice to either upgrade a smaller weapon to four marks or no marks at all but have the ultimate weapon with the biggest firepower. There’s a tiny odd part about “Mark and Execute” that bothered me, though, which is the fact that once you start the automatic executing sequence, an enemy could be hidden behind a wall or another object. Somehow the bullet will hit him anyways. It doesn’t happen often enough to say that the new mechanic is flawed but it’s still amusing to see that Sam FIsher has inherited special powers, like Wesley Gibson in WANTED.

There’s also a nifty "interrogation" feature. You get to pull it off in only specific moments throughout the game and the interactions between your hostage and the environment are very limited, even repetitive. But in the end, nothing is more satisfying than banging someone’s head into a urinal and making him bleed.

Speaking of Rainbow Six, another feature brought to Conviction is the Persistent Elite Creation system or P.E.C. as referred to by Rainbow Six players. P.E.C. was mostly used to customize your character looks after completing specific in-game challenges. It’s the same deal in Conviction except that earned challenge points can also be used to upgrade your weapons and gadgets. These P.E.C. Challenges will have a definite impact on how you play the game. It will even compel you to replay levels just so you can fully upgrade your inventory and become the ultimate agent.

So I’ve talked about the main story and the welcome changes Ubisoft Montreal brought to the gameplay in the franchise but there’s more.

Since multiplayer was added to the franchise in 2004 with Pandora Tomorrow, the Splinter Cell franchise became popular with a whole new kind of players. They weren’t lone agents, toiling in the dark, but more interested in jumping onto Xbox Live and becoming the most efficient special operative agents to ever walk the online world. Then cooperative missions were added in Chaos Theory and both gameplay features were brought back in Double Agent. Conviction sees the return of both of these two modes, which can be played either locally using system link and split-screen or online with Xbox Live, and continue to be as awesome as they were the first time.

The cooperative "Deniable Ops" mode introduces Third Echelon’s Daniel Sloane-Suarez (aka Archer) and Voron’s Mikhail Volkov (aka Kestrel) as two agents forced to work together to retrieve stolen weapons. Without going into specific detail, the four mission co-op campaign acts as a prequel to Conviction and sets the stage for Sam Fisher’s mission. The stolen weapons are considred extremely dangerous and need to be retrieved before they get sold on the black market. As for the rest of the multiplayer component, three additional modes (both cooperative and adversarial) are included. A fourth mode, Infiltration, which is very similar to Rainbow Six’s Terrorist Hunt, can be unlocked via Uplay, Ubisoft’s in-game achievement system.

Graphics & Sounds

I remember how impressive Chaos Theory was back in 2005. To me, even to this day, it remains the most visually striking Splinter Cell game ever conceived, even though it was released on the eve of modern day next-gen consoles. I’m not setting up for a shocking “Splinter Cell Conviction isn’t nice looking” bombshell though. Let’s just say that because you’ll be spending most of your time indoors, the sense of depth you feel in other Ubisoft games like Assassin’s Creed, FarCry or Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter is not present here. Conviction’s level design, character models, stylized presentation (game objectives and story flashbacks appearing on walls? hello!) and overall graphic presentation is great but not as impressive as Sam Fisher’s last appearance on consoles. Random framerate drops occur during certain sequences but it’s not a big enough issue that it’ll hamper your experience.

However, it’s in the sound department that the game really shines. To accompany the game’s solid storyline, the voice acting work (lead once again by a fantastic performance from Michael Ironside reprising his role as Sam Fisher), the musical score and environmental sounds help propel the intense feeling of inhabiting a vengeful man. Splinter Cell games have always been about ambiance and this one is no different.

Value

During my approximately twelve hour playthrough, I was able to finish the main story, play two cooperative missions and rack up enough experience points via P.E.C. to unlock every single weapon and upgrade them to the max. However, since the game’s overhauled gameplay mechanics give you the option to adopt an unconventional run and gun approach, it’s possible that you could run through the main campaign in less than eight hours if that were your prerogative. However, I don’t see why anyone would want to run through a Splinter Cell game, shooting everything that moves, like some played-out third person shooter. You’d miss out on the great stealth mechanics and the great pacing the story provides. Add in the aforementioned cooperative storyline paired with the great multiplayer modes and you get a great bang from your buck from Conviction.

Conclusion

Splinter Cell Conviction isn’t the most astonishing game you’ll play but when you put the final product in perspective, there’s no doubt in my mind that Ubisoft Montreal managed to create the second best game in the Splinter Cell franchise. The first game will always maintain a very special place in my heart. Splinter Cell Conviction deserves a place in your game shelf. Don’t be a fool and miss out on it. You will not be disappointed.