Review: Splinter Cell: Conviction

[Russ Pitts]

Review: Splinter Cell: Conviction

Forget Jason, Jack, and James. For real spy thrills, Sam is your man.

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[Danpascooch]

God I loved this game

 

[Nincompoop]

Good review. However, I don't find it better that moves get simpler. The simpler something gets, the lest possibilities there are.
The game sounds awesome nevertheless.

 

[Estocavio]

I love that game - Its exactly my sort of thing

 

[Abedeus]

Too bad this is, like Assassin's Creed 2, a game I won't ever buy unless they remove DRM.

 

[Tonimata]

Too bad this is, like Assassin's Creed 2, a game I won't ever buy unless they remove DRM.

Exactly my impression, specially when he started going on with the "contextual button" premise. Then again, other games have done that before (and some pretty well (remember Kirby Air Ride only ever asked you to press A), so like Russ says, "All's fair in war".

 

[T-Bone24]

I love the game, however Fisher seems to have gotten younger since Double Agent. hard to believe he's in his fifties.

 

[Jared]

Its nice to see they have improved some of the things about the old which really put me off. I may actually look back into the Francise once more!

 

[Sonicron]

Looks like fun.

Question: Since I only played the first two games, do I need to play the other installments before this one or is there a better/faster way to brush up on the backstory?

 

[VulakAerr]

I played the first SC and ran out of patience for it. This one has me gripped again though. Excellent re-imagining of the gameplay. Raw skill is still rewarded but it's so much more accessible at the same time. Bravo Ubisoft.

 

[Nevyrmoore]

From the looks of it, it's a good game. But honestly? I don't think it's a good Splinter Cell game. But this is probably just me enjoying Splinter Cell 1-3 more, where you can sneak your way through the entire game without having to kill or knock out anyone.

Exceptions for the action sections in 1.

 

[Ralphfromdk]

*post removed* silly me..

 

[dochmbi]

I'll be getting this for PC, sure hope it has auto-aim, cause I won't be able to use the mouse for aiming cause it will have smoothing/acceleration/lag so I will have to use my xbox360 pad and I suck at aiming with a pad.

 

[hansari]

I love the game, however Fisher seems to have gotten younger since Double Agent. hard to believe he's in his fifties.

They've changed his appearance every so slightly in each game...I'm starting to think its a running gag...

In true Tom Clancy form, the story covers a whole lot of ground...

It did manage to keep me in my seat, but some stuff gets thrown at you way too fast. Such as the dialogue when you and grim first see eachother face to face....also who Meggido? (maybe thats answered in the co-op campaign...)

If, like me, you spent much of your time playing previous Splinter Cell titles bemoaning the fact it took half the game to figure out how to perform the coolest moves, then Conviction will probably grab your attention early and hold it for the whole ride.

I kinda thought that added to the replay value...that sometimes one room had 3 different approaches...one was indeed the "stealthiest" but it was never required...

All of Sam's moves are now contextual, meaning a single button press is all it takes to throw a man from a ledge, or bash down a door in someone's face, or drop boots-first onto a bad guy's head, or climb a wall, or shimmy up a pipe or more.

Yeah...this is where you lose me...I mean all that stuff was in the prior two games and required only one button.

The most complicated maneuver I can think, which isn't in Convictions even though its as trademark as his goggles, was the split jump. That required you to hit 'Y' twice, but then they simplified it to have you only face a toward a wall and press 'Y'.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It seems simplistic at first, but the simplified interface hides an underlying complexity that will give you plenty of "aha!" moments as you discover a new way to approach a level and go back again and again to try it out

See I feel like they could of done the "best of both worlds" type of scenario here by making both playstyles available. The game itself could have been geared more towards the action where hiding a body seemed like a waste of time, but likewise kept a few token things like the splitjump and moving through a vent...

I'm surprised you make no mention of the HUD. I mean, while it was advertised enough during trailers, it still took some getting use to. As aesthetically pleasing as it was, I'm embarrassed to say I ended up alerting guys by jumping through a window when I only intended to open it. (still was funny)

But the mix of "action route" or "stealth route" was available before (as early back as Chaos Theory, though you could argue even earlier). It merely amounted to looking at level and applying what you could do creatively. The routes weren't as immediately obvious as in Convictions, but I always thought that was part of the fun.

Also...splitjump...

That was sooo ninja...

 

[Orange Monkey]

Great game, but you know the dev team might of made a stop in Malta to get the detail just right. I'm maltese and while it was VERY satisfying seeing some bad-assery happen in the country, the little things just threw the experience for me.
On the upside, the maltese tourist board is so going to love the developers for this ''You can now visit the land of the exploits of Sam Fisher!'' tour guides available

''I'm going to tap into the cities power grid to overload the lights'' doesn't quite work that way here, you blow one power grid you pretty much send the entire country into darkness XD

 

[ldwater]

I'm surprised that no one metioned that its actually quite short.

I bought it and finished it on the same day (about 6hrs in total I think)!

As a fan of the series I found that the story was very compelling and kept me going the entire time from start to finish, - especially with the little cut scenes which keep you guessing who to trust.

The only problem I had with this game is that the 'bonus' stuff you get (I got the collectors edition) don't really add much value to the game. The weapons you get are pretty much interchangable with the standard weapons and the suit can only be used in multiplayer / co-op. The infiltration mode is quite fun but its not something I would pay much extra to get.

I think Yahtzee will have a field day with this game because of all the PMCs and a very grand and elaberate plot which feels a little far fetched if you think about it too much.

 

[Suskie]

I've been playing the hell out of this game since last week; it would easily be my favorite game of the year so far if it wasn't for Mass Effect 2. Anyone who claims Conviction doesn't have enough value needs to check out the multiplayer and Deniable Ops on top of replaying the campaign on Realistic. Great stuff.

 

[Nevyrmoore]

...check out the multiplayer...

Does this mean the Spy vs Mercenary mode is still in? Or by multiplayer, do you mean that co-op mode?

 

[Suskie]

...check out the multiplayer...

Does this mean the Spy vs Mercenary mode is still in? Or by multiplayer, do you mean that co-op mode?

I meant co-op, actually. Sorry. But it's still a terrific mode that adds a lot of value to the game if you bother to check it out.

 

[sephiroth1991]

I thought Splinter Cell was all about stealth but my impression was it was just a normal action game.