I realize this game's been out a while, but I wanted to wait until I was sure of my opinion of it. This is also my first review, so constructive criticism is appreciated.
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The game's plot is about Sam Fisher, an ex-agent whose daughter was killed in a car accident. He's been betrayed by third eschelon, the agency he worked for previously, and is in hiding.
You start off in Malta, where you get a call from an old acquaintance, working inside third eschelon. She warns you about a group of armed thugs coming for you, and guides you through the level from then on. This serves as the tutorial, with a few flashbacks to add some variety.
I can't really say much about the story, considering how many twists there are, but it's nothing special. It's certainly not bad, it kept me intrigued enough to keep playing, but it's not that good, either. Newcomers to the Splinter Cell franchise (like me) should be able to follow the story just fine.
The graphics are fairly good. Colors are used in a way that keeps each level from becoming too repetitive, but that may just be because they're short. Lip syncing can be off at times, which makes the conversations between Sam and whoever weird. Fortunately, there aren't a lot of conversations.
Mission objectives are displayed directly on the environment using white text that shows up on walls. It's a good way to minimize the hud, but sometimes they just use it strangely. For example, in one level Sam discovers something that makes him angry. To represent that, the word "anger" appeared all over the room. They didn't need to use that feature to explain that Sam was angry, since he was going apeshit and destroying everything, which conveys the message in itself.
Another attempt to minimize the hud is eliminating a stealth meter. The screen turns black and white whenever you're in the shadows. That feature is useful, but I'd rather see color than black and white any day.
The way a lot of the story is told, and how levels are intertwined, is through interrogations. The interrogations involve Sam asking a question, his prisoner refusing, and Sam beating the shit out of him until he talks. Then that repeats two more times. At first, I was disappointed with the interrogations, because they serve as more of a cutscene than gameplay, but it's a better way of telling the story than seizing control from the player entirely.
Sam can navigate through the environment with ease. Scaling walls and climbing pipes is extremely fun. There is a way around the enemies in every section, you just need to find the right wall, or pipe, or window. Whenever you're having trouble, inspecting the starting area a little more for a different route will make life a lot easier. Sometimes it makes the game too easy, but a difficulty boost fixes that.
Let's talk about the mark and execute feature. Every time you get a hand-to-hand kill, you get as many marks as are available for your weapon. You use a mark by pressing right bumper, and then pressing "Y" will kill all the marked enemies, similar to V.A.T.S, but it's a guaranteed one-shot kill, and time doesn't freeze when locating your target. You would think that this makes the game too easy, and it does at times, but as you progress through the game hand-to-hand kills become more and more difficult to collect, so it feels like every mark is deserved.
You can upgrade every weapon you get using points received by completing challenges. The challenges involve getting kills from above, using all marks possible, getting head shots while in stealth, etc. You spend collected points at "weapon stashes." The upgrades can add silencers, an ACOG scope, a stock, increase the number of marks you can get, and so on. This motivates you to actually try to get the difficult kills, instead of just using mark and execute whenever possible.
A few of the levels are terribly designed. There's one level in Iraq that just pops out of nowhere that focuses heavily on the game's shooter mechanic, which isn't bad, but it's not fun on its own. There's also a section where you can't let anybody see the bodies of your victims, and being seen is an instant game over. There are migraine-inducing sections where you have to avoid lasers strewn about. A few levels have you sit and listen to people talk, similar to the eavesdropping missions from Assassin's Creed 1. They're not game-breaking, but you won't want to play each one more than twice, depending on your patience.
Now, for the game's biggest flaw: the length. You can easily complete the campaign in 6-8 hours. The game offers replayability, but you still aren't going to get an outstanding amount of time from the campaign alone. They do have online modes and a co-op campaign, but they won't add more than a few hours. The co-op campaign is a blast, but make sure you play it with someone you know.
Overall, I'd say conviction was worth the money. Getting a kill with your bare hands is incredibly satisfying, and killing terrorists with a friend is very fun (depending on the friend). Just keep in mind that you will be replaying it.
