Retro Review: Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction

<p><em>Splinter Cell<&sol;em> is one of those series you either love or hate&period; You’re either a <em>Metal Gear Solid<&sol;em> person or a <em>Splinter Cell<&sol;em> person&period; Pretty much like being a cat or Dog person&excl; Now I’m personally more a <em>Metal Gear<&sol;em> guy and <em>Splinter Cell<&sol;em> for me was a dull&comma; uninspired series that never felt worth my time and investment&period; Until I played <em>Double Agent<&sol;em>&comma; which even with its flaws was an excellent game&period; I then became interested in <em>Conviction<&sol;em> and back in 2010&comma; I loved it&period; Now it’s backward compatible with Xbox One and after 8 long years&comma; I ask if it holds up well&period; Considering that <em>Splinter Cell&colon;<&sol;em> <em>Conviction<&sol;em> divided people right down the middle&comma; I’ll be keen to see why that was and if this title really played a hand in the death of the franchise&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 1280px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;akamai&period;steamstatic&period;com&sol;steam&sol;apps&sol;33229&sol;ss&lowbar;473fe8690565aa9a19e2b361160528670563946f&period;1920x1080&period;jpg&quest;t&equals;1455900504" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1280" height&equals;"720" &sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Tom Clancy&&num;8217&semi;s Splinter Cell&colon; Conviction&comma; Ubisoft<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em>Splinter Cell&colon; Conviction<&sol;em> takes place a few years after the events of <em>Double Agent<&sol;em>&period; It’s been a tough time for Sam Fisher as he’s on the run after the events in <em>Double Agent<&sol;em> led to the death of his former boss and close friend Lambert&period; Sam is taking some time to rest up when he is interrupted by an old colleague Anna Grimsdaughter&comma; who informs him that he is being hunted down by the man who killed his daughter&period; This sets in motion a series of events that leads Sam into a major conspiracy involving his old bosses and a murder plot that’ll lead to the death of the president&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Well&comma; Sam is far from crippling under the pressure and goes back to work&comma; doing what he does best&period; Minus the stealth for the most part&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>What made <em>Splinter Cell&colon; Conviction<&sol;em> so vastly different in comparison to the previous titles was the darker&comma; grittier tone and the nature of Sam Fisher’s journey&period; He was on the run&comma; having to survive out in the open with his own skills and whatever tools he could get his hands on&period; This reflected in the gameplay heavily as Sam would be limited for a large portion of the game without his trusty gear&period; The narrative is compelling and a refreshing shift from what we’ve seen before&comma; with Sam always battling foreign enemies and terrorist from countries that have been damaged by the US&period; I felt <em>Double Agent<&sol;em> gave a new twist on the antagonist and <em>Conviction<&sol;em> carries this shift onward with homegrown villains influenced by greed and power&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 1280px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;akamai&period;steamstatic&period;com&sol;steam&sol;apps&sol;33229&sol;ss&lowbar;2e37a0230361f0d2dc653359682fab983169338b&period;1920x1080&period;jpg&quest;t&equals;1455900504" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1280" height&equals;"720" &sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Tom Clancy&&num;8217&semi;s Splinter Cell&colon; Conviction&comma; Ubisoft<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Sam is bitter but still likable and the voice talents of Michael Ironside shine through and make him a compassionate and relatable hero&period; It’s a shame we don’t see much of the villains in action or get a better understanding of why they want to cause such harm other than to get a promotion at their job&period; Seems a little baffling but it’s a welcome change from foreign terrorist wants payback on the US&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Gameplay sees a major shift in tone compared to previous games&comma; with Sam being more elegant and agile in combat and the overall flow is more aggressive&period; Action speaks louder than stealth and Sam&sol;players will be more prone to fighting with aggression rather than stealth&period; This is the first reason fans where split down the middle as stealth is extremely difficult to pull off in <em>Conviction<&sol;em>&comma; not due to the lack of tools and skills for stealthing but elements&comma; such as the level design&comma; make it harder&period; You’ll often be dumped into areas with a dozen patrolling enemies and little means to sneak past or be able to gain an advantage and to neutralize them quietly&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s a lack of multiple paths&comma; relentless enemies that go mental at the sound of a mouse farting&comma; and objectives which encourage massive explosions and violence&period; <em>Conviction<&sol;em> doesn&&num;8217&semi;t understand the word subtle&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 1280px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;akamai&period;steamstatic&period;com&sol;steam&sol;apps&sol;33229&sol;ss&lowbar;3630279ef7c7db9a6e751ddf7c0531eb35dc43d1&period;1920x1080&period;jpg&quest;t&equals;1455900504" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1280" height&equals;"720" &sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Tom Clancy&&num;8217&semi;s Splinter Cell&colon; Conviction&comma; Ubisoft<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>There are more advantages to killing them off by force such as environmental hazards&comma; heavier weaponry&comma; and of course the mark and execute perk&period; These are great additions to the franchise and when used in the right manner make the game quite enthralling&period; It’s a great rush to gain the mark and execute perk and take out a room full of enemies in one lethal swoop&period; Same goes for dropping a massive chandelier on some unsuspecting enemies and using the panic to sneak past into the next area&period; Again&comma; these are great additions along with new weapons and gadgets that help you out in both stealth encounters and firefights&period; However&comma; everything from the layouts to certain interactions such as pulling enemies from windows is heavily action orientated&period; Which is fine for the most part&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>My main concern with taking the action route is simply this&semi; Sam’s tolerance to gunfire is extremely minimal&period; I mean&comma; two or three direct hits will result in death&period; Even running into cover while in a critical state will be the final straw for Sam and this is extremely annoying&period; There are plenty of great set pieces and moments that fit well to the nature of a more action orientated <em>Splinter Cell<&sol;em> game&comma; but this lack of health and the fact the controls are so unfriendly to the action tone make it difficult to adjust&period; It bothered me that you can’t aim with the left trigger but have to instead click on the right stick&comma; which is unfit for the action in my opinion&period; This is made even more annoying as you can’t change the control layout&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 1280px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;akamai&period;steamstatic&period;com&sol;steam&sol;apps&sol;33229&sol;ss&lowbar;7cc6b3f59ea2b5fc50cbd91353bcc29dc10e1785&period;1920x1080&period;jpg&quest;t&equals;1455900504" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1280" height&equals;"720" &sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Tom Clancy&&num;8217&semi;s Splinter Cell&colon; Conviction&comma; Ubisoft<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>There’s plenty of cinematic flare in <em>Splinter Cell&colon; Conviction<&sol;em> which elevates the tone&comma; with nifty visual aids including text on walls displaying mission objectives and a greyscale filter for when you’re in darkness&period; I remember <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;ign&period;com&sol;articles&sol;2010&sol;04&sol;10&sol;splinter-cell-conviction-review-2" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">IGN<&sol;a>&sol;Gamespot complained about this feature back in 2010&comma; stating it had no purpose&period; I can understand the argument &lpar;to some degree&rpar; but it’s nowhere near as illogical as the older games&comma; where Sam would hide in the shadows and wearing bright green lights on his back wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t alert any guards near to him&period; Yeah&comma; the greyscale filter is nothing but more sensible visual feedback&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While <em>Splinter Cell&colon; Conviction<&sol;em> is more prone to action&comma; you will do a fair bit of sneaking around none the less&period; This is however bare bones as you can only hide in the darkness&comma; behind waist height objects&comma; won’t be able to hide bodies and can only lure people to a location with the sticky camera&period; Whatever happened to knocking on a surface or doing the classic Sam Fisher whistle&quest; It’s a shame you can’t go through a single level without being seen or avoid killing anyone at all&period; Each level has some form of action set pieces that make it impossible not to be seen or tackle an enemy with a non-lethal method&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The one aspect which does lack any real purpose is the interrogation scenes&period; They’re purely cinematic and are a lot of fun visually due to the high amount of animation detail and the number of objects you can interact with&period; But they lack any real depth or meaning to the game overall&comma; just adding to the gritty tone and nothing more&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 1280px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;akamai&period;steamstatic&period;com&sol;steam&sol;apps&sol;33229&sol;ss&lowbar;214d94cf3bfda05b895842481b2642f19b151ab9&period;1920x1080&period;jpg&quest;t&equals;1455900504" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1280" height&equals;"720" &sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Tom Clancy&&num;8217&semi;s Splinter Cell&colon; Conviction&comma; Ubisoft<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Where the game does offer more a stealth focused experience is through the co-op campaign that relies more heavily on teamwork and stealth&period; The co-op game is a great addition to the <em>Splinter Cell<&sol;em> franchise and is constructed more similarly to the older <em>Splinter Cell<&sol;em> games&comma; but involves elements of action in the right doses&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Splinter Cell&colon; Conviction<&sol;em> by its nature is an action game with optional stealth elements that are easily forgotten about and only add frustration to the experience&period; Using Sam as a merciless killing machine with some badass perks and gear will ensure you have fun&comma; even if the mechanics aren&&num;8217&semi;t as refined as they should be&period; This is still a great cinematic and action-packed experience but is lacking in depth compared to <em>Double Agent<&sol;em> and <em>Blacklist<&sol;em>&period; I still prefer this to <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;splinter-cell-blacklist-e3-trailer&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer"><em>Blacklist<&sol;em><&sol;a> but at least the last game in the franchise gave you the option of stealth&sol;action with highly refined mechanics to match&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Conviction<&sol;em> is still a great action game but not so much a great <em>Splinter Cell<&sol;em> game&period; Maybe this is more suited for people like me&comma; who didn’t like the early <em>Splinter Cell<&sol;em> games&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;