A typical scenario of Mark and Execute would go a little something like this. You use Sam’s fibre-optic gizmo to peek under a door, and see an enemy close to the door, and two more on the other side of the room. You mark all of the enemies using your right bumper, and then quietly open the door.

By hitting B you will grab the enemy in front of you, or take him hostage by holding B instead. The instant you have grabbed that enemy, you are awarded with the option to hit the Y button to perform an “execute” action. You hit Y, and Sam effortlessly takes out the marked enemies in the room.

While you may initially think that this is the most severe form of auto-aim in existance, it has a serious cool factor to it that is not only an integral part of the gameplay, but gives the player a very rewarding feeling when everything goes according to their plan. You can also mark objects such as chandeliers, gas tanks and so on, allowing Sam to slip in, hold someone hostage, crush 3 baddies with a chandelier and then dispatch of the patrolling guards with a bullet to the face.

Your ability to mark enemies is limited by the weapon you use, while certain pistols may offer the ability to mark and execute 3- 4 enemies, other weapons such as SMG’s or Assault rifles may only be able to target 2 (which can also be upgraded).

Another addition to Conviction are the interrogation sequences. Certain parts of the game will require you to beat information out of people, in order to find out who needs to get an ass-whipping next.

The interrogation sequences are ridiculously brutal and violent, I mean this all in a good way of course. You grab your not-so-poor victim by the throat and have the option to use elements around you to assist you in your quest for knowledge. These can get really creative and will often make you sit back in your seat and give a loud “Ooooooo” as Sam explores new ways of denting, lacerating and bloodying someone head and face.

Enemies will also try and track you down based on your last known location, which is indicated by a “ghost” version of yourself, allowing you to maneuver around them and flank them while they unwittingly walk into your trap.

Your Fringe Looks Lovely

Visually, Splinter Cell has it’s very high highs but is not without it’s lows. While the Unreal engine does it’s job of looking great and delivering some really great lighting, it is the visual style and art direction that will impress you the most.

All of your mission objectives and story elements are presented to you in the form of projections onto the world. When, for example, you are being told of mission objectives, or reminded of certain characters, words will appear projected against building walls (reminds me a little of Fringe), or videos will play out onto the room floor, almost as if you are tapping into Sam’s memory. Need to know your current objective? Hit the back button and your objective will project itself onto the floor in front of you. The overall effect is very immersive and a great move from Ubisoft.

While most indoor areas in Conviction look absolutely fantastic, exteriors suffer from an age old videogame issue in that it feels more you are walking around a movie set of props, rather than an actual location. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something just doesn’t add up, and it pulls you out of the experience that small bit.

Ubisoft also decided to make the games colour drain away to black and white to indicate that you are hidden in shadow. While this is a nice idea, it can get a little annoying. The thing is that Conviction is a really vibrant and good looking game, when it’s in colour.

The issue being that it’s a stealth game, which means that you are going to be hiding in shadows as often as possible. The end result is that you spend way too much time playing a black and white game, and only getting reminded of the games true beauty when stepping into the light, which usually means that you are about to die. It’s a nice idea that ended up taking away some of the games magic instead of adding to it, but in all fairness, it’s not that bad.

Do You Like The Sam-ba?

A great deal of effort has been pumped into making Splinter Cell: Conviction sound as good as it looks. The game features fantastic voice acting, especially with the wonderful Michael Ironside returning to voice Sam Fisher. What surprised me the most is that Conviction has a really great soundtrack, and one that feels significantly different to the norm.

Music will change according to your situation, speeding up as you encounter enemies and so on. Every now and then however, you will play through a sequence that will be accompanied by an original piece of music that really draws you into the tension of the sequence in a kind of Portishead-like sound that is as haunting as it is tense.

The storyline is decent but can get a little weak at times, often drawing off of the aforementioned magic of it’s visual and sound direction to keep things feeling really worthwhile.

Campaign Envy?

While we are on the topic of the story, let’s discuss its length. The news that you have heard is true, but also not. Let me explain.

Splinter Cell: Convictions main campaign involving Sam Fisher is short by most videogame standards. I played the game on Normal difficulty (you also have the option of easy and realistic) and thanks to my own obsession with getting certain stealth sections right often redid some sections over until I was happy that I didn’t make a complete mess of things. Even though I replayed those sections, and also battled with some very terribly long checkpoints, managed to finish the game in around 7 hours.

Without the obsessive need for perfection and an easier difficulty it wouldn’t be too tough to finish the game in 5-6 hours, but as I said earlier, there is more to Conviction than most people realise.

Along with the Sam Fisher campaign, Conviction also has an entirely separate two-player co-op campaign story called Deniable Ops that runs alongside it as well as multiplayer co-op modes that can be played over and over again.