Sam Fisher is back, and he's pissed.

Okay, pissed might not be strong enough a word to describe how Sam Fisher feels in Splinter Cell: Conviction. Lets recap here for a second; we last saw Sam Fisher in Ubisoft's Splinter Cell: Double Agent. That probably marked the initial departure from the tried and true formula of the first three Splinter Cell games. There was definitely a lot more action while the stealth aspects remained intact but not as prevalent. Splinter Cell: Conviction is more of the same but in a bit of a different package. We start off finding out that since the events of Double Agent that Fisher has essentially gone off the grid, no longer employed by Third Echelon. Without going too far into detailing the story, let me just say this, it covers the betrayal and conspiracy that began in Double Agent and turns it on its head. 

Again, as Sam is no longer part of Third Echelon it means the player doesn't have access to all the gadgets and toys from the earlier games. That's not to say that you don't get to use some nifty stuff later down the line but once you start off it's a bare bones approach. Instead of having a camera to peek under doors, Sam takes the side view mirror off of a car and uses that to scout out that situation. Basically Sam has to improvise with the lack of heavy artillery and high tech tools. Make no mistake though, as I stated in my initial impressions, Sam comes across more lethal than ever in Conviction. The mark and execute feature is really the cause of that. It's quite thrilling to have Sam slink through the shadows into a room and see four enemies patrolling the area. You can mark three of them and after a silent take-down of the fourth, you're free to hit the "Y" button to execute the other three (granted they're within distance and clear view for an open shot). 

However it's just as easy to stick to the shadows as it is to Mark and Execute your way through the game. In fact in the later portions of the single player campaign it becomes increasingly difficult to mark and execute all enemies in the area as the number of enemies continues to increase. Some of them even start patrolling in pairs. Though this might not be the case on Rookie or Normal but as I played it on the Realistic setting it made the game progressively challenging as I pressed forward. There are ways to level the playing field by using the environment against your foes. And as always, flashbangs and grenades provide excellent ways to misdirect the enemy. 

Design wise this game really shines. While it might be short (about 7 hours to finish the single player campaign)  you can see how much work Ubisoft really put into this thing. I probably never would've noticed if I wasn't playing on an HDTV (I actually played the demo in SD) but there really are some great graphical touches here. Keeping with a recent trend, Ubisoft decides to use the in game character models for the cut-scenes. This works more so as some of the scenes are actually interactive in allowing you to move the camera and also control Sam to an extent. A nice innovative touch was that in order to drive the story forward mission instructions and objectives are projected in black and white against flat surfaces in Sam's path. It really keeps the pacing smooth and doesn't take you out of the action much at all. The sound here is also top notch. Very well balanced between the mere ambient sound of the environment and the more pulsating music that arrives when the action picks up. 

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the game. It's a solid blend of action and stealth. While I still have an issue with the length of the game, it still has a lot of offer in replay value with challenges, achievements, and even mutli-player options. I congratulate Ubisoft on a job well done after going to so many revisions and delays. If this is the ground work for where the series is headed, I'm on board for it. 


Splinter Cell: Conviction - 4/5 Stars