Right since its time for another post and I've already done one on Splinter cell I thought I would do another on another game from the SC series and this one is on Splinter Cell: Conviction which was released in 2010 and was the last game to feature Michael Ironside as a voice of Sam Fisher (alas). Anyway let's kit up and turn on those night vision goggles...
The story is set three years after the events of Double Agent and Sam Fisher is following a lead in Malta that his daughter's hit and run death was not an accident. During his investigation Sam is called up by Anna "Grimm" Grimsdottir (Claudio Besso) who warns that there are hitman on there way to kill him, however Sam manages to kill them and escape. Sam then goes after their contractor, Andriy Kobin who was responsible for the death of Sarah, his daughter. Sam manages to infiltrate Kobin's mansion and he interrogates him but then Sam is captured by Third Echelon before he can get anything from Kobin. Sam is then moved to an airfield in Virginia where he is interrogated by Grimm, who then kills the guard on post and tells Sam she is working for President Caldwell (Lynne Adams). Grimm tells Sam that she is investigating events concerning Third Echelon director, Tom Reed, Black Arrow and Russian EMP technology. Grimm also tells Sam that Sarah is in fact alive and she helps him escape the airfield. After escaping, Sam meets with Victor Coste (Howard Siegel) an old friend of his and a former Navy SEAL who helps him out in trying to uncover the conspiracy involving Black Arrow "clean up" group owner, Lucius Galliard (voiced by Tyrone Benskin) and Third Echelon director Tom Reed as they plan to use the EMPs to do some serious damage on American soil, which at the same time try and discover the truth behind his daughter's death....
Splinter cell conviction continues its departure from the norm of the series as Sam while he is still an operative for the government, he is now acting more like a freelance agent rather than anything else. The story in Conviction however is very compelling and takes you in and it also involves a nice twist regarding Sam's daughter, especially after the emotional dispair he suffered at the hands of learning of her death in Double Agent. The story also allows for some really good moments in the gameplay as well such as when Sam infiltrate the Whitebox technologies plant and also where he gains entry to Third Echelon, especially where he goes up to the reception desk and asks the reception to see Tom Reed and he then promptly detonates explosives he had set. It also features a nice dynamic between Sam and his good friend Victor Coste and it has some flashback moments where they went on a mission together in the middle east. And of course one of the series main characters, Ann Grimmsdottir or "Grimm" makes another appearance although she is a different operative from the behind the scenes analyst we knew, as she is now very much in the field calling the shots for Sam and trying to get to the root of the events involving Black Arrow and Third Echelon.
In terms of the gameplay in Conviction things have changed a bit as the game is now more about action than stealth as in many situations Sam must fight his way through different evnironments and engage in gunfights. The stealth of the game still does exist though and it most notably is used in the scenes such as where Sam sneaks around the Washington monument to interrogate some enemies or when Sam infiltrates Third Echelon, where he used to work. The gameplay also has some new features such as mark and execute in which Sam can mark several targets at once and then executive them in succession, although this can only be utilised once Sam peforms a hand to hand takedown. Another feature is the last known position feature, where Sam leaves a silhouette of himself as the position where the enemy has last spotted him. And another nifty new feature involves Sam's interrogation techniques where he can use objects to beat up his enemies with when he interrogates them, or he can slam them against walls, doors, cars, tree trunks (yep!) or TV equipment (yep that as well, as it features in the Washington monument level) or anything else near Sam's interrogation range. Another interesting feature in the game is the use of the visual representation of the mission objectives as they are now projected onto walls within the game environment to make the experience more interactive for the player.
Unlike the last games however Sam has acccess to more weapons and ammo than before as the game is far more action orientated, Sam can at certain points access weapons caches where he can restock his ammo. Sam can now access weapons such as sub-machine guns, shotguns, assault rifles, silenced handguns, as well as frag grenades, smoke grenades and other devices. Movement wise things are fairly similar as before with Sam doing all the usual crouching, running, shimmying, sneaking, only this time he can no longer sneak up on his enemies and knock them out or though he can utilise what's known as "death from above" as he can pounce on an enemy froma an elevated position. The game also incorporates some of the action seamlessly in certain sequences as well, an example being where he is being chased by an armed helicopter and dives out of its line of fire.
Graphics wise the game actually looks pretty good although in comparison to the same of the releases of the time it probably doesn't stack up in comparison to the very best visuals of that year in 2010. The character models are a little unsophisticated looking right enough however the game environments are still pretty impressive and once again they are pretty varied in design as Sam covers different areas such as the Washington monument, Third Echelon headquarters, the Middle East in flashbaack sequences, and of course the Whitehouse.
Voice acting wise Conviction excels as the cast are all top notch with Michael Ironside providing his last performance as Sam Fisher and he does a great job once again as his deep voice lends to the character's intimidating manner yet he also provides a dry wit in the role. Claudio Besso also makes her final contribution to the Splinter cell series as Grimm and she also gives a fine performance as Grimm takes on a far more pragmatic role than before as she leads from the front and helps Sam escape from the hands of Black Arrow and tells him the truth about his daughter. The supporting voice acting cast are also excellent which includes Howard Siegel as Sam's friend Victor Coste, Tyrone Benkins who is great as Lucius Galliard, the owner of Black Arrow and also Don Jordan makes a brief reappearance as Sam's now deceased friend and ex-superior officer, Irving Lambert. Also briefly the game's music score is also pretty good as it was composed by Kaveh Cohen and Michael Nielsen and it also features some additional tracks by the ever quirky Amon Tobin, who provided a truly unique and excellent score for Chaos Theory, and here if you are familiar with his work then I'm sure you can spot when his tracks are used!
As for the game's flawsssssssss..... well the game isn't quite perfect it has to be said there are one or two niggles with Conviction, first off Sam can no longer hide the bodies of someone he has killed as he just has to leave them where they fall. This is pretty frustrating when it comes to Sam trying not to be spotted, especially in the Third Echelon level as Sam has to rely on the dark shadows and hope that the body falls conviently into that shadow rather than out in the light. It also appears that Sam can no longer knock out or incapacitate his enemies anymore as it appears to be straight kills, which also kind of makes the game's action feel a bit more cold and clinical than before, although its not really a big issue as they are all bad guys anyway! But I mean even in Hitman, 47 has the opportunity to knock out his enemies rather than just do flat out kills and he's way more cold blooded than Sam Fisher. And perhaps the decision to have made Conviction more action orientated, while its gives the game a faster pace, it takes away from what made the series work so well in the first place in its stealth.
Another annoyance for me is the profanity in the game and the rather inane chatter of the Black arrow bad guys as they keep taunting Sam by saying things like "Nice try, motherfucker!" and "you better come out of there, asshole!" and "Die, Fisher! Die die die!!" and "It won't be like it was at the airfield, Fisher!". And more and more games nowadays have loads of swearing in them which while its not always a bad thing, it does at times feel a bit unecessary and in the case of Conviction it feels forced on to give the game some edge, but it doesn't really need it. The single player campaign while its really good, it also is probably bit on the short side as alot of the campaigns are nowadays on perhaps there is probably six or seven hours gameplay in there tops. There are of course co-op and multiplayer modes which will add more hours onto the game, but if you are like me, a single player oritentated gameplayer who can't be arsed with multiplayer gaming, then why bother play them, but they are there of course for the masses that do, and each to their own.
Howeverrrrr all that put to one side, Splinter Cell Conviction is still a very entertaining and worthy addition to the game series and it also added a fresh new visual slant to the proceedings as well as providing some thrilling action sequences as well, and a top notch voice cast. And if you haven't played Conviction and you liked the other games, you just might want to give it a try.
And with that I shall leave it there.
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