Qnd quick Review: Splinter Cell: Conviction (Xbox 360)

Some might say that stealth has taken the back seat in the latest Splinter Cell, but I'd rather say it has taken the co-pilot's seat.

Stealth is still there, as it's always been in Sam Fisher games, but there is definitely more room for shooting action in Conviction.

As for the rest of the game, I'd say it looks between great and average. The long development time shows in some spots, but the nearly flawless "adaptive" controls make the game flow and feel very new.


Voice acting on the game is on par with other major releases, though Michael Ironside sounds a bit bored as Sam - but who else could be Sam Fisher, after all these games.


The new tagging system works well, even though the requirement to hand-to-hand kill one opponent before being able to "tag" enemies for 100% sure slow-motion instant kills seems somehow artificial. Sure, the system works from a gaming point of view, but still feels... "strange".

So how does the tagging work? Once you have your melee kill, you can tag minimum of one or two enemies (depending on the weapon you use and your achievements in the game). The basic weapons in the beginning of the game are able to tag two enemies, whereas the pre-order bonus SPAS shotgun can target three, etc.

You can also tag "traps" in the enviroment, including chandeliers that drop on top of your enemies, fuel barrels that explode, machinery that crushes them, etc.

When done tagging, you hit the Y-button and watch as Sam executes his enemies in slow-motion.

The plot is your usual "everyone is trying to screw Sam Fisher and nobody can be trustes / you killed my daughter so you MUST DIE! DIE!" -variety. Nothing special there, but it gives you the excuse to plow through dozens of enemies (or if you're a patient man; stealth past them to get to the enemy).

The usual bosses that you'll get to only to get caught or see them escape in front of your eyes are of course there.


I did run into one bug in my early game; in the fair level where you're supposed to dispatch three enemies in stealth before you can meet your contact, the barrier preventing me from meeting him before the kills didn't disappear even though I was done with the enemies.


Score
8.5 / 10

(Order a region free version of Splinter Cell: Conviction (Xbox 360) from PA.)