Splinter Cell Conviction: A Wonderful Surprise

If certain web forum trends are to be believed then once every few years people who play videogames a lot (or have done for a long time) usually tend to go through an occasional “why do I do this?” phase.  Of course I’m no expert on this particular subject, or any other for that matter, but every time I read forum posts usually titled “Tired of gaming” or “Gaming apathy” they tend to let in an unmetered tide of responses from people who are either going through a similar experience, or have recently done so.

I’m not going through one of those particular mid-gaming life crisis episodes right now, far from it.  But as well as the “why do I do this?” question I like to hold up a counter point when a game reinforces my primary relaxation hobby (especially as the evenings are too bright at the moment for film and TV watching).  This tends to be a game that I wouldn’t normally have purchased, but have done so either on a whim or it has been reduced in price.  Fable II was at the top of the pile of games I never thought I would want to play, let alone enjoy.  Then I sunk over sixty hours into completing it multiple times.  But the game that has done it for me this time is Splinter Cell Conviction.

I’ve never been a fan of the previous Splinter Cell games.  When I tried them on the original Xbox they seemed a little overcomplicated (or I was just overly simple), but people who liked them really enjoyed them.  I was never really one for stealth action games, and after getting caught one too many times by guards I gave up and went onto something else.
I only bought Conviction really so I could play online co-op with Mr DXEndar, promising that if I was offered the contract I was going for them I would buy it.  I won the contract, and a promise is a promise.  What has happened since I got the game has been nothing short of a revelation for me.

Fans of the original games have voiced concerns over this particular title as the focus of the game has shifted more towards a straightforward third person cover based action shooter (along the lines of Gears of War) and the stealth emphasis has been somewhat toned down.
But in reality you can play the game as either type, you can go in guns blazing, make as much noise as possible and enjoy some very frantic and heated firefights, or you can take the stealthy approach.

I started by playing the game like I do with most action games if I’m perfectly honest, I play on the easiest difficulty level to get through the game and see the story to its conclusion.  Then if I have really enjoyed the experience (and if I’ve paid full price, I want to get the best value for money I possibly can) I will go back and play it again on a higher level, and then play some co-op or multiplayer if it is included.
Looking at the single player campaign first of all, much of the back story went straight over my head but the game moves along at a fast pace and is incredibly slick.  At times it feels very much like an even more stylised (and cliched for that matter) episode of 24.  But one of the ones with action obviously.

But instead of just throwing level after level of “infiltrate base/warehouse/mansion” rinse and repeat ad nauseum gameplay, the action (or lack of it depending on how you are playing) changes up enough that you don’t get bored.  I won’t give away any spoilers here, but every now and then everything changes so you are going through a definite third person shooter, some enforced stealth and an excellent free running sequence.
This is where the revelation happened for me with Conviction.  I enjoyed the single player campaign a lot, I got the game on Friday and started playing straight away before moving into some co-op (more on that in a moment) and then going back and completing the single player story on Sunday.

But after completing the game I took a break for a few minutes and started all over again on the next difficulty level (Normal).  When I did this I completely changed my play style, moving to a far more stealthy approach.  Climbing up drainpipes instead of just hiding behind cover, going for stealth kills and very much biding my time.  I played solidly again all through Monday, completed the game and started yet again on Realistic difficulty!  This is completely unheard of for me to do with a game of this type.  Usually by now I would have moved onto another game from the library, and Mass Effect 2 has been sat waiting for some love.

After an enforced break yesterday I have spent all morning today playing the game through to its completion yet again on Realistic and you know what?  I will gladly play it all over again!
So the single player probably takes around seven or eight hours to play through, and it is broken down into eleven chapters.  But for multiplayer there is a prequel co-op campaign which I would gustimate takes around three to four hours to play through.  I have yet to complete it at the time of writing, but we played for around three hours with the end still some way off.  It doesn’t change up the core mechanics of the game one bit, but as an extra added bonus with new characters and different environments it makes for great fun.

Then there’s the on and offline multiplayer that I haven’t even touched on yet.

So I take my non-existent hat off to the folks at Ubisoft for finally releasing this oft-delayed game, and can happily say they have made a convert out of me.
Next week: Alan Wake.

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Category: Reviews, Tech Stuff, Videogames