One of the most anticipated games of the year is the continuation of the critically-acclaimed Splinter Cell franchise.  Having gone through early development issues (and purported storyline issues), as well as the ill-founded rumor of a replacement for the voice of Sam Fisher, Conviction has gone through a troubling couple of years.

One of the most anticipated games of the year is the continuation of the critically-acclaimed Splinter Cell franchise.  Having gone through early development issues (and purported storyline issues), as well as the ill-founded rumor of a replacement for the voice of Sam Fisher, Conviction has gone through a troubling couple of years.

More recently, while developer-guided demonstrations appeared at E3 and other events, hands-on time with Conviction was extremely limited.  It was to my surprise then that a demo of Conviction was playable at the 2010 Consumer Electronic Show, an expo that is not generally known for it’s gaming offerings.  Not only was part of the single-player campaign playable at Microsoft’s gargantuan booth, but one of the multiplayer modes was also playable over at the Dolby booth, of all places.

Conviction’s single-player campaign begins with Sam Fisher on the lam, and without the support of the spy organization, Third Echelon.  Fisher initially resorts to using rudimentary and make-shift tools to uncover the conspiracy and somehow get back into full support.  In terms of gameplay, Conviction seems faster, and more intense.  Fisher sneaks, climbs, and hides like his usual predator self, but now he can slide into cover when running, and vault over cover as an absolute necessity at times.  The need for increased agility was quickly apparent when I encountered a group of enemies; the A.I. possessed a pack-like approach to hunting me down.

One of the more more memorable moments in the level I demoed included an interrogation of the last remaining enemy.  Fisher’s techniques are brutal, and some are even context sensitive.  Positioning Fisher and his unfortunate interviewee to the hood of a nearby pickup truck and hitting the action button will result in different interrogation action than moving the enemy near a tree stump.

Another excellent moment in the level required patient observation and careful planning to elimate a group of enemies all within just a few moments.  To aid in this, Fisher was in possession of a heartbeat sensor, which works similar to sonar, effectively giving you the positions of each target in an area.  Moreover, the mark and execute feature allows gamers to quickly eliminate enemies during any assault (executes are only available after hand-to-hand takedowns).

Graphically, Sam Fisher has never looked better.  Naturally, the large, projected images and level cues added a dramatic flair, and despite the dark and shadowy environments, I never had any difficulty seeing them.

Game Director Patrick Reading sat down with me and gave me a preview of co-op in Conviction.  The co-op modes Ubisoft is including with Conviction will undoubtedly appeal to gamers, especially in light of the recent co-op trend.  Offline gamers will be happy to know that Conviction will support split-screen co-op in addition to co-op over Live.

Aside from the prologue story-mode that lead up to the events of the single-player campaign, players can also engage in Deniable Ops Missions, three of which are co-op, and one mode that pits spy versus spy.  The co-op modes are similar to the familiar horde mode many co-op games have been featuring, but naturally, Conviction will require stealth, teamwork, planning, and deception (the A.I. will never assume there is more than one of you).

One feature I was excited to learn about was the Persistent Elite Creation System, which allows gamers to earn points through gameplay challenges in both single-player and co-op games, to use on equipment upgrades, visual customizations (like uniforms, skins, and camo), and even accessory upgrades (such as ammo packs).

Gamers have been treated with some incredible run-and-gun action games recently, and Splinter Cell: Conviction, seems to be bringing an intelligent stealth-action game that gamer have been missing for far too long.

written by Rick Kim \\ tags: CES 2010, Splinter Cell: Conviction