It was pretty apparent from the Ubisoft Montreal take on Splinter Cell: Double Agent that big changes were coming for the Splinter Cell franchise. Still, it might have been too big a shock to see just how much it did. The entire game was completely revamped, from the core gameplay to the narrative to the level designs, everything was totally different. What we got on each front was a bit of a mixed bag, but it all worked a lot better than the "newer" version of Double Agent.
Following the events of the previous game, Sam Fisher is on the run from Third Echelon. He's tracking down the people who killed his daughter, Sarah, after he hears there was more to it than just a drunk driver. Anna Grimsdottir manages to get in contact with him and helps him find his daughter, whose death was faked after Lambert uncovered a legitimate threat to kill her. We wind up discovering a huge conspiracy from main villain Tom Reed, who apparently wanted to get Sam out of the picture so that he could take over Third Echelon, and use the position to set off dirty EMPs in the USA, then kill the President, causing someone else to become President who would then promote Reed. Or something?
Look, I'm not going to lie: the story of this game kind of makes no sense. The machinations of Reed and Lambert are confusing and often run counter to their point. For example, Lambert fakes Sarah's death because he learned of a hit planned on her. If Sarah were killed, Sam would become compromised emotionally, and Lambert loses his best agent. Yeah, makes little sense then why he prevented that by making Sam think that Sarah was killed. You'd think that he'd at least have told Sam what was happening. It was safe to assume that Sam wasn't the mole trying to kill his daughter, and even if he were, it's not like Sam wouldn't know about it already. So what is the harm in telling him?
Reed's plan makes even less sense. It doesn't help that his motives aren't ever really made all that clear. He wants to be promoted, but to what? He doesn't want the Presidency or to take over the world, and he's already the director of Third Echelon. It's also a bit unclear what his connection is to Black Arrow, a private, for profit military organization. Reed's desired promotion was also to come after Third Echelon and Black Arrow assassinate President Caldwell, but if that was his reason for all this, it makes little sense why he'd go on anyway after Vice President Samson - the one who would have become President and promoted Reed - is killed.
Even more, I'm not really sure why Reed spent so many resources hunting down Sam Fisher. I know that he was the best agent and everything, but trying to hunt him down when he was out of the game couldn't have made him any less suspicious of his daughter's death. So much of the game's story revolves around trying to stop Sam. In reviews of past games, I'd mentioned that the Splinter Cell story eventually falls off the rails, and Conviction is where it begins in earnest. The more grounded, geopolitical thrillers have made way for what is essentially a comic book, Jason Bourne-like narrative in which Sam Fisher is more than just an elite super spy. He's basically a superhero. The story of past games might not have been the draw of them, but they went a long way in keeping the series grounded. It's a bit unfortunate that they completely lost sight of that.
And oh yeah, they don't care what you actually did at the end of Double Agent. The canon is that Lambert died by Sam's hand. Remember when they gave you a choice to either shoot him or not? Yeah, doesn't matter here.
If that feels a bit odd for longtime players, then the gameplay will feel even stranger. Gone are the days of slowly and methodically taking enemies out one by one, sticking to the shadows, and using all of your fancy super spy gadgets. Where being spotted used to be hugely problematic, it is now almost unavoidable. The game plays much more like a typical third-person, cover-based shooter with some stealth elements mixed in. Your guns and explosives are so much more valuable than your sticky cameras. Sticky shockers and airfoil rings aren't even in the game anymore, probably because you will almost literally only be killing dudes. (Henchmen who, by the way, have an incredibly annoying habit of trying to call out Sam during the levels.)
Instead of patiently studying enemy movement patterns and planning your own maneuvers, it pays to be fast. Strike and move is a key component to getting through massive crowds of baddies. When you take someone out with a close-quarters maneuver, you earn the ability to "mark and execute." This is one of weirder elements to the game. It's simultaneously worse in a design perspective while also being extremely satisfying to do. What I don't like about it is that it makes sections a bit too easy. You don't need to worry about your own aim, and if you're down to about three guys left, you can just take them all out at once without worrying about alerting the others. At the same time, it is a key element of the gameplay, and it actually is surprisingly satisfying to perform.
The levels themselves are often very short too. It won't take long to get through the whole game, although that isn't necessarily a negative. The thing about shorter levels though is that it makes it a bit trickier to really get the hang of the new style of play. For the first few levels, you essentially have to get through three different groupings of enemies. With mark and execute in the mix, it gives you little time to really get into any sort of flow before you're interrupted by a cutscene and the choppy flow of the next level. Even more, sticking to the shadows won't do you much good either. There ultimately isn't that much darkness you can adequately hide in, so instead you'll rely on hanging from window ledges (throwing enemies out of windows is also surprisingly satisfying) or dangling from pipes. Quick movements are critical to in-game success. If you are spotted, a ghost-like form of you appears where the last point enemies saw you was. This gives you ample time to move to new cover to break their line of sight. It can even be a useful tactic to intentionally get spotted, draw their attention to that point, then circle around and flank them.
Conviction is kind of interesting in the way that they integrate some strangely "artsy" elements into the game. For starters, mission directives appear in the environment. Text detailing what you need to do shine on nearby buildings, cars, or roads. Flashback videos will also appear projected onto the walls around you as characters tell you information about Sarah's story. Removed from the game are any on-screen indicators of your visibility. No more meter or wearable light indicator from past games. Instead, the game itself turns black and white when you're in darkness. It lights back up when you move into light and become visible. This is an interesting idea, but can sometimes be harmful. Shooting out lights is still a good idea here, so it isn't exactly helpful to have the game turn black and white when you're in shadows, thus preventing you from being able to see where any lights up ahead are. In the final mission at the White House, there's even a weird soundtrack that incorporates old presidential speeches into the music!
It's actually pretty neat and confounding as to why there are so many unique elements to a Splinter Cell game. This all contributes to making the most unusual installment into the franchise. A lot is even pretty interesting. It's just not totally apparent if it actually works for a Splinter Cell game.
The move a much more action-oriented style of gameplay makes some sense. Many franchises had been taking that direction. It's pretty fun to play, but one might hope that isn't the long-term direction of the series. Some faster-paced games are fine, but too many and they might forget what it is that people liked about those first few games.
RATING: It's Fine.
(Rating scale from worst to best: God Awful, Pretty Bad, It's Fine, Pretty Damn Good, Incredible!)
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