As of right now, Sam Fisher is dead to me, Splinter Cell is dead to me and if I had any say in how the franchise operated, Conviction would never have happened. Imagine a situation where you wait, and wait, and keep on waiting until eventually you're on the brink of giving up hope. That's what happened, as Conviction initially appeared to be a fascinating take on the Splinter Cell formula, portraying Fisher as a rougher, edgier character whose persona was stuck somewhere between hero and villain. Then nothing. Conviction disappeared into the shadows for what felt like an eternity, before making an extraordinary comeback at E3 2009. The build-up was a roller coaster ride of excitement and disappointment, and finally - disgust.
What did you say about my beard?
Unlike most other games, I have a story to tell about Splinter Cell: Conviction. A genuine story. Being a huge fan of all things stealth, except recent Tenchu outings, Conviction was a big deal for me. I suppose I only have myself to blame, after all, I fell into the pre-release hype machine and got lost inside there. You probably get the point by now, Conviction was a LONG time coming and you'd struggle to find anyone more excited than yours truly. So on release day, I decided to ditch a morning lecture about the Holocaust and drive to my local GAME store. Cian was so keen that he arrived before the doors had even opened. At approximately one minute after nine, I briskly walked up to the counter. After throwing a bunch of pre-order bonuses into a bag alongside the mighty collector's edition copy of Conviction, I drove home and began playing Sam's rebooted adventure at half past nine.
Four hours later and I had completed the game on the hardest difficulty and was still in shock. I'll touch on the gameplay soon, but the most astounding part of Splinter Cell: Conviction was its length. The whole campaign from start to finish was four hours long (or short), so by my mathematical genius, that equates to sixty minutes of gameplay created every twelve months up until the release date. That doesn't sit well with me, not one little bit. Previous adventures lasted double that and offered competitive multiplayer to coincide with gripping solo missions. Conviction had neither. I enjoyed the 'Spies versus Mercenaries' mode in Double Agent; it was, at the very least, original. In Ubisoft's defence (and this is the only time that I will give them credit during this piece of writing), they played with a lot of original ideas that were either poorly executed, or didn't suit the Splinter Cell mantra of completing your objectives quietly.
They'll never spot you killing a guard in a fully lit area. No chance.
During an interview with VG24/7, Maxime Béland from Ubisoft made the following statement (pay careful attention to the segments in italic); "When we decided on the direction for Conviction we wanted to expand the reach of the franchise and let more people enjoy what it is to play as Sam Fisher, to be the ultra-powerful, highly-trained secret agent acting from the shadows. With that in mind we made a lot of changes; in essence we kept the core of the stealth experience but unleashed a lot of Sam’s potential by giving him a more offensive capability to complement his defensive side." I usually try to avoid getting too angry, but it's unavoidable at times. Sorry Mr. Béland, you lied to face of every fan who supported Splinter Cell from the early days. Shadows? Core stealth? This is exactly how Conviction played out.
Essentially, you have a solid third-person shooter. There's never any encouragement to be stealthy and it's impossible in many scenarios. Assuming you get spotted, which you most definitely will because the shadows aren't anywhere near as useful as before, Conviction turns into a very basic and unrewarding cover shooter. Sam's subtlety must have been left behind on the drawing board. All you need to do is tackle the first enemy and trigger a chain of headshots requiring no skill whatsoever. At first, the idea was pretty cool but it grew stale within the opening thirty minutes of gameplay. To further solidify the fact that Conviction had no right to lie in bed with its predecessors, there was a section resembling Mirror's Edge about halfway through the disappointing story. I kid you not, Sam sprints and gallops and jumps after his target like Faith. And before I forget, Conviction spends some time in the Middle East. Out of every other complaint, this would have to be the nadir of Splinter Cell. I'd rather not spend too much time talking about it, as my breakfast will end up flowing through the grooves in my keyboard.
Holding the gun at a forty-five degree angle is both cool and pointless.
I say all of these harsh words with a heavy heart, because I'm still an obsessed Splinter Cell freak and it genuinely saddens me to see such a disgraceful attempt at changing an already terrific franchise. I'll use these remaining paragraphs to try and pluck a few positives from Conviction. It looked looked good, it sounded good, it was presented well, and there were a couple of "Hellz yeah I'm Sam Fisher!" moments. Honestly, the only other positive things about Conviction were the co-operative modes. Old school stealth tactics were put in place and you were screwed if you decided to run with a gun. I'm not referring to the co-operative story which was equally anti-stealth and unimpressive, I'm referring to 'Hunter' and 'Infiltration'. Unlike everything else, they were one-hundred per cent dedicated to providing a stealth experience. No fancy cinematic sequences, just clean missions without triggering the alarm. That's what Splinter Cell was built upon, not bearded men barging through doors.
That's only a portion of Splinter Cell's multiplayer, because Ubisoft scrapped the competitive modes. They vanished without a trace. It mightn't have been the most popular online game, as proven with Double Agent, but for the few of us who remained, it was a breath of fresh air. Dividing teams up between spies and mercenaries, designing maps with unique areas only accessible with particular classes, tense gameplay; competitive multiplayer had a lot going for it. Instead of developing that idea even further, Ubisoft foolishly removed it. Apparently it didn't fit within the Splinter Cell universe during the events of Conviction. I find this to be a terribly ironic excuse. Since when has running around as a commando in the Middle East been a crucial part of Splinter Cell? If you can provide me with a valid answer, I'll prove that Jim Morrison is still alive somewhere in South America.
That's for making me wait so long...for nothing.
What else can I say about Splinter Cell: Conviction? It's currently sitting on an average score of eight-five (via MetaCritic), and that leads me to believe I'm either missing the point or almost none of those reviewers touched Splinter Cell prior to the release of Conviction. Don't get me wrong, I'm a firm believer in people being entitled to their own opinion and I try very hard not to judge them because of it, so in many ways, I can understand how Conviction was received positively. Assuming you've never played Chaos Theory, then you'll probably end up seeing Conviction as an inventive cover shooter with a some stealth mechanics hanging on by a loose thread. From the perspective of a firm believer in Splinter Cell's original merits, Conviction stands out as one of the most disappointing games ever made. Alongside Far Cry 2, also developed by Ubisoft. Hmm...
Is there a pattern emerging here? Maybe Far Cry 2 should be the next partner in this hateful relationship? It would have been, except that Denny won the race and nailed it brilliantly. Before I sign off and start receiving all sorts of e-mails saying how my opinion is less informed than Jim Sterling's, I'll leave you with this appropriate phrase - if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Not only did Ubisoft break Splinter Cell, it was ripped apart from the inside out before being polished up with average gimmicks. At least I have the 3D version of Chaos Theory to enjoy... or maybe not. Rest in peace Sam Fisher, it was fun knowing you during the good times.
but im not a big fan of stealth games 
conviction wasnt a stealth game, but it was fun for me.
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