- TOM CLANCYS SPLINTER CELL CONVICTION GAMEPLAY DRIVER
- TOM CLANCYS SPLINTER CELL CONVICTION GAMEPLAY TV
Work has already reportedly begun in Toronto on Ubisoft’s next “Splinter Cell” game. “Splinter Cell Conviction’s” two-player modes can be enjoyed online or split-screen. “Last Stand” involves hunkering down and protecting a warhead from waves of bad guys, and “Face-Off” is a mano-a-mano duel to the death.) “Hunter” has you trying to clear one of six multi-part maps of enemies, while “Infiltration” emphasizes sneaking through undetected.
(The dessert would be the game’s storyless Deniable Ops modes. But once you’ve played with a buddy, either split-screen or online, Sam’s quest feels like an unnecessarily heavy appetizer eaten before the main course.
Sam Fisher’s tale, though enjoyable enough, gets more screen time. The co-op mode’s only crime is that it’s not as long as the single-player game. One player can attract attention and draw fire while the other flanks and eliminates foes from the shadows. Even though, as in the main game, the emphasis is on stealth, a skilled two-man team will be able to make better use of the game’s “last known position” feature, which allows agents to play cat-and-mouse with their adversaries. “Conviction” gets around the problem of crowding by giving players unique, larger levels that allow for multiple two-player strategies.
In a lot of games, co-op play feels like it’s been shoehorned in after the fact, as anyone who’s tried to play with four people at a time in “Halo 3’s” chaotic campaign will attest. All we really needed to know was that our characters have a job to do, and that they quite understandably don’t trust each other, though they do win one another’s respect, judging by the comments they make as the mission progresses.Īs pitch-perfect as “Conviction’s” gameplay is in the single-player campaign, it’s doubly effective in co-op. I played as Archer, and my co-op buddy Carl played as Kestrel. The co-op story is as well-honed as the single-player narrative is convoluted and ridiculous. In that adventure, which can be finished in two sittings or one really lengthy session, the American Archer and Russian Kestrel team up to stop rogue elements within the Russian military from selling weapons of mass destruction on the black market. Where the single-player’s narrative falls short, the co-op prequel to Fisher’s story delivers the goods. The co-op mode stars American agent Archer and Russian agent Kestrel. The only thing bailing out the single-player adventure is its tight gameplay, which has been refocused from the trial-and-error of past “Splinter Cell” titles to something more action-driven and accessible. While he may do things that keep our country safe, his harshest actions make empathy too tough a sell for the clumsy narrative to pull off.
TOM CLANCYS SPLINTER CELL CONVICTION GAMEPLAY TV
The disconnect between “family man” and “cold-blooded, unfeeling killing machine who smashes a guy’s head through a TV to get the answers he wants” is simply too great. In another, you’re watching a too-cloying, badly written flashback of a younger Fisher telling his little girl not to be afraid of the dark. One moment, you’re skulking around the shadows, shooting guys in the head so that you can reach their boss and use his skull to shatter a urinal during an interrogation. Though the single-player narrative, which tries to pack about 20 hours’ worth of story into maybe eight hours of gameplay, is guilty of being a bit muddled, its worst crime is trying to humanize Sam Fisher.
TOM CLANCYS SPLINTER CELL CONVICTION GAMEPLAY DRIVER
“Conviction” (rated M, $60 on Xbox 360 or PC) centers around Fisher’s quest to find out what really happened to his daughter, Sarah, who was apparently killed by a drunken driver in the last game, 2006’s “Splinter Cell Double Agent.” As the too-complicated plot unfolds, it becomes a jumbled mishmash of agency names, military contractors, double-crossings, secondary characters, flashback sequences and sometimes farcical political intrigue. Sam Fisher, star of the past four "Splinter Cell" games takes center stage in the single-player game.