The sixth instalment in Ubisoft’s widely respected and hugely successful Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell series arrives across Europe this Friday, 16th April 2010, after an extended period in development. Having originally been revealed in 2007, a lukewarm reception from the specialist media resulted in a significant delay, giving Ubisoft Montréal more than two additional years to make a game that surpasses expectations of current-generation Stealth games. However, with little competition having made its way to market in the intervening years, it would have been very easy for the team to simply rework puzzles from earlier titles with a new storyline and glossy graphical finish. Thankfully however, that’s simply not been the case.
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction is absolutely packed with content. Offering a number of gameplay modes for both the solitary player, gamer with friends visiting or online addict, hours of challenging Stealth action lies within the retail package. The duration of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction has recently been criticised
by many with early access to the title, however such derision is unfounded. The single-player campaign may not be as lengthy as the typical Action title and certainly falls short of recent hits such as Mass Effect 2 and God of War III, but it’s backed-up by such a wide variety in the implementation of its conventions that it could easily provide more hours of entertainment than either title.
While Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction is the sixth title to be released in the series, the game actually represents the fifth title in the Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell storyline as the PlayStation Portable release of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Essentials was, as the name suggests, a retuned compilation of the series’ highlights as opposed to a new story-driven escapade. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction takes place approximately two years after the events of the last title released, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent. Sam Fisher has gone rogue from Third Echelon after discovering that the death of his daughter, Sarah, was not an accident. Fisher must use all the help he can get, including former Third Echelon colleague Anna Grimsdóttír, in order to discover the truth behind the death of his daughter.
Without the support of his former employer and financier, Fisher is considerably more limited in terms of weaponry and gadgets than fans of the series may be expecting, relying on his wits and instinct more than his equipment. Obviously, there’s a few neat 
tricks to counteract this imposition, offering the player tactical options that go much further than simply remaining out of sight – though the shadows play a large part in Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction also.
Determining whether you are clearly visible or hidden is particularly straight-forward thanks to a rather simple visual design. When in light the areas bloom with colour, bright red carpets lining hallways, dense metallic structures and glossy military bases shimmering across all four walls; yet when in the cover of darkness, everything on the screen - bar the enemies – becomes part of a monochrome moving image. Though this is of course a helpful mechanic, a question has to be raised over such a decision’s effect on the player: as Batman: Arkham Asylum offered little reason for players not to spend most of their time with the game using the Detective Mode, educated players will spend most of their time Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction in black and white.
The Mark & Execute mechanic is wholly successful, adding an enjoyable strategy in which the player is given the opportunity to rely upon their character’s training, rather than their thumb. After performing a close combat take down, the player will have Mark & Execute attack available to use whenever they choose. Lining-up up a number of enemies in the local area, dependant on upgrades purchased
for the currently equipped gun, the player presses a single button to automatically take out all marked foes within a few brief movements. Far from making the game too easy, Mark & Execute is designed to offer some breathing space, or aid the player’s immersion within a character deftly trained in the ways of assassination. Upgrades for weapons are purchased with points earned by completing set in-game challenges. Ranging from simply making headshots without breaking cover to escaping from the enemy’s sight with the use on an EMP device, as well as the usual triple kill grenade throws and such, the challenges are an interesting and enjoyable addition to the game, skilfully bypassing the need to litter environments with trivial collectables.
The cover system in Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction is also of a high standard, allowing an ease of movement while not hindering the player’s awareness of the environment. Holding the L Trigger locks the player onto the nearest wall, and looking ahead to a new location will highlight new areas of cover that can be automatically dashed to with a simple press of the A Button. Occasional flaws do exist, with the game sometimes reluctant to highlight the desired piece of cover, instead demanding the player move manually, but the overall effect is certainly one of quick and reliable movements in-and-out of cover. In the event you do get spotted, another new mechanic comes into play. Less helpful than it appears as though it would be, when seen a white outline of your character appears to represent your “last known location”, and the player is then free to navigate a path to successful elimination of those prepared to investigate the situation further.
All of these new elements combine to make Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction an usually swift Stealth experience, in which the player is no longer concerned with hiding bodies or covering their rear, but moving onto the next location with as minimal fuss as possible. And this new reflection on the classic Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell formula is evident not only in the single-player campaign, but in each of the accompanying gameplay modes also. Deniable Ops is the most direct accompaniment, offering three further single-player game modes with a number of different maps available. The Hunter mode has a predetermined number of enemies per level, while Infiltration tasks the player with remaining hidden throughout. 
Last Stand sees the player protecting an EMP mine against waves of increasing numbers of enemies, and will undoubtedly be compared to Gears of War 2’s Horde mode and Halo 3: ODST’s Firefight.
Deniable Ops is also playable in multiplayer, both online and split-screen. All the multiplayer modes have this option available, which of course is a very welcome and often overlooked addition in modern videogames. The Co-Op Mode however, is the obvious highlight of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction’s multiplayer options. A separate campaign is available for two players side-by-side, and is designed around the ideal of teamwork throughout. There are a number of disappointments with the Co-Op mode, such as an erratic difficulty curve and simply offering rearrangements of other maps at many points, yet it remains a compelling addition.
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction is a very well designed game. Bar the need to reset upon death, no loading times appear within any gameplay components – campaign, Deniable Ops or Co-Op. Though the character models often appear little more than average, the environments are often stunning in detail and are wholly believable. Varied and designed to allow room for creativity, the level design is certainly of the highest calibre. The sound delivery is also of a fantastic quality, both in terms of score and vocal talent. The drama is noticeably heightened by the ramping up of the tempo and volume of the soundtrack, and players are able to plot their attacks around the discussions of plans from enemies. Michael Ironside reprises his role as Fisher, and does a fantastic job of portraying a virtual man tied down by science-fiction interpretations of real-world problems; his revenge for his daughter and betrayal of his employers may be Fisher’s motivations, but feeling alone and hurt are themes everyone can relate to.
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction demonstrates both an intrinsic knowledge of want gamers want from Stealth games, and exactly what previous games in the series had been missing. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction is still a Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell game, both in form and function, but represents a true generational leap in the formula in the same way that Resident Evil 4 managed to recreate the Resident Evil magic within entirely new boundaries on the GameCube. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction is the reboot of the franchise that we all asked for, and meeting those demands is a loftier goal than any run of the mill development team could ever hope to achieve. It have it’s fair share of flaws, but Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction has laid out the new rules of developing Stealth games on the current-generation of consoles.
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“with little competition having made its way to market in the intervening years”
never heard of MGS4 then?