Fist bumps in the dark: A week with Splinter Cell Conviction

Playing through Conviction alone isn't enough to really get the experience. Since Pandora Tomorrow, the first sequel following Splinter Cell, Ubisoft has made multiplayer a blast in Splinter Cell. People expect the Tom Clancy, convoluted conspiracy theory-laden story at first, but multiplayer has always kept them coming back.

Conviction follows immediately after the last game, Double Agent. Sam Fisher has left his former NSA employer, Third Echelon, in order to follow evidence that leads to the man who murdered his daughter which was made to look like an accident. In typical Tom Clancy nature, the plot takes a twist as Sam falls into something much bigger than he thought and it's up to him to set things straight.

Go back and play the old Splinter Cell and you'll find a strict game that has you rushing for shadows like air bubbles in an underwater cavern. They're vital to your success to the point that you're useless without them. There were tons of complex factors in the stealth system from the amount of light actually in the area to the noise you made and the ambient sound of the surroundings. Without stealth, Sam Fisher couldn't do a damn thing against his aggressors.

Conviction takes a cue from Batman: Arkhum Asylum and the darkness instead empowers an already brutal creature of the night. Gone is the complicated layers of stealth like light levels and sound. Your meat and potatoes of game play can be summed up into two mechanics: light and darkness and well as mark and execute.

Light and darkness is simple. Move in darkness and enemies can't see you so long as they don't have flashlights. Move in light and enemies will see you and presumably open fire. Sam is ironically faster now than he ever was in his younger days. You can quickly duck into the shadows, leap and hang over edges while dragging guards over them with quick efficiency. Doing quick stealth take downs like this or simply a quick and dirty neck snap from behind earns you the right to mark and execute.

At any time, you can mark a limited number of enemies and Sam can keep track of where his marks move as triangles hovering over their heads. It's when Sam earns mark and execute from take downs that Sam can quickly kill his marks with all the efficiency of Jack Bauer. Thus the main part of the game revolves around staying hidden, taking down one enemy while marking other targets, and quickly neutralizing them without drawing too much attention. It sounds repetitive on paper, but throw in map design with sparse shadows, enemies using flashlights, and different weapons and gadgets, all upgradable to aid you and you get an open ended way to answer any situation.

Now throw in a buddy who can potentially save your life and make it worse and the fun doubles. Play in random match making and you get interesting partners running the gamut from gung ho to cautiously slow. With a friend, instead of getting gunned down instantly, you get incapacitated where your friend has to plan out a rescue. Does he neutralize the targets first? But your bleeding out quickly. He can make a diversion with something like an emp device. Or you can break your playing possum cover and sit up to start shooting back but enemies will return fire. Enemies can even grab you in a choke hold if your not carefuly and your partner will have to free you with a careful shot.

With a friend, you can either play co-op story, hunter, last stand, face off, and infiltration (which you need to unlock). Co-op is a stand alone story with different special agents in events preceding Conviction's story. Hunter takes the basic take down and neutralize routine, pitting you against ten guards in an area where there are usually four areas in a level. If you get caught in the act, ten more guards will show up from all directions to complicate the process. Last stand is your requisite 'horde' mode Gears of War has popularized. You'll need to defend an emp in the map while waves of enemies arrive to destroy it. Hang back and they'll focus on the emp. Pick off the guards and they'll shift their attention to you. Infiltration mode, which demands old school Splinter Cell sensibilities. Getting spotted ends the mission immediately, and levels are often times made more complicated with trip lasers and extra cameras. Face off, the last mode, pits you not only against a group of guards but also your fellow spy. Picking off guards earns you points while taking out your adversary earns you extra points. Needless to say, whoever comes out on top wins.

Lastly, while playing all these modes, both single and co-op, there are a set of challenges that earn you points such as marking and execute X number of enemies. You can spend these points on upgrading your weapons and gadgets as well as costumes for armor or extra ammo. This adds a level of customization that makes you unique and can supplement different play styles to the game with your partner.

There's a lot of things to keep you coming back. Stealthing through levels as quickly as possible, playing a level a different way like an aggro approach or a pure stealth method, and doing it all with a friend. Personally, this iteration of the Splinter Cell makes the series relevant again in this era of rethinking of the stealth game.