Before we get started, I should probably tell you that I’ve never been much of a Splinter Cell fan. It’s not that I think the games in the long-running series are bad; as I’ve stated many times before, I have just never really gotten into stealth games. However, it might be time to break out of that box and try something new, because what I saw during the live demo of Splinter Cell: Conviction yesterday looked fantastic.

A summary of Conviction’s plot was explained to those of us who weren’t familiar with the storyline of the franchise. In the last game, Double Agent, Sam Fisher’s daughter Sarah was killed in a drunk driving accident—which he later found out wasn’t an accident at all. In Conviction, he is hunting down his daughter’s killer, and has left Third Echelon, meaning he is no longer bound to their rules.



One of the interesting aspects of Conviction was the way that the game gives you information without taking you out of the action. Sam’s mission objectives, or brief backstories for other characters, will appear on walls, columns, and other places in the background. The messages can be as simple as "Sarah", or have more complex instructions, and look like they are physically projected onto the environments. I haven’t seen anything like that in any other game, and it’s a really ingenious way to present information in video games. It’s a little jarring the first time, but feels like a natural way to receive messages.

Since he is no longer associated with Third Echelon, Sam doesn’t have a lot of the gadgets that he previously had access to, but that doesn’t mean he can’t improvise. We saw Sam take the side mirror of a car and use it to look under doors, spotting the enemies in areas ahead. Once he knows how many foes he is dealing with, he can take them out right away with the use of special executions. It wasn’t made abundantly clear how these executions would work, but we saw Sam mark two or three men in different situations, then spring to action, taking them out. Later, we were told that Sam would have to earn his executions with melee kills.



As always, Sam will spend a good amount of time sneaking around. If he comes out of hiding, is spotted by foes, and then has to retreat again, Conviction employs a feature known as “last known location”. Basically, it means that we, the player, can see an outline of Sam’s body where the enemies last saw him, so we know where they will look first. This gives Sam a chance to be ready for them and strike before they do. However, Sam isn't as stealthy as he used to be, and there seems to be more action this time around; he's more Jason Bourne than Solid Snake now.

From what I saw at E3, the two-year delay given to Splinter Cell: Conviction has definitely not gone to waste. This is the first time I’ve ever really been interested in a Splinter Cell game, and I love the new mechanics employed that make classic stealth gameplay seem new and exciting. The game will be out this fall for the 360 and PC, assuming it doesn't get delayed for another two years. I just hope the full version of the game is as good as it looks.