Splinter Cell: Conviction Review

Written 05/03/2010

Note: This is for the PC version of the game. Screenshot and video taken on my machine.

I'm sure some of you have followed the ongoing development of Splinter Cell Conviction since its revealing 3 or 4 years ago. You may remember it used to look, feel, and probably play a lot differently than what has recently been shown. The game has gone through countless delays and even a complete overhaul from the ground up. After all of that, it's finally here. Has the wait been worth it?

Visuals and Presentation

Considering that Conviction is made in what I would be willing to bet is Unreal Engine 3, Ubisoft had a lot to work with in the visuals department. Character models, environments, texturing, and lighting are mostly pretty good, with a low resolution texture popping up on very rare occasion. The bullet trail effects, lighting, and general blur effects are particularly nice. The most original concept is by far how the lighting effects tie in to the stealth mechanics of the game. In past Splinter Cell titles, when you entered a dark area, you knew that the enemy could not see you if you could not see Sam Fisher on screen without night-vision being enabled. While this makes for a more authentic stealth experience, it can at times make visibility, and thus gameplay, a serious issue. To resolve this, Ubisoft added a feature that makes the screen black and white when you are appropriately hidden in darkness. As you move into more lit areas the screen begins to fill with more and more color until everything is in full-color. Obviously you are most visible in this state, so it would be advisable to quickly find cover. This makes some areas of the game quite nerve-wracking because nearly every enemy has a flashlight attached to their weapons. You'll be slightly startled at least once when you're hiding in complete darkness and your screen suddenly flashes with color as an enemy's flashlight moves over your general area.

My biggest complaint with the visuals has to be the facial animations. The lip syncing is terrible to the point of there being little mouth movement actually forming the spoken words. Facial expressions are also very limited beyond Sam's serious and cautious glare. Except for those things though, Conviction's visual package is pretty solid.

Visuals and Presentation Rating:

Sound

The sound in Conviction is not what you would expect simply for the contents of the voice acting. The dialog is mostly well written and performed with every applicable voice actor from previous Splinter Cell titles reprising their roles excellently. Weapon and ambient sounds are also done well. The music is a great mix of quiet, suspenseful, and intense tracks that do their jobs very well and can at times be a bit catchy. What drags down Conviction's sound though is the extreme vulgarity throughout the entire game. To put it simply, the language in Conviction makes Grand Theft Auto IV look tame. When engaging enemies, you'll hear something along the lines of “die you mother #^%@ing son of a #%^*)! piece of %*#( mother $!%#er!” every 5-10 seconds. It is so pervasive and unnecessary throughout the entire game that it becomes highly offensive. Seriously Ubisoft...why?

Sound Rating:

Gameplay

This is a Splinter Cell game, and you probably already know what the gameplay mostly entails if you've played any of the previous entries. This is a stealth game at its core, but Conviction adds a great deal of action to the mix typically unseen in the franchise. In previous Splinter Cell entries, the pace of the game was very slow, methodical, and required a great deal of awareness and planning. In Conviction, Sam Fisher's speed and agility have dramatically increased without taking away the necessity of being aware and properly planning how to clear out a room. Sam will need this extra speed to avoid the many bullets flying at him. Like it or not, Sam Fisher is nothing like Solid Snake and can never hope to be. If Sam gets shot three or four times, he dies, plain and simple. Your best options are to sneak and use the environment to get the jump on the enemy.

To help you do just that, Ubisoft has added two new features to the mix. First is the Last Known Position. When Sam is seen, a white, ghost-like silhouette appears at his position. When he ducks behind cover again, the silhouette remains in that same place indicating your last known position to the enemy. They will then quickly move in on that position, but if you're quick enough you can maneuver yourself around them without being seen and ambush them from behind. You could also employ the second new feature, the Mark & Execute, to quickly take care of many enemies at once. To do this, Sam finds a suitable enemy and “marks” him. After marking as many target as your current weapon will allow, position Sam where all of the mark icons you've placed are red and tap the execute button. Sam will then take out every one of your marks in a stylish yet efficient manner within two seconds. You may be thinking right about now “if I can just Mark & Execute everyone that makes the game too easy”, and you would be right. Fortunately though, you can only use Mark & Execute after successfully taking out an enemy with a melee attack; which is not always the easiest thing to do and live to tell about it.

Outside of the single-player campaign there are Deniable Ops missions and online co-op. Deniable Ops missions are separated between a search-and-destroy gametype and a gametype similar to a tower defense mini-game. Each are fun, but are a little limited when it comes to map selection. Then there's the online offerings, and part of the biggest issue this game faces. If you want to try out the multiplayer just as much as I do, you can't. You heard me right...you can't! The game will have been out a week tomorrow and the Ubisoft servers are STILL not allowing ANY connectivity to the online portion of the game. Not only is this completely unacceptable, it makes the game a complete rip-off! I paid $60 expecting multiplayer, and I want my multiplayer dangit! Then there's the abominable DRM (Digital Rights Management) measures Ubisoft has put in place to prevent the game from being pirated. Basically, Ubisoft is requiring that you be connected to the internet at all times to play the game; even in single-player. This wouldn't be so bad if the Ubisoft servers wouldn't randomly crash and make your game completely stop until the connection is reestablished. Come on people, I PAID for the game! You don't need a constant connection to verify that I do indeed own what I'm playing! Think of the needless bandwidth you're using to do this too! If anything, this will likely encourage piracy just to avoid your out of hand watchdog tactics! I haven't even touched the technical issues of the game yet! On at least 5 occasions the game crashed to the desktop and completely froze my whole machine twice, forcing me restart it via the power button on my tower. A patch needs to be released to fix all of this very soon, or I may actually consider seeking a partial refund for all of this! I should really make a Hitler rant parody on the topic.

Gameplay Rating:

Story

WARNING: Spoiler Alert!

This is the first Splinter Cell title that I know of in which the story is a direct sequel of the game right before it. If you want the back story of Conviction, read the Story section of my Double Agent review. Conviction picks up with Sam Fisher following a lead on finding his daughter's killer. Without giving too much away, the story quickly moves from a revenge tale to a national conspiracy involving a presidential assassination. While the story is decently written, I did feel like it jumped from point to point with little cohesion at times. This was fairly rare though. I also felt that Sam was very cooperative with whoever was ordering him around at the time given that he constantly asserted that he is an unwilling participant in the events around him. Overall though, this is one of the best stories of the series and worth at least a peek into it.

Story Rating:

Replay Value

Considering that single-player campaign is only 9 hours long, Deniable Ops are limited in their maps and gametypes, multiplayer does not work at all, and the outrageous DRM makes the game unlaunchable at times, and Conviction's replay value is hardly nothing. Deniable Ops are fun, but only prove to be a temporary distraction. The single-player was also good, but not really worth a second replay unless you really enjoyed it. Multiplayer is completely unavailable, but if it was available, it would probably increase Conviction's replay value dramatically. So until a major patch is released...

Replay Value Rating:

Final Thoughts and Overall Score

It's not that Conviction is a bad game by any stretch. It has mostly solid gameplay, but suffers from too many technical issues than I care to think about. The fact that you can't even connect to the multiplayer is a huge turn off for me; especially if a patch that fixes this is not released soon. If you want to be able to play the multiplayer right now, I would suggest purchasing the 360 version of the game. If you want the PC version though, well, you have been warned.

Splinter Cell: Conviction Overall Score:

Minimum system requirements:

OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7

Processor: 1.8 GHz Intel Core2 Duo or 2.4 GHz AMD Athlon X2 64

Memory: 1.5 GB Windows XP / 2 GB Windows Vista, Windows 7

Graphics: 256 MB DirectX 9.0c–compliant video card (512 MB recommended) (see supported list*) DirectX®: DirectX 9.0c

Hard Drive: 10 GB

Sound: DirectX 9.0c–compliant sound card

Peripherals Supported: Mouse, keyboard, headset, 12-button gamepads with analog sticks

Internet Connection: Broadband Internet connection

*Supported Video Cards at Time of Release:

NVIDIA GeForce 7800 / 7900 / 8 / 9 / GTX series

ATI RADEON X1800 / X1900 / HD 2000 / HD 4000 / HD 5000 series

ATI HD 3000 NOT supported at time of release.

Laptop versions of these cards may work but are NOT supported. These chipsets are the only ones that will run this game.

Splinter Cell: Double Agent Review

Written 01/08/2010

Note: This review is written for the PC version of the game. Screenshot and video taken from my machine.

With the release of Splinter Cell: Conviction just a month away, I've decided to pick up its predecessor, Double Agent, to get caught up on the series' story before launch day. Luckily for me, I caught it on sale on Steam for just $5. Was it worth it though? Well, yes and no. This review is mainly intended for those who plan on picking up Conviction without any intention of playing Double Agent first. So there may be some spoilers in the Story section. You have been warned.

Visuals and Presentation

For a game that was released in late 2006, Double Agent looks quite pretty. In the display menu I discovered you could set the game to run in either Standard or Next Generation mode. During the credits, I learned that the Standard mode ran the game in the Unreal Engine 2; which is in the same technological time-frame as the PS2, original Xbox, and PCs over at least three or four years old. The Next Generation mode ran the game in the Unreal Engine 3, which is in the same technological time-frame as the PS3, 360, and any mid-range PC found on the market today. Basically, if you can run Unreal Tournament 3 with decent settings, then you can run Double Agent in Next Generation mode.

I didn't test the game in Standard mode, but I played through it entirely in Next Generation mode. If you can run it like that, Double Agent can be a real treat to look at. The lighting effects and shadows, which have always been at the heart of the Splinter Cell series, look great and really add to the atmosphere of the game as a whole while still acting as an excellent gameplay mechanic. Another thing that really helps Double Agent presentation-wise over the other Splinter Cell titles that I've played is the variety of places Sam Fisher finds himself in. Over the course of the storyline missions, you travel to China, Africa, and America just to name a few locales. Each area feels distinct and well crafted, which keeps things fresh. The only real complaint I have with the presentation is when you don't have your night-vision goggles handy. On one level, not having them is not a problem because it takes place during the day. On another level though, which you revisit four times throughout the game, not having night-vision makes life nearly impossible in certain critical areas of the map. Overall, the game looks quite good considering its age.

Visuals and Presentation Rating:

Sound

First and foremost, if you want to hear this game...at all...turn your volume up to double what it usually is. The audio in Double Agent is output at such a low volume you can't even hope to hear it if you set your speakers to their normal levels. That aside, the voice acting in Double Agent is what you would hope for. Cheese is non-existent in the dialog, and one small conversation in particular between two terrorists should not be missed for humor's sake. Sam Fisher's voice is reprized by Michael Ironside, like in every other Splinter Cell title, and it just wouldn't be the same without him. It's really quite surprising you don't hear his voice in more games outside of the Splinter Cell series, but I suppose to each their own. General sounds are also what you would expect. Weapons with silencers on them are adequately, well, silent; and unsuppressed weapons draw enough attention with the noise they make.

The music is nothing to write home about, but it definitely serves its purpose in creating the mood for certain situations and excellent at heightening tension. For the most part, the music remains so subtle that you hardly even notice it. When an unaware enemy approaches Sam's position though, the music becomes louder and much more serious the closer the enemy comes to Sam. If an enemy does discover Sam, the music almost reaches the intensity of a James Bond action scene as he loudly calls out for backup. Combine the music with the nice voice acting, and you've got yourself a pretty decent audio package. Just be sure to turn your sound up!

Sound Rating: 

Gameplay

This, like every other Splinter Cell title, is a stealth game. It's not a stealth-action game or any other hybrid variation you wish to come up with. Sure, you have a gun and can choose to go out shooting, but you're going to end up frustrated from constantly reloading because you're frequently going to be dead. Your best friends in Double Agent are your bare hands, gadgets, distractions, and your brain. Patience is also a must, because without it you're going to end up eating dirt...again. The game will also put you in countless situations to remind you of that very fact. Quite often, you'll enter an area that can be completely wiped of enemies if you plan everything right, but if you're seen, you don't even have time to pull out your weapon before you're getting a bullet surprise.

At other times, there's no possible way of eliminating even one enemy without being seen. On those occasions, you have to employ everything at your disposal to reach your goal without drawing the least bit of attention to yourself. That's not to say you can't safely draw attention elsewhere. Throw a can or bottle near some enemies and the noise will attract their attention away from their posts, giving you precious seconds to slip by unnoticed. You can also use your pistol's EMP function to temporarily plunge the room into darkness and simply walk past the opposition as they flounder around in the dark trying to get the lights back on.

Stability-wise, Double Agent is very hit or miss. During my play time, the game crashed at least 10 times, but actually closer to the 15-20 range. I'm unsure if I should credit those crashes to faulty programing by Ubisoft, or the fact that I'm running the game on Windows 7 and through Steam. Either way, definitely something to look out for.

Gameplay Rating:

Story

Unlike the other Splinter Cell titles in the series, Double Agent is not simply a random assortment of missions Sam undertakes with little to no connection between them. At the beginning of the game, Sam is heading to (if I remember right) Russia to ascertain if a certain terrorist group has acquired a nuclear weapon and disable it if that is indeed the case. After disarming the weapon and extracting, Sam is informed that his daughter, Sarah, was killed in what seemed to be a hit-and-run incident. Without anything left to lose, Sam takes on the most dangerous mission of his life; to infiltrate one of the world's most dangerous terrorist organizations. After purposely landing himself in prison and breaking out a member of the terrorist organization, the JBA, Sam finds himself at their headquarters in New York and joining their ranks.

It is at this point that the story progression is in your hands. In each mission, you're given objectives from both the JBA and NSA. At times you can complete the objectives of both organizations without drawing suspicion from either, but there are also times when you must choose who's cause to support because objectives from each organization are completely opposite from each other. Do you choose to kill innocent civilians in order to prove your loyalty to the terrorists and put your motives in question with the NSA, or do you spare the civilians and risk blowing your cover with the terrorists? Choices like this and others change how people feel about you and how much they trust you. They can also effect how the game ends entirely and if a certain mission is available to you at all. It all leads up to an ending that sets up the story for Splinter Cell: Conviction excellently.

Story Rating:

Replay Value

Replayability in Double Agent is definitely its weakest point. While the story is better-than-average by a bit, there are some pretty cool moments in the missions, and the gameplay is mostly solid, the game just doesn't have enough impact to make me want to play it over again. The frequent crashes are also a big factor in why I won't be giving Double Agent another go; though I don't know if it was simply an issue with Windows 7, Steam, or just bad programing. It was a good ride the first time through, but not so much afterwards.

Replay Value Rating: 

Final Thoughts and Overall Score

Splinter Cell: Double Agent is not a bad game by any stretch of the imagination, but it's also not a completely world-shatteringly awesome one either. It provides a good story with solid gameplay if you can survive the crashes. It's available for nearly every system known to man, even GameCube; but you'll have the most luck finding it for PC (system requirements below) with online retailers such as Steam and Direct2Drive, considering its age. The only time I've recently seen a console version of the game was a few months ago at my local Blockbuster. If you see the game for $5 to $10, consider giving it a try; it's worth the nominal cost.

Splinter Cell: Double Agent Overall Score:

PC Minimum System Requirements:

Supported OS: Microsoft Windows® XP

Processor: 3 Ghz Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon 3000 (3.5 Ghz Pentium 4 or Athlon 3500 recommended) - Game optimized for dual-processor-enabled computers.

System Memory: 1 GB or above (1.5 GB recommended)

Video Card: DirectX 9.0c-compliant, Shader 3.0-enabled 128 MB video card (256 MB recommended) (see supported list*)

Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c-compatible (EAX recommended) - PC audio solution containing Dolby Digital Live required for Dolby Digital audio.

DirectX Version: DirectX® version 9.0c or higher

Hard Disk: 8 GB available hard disk space

Multiplay: Broadband connection with 128 kbps upstream or faster

*Supported video cards at time of retail release: Single Player: ATI X1300 / X1600 / X1800 / X1900, NVIDIA 6200 / 6600 / 6800 / 7300 / 7600 / 7800 / 7900 | Multiplayer: ATI X1600 / X1800 / X1900, NVIDIA 6600 / 6800 /7300 / 7600 / 7800 / 7900