Splinter Cell: Conviction Review

Splinter Cell Conviction, this was a game I hadn't played in so long and when I played it all those years ago, I remember not being a big fan of it. After playing the game all these years later, I still don't think the game is that great, at best I consider it to be mediocre with some good moment here and there when I mean good moments, I mainly just mean one level which is 3rd Echelion HQ. I'll get more into that later.

I'll start with what I dislike, the game simpily can't decide whether it wants to be a cover based shooter or a stealth game. What really hold the game back for me is the level design, and it's not even because it's linear, after all pasts SCs were linear, but what makes Conviction's levels so sub par is the fact that they feel like cover based shooter arenas where the game makes deceptively makes you feel like you could sneak your way through and it is possible to, but only after getting spotted and the enemies paying so much attention to your last known position to the point where you can slip away from them, at that point, I am not sure if I was supposed to engage in a cover based shootout or that in fact had an option to sneak past them. It's hard to tell since the level design bottlenecks you so hard that it feels like you are going to get spotted no matter what. I dislike the lack of any gadgets or anything non lethal since all the gadgets you do get are offensive items which makes me even more confused about the level design. So many of the levels consist of linear straight line hallways covered with guards, and there is so many of them to the point where it feels like you are eventually going to get caught and then play the game as a cover based shooter with inaccurate weapons. The infamous level in Iraq I found to be the most honest level in the game since by that point it isn't even hiding the fact that the game is a cover based shooter and it's fully embracing that side of the gameplay. The mark and execute another infamous aspect about the game, I find to be more of a novelty if anything, I am guessing Ubisoft wanted to make you feel like a badass action movie hero where they instantly kill an enemy super fast with quick reflexing but it feels novel considering it only works if you are in stealth and you need to quickly kill enemies since the weapons in this game are super inaccurate, and that what makes the cover based shootouts so frustrating since your weapons lack any kind of accuracy, it makes the human shield mechanic worthless a lot of the time since getting headshots is unreliable so you better hope body shots kills them fast enough. There is also an over reliance on setpieces more so than other SCs and it leads to a rather uneven campaign.

Before I talk about that, I want to say that the 3rd Echelion HQ mission is one of the better missions in the game, the level design actually encourages you to play steath, and it feels possible to sneak past them with much more open areas and less guards around every corner, the level starts with no alerts and it works well since you are given multiple ways to approach the area. There is still some scripted moments here and there, but evading guards eventually getting Sonar goggles and avoiding laser grids feels so awesome and good since evasion feels possible and it adds some situational depth. The unlimited mark and execute feels somewhat earned after all the sneaking you did, so it feels cathartic to let loose.

This leads to both the game's greatest strength and weakness: the length. Many deride Conviction for it's short length but I argue it's a strength since the game ends before the frustration truly starts sets in and the game never truly overstays it's welcome to the point where the aforementioned issues would make really dislike the game, but at the same time, it's a weakness since the level design is mostly just setpieces and confused cover based stealth rooms. Since the game has many scripted sequences, how is the story?

It's okay but it feels very derivative of action movies and it feels like Ubisoft was trying hard to make their own action movie in game form. My big issue is that Ubisoft had to play along with the events of Double Agent even though it seems like deep down they seem to regret killing off Lambert and they didn't have much of a plan. Like how Tom Reed and the 3rd Echelion mole comes out of nowhere and never gets mentioned in Double Agent from what I remember. That they "retconned" Sarah's death so they can give Sam a reason to fight again and it all feels forced or the addition of Victor Coaste. It's not a terrible story since Micheal Ironside carries much of the material to make it bearable, the story in general is like, "well let's try our best to continue off what little Double Agent gave us".

Overall while I don't outright dislike it, I can see why many would, it's easy to say it's a downgrade from Chaos Theory, but as a game itself it's not that great because of it's confused design.