Ubisoft has definitely been watching 24. Like Jack Bauer himself, Splinter Cell protagonist Sam Fisher has "gone rogue" a million times before. But this time Sam's properly pissed off with his old employers; his daughter's been 'killed', dirty stubble sits on his face and he's head-shotting mercenaries as if to impress the loud-mouthed announcer from Quake III Arena.
The big screen thriller influences are everywhere in Conviction. Combat is loud and brutal like Bourne, dream-like narrative is projected on to the scenery and Sam himself dispatches rooms of baddies near-instantly and with surgical precision - just like Jack Bauer.
Splinter Cell: Conviction
Official trailer
0:53PAX video
Splinter Cell: Conviction
Official trailer
0:53PAX video
Age Restricted Content Please enter your date of birth below in order to verify your age before watching this video
You must be at least 0 years of age.
Play Again? Missed something? Just watch it again..
Watch More Videos Browse related videos and see what's new & popular
Share This Video Email this video, or embed it into your own web page
Conviction is the most brutal, edgy Splinter Cell yet and - to its credit - the latest, Tokyo Game Show demo shows the new game off far better than what we saw at E3.
The latest press tryout is a level from later on in the game, where our moody hero's tasked with infiltrating an EMP staging ground in the city outskirts. It's the usual terrorist compound; chain link fences, gossiping guards with rifles and sinister plans going down in the shadows... and Sam Fisher's about to crash the fun.
Straight off the bat we can tell Ubisoft Montreal's improved the control set-up. Like before the left trigger is associated with sneaking/cover and the right trigger is used to fire your weapon. Thankfully the previous demo's bizarre choice to assign actions to clicking the left stick has been changed and the focus moved to the face buttons; X grabs enemies and generally performs actions, B activates your gadget, A jumps/climbs and Y executes.
The reshuffle makes for a better flowing game and brings about a stronger Splinter Cell feel. As we head towards the base, dropping in and dashing between cover is effortless; just like Gears of War sprinting between objects is a simple task of pointing the right stick towards you next piece of cover and pressing A to automatically run towards it.
A new on-screen HUD item momentarily appears on screen when you're spotted - or about to be spotted - presenting an arrow that points towards your about-to-be-alerted foe. Just like Call of Duty 4's kill cam, this helps take some of the frustration out of failing as you always know where your hide 'n seek went wrong.
Conviction is all about these kind of subtle enhancements that help take the confusion out of stealth gameplay - and they're much better demonstrated in this larger, more open demo. We stalk the perimeter of the base, dashing from cover to cover in the shadows, and eventually make it within smelling distance of a group of four armed guards at the entrance.
Projected prominently on the side of the building (part of Conviction's edgy new art style) is our objective; to interrogate this group's boss and discover the status of the EMP device inside - which means we're somehow going to have to top three guards and capture the fourth.
This is the structure of Conviction; room-by-room set pieces where hiding, planning and finally acting is the order of play. In a way it's very similar to the excellent predator-style stealth combat in Batman: Arkham Asylum - and that's a good thing.
Peering over my concrete cover I quickly work out how I'm going to tackle this. With a hold of X I grab the nearest lacky to use as human cover. Holding RB I target the nearest two guards - who're now reaching for their weapons - and headshot them in seconds with Sam's devastating Mark and Execute system.
Snapping my meat shield's neck I dash to the left and take cover as the boss of the group - who's ten metres ahead aiming his weapons - opens fire at my feet. I manage to sneak down a storm drain and another of Conviction's systems, "Last Known Position", is given a full demo as the remaining guard continues to lay down fire on my previous cover.
Dragging myself up at the end of the storm drain to flank my foe, I manage to snatch him from behind and proceed to beat the living snot out of him in a scene similar to the bathroom opening at E3. Like that, it's a brutal interrogation - completely player-controlled - that ends with a knife through the hand and related sweary narrative, in this case about a scientist we need to find.
This kind of Arkham Asylum-style 'hide, plan, attack' shadow-swooping is repeated throughout the TGS demo. Once we'd infiltrated the staging ground, one room encounter had us climbing a ceiling pipe to simultaneously time shooting a crane down on a pair of enemies' heads and dropping feet-first on a third from above.
'Mark and Execute' is incredibly useful in these quick-thinking encounters. As with the E3 demo, you earn Marks by performing stealth kills - dropping on a guard's head in the previous set-up for example would've granted us the ability to 'lock on' to up to three enemies (and presumably more with other guns) before nailing all of them between the eyes in an instant.
On first try we were admittedly concerned that the M&E; system would quickly help Conviction descend into a cheap, run-and-gun headshot-fest, but in actuality it's been thoughtfully balanced.
For a start, you can't execute your marks if they're too far away or obstructed by scenery, and we found it incredibly difficult to pull off when engaged in a busy firefight (though Ubisoft stresses this demo isn't quite balanced).
The only time Sam's speed-killing special move is really useful is when you're planning your attack from the shadows, for instance; first locking on to two of three guards, dropping on the third from above and then quickly executing your marked targets. Arsing around marking enemies in a firefight will get you killed. Believe us - we've tried.
One final pleasant surprise from the TGS demo is the new implementation of Splinter Cell's most famous feature; the goggles. Ubisoft promised this time around that the iconic, glowing headgear would benefit the player rather than correcting a notable handicap - not being able to see - and we're proud to report it's delivered on its word.
In yet another presumably accidental nod to Arkham Asylum, Sam's goggles now highlight every enemy in the room - even through walls - in an X-Ray-like glow.
Just like Batman's Detective Mode the new goggles massively enhance the preparation and predatory aspects of Sam Fisher's latest and you can immediately see where all of your foes are and map out your strategy accordingly.
In conjunction with the 'Last Known Position' system, escaping shootouts to monitor and flank enemies through air vent interiors is possible. Walking naively into a room full of tooled-up goons becomes a thing of the past too - because you can see the lot of them through the brick wall.
With all new systems combined, Ubisoft's got a more strategic, faster paced - and far less frustrating - Splinter Cell on its hands. Our only concern is that in binning the revelations and tech from the 2007 design Conviction has maybe lost some of its ambition - though we're fully hoping to be proved wrong.
At the very least, Conviction looks set to be the very best linear Splinter Cell game yet - and we look forward to playing more.
Can't wait for this but I'm concerned by the amount of action that's present in what is supposed to be a stealth game, though this could be down to having to make a suitable demo to present to people rather than the main focus of the whole game.
It sounds like the AI will have to be spectacular based on the benefits outlined above. Splinter cell is one of the few cases in gaming whereby I just want more of the same with some more sheen.
I'm still getting it though - just hope they dont balls it up.
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
