Release Date: April 13th 2010
Splinter Cell: Conviction takes place roughly two years after the events of Splinter Cell: Double Agent. Sam Fisher has gone rogue from Third Echelon after discovering that the death of his daughter, Sarah, was not an accident. However, Third Echelon, now overly-bureaucratic and bound in red tape, are in pursuit of Sam. Sam must use all the help he can get, including former Third Echelon colleague Anna Grimsdóttír, and Sam's friend, Victor Coste, in order to discover the truth behind the death of his daughter. Sam begins with going after his daughter's killer, but he finds himself trying to stop a more serious threat upon Washington DC.
GAMEPLAY
Splinter Cell: Conviction introduces a number of new gameplay features to the series. One of which is the "Mark and Execute" feature, which allows the player to mark specific targets, such as enemies or objects, and shoot them when they burst through a door or window. The player can choose to prioritize these targets, so that, for example, he could distract one guard by shooting out a light in his vicinity and then take out another guard. Another new feature is the "Last Known Position", which occurs when the player breaks the line of sight of an alerted guard. This creates a visual silhouette of where the guard thinks Sam is, allowing the player to strategically flank his enemies. Main target subjects can use the player's abilities against them. The player can be taken hostage by the subject. If this happens in co-op mode, the hostage's partner can neutralize the subject by any means necessary, possibly even by lethal means.
Other new features include the ability to interrogate characters in real-time and use objects in the surrounding environment against them. A crowd mechanic has been introduced, allowing Sam to vanish within a crowd if under pursuit. The environment is also used to project mission objectives and key plot points onto walls in order to keep the player immersed in the gameplay during the narrative.
CO-OPERATIVE
In the January 2010 issue of Official Xbox Magazine, Ubisoft detailed a brand new cooperative campaign in Conviction. The mode will take approximately six hours to complete, and will take place on four unique maps. Players will take control of two characters: Archer, an American agent working for Third Echelon, and Kestrel, a Russian agent working for Voron, Third Echelon's Russian counterpart. The mode is a prequel to the single-player campaign, taking place two months prior. As well featuring new cooperative attacks which can be coordinated between Archer and Kestrel, the mode will feature a Persistent Elite Creation System. Inspired by Rainbow Six, players will be able to spend points earned in-game to acquire new weapons, gadgets and outfits as well as accessories and performance upgrades.
On December 23rd, 2009, Xbox Evolved announced a statement from an Ubisoft developer, confirming that a split-screen local co-operative campaign will make a return on the Xbox 360 version of the game, albeit differently from previous games like Chaos Theory and Double Agent.
MULTIPLAYER
Conviction will also feature a new multiplayer mode entitled Deniable Ops. This mode will take place on the four multiplayer maps on the cooperative campaign, as well as two other maps exclusive to Deniable Ops.
RETAIL VERSIONS
Ubisoft have announced that Splinter Cell: Conviction will be released in three retail versions. As well as the standard version, there will be the Collector's Edition, and the Limited Collector's Edition. The Collector's Edition will be exclusive to the United States and Canada, which features a custom USB drive, an artbook based on the Splinter Cell series, two decal stickers, a comic book detailing the events leading up to Conviction, and two in-game items: an MP5-SD3 sub-machine gun and a Third Echelon spy suit.
The Limited Collector's Edition is exclusive to European, Middle Eastern, Asian and Pacific territories. It includes a high quality edition box with a Sam Fisher figurine, steelbook dvd case with the game disc, manual and game soundtrack DVD (over 17 tracks), and a card with 5 bonus in-game content codes: The MP-5 machine gun, SC3000 assault rife, SMG-2 machine pistol, Infiltration game mode and the Shadow Armour outfit. Ubisoft released a trailer of the Limited Collector's Edition which showed an unboxing of the set.
SCREENSHOTS
