There was a point in the 7th console gen where every stealth franchise had to dumb itself down in a vain attempt to nab more sales. Splinter Cell Conviction is probably the attempt that got the most positive reception, but considering it alienated a lot of Splinter Cell fans and is rarely mentioned these days, it's probably safe to say it had a negative impact on the franchise.
There are two ways to play Conviction. The first is the way the devs intended, and it gets old fast. Conviction is a "solved game", where nearly every encounter has one dominant solution. Conviction introduced the "Mark and Execute" system, where Sam can gain Marks by performing a melee kill/grab (the amount of Marks you can hold onto varies depending on the gun you're carrying, but it only ever takes one kill to fill up all your Marks). The player spends these Marks by pressing the Execute button, essentially an automatic win button which lets Sam kill any and all enemies in his field of view (and outside of it, with a little camera finesse). Conviction almost never has enemies patrolling hallways or tiny rooms. Foes are usually grouped together in vaguely disguised combat arenas, and often must all be wiped out before you're allowed to progress. The interwoven paths and open structure of Chaos Theory is long behind us, and killing enemies is now mandatory.
This lack of variety ensures that the player is going into every combat scenario with the same gameplan: Find a straggler, waltzing in some corner of the arena, and kill them with a melee attack. This provides a full set of Marks, which you can then use on most, if not all of the remaining baddies. You'd be surprised just how far this single strategy will take you. Even if there are too many enemies to kill in a single Execute, getting another one should rarely pose a challenge. Enemies have a startled phase in between spotting you and actually attacking, giving you plenty of leeway if you get caught. Maybe if a single melee kill only earned you one Mark at a time, this system would be less subject to abuse. Judging by developer interviews though, I get the impression Executes really are supposed to be this stupidly overpowering. Sam's list of gadgets has shrunken from previous titles, but he still has a fair amount of them, not that you'll ever feel that compelled to use them. Conviction wants you to feel like Jason Bourne, and it wants to accomplish that feeling with a single button, game depth or balancing be damned.
The second way to play Conviction is to just treat it like a third-person shooter. The developers must have thought this was an acceptable way to play, considering there's an entire level where you play as Sam's just-now-introduced war buddy Victor Coste, and he has none of the stealth prowess Sam does, making his short gameplay cameo a full-on cover shooter. Too bad the cover shooting feels pretty bad. On console, there's no aiming sensitivity options to speak of, or button mapping for that matter(I hope clicking the left thumbstick to reload doesn't sound too awkward!), so aiming feels slow and has a hefty amount of acceleration. Feedback isn't anything to write home about either, but I guess not every shooter can be Resident Evil 4. Most bizarrely, moving from cover-to-cover is handled by aiming towards a desired piece of cover, pressing A, and watching Sam automatically make a mad dash to the conveniently placed chest-high wall. I shouldn't have to explain why automating a crucial action, one that's often nail biting in other games, is a bad thing... but a 2010 IGN reviewer said this game has the best cover system that reviewer has ever used so fuck me I guess.
Regardless of how you tackle it, Conviction is a pretty easy game, even on the pretentiously named "Realistic" difficulty. You'll likely finish the story in around 5 to 6 hours, with most levels being blink and you'll miss it affairs. Normally I appreciate a short game, but Conviction manages to get old even before its short runtime comes to a close. More emphasis has been placed on the plot but it's filled with contrivances and characters talking as smugly as they can. It plays out more like a mediocre serial drama than anything of substance. Past Splinter Cell stories were by-the-number political thrillers but they had likable, surprisingly funny characters, with great camaraderie. Conviction is relatively joyless, both in it's characters and in its attempt at "revolutionizing" the stealth genre.
There are two ways to play Conviction. The first is the way the devs intended, and it gets old fast. Conviction is a "solved game", where nearly every encounter has one dominant solution. Conviction introduced the "Mark and Execute" system, where Sam can gain Marks by performing a melee kill/grab (the amount of Marks you can hold onto varies depending on the gun you're carrying, but it only ever takes one kill to fill up all your Marks). The player spends these Marks by pressing the Execute button, essentially an automatic win button which lets Sam kill any and all enemies in his field of view (and outside of it, with a little camera finesse). Conviction almost never has enemies patrolling hallways or tiny rooms. Foes are usually grouped together in vaguely disguised combat arenas, and often must all be wiped out before you're allowed to progress. The interwoven paths and open structure of Chaos Theory is long behind us, and killing enemies is now mandatory.
This lack of variety ensures that the player is going into every combat scenario with the same gameplan: Find a straggler, waltzing in some corner of the arena, and kill them with a melee attack. This provides a full set of Marks, which you can then use on most, if not all of the remaining baddies. You'd be surprised just how far this single strategy will take you. Even if there are too many enemies to kill in a single Execute, getting another one should rarely pose a challenge. Enemies have a startled phase in between spotting you and actually attacking, giving you plenty of leeway if you get caught. Maybe if a single melee kill only earned you one Mark at a time, this system would be less subject to abuse. Judging by developer interviews though, I get the impression Executes really are supposed to be this stupidly overpowering. Sam's list of gadgets has shrunken from previous titles, but he still has a fair amount of them, not that you'll ever feel that compelled to use them. Conviction wants you to feel like Jason Bourne, and it wants to accomplish that feeling with a single button, game depth or balancing be damned.
The second way to play Conviction is to just treat it like a third-person shooter. The developers must have thought this was an acceptable way to play, considering there's an entire level where you play as Sam's just-now-introduced war buddy Victor Coste, and he has none of the stealth prowess Sam does, making his short gameplay cameo a full-on cover shooter. Too bad the cover shooting feels pretty bad. On console, there's no aiming sensitivity options to speak of, or button mapping for that matter(I hope clicking the left thumbstick to reload doesn't sound too awkward!), so aiming feels slow and has a hefty amount of acceleration. Feedback isn't anything to write home about either, but I guess not every shooter can be Resident Evil 4. Most bizarrely, moving from cover-to-cover is handled by aiming towards a desired piece of cover, pressing A, and watching Sam automatically make a mad dash to the conveniently placed chest-high wall. I shouldn't have to explain why automating a crucial action, one that's often nail biting in other games, is a bad thing... but a 2010 IGN reviewer said this game has the best cover system that reviewer has ever used so fuck me I guess.
Regardless of how you tackle it, Conviction is a pretty easy game, even on the pretentiously named "Realistic" difficulty. You'll likely finish the story in around 5 to 6 hours, with most levels being blink and you'll miss it affairs. Normally I appreciate a short game, but Conviction manages to get old even before its short runtime comes to a close. More emphasis has been placed on the plot but it's filled with contrivances and characters talking as smugly as they can. It plays out more like a mediocre serial drama than anything of substance. Past Splinter Cell stories were by-the-number political thrillers but they had likable, surprisingly funny characters, with great camaraderie. Conviction is relatively joyless, both in it's characters and in its attempt at "revolutionizing" the stealth genre.