[serious] Game Review - Splinter Cell: Conviction (no spoilers)

Price: £23 from HMV (in the high street).

Synopsis: Awesome.

Detail: Frickin' awesome.

More detail:

Ok so the Splinter Cell series has to be the least consistent franchise I've ever played - technology wise. Splinter Cell 1 broke the mold by introducing loads of new ideas into modern gaming. Lots of toys to play with and strategies to use. Very hard game, even on the easy settings.

SC2 was easier and IMHO, better.
SC3 was a bit dull.
SC4: Double Agent went completely insane and I hated it - then I put it on a shelf for a year and then tried it again - finally understood what was going on and quite liked it in the end.

SC5: Conviction bears almost no resemblance to the other games at all. The focus is less on stealth and more on killing people in amusing and inventive ways. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though. The combat system is easily the best of any of the games - it's fast, flowing and slick and is very satisfying to string together 10 executions in a row without being detected.

Doing such things earns you credits with which you can buy upgrades for your weapons and armour.

The story line kind of continues on from the end of Double Agent although there is absolutely NO mention of the fact that Sam was apparently suspected of helping to blow up New York. Nevermind, that though because the new story is reasonably entertaining.

There's a huge amount of combat in this game, but you can still use stealth to avoid skirmishes if that's what you prefer to do.

Pros:

• Single-player campaign is brilliant, I've completed it twice now, on "Normal" and "Realistic" modes.
• Online 2-player mini-campaign is great too - team work is great with this combat system.
• 1-player "Deniable Ops" game mode is fantastic (kill everyone without being detected, if you are detected, a bunch more bad guys show up)
• Gadgets are cool - remote minds, prox mines, exploding sticky cameras, emp grenades etc...

Cons:

• It's a bit on the easy side - Even on "Realistic Difficulty" it's not actually very difficult. I find myself wanting at least 2 more difficulty settings above that. This is my only criticism of the game actually, in all other respects it's superb.

I'd say this is probably in the top 3 games I've played in the last 5 years, the other two being Oblivion and Forza 3.

Buy it.