Splinter Cell: conviction is the fifth outing for Sam Fisher in the Tom Clancy series. After setbacks and revamps the series is back with a fresh new look on the super-spy and it’s all very welcome.
Ubisoft Montreal have chosen to drop Sam’s array of high tech gizmos with the new storyline which places Sam on the run from his previous bosses at Third Echelon and wound him up in a conspiracy bursting at the seams with presidential murder and electro bombs. This sees you in locations around the world including flashback scenes from the Gulf War and modern day sabotage in central Washington DC as well as in emotional flashbacks to life with his daughter.
The loss of Sam’s trademark stealth gear is a shame, although a few items do make reappearances later on in the game along with a few alterations. The heads up display has been upgraded with a sleeker more minimalist look, which is also reflected in the world around you.
The game is not the most graphically sophisticated game to date but its style is very easy on the eyes and has been well designed. To indicate whether you are in the shadows, the game drops into a sinister greyscale with interactive objects such as explosive barrels highlighted in colour. Current objectives and storyline moments are also projected on walls and scenery around you in a very cinematic manner.
Sam’s initial loss of Third Echelon gadgets isn’t all bad, however Ubisoft have rebuilt the engine completely compared to what it used to be. Actions are much more fluid and most environmental objects can be clambered over, hung from, shot, used as shelter, etc etc etc. This is paired with a control scheme, which is much easier for interactions as the cover system is paired to the left trigger, which lets you snap in and out of cover. Combat is equally as fluid, and it’s still satisfying when you make it through a merc-infested zone undetected. One of the new additions is the execution tagging which lets you mark (number depends on your weapon) and execute targets with the tap of a button. To balance this ability, you need to carry out one close quarter melee kill before you are able to use it. Initially the system feels like overkill but as you progress I found it grows on you and is a handy way of clearing an area or taking out a couple of marked targets if you suddenly stumble into the light.
With a very robust singleplayer it is a nice surprise to find a separate and likewise robust co-op and multiplayer mode available for online and split-screen play. The co-op campaign lets you play as two bickering Russian and American spies in a series of missions through Moscow and various locations. As for the traditional Splinter Cell online modes, spy versus mercenary has been removed (much to my dismay) and replaced with various other modes including Hunter, Infiltration, Last Stand, and Face Off. These have you competing together to kill various AI driven baddies, or against each other. The cooperative variants are nice in the sense that they encourage teamwork and the rewards for doing so are not getting riddled with AI bullets. It seems odd that with such an epic singleplayer and online multiplayer they’ve condensed the number of people who can play in a match, cutting the Spy vs. Merc carnage… but it still provides an exhilarating experience.
For a game which has been so highly rated for so many years, Splinter Cell: Conviction really brings a breath of fresh air to the franchise and shows that there’s still life in the much missed series. A very sturdy single player and multiplayer, even if the storyline is cliché Tom Clancy.
Game fanatics such as myself will be upset that they’ve gone for a more fast paced run-and-gun singleplayer. I guess that’s my main criticism of the game; in looking to reform the it they’ve overlooked what players like about it. In possible future episodes Ubisoft will have to watch their step as they run the risk of becoming another mainstream shooter rather than the stealth genre it has helped to found. But either way Ubisoft Montreal have done a great job reviving the series and I would recommend it to anyone thinking of buying it.
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Channelwebscene is a democratic platform open to all to view their opinions, views, likes and dislikes. In the interests of balance we are publishing here two views on the significance of video gaming.
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Video games have been around since 1970’s, and it is only recently that the violence in video games has been brought to notice. Though the ill effects of video games were seen earlier, it was not so much about the violence than other issues.
Video games have been designed and developed with violence, with the aim of games to cause pain or death. First person shooter violence has always played an important role in games, before and even today. Take for example games like Wonder Boy, Space Invaders; these games were a few of the better-known earlier video games that contained violence. They involved the hero killing monsters or aliens and the hero facing a barrage of arrows, rocks, swords etc. Do these games have violence? Yes!! But the degree of violence was less compared to games we play today, and had less effect on the player psychologically. Games like Mortal Kombat, Doom, Wolfstein were the first to have graphic details of death, blood spill and gore causing an increase in the player’s destructive thoughts, aggressive emotions and behavior. According to a Craig A. Anderson, a noted psychologist, “Young men who are habitually aggressive may be especially vulnerable to the aggression-enhancing effects of repeated exposure to violent games.”
Studies have shown that video game violence has more effect on females than males. Girls exposed less to violence in general and have limited experience with violent video games, react tremendously on exposure to the aggressive game with more arousal than boys. Though this is only from one study, the gender bias is needed much further research, however boys and girls are known to react differently on exposure to video games. Age plays not much of a role when seen in video game violence, since the effect is the same on both older and younger players. The difference is that the older ones rarely would express the effect through physically aggressive behavior.
However the studies on video game violence have always been controversial, with one contradicting the other since violent video game research has yielded very diverse results. Though exposure to violent video games causes a risk factor to a safe society it cannot be held completely responsible. There are other factors that cause the players to become mentally and emotionally unstable. Some of them are parental neglect, unsafe neighborhood, bullying, etc. and together they evolve the nature of a player and escalate the levels of aggression felt.
Basically, video game violence is seen as an influencing factor on a player’s behavior and in order to curb it there are two rating systems for video and computer games incorporated. These rating systems classify games according to the extent of violence, unsophisticated language, nudity and drug use in their contents. This helps parents decide on the kind of video games they would like their children to play. Though there have been other policy recommendations, it would take a while for them to be enforced.
In reply
To all parents against violent video games:
It is not the video game's job to educate your kid. That is YOUR job. You are angry at the video game industry because you no longer feel comfortable using it as a baby sitter. Video games were not made to make more time for you by letting you dump your kids off on something so you could work on that big presentation for work tomorrow. They were made to provide enjoyment for youth through the means of simulation.
It is not the game developer's fault that your kid likes violent video games, it is YOUR fault. YOU are in control of what your kids play. They don't have a credit card, they don't have a car to drive out to Best Buy. And they make you be there when your kid buys the game. You have no one to blame but yourself. If you don't like it, spend time with your kid. Make it so they don't need external entertainment. Yes, it is hard to entertain an adolescent, but thats you job, thats what you asked for when you had a kid.
You are in complete control of what you kid plays. If you disagree with what a vide game consists of, don't buy it, return it, don't let your kid play it. Yes, your kid will be angry with you, its not your job to be their friend, your their parent.
From our reviewer
I cant say I'm a fan of having a go at gaming for violence...
The media always picks up on the fact that people who have commited crimes play violent games, whereas if they played something like Tetris I'm sure the media wouldnt be in the least bit interested. I've played some of the most violent games to date and I dont consider myself violent, and it doesnt give me the urge to walk out the door and kill someone. Violent games are just a genre, and its people who dont play games and arent part of the culture that think theyre all bad. Most news reports you see on those kinds of things are really ill informed. It would be nice to see violent books or films getting in the paper for once.
