Play it again (and again), Sam?

OXCGN sneaks into Ubi at night, plays new DEMO

by GrathiusXR:

©2010 Arthur Kotsopoulos – Community Editor

[ED: well not really sneaked, but we were allowed in 'after-hours' to have some 'unofficial' personal hands-on with Sam's new demo prior to release on XboxLIve in a few days time.

All three of us were alone in Ubi's demo room. All the staff, bar one person, had gone for the evening, lights were out throughout the offices, and the various cubicles sat empty while the walls rang with echoes of footsteps as we wandered back-n-forth to the loo when needed (hey, it's what happens with too much ale and pizza at night in darkened rooms with other gamers).

This sure did set the stage for some 'really erie' sneaky, silent Sam Fisher times with the official demo. Thanks go to some special people at Ubi-Aust for allowing us the opportunity to have this private time with the demo, most appreciated guys.

Here's how Arthur experienced the brief run-through of the new demo. All I can say, as a veteran Splinter Cell gamers since day one is, bring it on, this will be bloody fantastic . . . - GS]

Demo Available for Download to you 360 – NOW!

The latest demo is the exact same level as the one that has been demoed at the last few UbiNights except this time around it features a lot more content so as to give the player a good indication of what they should expect of the final game. It’s been streamlined but still features quite a good chunk of content.

After so many delays and different changes in direction and gameplay I am pleased so say that this is going to be an amazing game, mainly based on the fact that you have so many options for attacking any given situation.

I managed to finish the demo level on Realistic (which will prove a challenge to many) several times in various ways that sometimes gave me a positive result or a negative result, so there is a great risk of success or failure depending on how you plan your attack.

What amazed me is how many possible approaches of attack there are in Splinter Cell: Conviction especially in this one level, as no matter how many times I finished it I always found something new, whether it was a ledge, a catwalk or different weapons to either ‘stealth’ or ‘Rambo’ my way in.

This makes it great to replay.

It’s a game of thought, strategy, brute force, stealth and caters to a wide variety of gamers this time around. Where the previous Splinter Cell games catered to a smaller audience group Splinter Cell: Conviction is a bit more streamlined so gamers of different gaming types will also love it.

Ok so let’s get in to some examples of different ways to tackle the enemy:

The 2nd run consisted of pure Rambo-esque brute force; think Gears Of War without the chainsaw. With each enemy I’d wait behind cover line up the first beautiful headshot, take it then switch to my Sub-Machine gun, shoot, take cover and ask questions later.

Of course on Realistic you will get shot and die extremely quick, hence the Realistic difficulty *hits head*. Whilst on Realistic you do need to use ‘cover’ effectively, or, if you wish, you can still tackle many missions by just unloading clips into the enemies.

But don’t worry, there’s no S.T.A.L.K.E.R style ‘hit damage’ where you need 234435646 bullets to take just one guy down, as a well placed shot takes a guy out, provided you don’t aim at his ‘flack-jacket’ rather than an exposed body part.

The 3rd playthrough consisted of the ultimate stealth approach- this time I was pure hidden like Batman minus the costume- the darkness was my friend.

In one section there are two rooms in the sewer, one with 3 enemies and another with 4. I found the catwalk above on room and climbed up. Turning on my Sonar Goggles, I tagged 2 enemies and lined myself up for some sweet Death From Above on another.

Before this I grabbed my flashbang grenade threw that into the other room and the moment that hit the ground I dropped down on the enemy below executed the tagged enemies (press Y) and re-hid in the shadows. The few watching me had their doubts that this approach would even work but I proved them wrong.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory was an amazing stealth game, Splinter Cell: Double Agent was a great addition and added tough decisions yet still had that stealth element with some run-and-gun style gameplay many love.

Splinter Cell: Conviction on the other hand blends both types of gameplay extremely well and allows you to tackle anything anyway you want in whatever manner you want, and in whatever order you want.

Flashbangs, EMP Grenade, Portable EMP device, ‘Sticky-cam’, Portable Camera and more feature. All the equipment is there, it basically comes down to the way you decide to use them.

Heck poor old Sam Fisher has aged and is more experienced in the art of hand-to-hand combat more-so then ever now, so never let that skill go to waste either. The semi-interactive cutscenes are brilliant, as your movements determine the type of moves made in the interactive-quicktime event.

Eliminating enemies via hand-hand combat not only allows you to slowly pick off enemies where you want but it allows you to build up an Adrenaline Execute Meter which then allows you to tag and execute up to 3 enemies at a time with the handgun or 2 or more enemies depending on which weapon you have selected.

The hand-to-hand execution animations will satisfy the masses as each is crafted with perfection. Whether you attack from the front, behind or side each animation will be detailed and different.

Punch to the stomach and bullet to the head, knee to the rib and bullet in the back or elbow in the face or punch to the gut and pistol whip to the neck, you’ll never tire of the executions or take-downs for interrogation purposes or silent executions.

One thing that I know I will never grow tired of is the game’s soundtrack: the music in this demo level is quite adrenaline pumping and dynamic. If you engage the enemy it will rise to a climax to suit the situation at hand, whereas if the enemy only knows of your last location the music eases yet still feels quite tense.

There are so many thing that excel in this game I couldn’t really find find any fault within the demo other than It was too short.

I am really excited that the game finally has a concrete release month of April (no ‘exact’ date given yet – Just April) but I am somewhat disappointed that several other big games are coming out at the same time.

I’m especially taken with the Splinter Cell: Conviction Collectors Edition that is available at GAME which retails for $129.95 and includes a lot of goodies.

Be sure to go out and pre-order this bad boy now as it also includes pre-order bonuses like a flashlight keychain and a Tom Clancy’s LE Anniversary Edition Xbox 360 Faceplate. Hopefully we may have a few of these great GAME Splinter Cell: Conviction Collectors Packs up for grabs once the game is released, so keep your eyes peeled for any announcements here at OXCGN.

I know which game will keep my attention until I’ve completed it and probably get me to try again playing differently. It’s been a long time coming and it’s almost here: Sam Fisher is on his latest journey for answers.

• Will they be answered?

• Will he gain revenge for the loss of his daughter?

• How will he achieve his goals?

• Will he succeed in what he is trying to accomplish?

Soon we will all know. According to Ubisoft, Splinter Cell: Convictions is due for release “Sometime in April” . . a final release/street date is to be confirmed by Ubisoft shortly.

©2010 Arthur Kotsopoulos – Community Editor

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