The Splinter Cell series hasn’t gone through many changes over the years. In regards to the single player gameplay and its style of play which has stuck with a rigid, but well liked formula. With the birth of the series, Splinter Cell introduced us to the Stealth genre with an almost realistic stealth/spy action thriller. It combined close quarters combat with slow paced sneaking tactics with an emphasis on light and darkness. The second game, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow did the same but took a step sideways by also including a much loved but perhaps inaccessible multiplayer mode. The third installment, Chaos Theory, took another step sideways by introducing co-op which built upon what already was there in the single player, and in my opinion was the pinnacle of the series. Lastly, the more recent Splinter Cell: Double Agent re-invented the multiplayer and single player, and this seems to be the start of some changes and creating a beginners step in to the journey towards Conviction, which is now being developed by Ubisoft development teams in Montreal rather than Shanghai.
If you haven’t played Splinter Cell: Double Agent, the story thus far is that Sam Fisher (the ‘series’ hero) went undercover to infiltrate the ranks of a terrorist cell. The only people who knew he was an undercover agent were his contacts at the Third Echelon. Cutting a long story short and without ruining it too much for others who have yet to play the game, Sam Fisher lost contact with the Third Echelon and now has the authorities chasing down all of the members who were previously in the terrorist group in which Sam was infiltrating; so that now includes Sam himself. Conviction starts off with the Third Echelon in disarray and Sam Fisher on the run, on his own looking for answers and us players also looking for answers after the non conclusive ending in Double Agent.
Pre-release pictures from Splinter Cell Conviction straight away shout out huge changes; as you can tell that shadows don’t play such a large part in the gameplay, or that shadows are a strategy at all? Instead of shadows it has been said that a ‘crowd system’ similar to Assassins Creed’s (as they are being developed together), would be used to the players advantage. Instead of running from danger into the shadows, you’ll be running from danger into a sea of people. From pictures of Sam Fisher himself, the raw almost ‘tramp’ look indicates that he won’t be using his nifty/futuristic gadgets but improvising with his human traits and utilizing the terrain that surrounds him; these new gameplay mechanics have actually been confirmed by the developers. Recent comments from the Montreal developers say that “Splinter Cell: Conviction will be set almost entirely in open urban areas, with Sam Fisher using other environmental elements, such as the aformentioned crowds, for cover” . So, imagine the Bourne series crossed with elements of Metal Gear Solid and ‘voila’ here you have the new Splinter Cell, whether you like it or not. Apparently the reasons for these changes are that they thought the Splinter Cell series was beginning to get “repetitive” and there is only so much you can add to that type of stealth genre.
Another reason for this transformation is that it allows the team to progress the Sam Fisher character; we will delve deeper into his dark humor which appeared quite subtle in the previous titles and he will show more emotions which will reveal the origins of his current personality. To me this may ruin Sam’s hard, almost ruthless image as he is a trained killer who was taught not to display emotion. Nonetheless this says to me that the developers are heading for a more epic/film role about Sam rather than just about the situation at hand; hopefully this won’t deter from the deep gameplay elements most of the previous games have had, but thinking about it there may be more freedom as you don’t have the ‘follow-it-by-the-book’ Third Echelon agents telling you what to do.
There are still many questions to be asked though, within the plot elements of the game and how the game play will work as a whole. However, it has been confirmed that the game will be set two years after Double Agent; so that’s two years of running from the police! Does this suggest there will be no going back to the Third Echelon? Will the whole game consist of you running away from the authorities? And how’s this going to affect the infamous Spy vs Merc multiplayer everyone loved? It’s definitely interesting though as the direction this game is taking and how the game may turn out, whether in a good way or not we’re yet to see. However the way Ubisoft are acting around the game with their usual tight lipped approach looks like we won’t see the full picture until we are nearer the game’s expected release date in early 2008.
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