The long awaited Splinter Cell new chapter has been released by Ubisoft. This time Sam Fisher is in a bad mood and he would not think twice to smash your face in the mirror or break a sink with your head to get the information that he is desperately seeking. This time, Sam Fisher has no protocol and be aware if he decides to approach and interrogate you.

This anger from Sam Fisher, in this chapter changes everything around the game, gameplay is not what people used to have in other games of the series. This may have been a risky change from Ubisoft, but the end result was a very positive one, making it a great experience. Although the game continues after Splinter Cell Double Agent, if you are a new comer to the series, you will instantly catch up on what's going on.

So, as we said before, the story is set a few years after the previous chapter in the Splinter series with Sam Fisher's daughter being killed, Sam killed his best friend Lambert and he has left the government agency called Third Echelon, where he has been working for many years. New evidence has led the tormented semi-retired Sam fisher to link the murderers of his daughter to a major terrorist attack on Washington DC.

You start off in the city of Valletta situated in Malta, where although there are a number of iconic resemblance with the city's features, it's not a real representation of the city. Being myself a Maltese citizen, it was great to see your country featured in the game with some features of the old city of Valletta. Although a real structure of the city would have been welcomed, it's still great!

As it was illustrated before, this chapter goes beyond the series' methods and it's being pushed forward to a more aggressive-less-stealth stance. The single player part of the game is very well structured and user experience has really been taken into consideration. You will start playing and end up not realizing that you played all night. One of the things that compensate this, is the in-existent in-game loading screens, so you will never be able to have a toilet break while you are playing. The only loading time is when you die and restart the level. The levels are cunningly loaded while watching cut-scenes.

While playing, the developers introduced an in-game wall projection text in the surrounding environment being used to point you to the right direction or action. It's a good way to integrate these features since it will increase the user experience without spoiling the mood, so that you remain immersed in the gameplay.Gameplay is one of the highlights of Conviction, where this time the gameplay is fast paced with Sam running along his path. Switching from one cover position to another or going through ledges to make a counter move or a hasty retreat. This time there is no avoidance of any enemy, Sam is the new kid in town and he will make sure that if you are his enemy, you will suffer and get your ass kicked!

Well, don't get me wrong... this game is not just a shooter since it still has your classic Splinter Cell experience of covering, hiding in shadows and waiting for the right time to execute your deadly moves. Talking about covering, the game has a very good covering system and even the best covering system I have experienced. Switching from one cover to another is fast and effective. If the enemy would spot you in the cover area that you are and you immediately switch to another without the enemy sees you, a ghost like figure of you will be visible in the exposed cover or area where the enemy spotted you. This may come in handy when you need to quickly flank your enemy for a counter attack. The covering system is very easy to use and master. You will not stick or clip to the cover, you will simple move in cover of an object and you easily disengage to either shoot or move to another cover location.

The game also features a feature called Mark & Execute which will allow you to mark the enemies to execute and it will automatically kill all the enemies marked. Although this is guaranteed to work, it's not always that easy and it will not always make your gameplay easy. Basically it works like this, you mark them by spying on the enemies using either the mirror under the door, or by spying from a cover or from darkness. You must then press the execute button and Sam will simultaneously the enemies with one nifty move. Although you will execute your enemies, this could back-stab you since other enemies may be alerted, blowing up your cover or if you don't find a good position to execute your enemies, you will not manage to hit them all. There could be more enemies than you can execute, so use this feature carefully. The Mark & Execute feature is a great addition to the game, and it makes it more open to how you finish the part of the level.

Each weapon that you will use has its own unique features. In combination with the Mark & Execute, each weapon will have the number of marks which the weapon can give. Depending on the action that you will take, you will need to choose your weapon wisely.

The game lets you interrogate specified enemies to get the information you need. Although this may sound cool and well, action-wise it is, since you can smash the perpetrator on a sink mirror or wall, but then it isn't any fun.

The single-player mode is quite interesting and fun, but it's a bit short. The game's forte can be found in the ton of content available in the multiplayer modes which include the co-op campaign, infiltration, last stand and hunter mode.

Hunter will put you with a number of enemies that you need to kill, Infiltration is similar to Hunter but with additional laser alarms and with instant fail if you are spotted, in Last Stand you will need to protect an EMP device from waves of enemies, and the last one, but in my opinion of the most enjoyable mode is the co-op mode. This mode offers a split-screen where you and your friend can take your role of Archer Third Echelon agent or Ketrel from the Russian Voron agent. Starting from before the single player campaign, both agents team up to hunt down missing WMDs. They both have the same skills of Sam Fisher, but they must work together to make it through the four unique environments available.

In the co-op mode, you must pass it all together and if one of the two dies, the mission will fail... but you can always heal your friend before he dies. Mark & Execute is also part of this mode with a player being able to share marks between players, where when executed, time slows down for a few seconds to give a dramatic effects. A lot of potential is in the co-op mode and Ubisoft surely played their cards well.

Conclusion

This new chapter of the game is really great with immersive graphics, sounds and an impressive covering system. The environment can be used to pass a level and a lot has been changed, to improve the game series with a bad-ass Sam Fisher. The only thing which personally I didn't like is the black & white of the screen while you are in the shadows, but apart from that, it's a keeper and recommended with two thumbs up!