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Cut scenes and Sam's thoughts play out as movies projected on the environment. Class.
Cut scenes and Sam's thoughts play out as movies projected on the environment. Class.Cut scenes and Sam's thoughts play out as movies projected on the environment. Class.

Fisher is able to mark a number of enemies, putting dots above their heads, for termination, almost like queuing up instant kills. Then, with the press of a button, Fisher executes – firing bullets with unnerving precision. We see this ability used a number of times – bursting into a room through a door, and crashing through a first floor window – both times having marked two goons previously. It's satisfying to watch, especially when the gratuitous slow motion is applied (this is governed by the player – hold down Y on the 360 pad - and is just for kicks).

You might be thinking, surely that's an overpowered ability. What's to stop you spamming mark and execute till the cows come home? Well, Ubisoft Montreal's of course thought of that. Mark and execute can only be triggered following a stealth kill. In this way, you're encouraged to play Conviction stealthily, at least in part. You can go in all guns blazing if you want, as we see when Fisher charges through a door into a room guarded by goons who know he's coming, but it'll be a much harder game. The idea is that you mark, stealth kill, then execute.

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In any case, just because you've marked a target, that doesn't mean it's a guaranteed kill. If a red circle appears above the mark's head, it is. But often it won't be red, instead varying degrees of whitish colours. This tells you how likely it is that your execute will instakill. It's dependent on the weapon, and the range. Your weapon choice affects the number of targets you can mark at once, too. So, as you can see, there's a great deal of strategy to the combat.

And finally, Fisher is able to play a game of cat and mouse with the AI with the Last Known Position technique. It's a sort of aggro system, where you're able to attack the attention of bad guys, break line of sight and leave an outline of yourself for your own visual reference of where they think you are. We see this in action as Fisher leaps out of a window as the face off against Kobin gets ugly. His guards head over to his... you guessed it... last known position. Meanwhile, Fisher scrambles towards another window, leaping in from the outside in a surprise attack. It's all for naught though, as troops storm the building just as Kobin's about to spill the beans. He doesn't, and it looks like you're captured. Whatever will happen next...


While the game is structured in a linear fashion, with a story that plays out at blistering speed, each level is designed to be a mini sandbox, allowing players the space and freedom to tackle objectives in varied ways.

What's clear is that Ubisoft Montreal has re-jigged Fisher so that he's as much of a predator as, well, the Predator. He's incredibly powerful - his increased speed, agility and new techniques afford him the power to take on scores of bad guys in the blink of an eye. Conviction is of course grounded in reality – he's no superhero – but you do get the impression that he's more than a man. Not quite human, not quite mutant. Somewhere in-between perhaps.

Ubisoft Montreal has also incorporated elements from the hugely successful Assassin's Creed. While the game is structured in a linear fashion, with a story that plays out at blistering speed, each level is designed to be a mini sandbox, allowing players the space and freedom to tackle objectives in varied ways. The way he scrambles up walls and free climbs across the sides of bridges, it's more than a tad reminiscent of Altair's antics. A light and shadow path has been moulded into each level deliberately to facilitate this play style. It's up to you to find them.

And, of course, it looks absolutely stupendous. It's up there with the best at E309, up there with Heavy Rain, Assassin's Creed 2, Alan Wake and Mass Effect 2. The term production values is one we game hacks like, but Conviction seems to like it more. The graphics, combined with non-stop, in-your-face action and a blistering, relentless pace that does some genuinely innovative things with storyline, suggest a game that really could be not only what Splinter Cell fans have been waiting for, but what Bourne fans have been waiting for, too. “What happens next is up to you.” Is dribbling an option?

Splinter Cell: Conviction is due out for Xbox 360 and PC this Christmas.

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