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Splinter Cell Conviction – Go Big or Go Home!
Joel Taveras | Dec 09, 2009 | Comments 8
Ubisoft is preparing to launch Splinter Cell Conviction on the Xbox 360 this spring. As much as I love the series, I just can’t fathom them topping the instant classic that was Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Some would argue that there isn’t a competition between the two, but with so many similarities between the the two storied franchises I beg to differ. My argument is simple: Splinter Cell Conviction either you have to go big or go home.
My love affair with Sam Fischer has been a long time in the making. He’s a man’s man, who doesn’t take shit from anyone. Not the bad guys, not even his boss, Third Echelon. We all met Sam during his debut in the original Splinter Cell for the Xbox way back in 2002. At the time it was a breath of fresh air for fans of action/espionage titles as gamers still had a sour face from the complete 180 that occurred while playing Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty as Raiden. The games pacing was quite different, and had an even stronger emphasis on stealth than it’s Japanese equivalent.
Following it’s debut, the Splinter Cell franchise seemed like a fine wine, as it only got better and better with age. Each title that followed surpassed the previous in story, features, graphics, gameplay, and replayabilty. The team at Ubisoft has been on fire for almost a decade now. Although, their nemesis at Konami had also been hard at work too. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, was a huge success both with critics and gamers alike. It’s story was so powerful (let’s not even talk about the ending as my eyes will begin to water) that it was the first time that I can recall truly connecting to the character on screen in a non-RPG game.
That title was the perfect motivation for Ubisoft to take Sam Fischer and turn him into the tortured soul you see in Splinter Cell: Double Agent. With his family taken for him, he is a man fueled by anger and revenge. Through an innovative moral decision system the game kept you enthralled throughout, as you were constantly trying to keep somewhat of a balance between the NSA and the JBA without leaning too much in either direction. The game was well received and somewhat of a treat considering it came nice and early into the 360’s life cycle.
Then came 4. As is Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The proverbial 500 pound gorilla in the room. To put things in perspective, if you recall (and many gamers in denial won’t as they all get amnesia when it’s something they do not want to hear) following the launch of MGS4, Ubisoft had scrapped, COMPLETELY SCRAPPED, Splinter Cell Conviction development, indefinitely. Obviously it wasn’t for too long, as the title is just around the corner in 2010. It’s just the fact that they went to such lengths in utter fear that has me worried about Conviction. It’s not about exlusivity, as I own both consoles and am unnafected by that, it’s simply the lack of confidence that Ubisoft has in their title. Many large titles in this current generation have a production cycle any where from 8 months to 2 years and that makes wonder whether Ubisoft simply held off because they felt they couldn’t top Konami, and are waiting until people have MGS4 out of sight and out of mind before hitting us all with Conviction, the same Conviction that was planned originally.
I know that many will argue about MGS4’s lack of actual gameplay, as at least half of the game is cut-scenes, but it’s still hands down the best stealth/espionage game I have ever played. Kojima took the genre to new heights that may be just out of reach in this current generation. I have been getting more and more excited about Splinter Cell Conviction, as I miss playing as old reliable Sam Fisher. The news about the co-cop 6 hour prologue sounds incredible, but as I stated earlier this game better go big or go home, as the competition is now fierce. Anything short of incredible will be a letdown, and have gamers (360 gamers especially) left waiting for Metal Gear Rising.
Views: 155Filed Under: Editorials • Featured
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lol MGS4 was epic! this may also be epic but the gameplay between both have always been a different sort of stealth, and anway forget sam fisher vs snake, raiden tops both off them
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This is a flame bait article, why would you write this? MGS4 cannot be compared to a game like SC. MGS4 is niche somewhat weird Japanese centric bizarre fantasy. IF you hold Japanese developers to the same standards that you hold western developers to, it would be clear that games like MGS4 are not even in the same league with the best stuff from the west these days.
Diarrhea is just not the show stopper in the west as it is in Japan, and it shouldn’t be, Ubi would never get away with putting such foolish, and pointless vulgarity in a game, not to mention if any western developer tried to make a AAA game that was 50% boring nonsensical movie, they would be docked at least 5 points on a 10 point review scale.
So lets be real, MGS4 is great if your into that sort of thing, but Sc is a far more rational series, you just shouldn’t compare the two.
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its obvious that this game is MGS4’s contender !
microsoft managed to snag the exclusivity so they can say we have our own MGS !
but i’ll be frank here ! to me Sam Fisher is one of my best characters in all the video games i played !
when MGS4 was first announced, the trailer had a cameo of sam fisher ! this shows that even Hideo the king of espionage games knows that Splinter Cell is one big challenge !
i own both PS3 and X360 and i love both franchises, they are all great in their own way !
but if i had to choose, then Sam is my winner !
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I always liked both aproaches,
SC is a bit more serious and darker however the storylines have never been particularly great and the gameplay was normaly too linear so it was easy to degenerate into trial and error or massacre your way through. Double Agent changed that but it wasnt done in a particularly good fashion, reflected by its lower than average critical reception. To its props its that as a western developed game it started its focus into multiplayer gaming and is currently the leader on the field no other game has made a stealth coop or versus work as well as Sc.
Mgs deals more with emotions than with reason or logic which is why their storyline are normaly better liked than splinter cells. Mgs makes use of these intense moments of emotions as tools, to present somewhat dubious ideas into the storyline. No one disputes the validity of the existence of a cyborg ninja on the basis that its awesome/cool factor makes the storylines easier to digest. On the gameplay side mgs is a little more open/forgiving in its aproach to gameplay. At any moment in the game you can easily switch your infiltration technique (Gung ho, Gun stealth or Pure stealth) without much hassle even if you are detected. However its flaw lies that it overcomplicates the storylines in order to leave the gamer wanting to know that secret or await the next installment.
I disagree with most of Barack´s heres why:
1) They can be compared as they use the same gameplay mechanics as a medium to deliver their storylines and both are extremely fantasious what you like is Sc´s serious tone.
2) Just as you find Mgs humorous tone to be lackluster one could argue that Sc takes itself to seriously, after all its a game. The not so witty dialogue of fisher isnt precisely a show stopper anywhere and barely suceds at cutting the tension.
3) The reason why western developers dont spend more time of their game into developing the storyline is because most of time the basis for it are pretty poor. Only one western developer has made good, complicated storylines (that make sense) and that is bioware who spend 50% of their game on conversations. Sc in comparison is rather simple and some would say boring for its lack of originality. Thats why Mgs isnt docked as well as bioware.
So being real MGS4 and sc are great if your into that sort of thing and you can compare them.
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Is it really impossible to enjoy the new Splinter Cell as well as MGS4? Did Killzone 2 go home since it couldn’t compete with Gears of War or Halo? I didn’t think geez, this better be able to take Halo 3 down or else I won’t be able to like it.
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Was this article written by a 6 year old? Oh wait, I forgot that all no name gaming blogs have problems with punctuation and grammar. What a lame read for me. I want 4 minutes of my life back.
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Splinter Cell and MGS are both awesome in their own right. Splinter Cell puts a heavy emphasis on stealth whereas MGS is more leniant, you can use stealth or you could just go in guns blazing, or you could pick people off with a Sniper Rifle before going through, there’s more options available.
If you’re comparing the two as stealth games then Splinter Cell wins, by quite a margin. However if you’re comparing the overall experience then MGS4 is lightyears ahead of Splinter Cell and always will be.
Microsoft won’t give up though, just because their (Timed?) exclusive isn’t as good as MGS4 doesn’t mean they won’t hype it to the extreme.
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dont forget splinter cell convictions out on the pc too.
cant wait though, once i saw the E3 video i literally pissed my pants.
most convincing game at E3, bar GOW 3 obviously.
now only if ubisoft would let me get my hands on that E3 demo, that would be SWEET!