Tom Clancy's Splinter 1.5

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction is a tactical, third-person shooter. You play Sam, a cold-blooded assassin who formerly was a part of one of the most important government special ops agency. Recently, Sam's daughter has been murdered and he now has one goal: find the killer and get some payback.

During the campaign, you are given some important information about the people who were behind the killing, but you soon find out that there is a conspiracy behind it. I will not spoil any more for you. There are some new elements that improve this game. When I first played it, I really felt like I was watching a movie. The voice acting and the cinematics are very well-made and have a lot of depth. Sam's flashbacks are very touching and give you a lot of insight into what Sam must be feeling. The game is of course full of dark scenarios, where you have to be as stealthy as possible to take down enemies and find the answers that you need. Interrogations are often the best way you have to get information out of downed enemies. In Conviction, you get the chance to beat down your enemies and extract information out of them.

The game plays well and it has an excellent presentation. The cover system and the stealthiness are still the most important aspects. The old problems are still here. Often enemies are too easy to kill. They will be feet away from you and they will not see you or hear you, even if you make a lot of noise. When they shoot, they often miss, being right next to you.

The PC version of Conviction was released with several bugs and crippled functionality. Some of it has been fixed via patches, but it was a disappointing experience.

All in all, the game offers some 10 fun missions to play. The co-op mode is perhaps the most interesting mode. But, in my opinion, the game has little, if any, replay value.