Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 90 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 485 Ratings

  • Summary: Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. You are a fugitive, ruthlessly hunted by the very government you used to serve. Your only choice is to improvise to survive. Experience original gameplay based on improvisation in which your environment is your top weapon. Always on your toes, you need to react on the fly to any changing situations and use the environment and the crowds around you to create diversions and deter your enemies. As a fugitive, quick thinking and adaptation are essential to turn the situation to your advantage. A gameplay experience delivering 100% adrenaline includes close combat and shooting sequences. To survive, build an underground network of allies who will help you obtain high-tech gadgets and stay one step ahead of your pursuers as you struggle to unmask the forces that frame you. [Ubisoft] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 84 out of 90
  2. Negative: 0 out of 90
  1. Conviction is the best installment in the series. The developers took some major risks in design and presentation that paid off, resulting in a game that's at once approachable and complex, and arguably the current last word in stealth adventure.
  2. 100
    Why Sam has stepped out of the shadows and is on full out attack makes complete sense in context with the story, so if you can accept it for what it is and not dwell on the fact that it isn't what you've come to expect in a Splinter Cell title, you'll no doubt agree that Conviction rivals Chaos Theory as the best title in the franchise's history.
  3. The single-player story is short, but it's filled with a lot of great moments. The co-op multiplayer helps to give the package a lot more bite.
  4. At its best, Conviction is played as a high-stakes puzzle game, taut and thrilling when everything is going your way. But when cover is broken, the floodlights go up to reveal a mediocre shooter. Perhaps the greatest irony of all is that Splinter Cell: Conviction appears brightest in the dark.

See all 90 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 79 out of 107
  2. Negative: 17 out of 107
  1. No one will stop Sam Fisher, nor do you. Slick control is perfect for stealth and combat, strong voice acting gives life to the awesome story and the flashy black and white ( in the shadow) adds cool effect to it. The multiplayer is appealing, i set more with the co-op mode, versus is sometimes frustrating , but it adds tension. Conviction never felt so good Expand
  2. I love this game so much, it's very interesting and unique. probably the best graphics i've seen in a ubisoft game since the 2008 Prince of Persia. Plot is so-so but the combat and camera angles are perfect. Best Splinter Cell game in ages. A Must Buy Expand
  3. 5
    I have been a massive fan of the Splinter Cell series, beginning with the first title that was released for the original Xbox. My play through with Splinter Cell: Conviction was, to say the least, average. It's the kind of game where developers take 1 step forward and 2 steps back, despite their passionate effort in 'reinventing' the genre. Length: "Splinter Cell: Conviction's" story mode will last the average player an upwards of around 6-10 hours, depending on the difficulty (mind you, this is not the same "lengthy" duration they claimed and boasted in their interviews. The Co-op portion of the title will last approximately 3-4 hours, again, depending on the difficulty. The rest of the multiplayer length is relatively subjective, because it really depends on the person playing and whether they truly enjoy it or not.

    Controls: Excellent. Some issues with trying to climb up and some such but other than that, the controls were very solid.

    Sound: Again, also excellent. Single Player Story: Not too much peep out of me for this part of the game. It's a pretty interesting storyline, but I wish they did a few things differently. In short - and without spoiling too much - it's just obnoxious playing as Sam Fisher one moment, and than being thrown into Diwaniya, Iraq as a completely different person. It just derails the narrative focus of the game for the sake of telling a side story that is completely irrelevant to the main plot of the game. Co-op Story: Interesting to say the least. It really reveals a lot of the interior motives of a certain someone in the single player story, but only if you play the co-op campaign first. The ending was truly a disappointment although my friend and I had a pretty good laugh the first time we played the ending. Gameplay and design: Now, this is where it gets really nitty-gritty. The game-play and overall design of Conviction is quite clear, it's meant to be played as a run and gun, Jason Bourne on speed style game. There are a huge amount of key and refining features missing that made the originals so damn good. The knife, whistling, controlling your light exposure and movement speed, Night/thermal vision goggles, moving and hiding bodies, hallway split jumping, etc. Big and small things like the ones I mentioned above are just completely eradicated from Conviction, all for the sake of making it fast paced, something the Splinter Cell series is *not* known for. Enemies are just thrown into each section of the level, each one being in a convenient spot for players to make full use of the Mark and Execute feature. So much is sacrificed for one feature, and quite frankly, it's just disgusting to see a title stripped of it's roots and garnished with mediocrity.

    The exclusion of key features is one thing, but the illusion of the stealth in conviction is also another. I couldn't shake the feeling that Conviction was not designed with the originals in mind. For all intents and purposes, Ubisoft felt it would be a good idea to force players into unavoidable gun fight scenarios with little hope for pure stealth. The addition of the Sonar Goggles is more of a burden than it is a boon. Special enemy types are later equipped with these very same goggles, further eliminating the use of stealth mechanics and forcing players to draw their guns and mark/execute their way to victory. These same goggles also completely eliminate the use of one such gadget, the sticky camera (which had it's smoke feature replaced with the explode feature).

    I can go on about how this isn't a true sequel to the Splinter Cell series but this review has to stop at some point and I'm just sick of having to juggle why Ubisoft felt it necessary to try and reinvent the wheel. For me, this title in the series is a 5/10. In short, as a Splinter Cell title, Conviction is complete trash that spits in the face of it's predecessor in hopes of garnering the undivided attention of the fast-paced shooter crowd. As a 3rd person shooter with some stealth elements, it's an average game. Make of that what you will.
    Expand
  4. Id like to start by saying this game is fun. Theres nothing wrong with it playwise. However this game took the ONLY stealth series available and steals it from us. Even if this is the best game youve played this year its still worth considering that because it was released as a splinter cell game it spells the end for the true stealth game genre. So if you ever feel like hey im in the mood for a sneaky stealth dedicated game..well now it no longer exists. To take a one of a kind unique and successfull series and change the most basic point of the game steals not just from old fans but from all gamers because now the only game if its kind has been replaced by just another heavy action setup. This would have done well as a game under a new title but to purposly rip a whole way of playing from the fans and replace it is a sad occurence. No matter how much you love it its still a betrayal and the end of an entire type of gameplay that only splintercell offerd Expand

See all 107 User Reviews

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