SPLINTER CELL
CONVICTION
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction
Gameplay
Splinter Cell: Conviction introduces a number of new gameplay features to the series, one of which is the "Mark and Execute" feature, which allows the player to mark specific targets, such as enemies or objects, and shoot them when they burst through a door or window. The player can choose to prioritize these targets, so that, for example, he could distract one guard by shooting out a light in his vicinity and then take out another guard. Another new feature is the "Last Known Position", which occurs when the player breaks the line of sight of an alerted guard. This creates a visual silhouette of where the guard thinks Sam is, allowing the player to strategically flank his enemies. Main target subjects can use the player's abilities against them. The player can be taken hostage by the subject in co-op mode; the hostage's partner can neutralize the subject by shooting them or grabbing them off his teammate.
Other new features include the ability to interrogate characters in real-time and use objects in the surrounding environment against them. Several other features, such as blending into crowds, improvising gadgets, and interaction with the environment, were announced, which according to creative director Maxime Beland would have given the game "a lot of Bourne Identity influence", but were scrapped after the development team decided that going in this direction would be taking too much of a risk. The environment is also used to project mission objectives and key plot points onto walls in order to keep the player immersed in the gameplay during the narrative.
One of Ubisoft's stated goals for Conviction was to make the game more accessible. According to Beland, Chaos Theory is "very hardcore", which turned off many players and disillusioned people from the fantasy of being Sam Fisher. Beland contrasted the earlier games in the series with works containing James Bond or Jason Bourne, who "run fast, they don’t make noise, they kill one, two, three or four guys super quickly" and stated that Conviction delivers a similarly dynamic experience with a emphasis on action.
Introduction
Ten days prior to the apprehension of Sam Fisher, Third Echelon Agent Archer and Voron agent Kestrel are deployed to Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg,Russia to halt rogue elements of the Russian military from selling advanced warheads on the black market. Intelligence from Andriy Kobin has pointed Archer and Kestrel to drug and human trafficker Valentin Lesovsky as the broker for the sale. Archer and Kestrel are to terminate Lesovsky and his associate, Boris Sychev, as well as gaining Lesovsky's contact list.
Archer and Kestrel are later deployed to the Russian embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan to gather intelligence on an arms deal conducted by former Russian GRU colonel Leonid Bhykov. Archer and Kestrel observe the arms deal and learn that Bhykov betrays Tagizade and orders his men to kill Tagizade. Archer and Kestrel prevent the destruction of the weapons crates, learning that the weapons Bhykov was going to sell were Block II JDAM missile guidance kits. Archer and Kestrel make their way to the banquet area to interrogate Bhykov. Archer and Kestrel learn that Bhykov was working with Major General Kerzakov, and that Kerzakov was in the Yastreb Complex, an underground fortress situated underneath Moscow's Red Square.
