New Game - Splinter Cell Conviction

Finally on the 5^th attempt Ubisoft have gotten me to play a Splinter Cell game but only because it has a co-op mode and Abbas does not want to play Lara Croft (XBLA). Stealth is king in this game, hide in the shadows,  take out your enemies silently either with melee or your trusted silenced pistol with unlimited ammo. I have not played a stealth based game since Metal Gear Solid on the PS1 (I really must play the sequels of these games).

You have to take a different approach to playing, slow & steady will always win out against fast and kamikaze (take note Abbas). The co-op mode has you playing as Third Echelon secret agents Archer & Voron to stop rogue elements of the Russian military selling warheads. Deciding to opt for Realistic difficulty (Hard) so we can unlock the completion achievement, you soon realise that this difficulty setting is really quite easy thanks to unlimited ammo on your pistol. By using melee on an enemy you have an option to mark & shoot a certain number of targets which when triggered has you quickly dispatching enemies. This makes the game seem too easy to me but is satisfying when you can pull off multiple kills.

After managing to compete the first level of the co-op mode my skills were slightly lacking so I decided to start the single player campaign to hone my skills. This mode is a slightly tougher because you can’t rely on your co-op partner to come and revive you. If you get shot, you die & back to the previous checkpoint you go. There were quite a few stages I messed up on the first attempt but you learn through failure and eventually find a tactic that works. Unlike the co-op mode, single player does not give you all the gadgets at the start but introduces them slowly which gives you a better understanding on how & when to use them. I especially like the snake cam which lets your peer under doors before opening them & sticky camera which can create noise to attract the attention of an enemy, you can use this to sneak pass them or press x to make it explode.

I’m enjoying the single player game & hopefully this will make me more useful when I next play the co-op storyline with Abbas.