Man on Fire - Splinter Cell Conviction Demo Impressions

A mission briefing from Third Echelon kicks off moments after I hit start. It introduces Sam Fisher, a man we're well acquainted with, however, something's changed. The brief isn't as much for him as it is against him. It comments on his remarkable ability to eliminate targets. It speaks of how he was affiliated with our government, but has since gone rogue. It tells me that he is dangerous, tactical, resourceful, and most importantly, that I need to fear his presence whether I can or cannot see him.

As a fan of Splinter Cell since the series' inception in 2002, I am unsurprised to hear any of this. This is the Sam Fisher I know.

Then the scene changes to a dingy, filthy bathroom, and I see a man's face collide with a mirror, and subsequently into the sink beneath it. He's begging for mercy, but it seems to fall on deaf ears. It isn't until I'm given control that I realize who his assailant is. Truth be told, I'm a bit shocked.

This is not the Sam Fisher I know.


This brutal interrogation immediately lets me know two things about Splinter Cell: Conviction: That Sam Fisher will literally do anything in pursuit of who was responsible for his daughter's death, and that developer Ubisoft has spent a fair amount of time watching the Bourne and Craig David 007 movies. Far removed from the reluctant, yet patriotic espionage agent from previous games, Sam is not only taking full advantage of the fact that he no longer has to operate within anyone's guidelines, but he is clearly not enjoying it. This isn't a revenge tale where casualties happen for the delight of the protagonist, but because he has no other choice.

It starts with the interrogation. Context sensitive actions near anything in the room allow you to use nearly everything in the room in order to beat information out of the guy, and full motion scenes projected on a nearby wall in real time, no less highlight the points that his disoriented, stuttering delivery can't accomplish. It's a dynamic, innovative way to present things, and it never once takes away from the intensity of the encounter, which climaxes with him snapping the poor guy's neck after he got the info he was looking for.



When things return to a more traditional style of gameplay, it's surprising to find out again, that things have changed. Even though the focus is still on stealth, there's much more emphasis on lethal takedowns. A cover system that resembles last year's Wanted game sees you quickly from point to point, and it's here that the game's new execution system comes into play. Taking enemies down in the classic Splinter Cell way with your bare hands gives you access to executions, which basically give you the ability to take out multiple people at the same time before any of them know what's going on. It throws things into a very satisfying rhythm of finding an enemy to disable, highlighting the next batch you'd like to take out, then with the press of a button, watching Sam shoot all three of them in the head within seconds. There's also a very clever "bait-and-switch" mechanic that activates when Sam is noticed, where a silouhette of him appears where an enemy has seen him last, and it's something you can use to your advantage to flank or even bottleneck enemies into an area of your choosing.

This isn't to say that the experience is filled with insta-kills and relentless action, his usual suite of gadgets and weapons return (thankfuly with the ability to retrieve arms from dead enemies), and the second half of the demo sees a return to form, with me using all manner of flashbangs, sticky cameras, and a new pair of sonar goggles to replace his iconic night vision ones to round out the package. Any concerns I'd had about not being able to sneak my way around ended when I saw myself shooting out lights to lower visibility, setting up small cameras, and (literally) getting the drop on enemies from above. Gently nudging things along through all this is again, the presentation, which is always providing subtle visual feedback to inform the player. It's incredibly immersive, with tricks like color bleeding from the screen in order to indicate that you're undetectable, or displaying your next objective on objects in the environment, keeping the HUD from being obtrusive by overloading you with info. Call me crazy, but there's something very cool about seeing your objective dynamically appear in fron of your eyes, as if you're remembering something important, rather than checking a menu screen.



Overall, I had fun. The demo itself was a bit short, and (literally) ends with a bang, but one thing is certain-- Sam Fisher is indeed back, and it's clear the chip on his shoulder has taken on a life of it's own, and wants to make itself heard.

Pleased to meet you, Sam.

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Snake Is Out of Control - Redux

(This is a post I wrote for another website, however it's still so relevant to me, I decided to remaster it.)

Ocasionally, I wonder if I complain too much.

I try to balance it out with some good vibes every so often, but..I cannot help myself. When my brain sends me the "bad design" signal, my fingers immediately act on impulse and begin working.

Even the complaint itself is more than a little late, I know... but I eventually received a PS3 as a gift some months ago, and of course, my first title had to be MGS4, the system's true killer app.


After the initial 8 minute install (the end of which, Snake taunts my patience with his infamous "kept you waiting" line), I was ready to jump in, and jump in, I did.

For the first hour or so of play, everything is glorious. The visuals are solid, but not extraordinary, the sound is enveloping and immersive, and the controls take a bit getting used to, but are undeniably Metal Gear. As I snuck around, narrowly avoiding enemies and disabling others with a flick of my knife, I was sated. I was a sneaking machine, and every movement I made, for the most part, traveled cleanly from brain to controller to screen.



Then I met up with Rat Patrol, Meryl's ragtag, yet capable squad. A debriefing and information dump later, the Frogs were unleashed, a full on close-quarters firefight started, and it all fell apart.


Initial impression upon entering battle -- Snake is not built for gunfights.



During a cutscene, Snake is practically infallible, a well oiled combat machine who survives insurmountable odds--even in his old age. He's sharp, agile, quick witted, and most importantly, effective. Watching Snake do what he does best during a cutscene is nothing short of impressive, and one of the many reasons I look forward to putting the controller down and watching him go.

My Snake is nowhere near as effective.

Under my control, Snake is a mess. He moves much too slow, cannot find cover for the life of himself, and has difficulty aiming his weapon. When he isn't stuck awkwardly attempting to fire around a corner, he's standing straight up in the middle of a firefight, as if he were oblivious to the presence of bullets. His transitions aren't smooth. His body language doesn't scream that of a hero.



In my opinion, MGS was never truly about action, it was about stealth, and Snake's gunfight prowess during gameplay, I felt, was gimped the way it was in order to put an emphasis on sneaking. You could fight, but only so effectively, and it simply felt better to conquer an area with your wits instead of your firearms. However, MGS4 wants me to disregard that and engage me in wide open firefights using the SAME archaic battle system that inexplicably has roots in MGS2, despite being loaded with new commands and battle options.



Unfortunately, In the four years it took for MGS4 to come out, I've been treated to such gems as G.R.A.W., Gears of War , Rainbow Six Vegas, and Uncharted all games that have a sound, intuitive cover mechanic at their core. Even Niko in GTA4 will slide behind anything in the game world within reason. This makes it that much harder to accept that when I come into contact with a waist high structure in MGS4, I can't take cover behind it unless the game says I can. I can crouch behind it, or go prone, but doing so only looks and feels awkward, as if I'm taunting my enemies by showing off my moveset.

Then to make matters worse, popping out from behind cover is a chore in itself. To my dismay, I found I can only peek out from the left or right of whichever structure I'm leaning against. To do something as simple as fire over an object, I have to unstick myself from cover, stand straight up, fire off a few rounds, then crouch again and restick myself. Why can't I simply aim over cover, and have him crouch back down smoothly? Even a seemingly thoughtless action like switching aiming shoulders requires me to unstick myself, switch shoulders, then restick myself into cover. I have to disengage myself from behind cover so often to function it makes me wonder why the option even exists. Manipulating Snake feels almost like work, and I literally have to unlearn about two years of good cover mechanics across various games in order to come to grips with this.



This isn't revolution, or evolution. This is just lazy. While I appreciate Kojima Productions taking note of what everyone has been clamoring for and injecting a bit of war into Snake's repertoire, what's in place here is completely counterintuitive. Gears of War showed everyone what a great cover system could be and excelled at it, here, it feels like an afterthrought. There's a way to bring intense, group firefights into MGS, but I don't feel this was the right route at all. Even having finished the game, I still feel like it could've been much smoother. It's even something that gets in the way of me playing Metal Gear Online, given that the entire mode is based around multiplayer combat using this exact same system. I'm sure it's a great deal of fun, but you may have a better chance of getting me to play Resident Evil 5's Versus mode; multiplayer featuring characters who can't move and shoot at the same time.

Feel free to call me a "n00b" and an inexperienced hack, but just keep in mind that even if YOU have come to grips with and completely mastered this flawed control scheme, that doesn't necessarily mean it's too perfect for improvement. There are videos on YouTube of people completely destroying Sonic 2006 despite what a train wreck we all know that game to be.
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