Conviction was the only non-hands on demo that I had at X09. This means I didn’t get to play it and instead was treated to a demo of it by a Ubisoft rep. As I sat on the couch beside the Ubisoft rep watching him play, I couldn’t help but to feel as if the game was missing something; it just didn’t feel like Splinter Cell.

One thing is for sure, Ubisoft has changed up the direction of the series, and they’ve changed it up drastically. It’s a very different game.

The mission I saw had Sam Fisher sneaking into a facility to interrogate someone on the whereabouts of a missing scientist. Once he had found out where she was being held hostage he had to sneak in and retrieve her.

One new feature that has been shown off in the demos so far is the text in the environment. Your current goals and objectives will be on objects in the environment. Whether it’s buildings, cars or windows, your goals and objectives will always be present. The Ubi rep explained that this was so the player didn’t have to go into a menu and be pulled out of the game to be checking what to do next.

As I watched Sam Fisher sneak into the facility the Ubisoft rep was strategically taking cover behind various objects. He explained that when the screen goes grainy (meaning it has a grainy effect on it) it means you are in the shadows. He also explained that when you get near an enemy, there is a circular indicator that will tell you if you are noticed.

White means you’re safe and red means you’re in trouble. There’s no meter like in the old games. As he snuck through the place he was noticed by an enemy and a red circular indicator popped up, pointing in the direction of the enemy who saw him, the enemy was now shooting at him. He quickly ducked back in cover and stepped away from the position he was in, as he snuck around the bend, a “last known position” figure appeared in the area that Sam had been first spotted.

What this means is when you are spotted you can obviously move and get out of the area so you’re not killed. When you move, a shadow/outline of Sam appears in the place where you were spotted. This is your last known position; the last position the enemies saw you at. They will think you are still there, leaving you free to sneak back around and possibly take a different route and take them out.

This is one of the cooler features in the game. In the demo I saw the Ubi rep sneak away from the wall of cover he was behind and move around the bend, then climb underneath into an area in the ground and finally pop up behind the enemies. By doing this he was able to take them out since they were still shooting at the “last known position”. Eventually we reached the man who we had to interrogate. Sam grabbed the man and the rep explained that you can throw your victim around and throw him into almost any object into the surrounding area in order to scare him and get the answers you need. After throwing the man into the car we found out the location of where the scientist was. Sam took the man, stabbed a pencil into his hand and left him there to bleed. Once we found out where the scientist was, we saw our current objective displayed on the outside of the building (another example of the text in the environment).

The building had a few entrances and the rep explained that while the game was not open world there were still choices and we could choose to go in through the door or find a stealthier way in. Eventually we decided to go around the back and sure enough there was a pipe that Sam climbed up and within a few seconds he was in a room full of enemies. I asked the rep if it would be like Assassin’s Creed where you can climb on any structure to sneak around. He told me no and that only selective objects would be available for Sam to climb.

When Sam entered the room, he was hiding in the shadows so the screen was grainy. I asked the rep if we had the option to turn it off but he said currently there was no option to turn it off.

It was here that the rep showed me the new targeting system. When faced with enemies of course Sam could just pull out his gun and start shooting. But then everyone would shoot back and that would result in chaos. By targeting enemies it almost guaranteed a kill. I say almost because of what happened next. The Ubi rep targeted the three bad guys and activated the target system, Sam popped out of cover and went to shoot the enemy but the enemy had moved behind a crate and the shot missed. Instantly the guards were alert and they started shooting back. Eventually we got out of there and the rep showed me another example of the targeting system. This time he targeted two guards in another room. When he activated the target system, Sam popped out of cover and took out the two guards with two headshots. Clean and simple. I asked the rep if the targeting system would make the game to easy and he said no. He told me that it wouldn’t always be successful, there are many variables that could cause it to go wrong. I’m not sure if I agree though, it still is easier than lining up shots for each bad guy and manually taking them out.

Anyways as we continued our search for the scientist the rep showed off some more gadgets including exploding sticky cams and the new goggles. The new goggles were pretty cool, they scan the area and show you where the bad guys are located. Seeing that the enemies were on the first floor we decided to sneak up to the second floor and disrupt the hostage situation from above. From the second floor we got up onto some rafters and as we were climbing along them an enemy walked across the platform under us. A prompt appeared on screen telling us to press a button to kill the enemy from above. We did so and Sam quickly took out the guard from above.

As we progressed the rep told me the game would be about 10-12 hours and told me that while they had plans for multiplayer they had not made any formal announcements yet and therefore couldn’t say anything. Anyways, eventually we reached the room where the hostage was being held. As Sam dropped down into the room the demo ended.

Overall Conviction is looking pretty good. The graphics weren’t looking that great and I’m still confused about the whole awareness system works and how exactly to know if enemies are aware of your presence, but other than that the game is looking like it will be a hit.

They have changed a lot and it has a very different look and feel than Double Agent did but I think the new change will be welcomed. I can’t see any major concerns with the game and I really think it’s going to turn out great.

Thanks to eul0ge0 for the picture!