Split-Screen :: The Game-Geek’s Daily Read

Between all the hype for Assassin’s Creed 2 and Beyond Good & Evil 2, Ubisoft Montreal has characteristically avoided any mention of Splinter Cell: Conviction. Until now. Official Xbox Magazine UK has reported that Conviction will apparently be arriving by Christmas this year. Even if it’s pushed back, at least it won’t be far away from Ubisoft’s originally projected date of late 2009 to early 2010. For a game that’s been undergoing several changes after being delayed for almost two years, the dev team is still candid on what actual gameplay will be like. The Assassin’s Creed fixation may change, given the problems that the crowd and manipulating it to accomplish missions poised.

It’s also known that the game will have a radically new art-style (one of the reasons for it’s delay). “The visual direction is simply much better,” was the response by Ubisoft’s community development manager. Despite being a series that competed with Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3 for the Top Stealth Game honour, Sam Fisher wasn’t exactly having a great run after Chaos Theory. Both the multi-platform Double Agent and PSP title, Splinter Cell Essentials were received with mixed critical response, to say nothing of sales. Sam seemed trapped between his earlier stance as Solid Snake’s competitor, the gimmicks of Double Agent and AC’s “blend-in” approach. You’d think that one Assassin’s Creed title this Christmas would be enough – let’s hope Ubisoft keeps good on their earlier promise to revamp gameplay.

As of now, I’m extremely interested to see how the game has evolved and whether it will arrive this year. No gameplay footage or screenshots of the latest incarnation of Conviction has been circulated but the euphoria is definitely there – a gamer friend of mine has been bugging me for an entire year on whether Conviction had a release date or not. Ubisoft had the guts to revamp the game when it didn’t notch up to expectations. Hopefully, this Christmas won’t see another repeat of an indefinite delay. Until the upcoming E3 (where more details will most definitely be available), we shall pray that Sam left his mascara at home this time around (does he even have a home any more?).