Do you have what it takes to get a review published right here on Kotaku? Timothy does, as he suffers early onset arthritis from all that crouching.
Yes, that’s right, we’re now publishing reader reviews here on Kotaku. This is your chance to deliver sensible game purchasing advice to the rest of the Kotaku community.
And thanks to the very kind chaps at Madman Entertainment, purveyor of all kinds of cool, indie and esoteric film, the best reader review we publish each month will win a prize pack containing ten of the latest Madman DVD releases.
This review was submitted by Timothy Harrison. If you’ve played Splinter Cell: Conviction, or just want to ask Timothy more about it, leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Splinter Cell: Conviction (360)
Sam Fisher returns doing what he does best, taking down an army heavily armed, military trained guys, ten at a time.
Loved
Amy Of One: You are Sam Fisher, super spy. You are expected to handle complex situations involving many heavily armed soldiers who just happen to be blocking your path every single step of the way. However, provided you aren’t playing on “please mummy, don’t smack me again” difficulty, if you make a wrong move you will find yourself riddled full of holes within a few seconds. The satisfying moments come when you manage to disarm a platoon of enemy soldiers without anyone being the wiser.
Smacktalking And Intelligent AI: Your enemies will shout out to the shadows when they’ve realised you are in the area, mocking you or begging you to come out. Shooting out lights then making some noise to lure them in to the dark for the finisher is always a sure fire tactic, until they shout back at you “I’m not going in there, do you think I’m stupid? I’m staying right here.” This is when you circle around and snap their neck, but it’s good to see that the AI “levels up” as you progress through the story.
The Light And Dark. The game focuses a lot on light and shadow. So naturally, they get this right. Shooting out lights creates dark corners to hide in, until you come up against the night vision goggled soldiers. The lighting also sets the mood, making you fear open and bright places and feeling calm and safe in dark corridors.
Tell Me What I Need To Know: Interrogation was always fun in the Splinter Cell series. Now Sam has refined his technique. When interrogating a suspect, you don’t just punch them up a bit, you throw them into television sets and slam their faces against tables – it’s oh so gratifying.
Hated
Black And White: Splinter Cell decided to make everything go black and white when you are in the cover of darkness. A good concept, but like Batmans “x-ray mode” leaves you playing half the game in black and white. This makes you feel like you are missing out on a lot of the hard work gone in to texturing and colouring the levels.
Predictable Plot: I hate games that show a scene from “present time” then have you play the last 72 hours of events that lead up to it. I know it’s supposed to get you thinking how you got in to that situation, but being so predictable, it just ruined other twists that happen earlier in the game.
Ultimately, Conviction lives up to the Splinter Cell series. It has stealth, it has gadgets, it has neck-snapping fun. While it will have points that leave you infuriated, like the “Welcome Home” scene, it will leave you satisfied.
Splinter Cell: Conviction was reviewed on the Xbox 360 and completed on Realistic difficulty.
Reviewed by: Timothy Harrison
You can have your Reader Review published on Kotaku. Send your review to us at the usual address. Make sure it’s written in the same format as above and in under 500 words – yes, we’ve upped the word limit. We’ll publish the best ones we get and the best of the month will win a Madman DVD prize pack.
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