Splinter Cell: Conviction, out this week, is pretty good. Itâs also been a long time coming, having been originally due for release in 2007. Why the delay?
https://lastchance.cc/splinter-cell-conviction-review-the-best-lurks-in-shad-5516076%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
There was way more to it than hero Sam Fisher getting a new haircut. Like, the entire game needed to be re-tooled, its direction and mechanics changed.
https://lastchance.cc/what-the-hell-happened-to-sam-fishers-haircut-5273441%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
âWe did a lot of playtesting, a lot of consumer research, we talked to a lot of gamers and there were a lot of themes that were coming back all the time: stealth is punitive, stealth is slow. It was funny, because when you watch the movies theyâre not that. James Bond and Jason Bourne run fast, they donât make noise, they kill one, two, three or four guys super quickly and silently with a sound suppressor, so itâs a lot more dynamic. So we needed to do something with that.â
âWe need to make the ten people who are attracted to Splinter Cell and stealth happy, we canât just make two happy because they want to hide in the shadows and look at the control paths for a minute and then steady the camera placement. I think itâs a good and fun type of stealth gameplay but itâs hardcore.â
That stuff about control paths and camera placement? As someone normally bored to death by the arbitrary way games deal with stealth (Batman & Mini Ninjas excepted), I love it. Where was he five years ago?
