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After many delays and a total revamp of the game's engine and gameplay, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction has finally arrived, but will Sam Fisher be able to sneak his way into gamers' hearts once again?

Splinter Cell: Conviction sees a Sam Fisher who has been ravaged by the death of his daughter and has become jaded about the need for organisations such as Third Echelon. Having cut all ties with his former employer we first see Sam sporting his new Jason Bourne civilian look as he sits in a market cafe in Malta where he is contacted by Anna Grímsdóttir from Third Echelon who warns him about an attempt on his life. From there he slowly starts to find out the truth about his daughter's death, and of course, the plot sees Sam become entangled in yet another terrorist attempt on the free world. At some points you'll have to suspend any sense of logic as the story unfolds but it more than adequately serves its purpose of getting Sam into a wide variety of locations and tasking him with taking out the bad guys.

The game's plot will see you taking on several missions spread out through North America as well as a flashback mission during Operation Desert Storm in Iraq. Most of the missions are well structured with a chase scene at the Lincoln Monument being one of my personal favourites. You start off by eavesdropping on a conversation using directional microphones, followed by an interrogation and a chase scene through a construction area while avoiding the local police. All this is then ended off by you having to defend yourself from heavily armed enemies before being rescued. Conviction manages to hit the perfect blend of stealth, action and gameplay that makes it a joy to play.

Much hype has been given to the interrogation scenes, but they aren't really anything more than glorified interactive cut-scenes allowing you to use the environment as a weapon. They do, however, get you into the whole “bad ass” persona of Sam Fisher, and are few and far between, to the extent that they are not too overbearing or repetitive.

The most impressive change that Ubisoft has brought to Splinter Cell is the presentation that they now use to show your objectives and move the game forward. You will not see a single load screen throughout the course of the campaign, with Ubisoft cleverly hiding loads between levels with cut-scenes. They've also taken a unique approach that is inspired by shows such as Fringe and films such as Zombieland that sees mission objectives and memory flashbacks being projected onto the level's environment. While some people might find them rather intrusive and prone to breaking your immersion in the game, I was rather relieved that there were no on screen HUD popups every time my in game goal changed. A lot of the game is structured in such a way that you'll remain immersed in the game world, such as the use of colour change to show whether you're hidden from enemy view, or not.

When it comes to taking out the bad guys, Conviction has taken some tips from Batman Arkham Asylum and changed Sam Fisher into a silent predator that is capable of running from cover to cover without being detected, clearing rooms one bad guy at a time. The key to this is the great control scheme that is used for diving into cover and moving from hiding place to hiding place. It works as smooth as can be and becomes second nature in a matter of minutes.

Another new addition in Sam's arsenal is the Mark and Execute system that sees you being rewarded for melee kills with the ability to mark several enemies - with the number being dependant on your current gun - and take them out in a John Woo-esque bout of gunplay. Of course Sam still has a wide selection of gadgets and weapons at his disposal, but I found myself settling for a basic pistol that I upgraded early on in the game. Along with the pistol I made ample use of snake cameras and remote charges to take out larger groups of enemies and never really felt that I was out of my depth at any one point. One gadget that fans of the previous games will surely miss is the iconic green goggles that Fisher used in the previous games. Fear not though, as they have been replaced by a pair of sonar goggles that gives you the ability to see enemies through walls and smoke, and allows you to mark them for execution at a later point.

When going into a room containing multiple enemies you're mostly free in how you take them out, and one ability that's at your disposal is the new last known position marker which shows a silhouette of Sam's last known position when he has been spotted. You can use this to lure enemies out of position and flank them as they try to find you. Unfortunately it's around this point that you'll notice that the enemy AI is not up to the level of Stephen Hawking's IQ. Their search patterns when trying to find you are ludicrously simplistic, meaning that taking them out one by one is a walk in the park for even the most inept of secret agents. At least the enemies' continuous ranting and raving at Fisher to lure him out is a hilarious distraction.

With all the delays in Conviction's release you would have thought the one area that would have seen the most attention would have been the graphics, but it seems as though Sam Fisher's world is sorely in need of a facelift. All the characters other than one or two of the main characters look as though they came from the same cookie cutter factory and have very average looks. The environments are also not worth all that much, and though they do go through a wide variety of settings, there are none that stand out. On the other hand, Sam Fisher looks great and his movements are extremely well animated, especially when running between cover.

Before you know it the single-player portion of Conviction will be over as the story runs to a short 6 or 7 hours depending on your gameplay style. I found it a perfect length as anything longer would have led to more padding of the already convoluted story. For those of you who are concerned that such a short story means very little bang for your buck, don't worry, Ubisoft has included numerous co-op and multiplayer modes that add a lot of extra time to the game. There's a co-op story mode that serves as a prequel to the main game's events which sees you and a friend working together as an American and Russian operative. Add to that several Deniable Ops game modes such as Hunter, Infiltration, Last Stand and Face-Off which very between defending objectives, taking out enemies without being detected or avoiding enemies while taking out each other. The co-op story mode alone adds several hours to the main game and should really be seen as an extension of it.

Similar to the previous games, the soundtrack is of a high standard. The music features tracks by Amon Tobin which change dynamically based on the happenings in the game - so if you're in the middle of a firefight or trying to escape guards the music will change accordingly. Michael Ironside returns to voice Sam Fisher and in general is well done, although at one or two points in the game it sounds as though Ironside may have had one too many drinks before hitting the recording booth.

Splinter Cell: Conviction is a game that seems to be caught between the old and new, with innovative ideas mixed in with unrealised potential. Splinter Cell purists may be put off by the new accessibility to the series but newcomers will enjoy a well made and fun stealth game that ratchets down the tension levels in favour of more explosions. Even with its flaws, Splinter Cell: Conviction manages to do more good than bad, a necessary reboot which has revived the series and will lure countless more fans.

Pros:

• Fluid controls
• Excellent cover system
• Multiplayer and co-op modes add longevity
• Wonderful soundtrack
• Immaculate presentation

Cons:

• Short single-player campaign
• Graphics are average at best
• Enemy AI is less than stellar

Rating: