Ubisoft had its big first-quarter title on display at PAX East, with an entire booth dedicated to a demo of Splinter Cell Conviction‘s co-op action. After eagerly waiting in line I was able to get my hands on it and take a peek at what is in store for the two-player game mode.
My partner and I started out in a small room that was host to two weapons lockers from which we each chose one of two silenced pistols. The pistols had different stats for damage, range, and accuracy, and have the option to be upgraded, but already were for the purpose of the demo. The objective for this section of the mission was to eliminate all of the guards in the level before moving on. After selecting our instruments of death, we were able to get a crash course in the controls.
The left bumper enabled us to crouch as we slinked about the map, while pressing the left thumbstick allowed us to zoom in to take shots with the right trigger. With that knowledge we navigated our way down a flight of stairs and entered a well lit room that was quickly turned to darkness as I eliminated the light with a well placed shot.
As I went through the room I failed to recognize the metal detector in front of me, which set off an alarm and alerted the guard in the next room. I quickly backed up, jumped over a nearby desk, and attempted to hide behind the doorway. The guard unfortunately noticed me and pumped me full of lead before I could react.
Luckily, my partner was a bit behind and was not noticed by the guard who had now retreated back into his original room. She then proceeded to revive me as my "incapacitated" timer wound down. After an application of a defibrillator by my partner, I was back up ready to get revenge upon the guard
I took out the lights in the next room, which the guard instantly didn’t like and once again took to an alert state. Unfortunately for him, the room was now dark and Conviction’s "Last Known Position" mechanic kicked in. My partner waited as I sneaked around behind the guard who believed I was still around the pillar he was hugging. With a quick tap of the B button I was able to eliminate the guard with a stab and a snap of his neck.
Upon exiting the room, my partner and I lost all sense of stealth and accidentally alerted essentially every single guard in the main section of the building. Attempting to get out of site, I tried to climb to the railing above and take out a few of the guards with the game’s "Elimination" feature. With this mechanic, players can paint up to three targets using the right bumper, which are shared in co-op, and upon pressing the Y button can take out those targets with a single shot to each.
I got greedy, trying to paint the maximum third target, and was quickly taken down. At the same time, my partner was trying to get to cover when she was grabbed in a choke hold from behind, thus ending our mission in failure. However, we were graciously given a second chance.
When we restarted, we quickly chose our weapons and proceeded to the first guard. Not going through the metal detector and taking out the lights, the first guard was not much of a problem. However, we once again were quickly spotted in the main room and had to retreat back to the room where the first guard was eliminated. It was here where I was informed by one of the Ubisoft booth workers of the functionality of the game’s sticky cameras.
Players can scroll through gadgets by pressing left and right on the D-pad, as I did to switch from my EMP grenades to my sticky camera. I then chucked the camera across the room with the X button and returned to cover. I was told that hitting the X button again enabled me to see from the camera’s point of view. From there I was able to press B to have the camera make a sound that would draw the attention of the guards. Unfortunately the guards merely flinched at the sound, but I was able to get their attention and one or two of their lives when I remote detonated the camera itself, causing a small explosion.
With the battle still raging on, I picked up a shotgun from one of the guards’ corpses and unloaded on two others. I switched to my pistol by hitting down on the D-pad and painted three more guards before quickly executing them. Unfortunately, after this, I realized I was being shot from behind. A guard had slipped into the room behind me and incapacitated my partner. By the time I went to take out the guard and revive my partner, her incapacitation meter timed out and the mission was lost yet again.
Despite both of these attempts ending in failure, the co-op play for Splinter Cell Conviction looks and plays great. Gamers should be very excited to get their hands on this, and Sam Fisher’s new adventure in the single-player mode, when the game releases in just over two weeks on April 13.
