Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction [X360]

The sticky camera has also received a similar redesign. It works mostly the same as it did before. You can still throw it out to stick on any surface, giving you a look at what your foes are doing while you sit comfortably in hiding. There's the option to make some distracting noise and you can detonate the camera at any time to take out anybody that gets a tad too close. The best part about this camera, though, is that it can be used for marking enemies. Throw a sticky grenade into a room and you'll be able to keep an eye on enemy patrol routes while selecting targets for Fisher to kill.

If you think that the Mark and Execute style of espionage will make Splinter Cell too easy, prepare for a surprise. The level I played was definitely not for the weak. As you work through Conviction, the difficulty will continue to ramp up -- a fact that became readily apparent to me after I died a few times. The artificial intelligence is quite good (even if you'll laugh at the poor saps each time they fixate on your last known position while you cruise around behind them) and you won't be able to take a ton of damage like a superhero here. If you go in guns blazing, you can expect to watch Mr. Fisher to meet his maker in short order.

Even with the option to mark enemies and then kill them in rapid succession, the game can be quite tough. You can only mark so many enemies and the later stages of the game will toss large groups of guards at you simultaneously. What's more, you only get to execute on your marks after you perform a hand-to-hand take down. When the level first opens, you'll have to come up with something cleverer than marking each enemy and then watching them fall. That something will usually involve getting your hands dirty.

Conviction is in the polishing and bug fixing stage now, which means it's getting pretty darn close to being done. That's a fact that was readily apparent in the demo given to me. The visuals look fantastic, straight down to the little open wounds that appear after Fisher interrogated that officer's face into a fender. The sound is mostly complete as well and the bits I heard did a great job setting the mood.

The music and graphics aren't the only great parts about Conviction, of course. I had my doubts going in to the demo -- the Mark and Execute style of gameplay seemed to take a little too much control out of the player's hands. Now that I've gotten my hands on it, I'm a believer. It's a challenge of planning and coordination just to get to the execute phase. Once you get a few slick kills under your belt, you start to see how rewarding the system is. It forces you to play intelligently and then pays back in full the hard work you put into the stalking. Though Fisher is much rougher and brutal in Conviction than in past Splinter Cell games, he's still most comfortable out of sight and out of mind.

Splinter Cell Conviction will release on February 23 for Xbox 360 and PC. Stay tuned to IGN for the latest.

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