Gameplay preview of our current project Lost Marbles. Game is nearing completion and should be done in the next couple of months.
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Looking back - PAX East 2010 - Splinter Cell Conviction
One of my favorite game franchises of all time is the Splinter Cell series. My attraction to the stealth action games started with my first tastes of Metal Gear Solid. When I found out that my favorite console at the time was also getting stealth action and that it was going to give a more mature (less anime madness) story and real lighting mechanics I was hooked.
Each game has been an improvement (at the least on the technical level) on the previous and my impressions from playing the demo on XBL as well as the coop demos and demonstrations I saw at the PAX East convention this passed weekend only affirm my enthusiasm for the next game in the series.
One major complaint that I would get from folks who dislike the series is that the game is “too hard” primarily because of the realistic nature of the gameplay ever-present in Tom Clancy games. I get a feeling that a few tweaks in the game mechanics will resolve the issue of “too hard”.
Funny thing is that the main mechanic that will help folks the most doesn’t have to do with offensive techniques but the stealth aspects of the game. In the previous games stealth was handled simply by maneuvering your avatar into the right place. Not tedious to the indoctrinated but certainly frustrating to the FPS fanboys. This new mechanic is that you can simply look at an area that can be seem as cover and hit the action button to have your avatar simply move there. No more tedious positioning, just point and click.
Also, there is a new way that enemies respond to spotting you using a technique called “last known position” which means that enemies will chase after you up until the last position where they found you (for the most part). In previous games being spotted turned your enemies from floating hazards in the level design into AI driven attack dogs. That meant being spotted made the gameplay switch to safe but hectic evasion or nearly suicidal if not skilled attack mode. With LKP you can turn being spotted into a strategic maneuver to your advantage which also means that being spotted doesn’t flip gameplay on its head (from stealth infiltrate to frantic evasion).
The other feature that I really like is the ability to select and precision kill enemies from cover. Basically, if you can kill someone with a physical attack you will be rewarded with this ability. Once you’ve been given these shots you’ll be able to select two enemies and afterwards just sit back and watch the show. This is also an ability that can allow for using items in the environment as weapons (such as shooting down a chandelier over your enemies).
Of course, this game looks great but that’s expected at this point from a studio of Ubisoft’s caliber. Either way, I already reserved my copy!
tags / PAX EAST 2010 / splinter cell / splinter cell conviction / stealth action / preview
