The Splinter Cell Conviction demo hit just mere hours ago and I was up bright and early ready to start downloading ASAP! The demo is actually not that long (around 10-50 minutes) but it does a good job of letting you get used to the new play style of Sam Fisher.

Mark and execute is when you mark up to three targets and take them out instantly with your pistol. It just makes you feel like a bad ass. To stop you from just using it all the time you have to earn it. Every time you take down someone with a melee attack you get one mark and execute token to be used when you see fit. Let me paint you a picture. I’m hanging above an unsuspecting guard and two of his guard friends are close by. I drop from the pipe knocking out the guy below me (gaining one mark and execute token) and then quickly marking the two other guards, taking them out with my pistol. That all happened within the space of about 5 seconds and it was all very smooth and very cool.

Last known position is exactly what it sounds like. When you’ve been seen and manage to run away you leave a ghost like image behind of where the enemy saw you last. At first this doesn’t sound so great but you can really use it to your advantage. To show you a good example of how the AI reacts I recommend watching the video at around 9:25. Unfortunately last known position didn’t always work for me. I’m not sure what the conditions are to get the outline to appear but sometimes I would be seen run away and they would just know where I am.

The demo is just too short to get any idea of the story but playing as Sam Fisher definitely feels better than previous Splinter Cell games and I’m still really curious to see how the multiplayer plays.