Can I At Least Pretend There Are Night Vision Goggles?
By jakob187 10 Comments
Hey, folks! I'm finally working back into the groove of things. I won't lie - I think Bad Company 2 and the massive amount of time I was putting into that game kind of burnt me out on games in general. As far as personal stuff is concerned, I sold my 1993 Mustang about two months ago after the head cracked on it...and I just finished buying a 1991 Mustang to replace it. That will be consuming my checks for the next three weeks or so, which means that you guys will probably have to deal with three weeks or so of blog posts dealing with older games. This blog...is not one of them. Enjoy it while you can!
Who Got Their Gears Of War In My Splinter Cell?
Maybe I'm a purist that just can't let go of the days when I was blasting away on Pandora Tomorrow for hours on end, but Conviction just doesn't have the same trappings as Sam Fisher's past adventures. Yeah, it's got a bullet point list of things that need to be in a Splinter Cell game. Shadows? Check. Great lighting work? Check. Michael Ironside delivering a half-assed performance? Check. Espionage-styled drama that can be found in a Bourne movie or any season of 24? Check. Let's face it - games bearing the "Tom Clancy's" branding just don't hold a flame to what is used to mean. With that said, Conviction is far from a bad game...but it's also far from being a Splinter Cell game like we've known.
I did my first playthrough of the campaign on Realistic difficulty, and it was far from difficult. In comparison, I think Veteran on Modern Warfare 2 might've been only slightly more difficult. The biggest thing that Conviction has going FOR it and AGAINST it is the level of accessibility thanks to not being a flat-out "hide in the dark and wait for the perfect opportunity to rock that muthafucker's world". You can run 'n' gun a few little parts here and there if you are quick on getting in and out of cover, and you will do just fine. It's more of a cover-based third person shooter than it is a stealth-action espionage game. That saddens me just a bit, but I understand the necessity of trying to sell a few million copies at the sacrifice of making a game that breaks the mold from everything else that's on the market right now. It's okay, Ubisoft. The stealth in Conviction is less about the hiding in wait and preying on victims and more about deception and light-footedness. Basically, Sam Fisher is trying to be a ninja.
Conviction is a good game, but it's still not great. Either making the AI smarter or dropping the whole "Last Known Position" might've presented a challenge with this game. Instead, it's merely an okay game that didn't fuck up like Double Agent. Also...I miss Mercs vs. Spies.
Now THIS Is How You Port An Arcade Game!!!
While previous re-releases have been ho-hum at best and others have tried to update and revamp the classics we know and love, Capcom did exactly what we wanted - they made a fucking arcade game on the Xbox Live Arcade. You get the cabinet art. You get the crappy looking CRT look. Even when you first load the game up and see the arcade cabinet just sitting there, you can hear a slight arcade-like sound of background noise. It's...fucking...BRILLIANT! The second half of this package, Magic Sword, is not a game I'm familiar with in the least bit...but so far, it's okay. It's no Final Fight, mind you, and I could think of a handful of Capcom games that would've made Double Impact one hell of a deal. Regardless, with all the unlockable pieces of art and filters, etc that can be unlocked for each of these games, 800 points is a bargain for it!
Just make sure that you don't drop into someone's game if they are going for some trials and achievements that they need to finish, folks... The last thing you want your buddy to see is "Try Again" on a trial that they almost had completed until you dropped in and fucked it up.
In Search Of The Beloved S-Rank...I Bought Underdome Riot.
Folks, it's really fucking bad. Each of the three "arenas" will have five rounds...and inside of those five rounds, you'll fight five other rounds. Yes, that totals out to 25 rounds in total for each one. If you die, you start from Round 1. It's fucking stupid and poorly built.
If you really want the bank, that's the reason you'll blow 800 points on Underdome Riot. Other than that, there's nothing else you need to know. It's Horde Mode...except it's bad. It did remind me, however, that I need to play more of Secret Armory and stop being such a pussy.
That's it for this week, folks. Until next time, piece!
P.S. - My blog here on Giant Bomb is linked up with my Facebook, meaning that my blog appears in the Notes section of my Facebook page. I feel I should make all the Facebook folks aware of this, as I don't think it's ever been made very clear by me. And to all the Giant Bombers, I'll have my header finished in time for next week's blog...hopefully. It's still a work-in-progress. Last but not least, I'll be breaking 50k gamerscore tonight with Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. FINALLY!