I've always been more of a Metal Gear Solid type of guy. I never really paid any attention to the Splinter Cell franchise. Well, I played the first one for a bit, found it frustrating and then tossed it into the corner. 
To get hyped for Conviction, I reinstalled the first one and man, I've missed a bunch of cool shit. I finished it in about 5 days and now I'm working on Pandora Tomorrow. Mad fun.