Multiplayer confirmed for SC: Conviction

By Robert Purchese Published 10 June, 2009

"You're supposed to be like Jack Bauer."

Ubisoft has confirmed multiplayer for the new-look Splinter Cell: Conviction that was unveiled proper at E3 this year.

"We're going to have a multiplayer, but I can't talk about it anymore than that. It's part of the things we're going to announce during the summer," producer Alexandre Parizeau told Joystiq.

"DLC? Yes, it's always part of our strategies. We always want to keep the content fresh, so as soon as the team is done with the game we can move on and continue expanding the experience," he added, cementing the May promise of post-release content for Conviction, Assassin's Creed 2 and James Cameron's Avatar.

Multiplayer historically plays an important role in the Splinter Cell series, but Ubisoft has - until now - been cagey about this next instalment, which is exclusive to Xbox 360 this autumn.

The E3 demonstration we saw was brutal and impressive, and a far cry from the Jason Bourne-style crowd-hiding revealed in 2007.

Those elements "are still a part of the game", however, as Parizeau explained. "But we grounded it in a direction that feels more like a Splinter Cell game," he said, explaining that old friends light and shadow will return.

Conviction features a new skill called Mark and Execute, too. This allows the grizzly Sam Fisher to assess a scene - using a reflection in a mirror, for example - and pick his targets so he can dispatch them quickly when he starts shooting. Offensive stealth, in other words.

"You're supposed to be like Jack Bauer. You're Sam Fisher, the best elite agent in the world. You're supposed to be able to do that kind of stuff," explained Parizeau.

Head over to our Splinter Cell: Conviction gamepage for more videos and screenshots from E3.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (20) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • AphoticCosmos #1 3 years ago

    Super! I really liked DA's multiplayer actually - it was really challenging as a spy or as a merc.

  • DFawkes #2 3 years ago

    I'm not a big Splinter Cell fan, but have to admit this one really intrigues me. I'll keep an eye on this, some of the features sound like they'll be quite useful.

  • matrim83 #3 3 years ago

    Chaos theory Co op was the best way to loose friends.

    "YOU FUCKING BASTARD I TOLD YOU NOT TO SHOOT!"

  • Eighthours #4 3 years ago

    I hope that the MP returns to the more tactical experience of Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory. The Double Agent stuff was a lot dumbed down.

  • dadrester #5 3 years ago

    only ever played the pandora tomorrow multiplayer, but it was brilliant. felt like proper hide and seek with hight tech gadgets... and guns.

  • RedSparrows #6 3 years ago

    What PatAU said.

    PT online was one of the best online experiences I've ever had. Nothing built teamwork and a close bond like being a pair of mercs in dank tunnels, stalked by spies. Or vice versa. So, so, so good. Mix the presentation of DA with the core of PT and CT, and you have a winner.

    Splinter Cell proves that you don't need 8vs8 or 32vs32 to have a multiplayer that is utterly compelling and addictive.
    Edited by 1 at 10/06/09 @ 10:07

  • Dizzy #7 3 years ago

    MP in SC scared the shit out of me!!!

  • peteb #8 3 years ago

    Yea Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory's multiplayer was great, really disliked it in Double Agent, as Eighthours says, it was really dumbed down. The spy models looked shit too compared to the previous games. Bald spies?

  • RedSparrows #9 3 years ago

    I liked that the spies were fast and agile, and I could see why they removed their gadgets because of it. But it made the game far less fun to play.

    For instance, I was on Boss House t'other day. My team mate was out, we needed 1 file (preferred the old neutralisation game as well), and I had to spend 10 minutes flitting between 3 points, eking out the file a few seconds at a time. It was tense, but it was nowhere near as fun or as *open* as PT or CT could be.

    I guess they felt spies aren't supposed to be confrontational. Yet many PT games (most, I'd say) revolved around the Spy being sneaky and the Merc searching, with flashpoints of utterly brilliant chaos as the spies attacked a merc and tried to neutralise whilst one of them held a merc in a neckgrab. Or summat. Then it'd revert to the softly-softly approach, with 'security failure' and alarm snares to freak out the mercs, and spy traps to snare the spies.

    Oh the joys.

  • Elvis9999 #10 3 years ago

    SC:pT and SC:CT were the games that got me into online gaming. No game has so far reproduced the feeling of running along the balcony at the beginning of Warehouse, hearing a spy behind me and shooting a grenade of the wall so it bounces behind me and takes them out!

    Was so excited when SC:DA came out but was massively dissapointed by the MP. I cried, on the inside, for weeks :0(

  • cianchristopher #11 3 years ago

    Anyone know if this is still running on Unreal Engine 2.5 like Double Agent was, or have they moved up to UE3 or even their own propietary engine?

    Unreal 2.5 is a bit last-gen really, I hope they've moved on from 2006.

  • RedSparrows #12 3 years ago

    Me and a team mate got so good at Vertigo Plaza we did the equivalent of SC tea-bagging (double jumping being the worst thing in game) - we got each and every neutralisation point to 1.0 second remaining. MWAHAHAHA.

    In fact, even doing that to one area on a level like that, then leaving it, makes the mercs jumpy.

    Add RedSparrows for old school PT action! me and Johnhost wanna plaay!
    Edited by 1 at 10/06/09 @ 12:43

  • coomber #13 3 years ago

    "DLC? Yes, it's always part of our strategies. We always want to keep the content fresh, so as soon as the team is done with the game we can move on and continue expanding the experience,"

    In other words, once they've had £40 off you, they want to fleece you for more.

  • YourMessageHere #14 3 years ago

    "You're supposed to be like Jack Bauer"

    What, you mean disappointing rubbish? You already tried that in Double Agent. It didn't work.

    The demo looked like a good game, maybe very good indeed, but it wasn't the Splinter Cell we really want, which is more Chaos Theory-like co-op. What part of this do you not get, ubisoft? And have you demoted whoever was responsible for Double Agent? I hope so. If you want to do a different sort of game, don't cock up an existing one in order to do it. New titles are OK too. Leave Splinter Cell to be Splinter Cell.

  • RedSparrows #15 3 years ago

    YMH - hopefully the multi will retain a more techy approach. After all, DAs was similar in tone to PT/CT, it ignored the single player experience to an extent.

  • YourMessageHere #16 3 years ago

    I was meaning the overall approach, rather than the nuts and bolts of gameplay. CT co-op had a story and setting and the sense of being a meaningful experience, and it dovetailed into the SP campaign beautifully, and even though it was only Tom Clancy-level fiction, the player was a part of it, and just for once you got to share that experience with a friend. By contrast, DA SP was so freeform it barely made any sense anyway, and the co-op was self-contained and unrelated to the main game, and very very artificial. For me all the red team and blue team stuff was crushingly disappointing because it was very counter-immersive and all "hello you are playing a computer game".

    I have to wonder whether we'll be getting the goggles back. I missed the goggles so much in DA.

  • JunglistVIP #17 3 years ago

    I don't really like the approach the single player portion of the game is taking, but I dont mind as long as they bring back Pandora style multiplayer!

  • davisorle #18 3 years ago

    "Multiplayer confirmed for SC: Conviction"

    I just read the tittle and i laughed.. The fact that there will be multiplayer was more than obvious from ever since E3. If instead of just watching the video they pay attention to what they SAY while the demo they would have heard the part where he says after non stop talk about the new moves and capabilities "..which you can imagine the multiplayer possibilities in the game and/or how they work... : or whatever the hell he said i just know it was mentioned since during E3 when first shown.. lol

    Which btw the game looks awesome. Wasnt expecting a SC tittle like this ever since the first one. Was dissapointed with the rest of them more or less.. This one is refreshing.

  • Benno #19 3 years ago

    I have never been so scared in a video game than playing splinter cell online, seriously

    Its such a great experience, cant believe its not more popular

    Its kind of naff being a merc i guess, i always just wanted to be a spy

  • RedSparrows #20 3 years ago

    Spies were definitely more fun, but the mercs could be quite satisfying to play as.

    Sorry Johnhost will add ye tomorrow, asap.