Tech Jawa > XBOX 360

My first game review for Techjawa.com is on the new Splinter Cell: Conviction.

The game follows the story of Sam Fisher as he tries to learn the truth behind the death of his daughter, among other things. Having not played a Splinter Cell title for quite some time, due to the fact that I’m not a very “stealthy” player, SC:C brings a lot to the table. The game no longer revolves around having to be 100% stealthy, now allowing players to “run and gun”. That doesn’t mean that you no longer need to use the shadows to aid Fisher. The game has added a new feature known as “Mark and Execute” where a player may target a certain number of enemies (varies by weapon) and execute them with a button press. The good thing about the mark and execute is that it can not be used for every take down, which would make the game a bit easier and more redundant. The execute ability must be recharged by using hand to hand moves on the enemies, which requires you to use your good old stealthy tricks if you wish to live. There is also the “Last known position” in the game. When spotted by an enemy, Fisher can duck back behind cover which automatically activates the last known position. Enemies will attack where they last saw Fisher giving you the opportunity to sneak into the shadows and flank them. There are instances in the game where you get to interrogate different people for information. During this time you receive information from the given character, and when they no longer wish to talk you can press the “interrogate” button to persuade them. The way in which you persuade depends on where you decide to stand in the room, using pianos, tables and even urinals to get the job done. You may also upgrade your weapons as well as change which pistol and secondary weapon you are carrying by using the various weapon stashes placed along the route of the game. If you can’t find a weapons stash and are looking for a gun with a little more “kick”, you can always pick up one of the enemy’s weapons. No Splinter Cell game would be complete without the gadgets either! So far I have only unlocked a limited amount of these gadgets, some of which include EMP grenades and remote mines. I hope to get my hands on the sonar goggles that were available in the game’s demo soon.

Overall the game seems to be well put together and has a good story line thus far. The game does play smoothly and the controls are simple enough to get comfortable with in just a few minutes. The game does hold a bit of difficulty in the single player campaign, where I have died numerous times already. This personally makes me want to play the game more as I love the challenge, especially since I’m currently playing on the normal difficulty.

A warning to parents: Almost every sentence that comes from the enemies of the game seem to contain cursing, and they talk quite a bit.

My next review coming soon will cover the multiplayer aspects of the game, so stay tuned!

For those of you that do not know, Perfect Dark releases tomorrow on the XBox Live Arcade. It has been remastered in 1080p at 60 frames per second and will now boast 2-8 player multiplayer online play. Which if you love the classics you’ll love this because IT’S PERFECT DARK! To celebrate its’ launch and give a little back to the members of our community, on Livestream tomorrow, I will be streaming it live for all to see from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm join us and at the end of the stream I will pick one lucky winner to receive a free 1600 Point XBox Live Microsoft Marketplace code.

You MUST be present at the end of the stream, and you must be active throughout the stream by chatting. We will randomly select an active participant at the end (7:30PM EST) to receive the point’s card.

Our stream is located at http://www.techjawa.tv/

Well this is exactly what we were trying to get donations for. I’ve sold some personal property as well, and was able to front some of the cash to purchase the card itself. It should be here, in all it’s glory, on Friday this week, or Monday next week!

We still need donations, so please feel free to keep them coming (go to the “Live” page to find the donate button). We still need more hardware and cabling that is just too expensive for our staff members right now.

Once all is said and done, the setup should follow this flowchat exactly. (Click for a larger view)

Once we continue collecting donations, we should be able to purchase the other remaining components and start streaming our HD consoles and even capturing some moments in HD for posting on sites like YouTube.

I will be sure to photo/video document the unboxing and installation of the Intensity Pro card, and let you all know how it works.

There has been some doubt about it working on my X58 architecture board, but some forum goers have said it shouldn’t be an issue. Blackmagic’s official take on it is “not supported” but the retailer I purchased from allows a 30 day grace period for money-back returns. If this setup doesn’t work, there are other (slightly more expensive) solutions we will strive for. I’m fairly certain this should go off without a hitch  though.