Splinter Cell Creative Director Maxime Beland has told OXM that the troubled development of 2010's Splinter Cell Conviction meant that the team weren't able to include the features that fans and media would have wanted.
Beland was part of the team which was assigned to Conviction in 2008, after development was switched from Ubisoft Shanghai to Ubisoft Montreal, and the "hobo Sam Fisher" look was ditched.
"I am extremely proud of Conviction because of the challenges we had," he told us in an interview in the new issue of OXM. "When Alex [Parizeau, producer] and I arrived on the team, we had to change the direction, we had two years to make it happen. So Conviction is sweet and sour in a way, because I'm super proud of that game, and I know that if would have had more time we could have had a lot more stealth and made some journalists happy, some fans happy."
"But like when I arrived on Conviction - understand that Sam did not have a two-handed weapon. Dragging dead bodies wasn't there any more. It wasn't there. Some people tell me, why did you cut dragging dead bodies from Conviction - I'm like, I didn't cut it, it wasn't there when I arrived!"
Without the luxury of starting from scratch, the team had to mould what was there into something snappier.
"We picked a direction, and I think the direction was - I love the direction we took for Conviction, I think it was super cool, the more personal angle, with the Sarah story, I'm super proud of that, I was able to put a little bit of myself in there because I'm a father, there was some interesting stuff in there. But you know, yeah, every game comes with its own challenges.
"At the same time, you're never making the game you want. There are so many constraints - the time, the technology, the challenges. Sometimes in your head it's beautiful, then you code it and you're like 'this sucks, what did we do?' Any other art form is the same thing, right. I'm sure even the most popular songs ever when the artists release them, they're always going 'ah that part, I wish I could tweak it.'"
It's not a problem they'll be facing with this month's cover game Splinter Cell Blacklist, which has the luxury of years of development and a dedicated studio in the newly-founded Ubisoft Toronto.
"Blacklist for us is obviously now that we're more in control," says Beland. "We've set up our gameplay loop and we've got all this stable technology that works, to really like expand the range." You can find out more about that - including how, yes, it's going to be proper stealth - in the current issue on-sale now. You can get an enhanced edition on iPad.
11 comments so far...
Clanger67 on 19 Jul '12 said:
Yet i totally disagree with all that.Alright i have Conviction and played through a couple of times.But if he says that he didn't have the things available or time constraints to make it more stealthy when he came to the project.Why then are they doing the exact same or worse in action over stealth in the new one.?????????
Bezza89 on 19 Jul '12 said:
He's super proud of a story that makes no sense in the character of Sam Fisher? He's moaning about time constraints and having to use what was there - what happened to Chaos Theory's engine, what did the other dev team do over their two years with the game making 4 years in total? Did they bin it? They could have increased the speed of all sams moves to get the improved pace (obviously) and better shooting. Why did they include a proper shit wave by wave protect the useless emp which makes no sense game mode eliminating all stealth and aspects of SCs co-op in favour of haphazard killing?
It's a good game is conviction, but don't tell me all this crap, they went the money making wider audience route, it's a good route - I'd have took it. But I'm still waiting to see some stealth come through in SC like not killing anyone, using the environment and shadows as options to go undetected, hopefully whistling and other distractions wont be kinect only too. I'm impressed in most other aspects as long as I keep thinking 'it's Psalm Fischer, a new guy'.
Clanger67 on 19 Jul '12 said:
But why ?????.It's not like the first SC's didn't sell very well or very popular.Alright if they had probs. trying to implement all the features in Conviction.So why the same in the new one,why not just admit that you have taken a series that used to be great and ruined it pandering to the shooter crowd (no offense).
Wouldn't be like they were the first. 
Bezza89 on 19 Jul '12 said:
Game development costs have skyrocketed going into HD so getting a wider audience is inevitable to keep a franchise going, and it would have worked wonders with conviction if they'd have kept the simple Splinter Cell cornerstones in there too, like being able to incapacitate rather than kill, hell they have a hit button that hits them... but then shoots the guy?!?! And doing that lets you magic kill people
Just options to be Sam Fisher would be nice, with the get out of jail free gameplay style in the form of magic kills and not-so-happy slap murdering being available if you're shit.
JOEuk91 on 19 Jul '12 said:
Blacklist is probably going to be the first game in the franchise I won't be buying. Splinter Cell is supposed to be a stealth game, yet ever since Double Agent came out it has slowly but surely dissolved the very mechanic which made it brilliant. Chaos Theory was an amazing game because of the true stealth you were able to do in complete darkness sneaking around. This new 'modern stealth' angle in broad daylight that alot of games are doing in is ridiculous, yes you are still being stealthy but don't they understand that it was the immersion of darkness which made it what it is.
I fail to see how Blacklist is going to have true stealth, if the E3 demo is anything to go by it looks like Conviction's action but even worse for it. If I wanted to play an action game I would buy an action game, why do developers keep pandering to other genres, it is destroying their own in the process. To be honest the real killer of the series now is the fact that Michael Ironside is no longer voicing Sam Fisher, and not only that he looks completely different now. I understand the reasons behind Ironside's departure, which is they want motion capture, but after seeing the E3 demo the characters look no better for it, which for me means they have made a huge mistake.
It's a shame because Splinter Cell was my favourite franchise, but now it seems lost and there is no alternative to it.
Re-MasteredMedia on 19 Jul '12 said:
You people make me laugh. Either, you haven't looked deep enough into Blacklist, or you're just NEVER happy. Conviction loses alot of stealth gameplay, then they add ALOT more stealth to Blacklist. AND YOU CONTINUE COMPLAINING!
You see, I love Splinter Cell. But do you know what always made Metal Gear's stealth better? You can't just hide in the dark and magically be invisible. You had to use your surroundings, be QUIET, and well... watch cutscenes. But I love them. Truthfully, I'm loving the look of Blacklist. Conbines the original Splinter Cells with Conviction. Blacklist also reminds me of MGS4. I can't wait. I admit Convictions changed TOO much, BUT, you HAVE to adapt and work with a wider audience if you want to stay ahead in this industry. Ubisoft is just doing it wrong. Metal Gear has a slice 'em up coming out, but its a spin-off. Ubisoft should have made convictions gameplay a spinoff game. But I loved convictions story. STOP MOANING. BLACKLIST WILL BE AWESOME.
End Of Rant.
Bezza89 on 19 Jul '12 said:
From what Blacklist has shown there really isn't anything new added in the way of stealth - in fact it was more actiony. This is a great looking game as it is, and would do well without the SC name but no matter how much you use capitals it doesn't look any different, except we're in the desert.
Clanger67 on 19 Jul '12 said:
Yeah sorry but that is B*llocks.What remains about the originals ??????????.It won't even be Sam Fisher unless you turn the dialogue volume right down,lol.Plus when has the story made sense since Double Agent ????????.You are right that they should have made it a spin off.But they won't do that for fear of losing the two fans they have left who don't mind MDK.
Rant over,lol.
CunningSmile on 19 Jul '12 said:
But the desert makes everything different. Sandier for one thing, and normally hotter and dryier. So that's three things and I can probably think of more
Now I think of it, wouldn't Sam's outfit be really impractical in a desert? Skin tight is never a good idea in areas with a lot of sand, and isn't it made of wetsuit material? Really sweaty and that's even before you start looking at the choice of colour under the hot sun. I just don't think Fourth Echelon have put any thought into this mission at all!
skellen79 on 19 Jul '12 said:
Maybe it's a translation thing. Does 'stealthy' in french mean 'sweaty'?
I loved Conviction, especially after Double Agent. I thought they nailed the sense of being 'in-control' of each situation, way more than in previous installments. Even though they almost removed more of the direct control which you used to have over Sam. I also used to love Metal Gear until I got myself a PS3 for a bit, and excitedly started playing Guns of the Patriots. A couple of hours later I turned it off and really couldn't bring myself to play it again.
TBH, until i just read that you could't move the bodies, I had forgot you could even do that before lol.
When they started the development in Shanghai, hadn't the whole 'stealth' thing already been killed in gaming?
Decent_Jam on 19 Jul '12 said:
Very much no need to use EXCESS CAPITALS to get your point across, immediately makes a bad impression on me - just make a reasonable, grown up argument and be respectful and we'll get along famously.
Now, that leads me to my question:
In what way does the E3 demo make Blacklist seem more stealthy than Conviction?
I played Conviction, and enjoyed it, and there were some clear stealth elements in there, but with Blacklist I saw almost nothing but non-stop running and chaining kills of everyone in the world together with mark and execute.
The Kinect integration is a neat touch but no more than that, and doesn't make Blacklist more stealthy.
Furthermore, as others have attested, everything about the setting and atmosphere is less stealthy. It's bright, open, and the best thing about Conviction, the fact that mission objectives superimposed themselves on your surroundings, would absolutely not work in the setting, therefore I assume it's gone, which is a real shame.
You might think I'm 'moaning' but I'm not, because I don't have any long-running affiliation with the series and generally am pretty poor at stealth games because I'm too impatient, but the point is to say this game is showing signs of more stealth is misguided.
The only think long term fans that I know have said is that they are happy to see spies vs mercs back.