GDC 10: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction, iPhone'd

1:45 PM on 03.12.2010   |   Dale North

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I got to take an early peek at Gameloft's Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction on the iPhone here at GDC. It's still early, but I was able to see several locales and game play elements, and I feel like it's already shaping up to be worthy of the name, and a good portable companion to the full-blown console title.

Speaking of the console version, the cutscenes, music and voice work were pulled from it and plugged right into the iPhone game. You'll also find that some of the console game's concepts and artistic direction have also been brought to this portable version. The in-game directive that shows on surfaces like walls and floors is also present in the iPhone title. Most importantly, there's more of the stealth game play you'd expect from something called Splinter Cell.

I took a tour of Malta Market, sneaking around the pier area, quietly nabbing enemies from behind in the dark. It was here that I got to see how the Mark and Execute feature works: by quietly marking unsuspecting victims, you can take multiple targets out with a silenced weapon from a safe place. Later I saw Irak, a dusty battleground with lots of places to take cover. This stage was a bit more action-heavy, but gave more options to use missile launchers and grenades.  Too bad those up-top snipers were hindering some of that. One of the best looking sections involved an infiltration into a building, and a marked change of pace. This area is where I got to do some very Splinter Cell-ish things: popping lights, disabling communication antenna, snapping necks.

The control focuses on a virtual d-pad, which seemed to work well. Touching and dragging anywhere on the screen moves the camera. There's a couple of action buttons that change according to the situation, and two sliding menu spots in the upper right hand corner of the screen change weapons with a flick. You'll be able to pick from a pistol, suppress pistol, shotgun, submachine gun and rifle. You'll also play with toys like thermal goggles and radar, though I didn't see any of these in action. 

It's really early (not even in beta yet), but this game looks to be shaping up already. There's 10 levels in all, set in five different environments. We were told to expect about five hours of game play when it's all said and done. The game follows the same story line as the console game, giving you a miniature taste of stealth action. Being early, there's no set release date or price, but I'm sure we'll hear more on Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction for iPhone very soon.