In the interest of remaining spoiler-free I won't touch on the story at all, so after the opening cut-scene and story introduction, Fisher finds himself on the run. This is the tutorial portion of the game where the player learns the basics, and is introduced to the cover system. I have to say, I'm a big fan of the new ability to seamlessly flow between objects of cover. While hidden behind one of these objects, the player can look around and see other spots Sam can move to without breaking out of the cover system. For example if I was hiding behind a crate keeping the left trigger pressed to remain in cover, I can pan left and right with the camera, locate an object and which side I want to move to, and then execute the move by tapping the A button. Adding to the fluidity of it all is the smooth animations used to move Sam from spot to spot. 

Next we learn about why when you're in the shadows, everything excluding the enemies and fixtures emitting light is in black and white. I found this to be a creative and effective way to deal with Fisher's lack of instruments, one of which used to be used to convey to the player how immersed in shadows he/she was. There's no longer any "gray area" between being hidden in the shadows or standing out like a Christmas tree on a dark night; you're either hidden or your visible, that's it. 

The "mark and execute" function had me a little worried initially, and fell into the fear category of "too much action". I was worried because I thought it might be abused to all hell; the goto move that was used to kick-off every battle, or take care of every wayward sentry. If you don't know, the "mark and execute" function can be used to mark up to two enemies (or objects) from cover, looking under a door, or hanging from the ceiling. After you mark them with the right bumper (RB), you hit the Y button to "execute", in which Fisher fires on the targets with (what I experienced as) 100% accuracy. My fears were alleviated here because you have to perform a close-quarters stealth kill every time prior to gaining the ability to perform a "mark and execute". Basically the game forces you to be stealthy if you want the ability to tactically takedown two persons or objects with 100% accuracy; fair enough if you ask me. 

Overall after spending about 45 minutes with the game, I'm no longer afraid that you'll be forced into unwanted gunfights and action scenes. It seems like the decision will be up to the player whether or not they want to go in guns blazing or sneak around and handle the scenario in the classic stealth fashion. Now that takes care of fear number one, but fear number two -- the lack of gadgets and devices -- still remains. The only instrument, if you can even call it that, that I found was a cracked hand mirror that Sam obtained by elbowing the side-view on his car. I'm hoping that as the game progresses Fisher will procure a few more gadgets, but as of now that doesn't seem very promising. 

I'm still very excited about Splinter Cell: Conviction, and although I didn't get to play any co-op, the campaign alone compels me enough that you can bet I'll be picking this one up come April 13th.