Overview.
Returning for his 5th installment, you play as Ubisofts Sam Fisher, former Third Echelon Splinter Cell and current fugitive. The game mechanics, that is to say the previously fantastic light and dark engine, has been thrown out of the window. This 
time Sam uses what we as mere civilians see as normal actions to seamlessly glide past a guarded area or alternatively creating a scene or incident elsewhere to draw the attention of a patrolling guard so that Sam can simply stroll on in and complete his objective.
What's so great?
It's naturally the next chapter in the Splinter Cell series. Double Agent (the previous installation) saw Sam playing as a, well, double agent - where he was given choices and objectives by both the Third Echelon (aka the good guys) as well as the terrorists he was working for. Now, Sam has cut all ties from Third Echelon leaving him all dressed up with nowhere to go. Because of this new direction in the storyline, a new engine and approach has been created. Previously, Sam would hide in shadows and work his way around from dark spot to dark spot, avoiding lights, making sound, and so on. You might even say it was an extremely advanced version of Frogger, but we won't...
Because the light and shadows engine has all but been removed, Sam has new techniques and abilities at his
disposal. He's slightly more hardcore, helluva lot more interactive and very much like Jason Bourne. New interactions available to the player are almost endless - almost all objects in the environment are interactive. This is to allow the player to improvise with his surroundings; been spotted by a patrolling guard? Casually throw a bottle at him and make a run for it - alternatively: lead him into a room and barricade the door with a table, chairs and TV set and slip out of the back window.
Also, where as in the past Sam would of had one or two CQC (Close-quarters Combat) moves, Sam is now as handy with his fists as Jackie Chan, although perhaps not as nimble!
Finally, visually it looks pretty good. Especially the lighting - funny I should finish talking about the lighting...
What's not so great?
OK, well that sounds spiffing but "Why are they doing that to OUR Splinter Cell!!!!"
I was really pumped for this game until I started perusing the official Splinter Cell: Conviction forums. Initially I just thought the forum folks, sprouting the above phrase, were just overreacting. But the more I considered their argument the more they seemed to be right. From my instant reaction of the game which at first had been "Oooh a new Splinter Cell with new ideas" quickly became "Noooo, a new Splinter Cell without an actual SPLINTER CELL in it".
Many aspects of this game are appealing to the masses; the casual gamer - the clever sneaking around has been replaced with CQC, throwing a bottle to attract enemy attention has changed to, erm, CQC with a bottle. Whereas the previous Splinter Cell games were a lot more mature and tactical. Hopefully - and I do still have hope - Ubisoft will still keep the game strategic. At the moment I'm still confident this game will be more than worth the price but there is still an ounce of squinting going on here.
Splinter Cell: ConViction - Trailer
What to expect at E3?
This is the part where I actually stick my neck on the line and make some predictions on what we'll learn about this game over the 3-day E3 event:
- A comment explaining either - "We're on schedule here's a confirmed release date" or "Well, we're still aiming for November but..."
- A new trailer - I suspect featuring a new location
- Some information on Multi-player
- More hands-on playing. Perhaps at the new location and/or presenting new features
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