One of Ubisoft's primary reasons for switching to Mark and Execute is because of the experiences of past Splinter Cell titles. In the past, Sam hung to the shadows and then popped out, slowly guided his sight to the first enemy, and fired. Then he had to slide the reticule to the next enemy. The result required some skill, but it also produced a very slow hero and gameplay that was more methodical than visceral.
As the E3 demo reveals, Sam is rarely going to face situations where he can rely solely on Mark and Execute. There are just too many enemies around to get rid of them all in a single execute move. As such, you must employ some strategy to determine which enemies are most critical to take out immediately. My initial concern was that the Mark and Execute gameplay would take the "skill" out of Splinter Cell. After seeing it in action, I would say that Mark and Execute simply requires a different type of skill than the previous Splinter Cells. If nothing else, the visual results of some of these execute moves is simply jaw-dropping. If the goal was to make Sam Fisher look like the baddest mofo on the block, then the E3 demo is a big success.
One other element adds a touch more strategy to Mark and Execute. Each weapon has its own properties. A pistol might have the ability to place two marks at a time, where a machinegun can place several more. But then a shotgun can get a red mark icon even through doors and walls. For a pistol, Sam would have to kick open the door before he could successfully pull off the second half of Mark and Execute. But the shotty can blow through a door with deadly efficiency.
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If Sam is in the shadows and hidden the screen becomes desaturated. Only enemies and interactive objects maintain their full color. The edges of the screen grow black for added effect. The instant Sam is visible the screen regains its color. This is an important change, because Conviction looks to be a faster-paced game than its predecessors. You don't have time to search for meters to find out if you're visible or not. Now there's no mistaking when you're in the shadows and when you're in the open.
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Just because you're in the shadows doesn't mean you can act with impunity. If you stand in the shadows firing off shots, the enemy's going to figure out where you're hiding. But perhaps that's what you want. There's another new gameplay mechanic that adds an interesting opportunity to mess with your opponents. Last Known Position is, as the name implies, the last place the enemy spotted you -- and it's represented by Sam's white silhouette.
Now you know exactly where the enemy is focused. And you can use that to your advantage, laying traps or flanking your opponent. In the earlier stages, when you are fighting low-level goons, the Last Known Position is a great tool. The early enemies are said to be fairly predictable and you can have a lot of fun with them. But things get more challenging as the quality of combatant improves (you eventually take on other Third Echelon special ops). You'll break line of sight with these better enemies and see your silhouette pop up, as if to say, "nice job." Then a grenade rolls under that silhouette. Smarter soldiers look out windows and shine their flashlights up at pipes.
