Splinter Cell goes reactive

In case you wondered, "handles" isn't a euphemism for "junk." Although it really works, doesn't it? In actual fact, everything in Conviction has "handles" - parts of an object (such as the policeman) where Sam Fisher is likely to want to put his hands. God, this is getting worse. Let's start again.

Developer Ubisoft has approached the dynamic animation need for Conviction 's random, make-it-up-as-you-go-along action by giving everything in the world, from your enemies to the chairs they sit on, a number of believable points for someone to grab.

So, for instance, a chair leg would be a handle, and so would the backrest, creating a realistic lifting animation - but the leg you grab would depend on the angle you approach the chair, or whether the chair was upright or upside down.

Conviction's animation is what the tech-heads call "procedural" or "on-the-fly," which means just that - the game figures out what happens as it's happening. And the handles help this to work in a fluid and good-looking manner. There's a huge variety of items that Sam can interact with, and this system means you can be involved in some real action movie moments.

For example, why grab the policeman we mentioned above on the handles and throw him into a bookshelf? Why not grab a nearby stapler and attack him with it? Or swipe the objects on top of a desk into him, before throwing over the desk and knocking him over? You can even block an enemy's path, so think blocking doorways with upturned bookshelves or pulling over other obstacles to slow up any pursuers.