Peering over my concrete cover I quickly work out how I'm going to tackle this. With a hold of X I grab the nearest lacky to use as human cover. Holding RB I target the nearest two guards - who're now reaching for their weapons - and headshot them in seconds with Sam's devastating Mark and Execute system.
Snapping my meat shield's neck I dash to the left and take cover as the boss of the group - who's ten metres ahead aiming his weapons - opens fire at my feet. I manage to sneak down a storm drain and another of Conviction's systems, "Last Known Position", is given a full demo as the remaining guard continues to lay down fire on my previous cover.
Dragging myself up at the end of the storm drain to flank my foe, I manage to snatch him from behind and proceed to beat the living snot out of him in a scene similar to the bathroom opening at E3. Like that, it's a brutal interrogation - completely player-controlled - that ends with a knife through the hand and related sweary narrative, in this case about a scientist we need to find.
This kind of Arkham Asylum-style 'hide, plan, attack' shadow-swooping is repeated throughout the TGS demo. Once we'd infiltrated the staging ground, one room encounter had us climbing a ceiling pipe to simultaneously time shooting a crane down on a pair of enemies' heads and dropping feet-first on a third from above.
'Mark and Execute' is incredibly useful in these quick-thinking encounters. As with the E3 demo, you earn Marks by performing stealth kills - dropping on a guard's head in the previous set-up for example would've granted us the ability to 'lock on' to up to three enemies (and presumably more with other guns) before nailing all of them between the eyes in an instant.
On first try we were admittedly concerned that the M&E system would quickly help Conviction descend into a cheap, run-and-gun headshot-fest, but in actuality it's been thoughtfully balanced.
For a start, you can't execute your marks if they're too far away or obstructed by scenery, and we found it incredibly difficult to pull off when engaged in a busy firefight (though Ubisoft stresses this demo isn't quite balanced).
The only time Sam's speed-killing special move is really useful is when you're planning your attack from the shadows, for instance; first locking on to two of three guards, dropping on the third from above and then quickly executing your marked targets. Arsing around marking enemies in a firefight will get you killed. Believe us - we've tried.
One final pleasant surprise from the TGS demo is the new implementation of Splinter Cell's most famous feature; the goggles. Ubisoft promised this time around that the iconic, glowing headgear would benefit the player rather than correcting a notable handicap - not being able to see - and we're proud to report it's delivered on its word.
In yet another presumably accidental nod to Arkham Asylum, Sam's goggles now highlight every enemy in the room - even through walls - in an X-Ray-like glow.
Just like Batman's Detective Mode the new goggles massively enhance the preparation and predatory aspects of Sam Fisher's latest and you can immediately see where all of your foes are and map out your strategy accordingly.
In conjunction with the 'Last Known Position' system, escaping shootouts to monitor and flank enemies through air vent interiors is possible. Walking naively into a room full of tooled-up goons becomes a thing of the past too - because you can see the lot of them through the brick wall.
With all new systems combined, Ubisoft's got a more strategic, faster paced - and far less frustrating - Splinter Cell on its hands. Our only concern is that in binning the revelations and tech from the 2007 design Conviction has maybe lost some of its ambition - though we're fully hoping to be proved wrong.
At the very least, Conviction looks set to be the very best linear Splinter Cell game yet - and we look forward to playing more.
