10 Video Games Everyone Loves To Hate (That Totally Don't Deserve It)

5. Splinter Cell: Conviction

The Consensus:"Hand to hand combat in Splinter Cell?! WTF", "He doesn't even have the goggles!"

The Truth: You can pin all the negative buzz surrounding Conviction squarely on one of the most thoroughly misguided trailers of all time: the E3 2007 reveal.

Just look at it. A homeless version of Sam Fisher flipping tables and sending guards ragdoll'ing around the room was about as far away from Splinter Cell as Metal Gear Solid. Fans and general opinion were so negative, it forced Ubi to rework the entire game, and it's this version that you need to play.

Focussed on Sam's quest to find the person who killed his daughter, combat was minimised to mostly some interrogation segments which see you treating any thugs' head like a basketball until they cough up the requisite info. Stealth gameplay lost the iconic goggles until more than halfway through the campaign, but gained a multi-tag 'mark and execute' feature to run through levels faster than ever.

You could tell Ubi were taking a step forward with the character, world and mechanics of the franchise, but it's one they wouldn't nail until 2013's IMMACULATE Blacklist.

Conviction is but that furtive first attempt, and we should always praise developers for trying such things (just look at what Sony are doing with Kratos), not constantly demonising them.