7 Awesome Video Games Killed By Their OWN Marketing

2. Splinter Cell: Conviction

Sometimes all it takes is one disastrous trailer.

First impressions do count for a lot when it comes to human or media interactions, and if the first look at the next anticipated instalment of something is notably off-base, it's a Herculean task to get people back on board.

Such was the case with Splinter Cell Conviction. Seeing a total overhaul of the franchise's base mechanics, betas for Conviction shown to press at the time had Sam Fisher able to interact and throw any part of the environment.

Chairs, mugs, office equipment - Ubisoft somehow thought the "next evolution" of stealth was to defeat your enemies by mashing their faces in with whatever you could find.

A novel approach, but one utterly despised by fans new and old. 2007's E3 brought about nothing but negativity, and Ubi would cancel the game's proposed launch window, announce the title was "on hold", and not return to the public eye for another two years, while they figured everything out.

The Splinter Cell that returned was an altogether sleeker beast. Sam's new "mark & execute" feature meant you could tear through levels, taking one guy down that would then let you auto-headshot the next four.

It could certainly be abused and would be perfected in Splinter Cell: Blacklist, but Conviction's story centred on a ruthless Sam Fisher tracking the killer of his daughter Sarah. It make thematic sense that his rulebook would go out the window, and all that was left is the pursuit of new information.

Splinter Cell remains in limbo thanks to the combination of fan backlash to this and Blacklist - plus Michael Ironside's waining health across the 2010s - but there was a lot to love about the Conviction we actually got.