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Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow

Luke enters a world of political subterfuge, and likes what he sees...

Ubisoft owe Sam Fisher an awful lot. Not only has our stealthy agent's deft skills impressed the critics and consumers in equal measure thus far, his influences have prompted the publisher to embark upon their most impressive and daring series of new game developments ever. The first title's excellence also elevated originators Ubisoft Montreal to the top of the game development food chain making them the de facto choice for their parent company's most important and exciting properties. Of course, with such a killer series debut under their belt, all eyes would inevitably be facing towards Canada for the sequel, which will be crucial to cementing the series' triple-A pretensions and the developer's ever-growing reputation for finesse. That said, what Ubisoft have come up with in the meantime must be regarded as something of a 'stop-gap', developed by their Shanghai studio (ostensibly) while we await the full sequel. Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow it is, then...

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More of the same is, as you may already have guessed, predominantly the order of the day in this new Xbox game. The premise is classic Tom Clancy too, pitting agent Sam against the totalitarian machinations of an Indonesian guerrilla leader (Suhadi Sadono), hell-bent on corrupting the early stages of a US-sponsored democracy in East Timor. The game commences with Sadono's militia taking forceful control of the US embassy in Jakarta, and begins with Fisher's tentative and sensitive reconnaissance mission in the beautiful haze of a south-pacific sunset. Invariably this opener is something of a gentle training initiative in the most part, reminding us of the game's controls and introducing the stealthy vagaries of the Pandora Tomorrow world. Though players of the original game will most certainly feel right at home from the outset anyway, very little having changed on the control front from the original; the game still oozing that nervous tension that characterised the first.

Indeed, some may have a problem with how closely Pandora Tomorrow resembles the first Splinter Cell, the game feeling very much like a new 'episode', rather than a entire shift, and this sense is enforced further by the way the game is played and 'feels' - which is nigh-on identically to the series' much-lauded debut. Not that this a bad thing, at least for those that found the original to be an atmospheric treat, albeit a frustratingly difficult one at times. This is the crux of the game, in fact, it's still all about subtlety, remaining undetected via stealth (predominantly via attention to noise and lighting) being the key to success in the singleplayer game.

The first game being so darned infuriating at times (necessitating incredibly frequent re-starts owing to the overly-conservative use of save-points), the Shanghai team behind the singleplayer game have thankfully littered a few more save-points throughout missions, and have also toned down the AI very slightly, whilst still making clumsy detection a genuine threat and maintaining the richness of the gameplay impressively. Do not be under any illusions however, Pandora Tomorrow is still a devilishly hard game to play, and will still see you throwing down your gamepad with rage at times.

Graphically all is quite magnificent, perhaps more so even than the last game, thanks to some truly beautiful use of lighting and special effects, as well as some insanely life-like animation which borders on the photo-real on occasions and further envelopes you in the rich and engrossing world the developers have created. Once again the visuals have practical purpose too - the use of lighting, cover and scenery once again proving crucial to progress, as Sam will be creaking across ancient boards and shooting-out lamps as much as ever. In fact, it is perhaps this cunning blend of useful visuals and multi-facetted gameplay that makes the Splinter Cell titles stand-out so illuminatingly in a crowded stealth genre.

The impressive diversity of missions, moves, locations and weapons also once again sets an example other action games would do well to follow, and Pandora Tomorrow will see Sam jetting from embassies to docks, jungle villages to continental trains via TV stations and Middle-Eastern markets all in lavish detail oozing with cinematic atmosphere. Eight missions star in total, all diverse and all very challenging at times, and despite the overall air of 'same-old' exuded by the this new game it should still take you at least twenty-hours-plus to complete, even if a goodly part of this will be spent re-tracing steps after cocking-up.

Of course, one the most-highly touted and eagerly awaited original attributes of Pandora Tomorrow was the online mode; the promise of multiplayer Splinter Cell action for the first time. This portion is of course all present and correct, and has even been designed by Ubisoft Montreal as opposed to the Shanghai division behind the singleplayer content. This new mode is an entirely different kettle-of-fish too, though is equally as good, if not even more impressive, in its own way, boasting expertly honed two-on-two battles across specially designed maps which pit one team on a specific mission against another team predominantly bent on stopping them and causing anarchy.

Of course, all the usual gadgetry and stealth-moves will come in handy though the compliment available does seem to differ somewhat from the singleplayer game, causing confusion at first though ultimately improving the quality of the experience. Indeed, for actually managing to create a slick and workable, genuinely stealthy and atmospheric multiplayer experience the team at Montreal deserve a round of hearty applause having treated us to something truly different I feel could well mushroom into something very popular indeed.

All in all Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow is a fantastic game that will be adored by fans of the original, especially those with Live who fancy giving the finely-crafted multiplayer experience a whirl. Those who found the original SC frustrating, finicky and tedious will still find as much to annoy in this latest addition to the series, but for sheer quality of craftsmanship and for being the most evolved example of the genre, it's hard to fault Ubisoft's latest opus.

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1. where can i download the walkthrough guide????? i'm stuck on the mission where you record the password with a sticky cam!

   ??? Wednesday, 23 June 2004, 13:52:34

2. Every time I access the computer onboard the Submarine;it says"Mission Over";and the level starts over from checkpoint.What am I doing wrong?

   James Sanders Tuesday, 13 September 2005, 00:12:27