Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow (Xbox)

CNET editors' rating: 4.5 stars Outstanding
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Overall score: 9.1 (4.5 stars)
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Gamespot editors' review

• Reviewed by: Greg Kasavin
• Reviewed on: 03/24/2004
• Updated on:05/26/2004
• Released on: 03/23/2004

Sam Fisher is back, and this time, he's brought some friends. Well, that's not exactly true--Fisher, an ultrasecret agent in league with the US government, always works alone. But the point is, the sequel to Ubisoft's blockbuster hit, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, not only offers more of the same spectacular single-player stealth action, starring Sam, that was featured in the original game, but also boasts a genuinely innovative, new multiplayer mode for up to four players, in which small groups of spies must match wits with heavily armed mercenaries. The multiplayer mode ties in with the single-player storyline, though the two portions of the game are completely self-contained. In fact, both the single-player and multiplayer portions of Pandora Tomorrow are highly impressive in their own right and add up to an experience that will surely appeal to fans of the first Splinter Cell, let alone anyone remotely interested in a game about high-tech stealth, subterfuge, and sabotage.

The title of Pandora Tomorrow refers to a code phrase used by the presumed villain of the game, a guerrilla leader threatening the free world with a biological contagion. In the single-player portion of the game, you'll reprise the role of Sam Fisher and track this culprit around the globe, in locations ranging from a speeding passenger train hurtling across Paris, to a military camp in Indonesia. The first Splinter Cell game took place predominantly in building interiors, which were richly detailed but naturally mundane. One of Pandora Tomorrow's obvious improvements on its predecessor is in how it takes place in more-exotic locales. In Indonesia, you'll creep through the heavy brush, perhaps using the dense foliage to hide the bodies of your victims out of sight. On the passenger train, you'll shimmy along the outside to avoid detection and will come dangerously close to being flung to your death from the fast-moving car. This train level comes pretty early on in the campaign and is the shortest and probably the most impressive of the game's missions. There are only eight in total, but most of them are quite long, so veteran Splinter Cell players should expect a good 10 hours' worth of action.

The core gameplay is basically the same, which, for the most part, is a very good thing. You'll sneak your way through the game's linear scenarios, avoiding or incapacitating any unsuspecting guards (or, sometimes, civilians) who might otherwise threaten your mission of secrecy. It's not difficult to alert passersby to your presence, either by moving too quickly (or otherwise making too much noise) or by blundering into a well-lit area. There are other nasty surprises in store for you. Hidden antipersonnel mines (visible only when you toggle your thermal vision), infrared trip wires (likewise), booby traps, motion detectors, security cameras, and other such devices make the going quite difficult.

You've got plenty of tricks up your sleeve, too. Fisher is typically armed with a silenced pistol as well as his trusty SC20K multipurpose experimental assault rifle, which he can use for some silent sniping when lethal force is permitted or which he can use to fire off a variety of different gadgets. Those who played Splinter Cell will recognize all of these, which range from diversionary cameras to smoke grenades to electrifying (but nonlethal) rounds. Fisher's other gadgets include lock picks, an optical fiber wire used for seeing what's on the other side of a closed door, and his combined night vision/thermal vision goggles. He's fully decked out to get the job done by any means necessary.

Pandora Tomorrow's storyline is somewhat more cohesive than that of its predecessor, and some of the gameplay elements are thankfully a bit more transparent this time around. For example, the game inherits a somewhat contrived element from its predecessor: In Splinter Cell you needed to hide the bodies of your victims out of sight to avoid setting off an alarm, which would possibly result in the failure of your mission. You needed to hide all bodies even when there was no one left conscious to pay them much heed. Pandora Tomorrow at least makes it clear that this is always necessary, and a helpful blip on your stealth meter (which indicates how camouflaged you are in the darkness) lets you know where it's safe to dump a body so no one will notice. Also, in most missions, you don't automatically fail if an alarm is sounded; you'll be afforded up to three such mistakes, though at scripted points in each mission, the alarm stage will reset back to zero, and you'll be able to proceed somewhat less anxiously.

Yet, much like the original Splinter Cell, it must be said about Pandora Tomorrow that it occasionally devolves into pure trial-and-error gameplay. The missions are completely linear and tightly scripted, so if you're jumped by bad guys or you stumble over a trap of some sort and thus fail your mission, you'll just reload from the last check point (or quick save, if you're playing the PC version), and then try again from a previous point, this time knowing exactly what's coming up. That doesn't mean you'll always get through the tight spots on the second attempt, as in fact, Pandora Tomorrow is quite a difficult game. Some sequences demand you to silently make your way through environments while using both your night vision and your thermal vision to see all the dangers in your surroundings. Then you might need to silently take out a small squad of guards.

Enemy artificial intelligence is about the same as in the previous Splinter Cell, which means guards will basically patrol around in a set pattern, giving you the opportunity to sneak up on them or shoot them. If you make too much noise or otherwise reveal your position, though, they'll either come investigate if you weren't too blatant about it (usually setting themselves up for an easy kill or knockout), or they'll open fire and/or sound an alarm. Fisher can't sustain much damage, but it's still quite easy to outshoot your enemies as long as you don't alert too many of them at a time. The fact that the gameplay sequences in which you aren't permitted to use lethal force are so much harder than the ones in which you can shoot to kill says a lot about the AI.

While Pandora Tomorrow's missions, like those of Splinter Cell, could have benefited from feeling less rigid and scripted, on the plus side, they're incredibly slick. Each one features some very cool, memorable moments, and you'll find considerable variety and multiple objectives within each mission. And the missions do present you with some tactical options. For instance, there are many more breakable lights in Pandora Tomorrow than in its predecessor, so you can often create a shroud of darkness for yourself with some well-placed shots. You can snipe your foes, sneak up behind them and knock them out, or distract them by whistling (one of Fisher's few new tricks) and then sneak right by. The game unfortunately has no point system of any kind, so there's no built-in impetus to try to accomplish your missions as stealthily as possible, but it's worth noting that the gameplay here is ultimately skill-based, requiring a delicate touch and careful timing. But Splinter Cell fans knew that already.

The control is as responsive as ever. Using the Xbox controller, you'll need to gently apply the analog stick in order to move quietly, lest you make too much noise and alert anyone in the vicinity to your position, while the right analog stick lets you freely rotate the camera to get an ideal vantage point. On the PC, standard shooter-style mouse-and-keyboard controls let you easily maneuver around, and the mousewheel controls how quickly you move. This more-precise control scheme works well--arguably, better--but the analog control and the context-sensitive force feedback provided by the Xbox controller make that version of Pandora Tomorrow a much more tactile experience. The PC version of the game also features sharper, more colorful visuals (assuming you have a good-enough system for them) and gives you the ability to quick-save your progress at any time, whereas the Xbox version is limited to a checkpoint save system, which makes the game more challenging but potentially more frustrating. For what it's worth, the PC version of the game also retails for less than the Xbox version.

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  "one of the best ever"

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Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow (Xbox): $8.00 - $18.99

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