Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow is a visually impressive game, but it lacks the ooomph in the game department.
User Rating: 7.7 | Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow PS2
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow is a visually impressive game, but it lacks the “ooomph” in the game department. You play as the returning Sam Fisher, who is now transferred from Western Europe, to Indonesia, after terrorists have seized control over the American embassy. As you progress, you unravel a terrifying terrorist plot that can cause massive casualties to everyone’s favorite protagonist country, the U.S. Lets take a look, shall we. Graphics: O.K, after playing through the entire game, I believe this is the most visually impressive game on the Ps2 console. Every single detail of the game is so beautiful, especially the brilliant water effects. The lighting in the game is spectacular, especially since it’s such an integrated part of gameplay. The level design in the game is amazing, as each level has left no detail behind. Overall, Pandora Tomorrow will blow your socks off with its graphics. Audio: The audio in the game is above average. Each level’s sound effects gives you a feeling of the environment around you. The sound effects in the game itself were good. I’m saying good because there wasn’t a lot of them (this is a stealth game people). All you mostly hear are footsteps, doors opening and closing, the casual conversation and a silenced pistol or machine gun. The voiceovers are the real winners here, because the voices can relate to each character. The voices of both Fisher and Lambert really impressed me, because they sounded the most convincingly of their character. I did encounter many bugs with the audio though (specifically voice overs), where parts or entire conversations were lip-synched, but not audible. Gameplay: Heres where the game sort of dozed off. The original Splinter Cell was a unique, stealth experience, which differed from the, then, popular stealth games such as Metal Gear, Tenchu etc. So, when Pandora Tomorrow came out, I thought it would be a different experience from the original. But was I dead wrong, just imagine the original splinter cell, in the jungle. Also, hiding in the shadows and just gunning guys down gets pretty repetitive after a while. Although it is fun at the beginning, continuously doing the same things over and over again make it a drag. Add in the completely linear, straight-forward (and I mean REALLY straight-forward) story, and it just takes the game down. The sad part was that I hadn’t realized I’d beaten the game after watching the “snoozefest” ending cinematic, since I thought it was just a continuing the story. Pandora Tomorrow’s storyline is as suspenseful as watching paint dry, really turning me off. Multiplayer didn’t help much either, since it was missing that “action” and fast-pace of online gaming. I mean, I realize that it’s a stealth game, but just hiding in the shadows and jumping people from behind or looking for spies can make it pretty dull. It’s like playing socom with camping as the main objective (if you’re a splinter), or when you have your whole team and your trying to find that last camper (if you’re a mercenary), which doesn’t sound that thrilling. Still, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow is an above average game, and although it wasn’t as fun as the original, it can provide you with a pretty rich experience. Although it isn’t “stealth action redefined”, as the original claims to be (and is), it still is a good game. 
