An obnoxious, overrated, repetitive rehash; characters, plot, gameplay? None of that, just hit quickload, repeat.

User Rating: 5.6 | Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow PC
The problems of Pandora Tomorrow (PT) are precisely the same problems endemic of the rest of the Splinter Cell (SC) franchise. It is profoundly disappointing – as always – not to see the personage of Sam Fisher, as central and interesting as he is, developed and characterized in more detail. Aside from the occasional jab at those stupid French, or being coy while interrogating a guard, Sam remains devoid of humanity, and even of inhumanity (at least that inhumanity which makes villains so intoxicating). He is simply a soulless action hero, and anyone familiar with the formidable body of spy fiction must know that his need not be the case. It is almost as disappointing that this second incarnation of Sam, for all his purported athleticism, has failed to add very much at all to his repertoire of spy moves. Sure, we are introduced to the slightly fancier split kick and the SWAT Turn (which seems all the more useless for its very impressive name), but those who played the original will feel quite at ease with this very loyal successor. In point of fact, it is perhaps too loyal to its antecedent, because the developers of the game have saturated the gameplay with more traps, puzzles, and brain-dead sentries but have utterly neglected to address the trial-and-error style of gameplay, so that the experimentation continues but is made more (and more, and more) painful by repetition. There is no flow in the gameplay; playing PT is precisely like listening to an audio CD which skips; the player is compelled to quicksave and quickload constantly. The only choice the player ever really makes is whether or not to preserve the life of the next hapless sentry or civilian. And because there is no score assessed at the end of a concluded mission, there is really no incentive to the player to preserve the lives of anyone; only the threat of a mission failure stays the player’s hand. And that is really the most disappointing part of this sequel: for all the possibilities inherent in the concept of an agile superspy in a realistic world, the execution is so stiff that it loses its interest.