I am Sam Fisher!
Well, I've just completed Splinter Cell 2 : Pandora Tomorrow and I thought I'd do an 'Invisible War' and bore you with my thoughts...
First off, this game looks fucking amazing on my PC. That may not be a shock to some, but just think back a little, back through the recent XBox->PC ports specifically Deus Ex 2 & Halo. Both of them looked crap - actually that's unfair, Deus Ex 2 just didn't look good, Halo, however, did look crap.
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow has joined a very elite group of games - so far consisting of Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell 2 & Star Wars : KOTOR - which have successfully made the transition from XBox to PC.
Anyway, back to the game - as I said, it looks amazing, the lighting and particle effects are possibly the best I have seen in any game and the cut scenes are excellently done. I have to admit, I loved the thermal vision in the first game, but it was only really used for the mine-dodging sections, which seemed an awful waste. Thankfully that's been resolved this time, with the thermal vision mode playing a far more important part in the game. Speaking of unused features, I counted at least six occasions on which I either could or had to use the split jump.
While we're on the subject of changes from the first game, there have been massive improvements in the avoidance of sudden-mission-failure syndrome which dogged the original. While it is still possible to fail the mission because of one body that you forgot to hide properly, it's far less common - I think it only happened to me once during the whole game. One thing that hasn't changed a great deal is Fisher's arsenal - there are a couple of new things, such as the chaff grenade (which I still haven't found a use for), but on the whole it's business as usual - not that it's a bad thing.
The missions are varied in objective and there are enough "Fifth Freedom" situations (Kill 'em all) to successfully break up the stealth bits. However, it's now that I come onto the bad bits and yes, there are a couple. First up, game length - it's too short. It's a common criticism these days, but really, with only 8 missions (17 levels) a skilled player can complete the game on Normal difficulty within a week (less if they don't have impending coursework deadlines ;) ). Secondly, the closing cutscene was a bit crap - maybe you get something better if you manage to complete the game on Hard, but that's really beside the point. If I spend hours playing through a game, I like some kind of reward at the end of it, usually in the form of a satisfying outro.
When all is said an done, this game Rocks - It looks good, it sounds good and it plays good. Well worth playing.
Spad
First off, this game looks fucking amazing on my PC. That may not be a shock to some, but just think back a little, back through the recent XBox->PC ports specifically Deus Ex 2 & Halo. Both of them looked crap - actually that's unfair, Deus Ex 2 just didn't look good, Halo, however, did look crap.
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow has joined a very elite group of games - so far consisting of Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell 2 & Star Wars : KOTOR - which have successfully made the transition from XBox to PC.
Anyway, back to the game - as I said, it looks amazing, the lighting and particle effects are possibly the best I have seen in any game and the cut scenes are excellently done. I have to admit, I loved the thermal vision in the first game, but it was only really used for the mine-dodging sections, which seemed an awful waste. Thankfully that's been resolved this time, with the thermal vision mode playing a far more important part in the game. Speaking of unused features, I counted at least six occasions on which I either could or had to use the split jump.
While we're on the subject of changes from the first game, there have been massive improvements in the avoidance of sudden-mission-failure syndrome which dogged the original. While it is still possible to fail the mission because of one body that you forgot to hide properly, it's far less common - I think it only happened to me once during the whole game. One thing that hasn't changed a great deal is Fisher's arsenal - there are a couple of new things, such as the chaff grenade (which I still haven't found a use for), but on the whole it's business as usual - not that it's a bad thing.
The missions are varied in objective and there are enough "Fifth Freedom" situations (Kill 'em all) to successfully break up the stealth bits. However, it's now that I come onto the bad bits and yes, there are a couple. First up, game length - it's too short. It's a common criticism these days, but really, with only 8 missions (17 levels) a skilled player can complete the game on Normal difficulty within a week (less if they don't have impending coursework deadlines ;) ). Secondly, the closing cutscene was a bit crap - maybe you get something better if you manage to complete the game on Hard, but that's really beside the point. If I spend hours playing through a game, I like some kind of reward at the end of it, usually in the form of a satisfying outro.
When all is said an done, this game Rocks - It looks good, it sounds good and it plays good. Well worth playing.
Spad
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