Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow

Written by Adam Woolcott on June 12, 2003

First Impressions: Online stealth? Where the hell do I sign up?

First, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell was a huge hit on the Xbox Ц selling well over a million copies in a strong Christmas season. Then, the PS2 version was released, and sold a quarter of a million copies in its first month on the shelves. Mix that in with the success of the GameCube and GBA versions and suddenly you have a mega-franchise. That's the reason why there's little surprise that Ubi Soft is already hard at work at the latest game in the Splinter Cell universe Ц Pandora Tomorrow. Mixing in the already excellent single-player stealth action that made the original such a success, along with the first true multiplayer stealth action, Pandora Tomorrow looks to further extend the hot Splinter Cell franchise and further establish Ubi Soft as a powerful developer/publisher in a competitive business.

One thing to note is that Pandora Tomorrow is NOT Splinter Cell 2 Ц instead, this game is more of a Уbrand extensionФ, another outlook into the universe of the original game. Splinter Cell 2 is on the way and is currently in development, and Pandora Tomorrow is designed to tide you over until the true Splinter Cell sequel is released in 2004/2005. And from the looks of things in this early stage, Pandora Tomorrow will tide you over, and more.

On the single player side of things, Pandora Tomorrow will again star Sam Fisher, and again he's sent into the field on NSA business to kick some tail Ц quietly, of course. Very little is known on the storyline, so this is about all that's known. What is known is Sam technically is working alone, but has help if needed Ц there's Shadow Nets, which is essentially a group of Splinter Cells working separately to cover their own missions, within the same missions Fisher is on. In this way, it seems that Ubi Soft managed to fit in the multiplayer essence of the game into the solo missions Ц without watering down the already outstanding single player gameplay known from the previous Splinter Cell.

The multiplayer is the big story here, though Ц and for good reason. While there probably will be offline cooperative and УstealthФmatch modes for you and friends, the biggest factor here is online play. Going online through the Network Adaptor (most likely broadband only), players will be able to meet up with other players throughout the world and tackle multiplayer stealth missions, and the aforementioned deathmatches, of sorts. This is a gigantic step forward for stealth games Ц not only multiplayer, but also online Ц and online with play modes that go beyond generic deathmatches. The one thing to keep in mind though, is that Sam Fisher is NOT a playable character online, or offline multiplayer Ц instead, you'll get to pick from other Splinter Cells who may or may not be as cool as Fisher. Hopefully Ubi will include support for the SOCOM/Logitech headset, allowing for teammates to speak warning messages and taunts in the stealthmatch modes Ц a keyboard would be horribly inefficient in Pandora Tomorrow.

Amazingly, Ubi is promising even more improved visuals from the prior Splinter Cell game, which is hard to imagine. The PS2 incarnation of SC pushed the console to the limits, and actually exceeded expectations by far. With that in mind, it's amazing that Pandora Tomorrow will look even better, with improved lighting tricks and different locales to create some more variety given the original SC's tendencies to take place indoors. Most of the screens released so far have been renders, but when the screens do start popping up, it's expected to appear far superior to the previous Splinter Cell adventure.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow

First Impressions: Online stealth? Where the hell do I sign up?