Embrace the Dark
- NA release: 15th July 2004
- EU release: 30th July 2004
- JP release: N/A
- Developer: Ubisoft Milan, Ubisoft Shanghai
- Publisher: Ubisoft
- NGC Magazine: 78%
- Mods Used: Widescreen Hack
In my review for Mission: Impossible: Operation Surma, I commented on how the darkness made me realised that the first Splinter Cell right – having elevated light levels so you can still see the levels without having to use your night vision the entire game. It turns out that Pandora Tomorrow wasn’t happy with how the first game looks and is even darker than Operation Surma. It means you have to play the entire game in monochrome.
The darkness also makes the lighting look extremely strange. You have light sources that only cast light a few centimetres, a train with passengers is still insanely dark and it just makes no sense. I’d rather have the slight suspension of disbelief with enemies not spotting Sam Fisher in corners that aren’t quite as dark – especially as you just presume his eyes are more accustomed to the dark. At one point I was standing 1 metre in front of a fire and no light reached Sam.
The stealth itself also feels much more linear than the first game. There’s only one way to do things and you aren’t offered much manoeuvrability to fail. Because the levels are chopped up, there are at least plenty of checkpoints – although these either trigger a loading screen or cause the game to seize up for a bit. Still, a lot of the time it feels unfair because the night vision can obscure how hidden you are and makes it difficult to see cameras, and you can’t see anything at all without them. A step down from the original in every way.
Fine
For all its faults, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow is a decent game. We’ve got issues with the quality of the conversion and the fact that some serious gameplay flaws from the overrated Xbox original have not been addressed, but something about it kept us coming back for more.
Martin Kitts, NGC Magazine #97
Remake or remaster?
A remastered collection with subtitles, brightness adjustment and so on would be good. One that lets you change shadows without brightening other stuff too much would be idea.
Official Ways to get the game
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow is available on Steam.
Europe
Japan
North America
GameCube Games by Date
2002: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2003: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2004: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2005: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2006: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
