Customer Reviews

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

For everybody information, this note is at http://www.splintercell.com/us/faq.php :

Note: This game contains technology intended to prevent copying that may conflict with some disc and virtual drives.

Any fan of the 1st Splinter Cell will not be disappointed. This game is pretty amazing. The gameplay is pretty similar to the 1st, the levels seem to be much the same, and there have been a few outdoor missions thrown into the mix. The enemy A.I. is a little better this time around, I think. They've added a whistle to the distraction arsenal and I've used it a couple times successfully. The other additions are the 1/2 split jump and the SWAT turn. The graphics are what makes this game so good. I've been floored by some things like the village, the subway station, the morgue, and the train. The light/shadow and motion physics are fantastic. I haven't played online yet, but I'll get to it.
That's one downside to the game-HEFTY system requirements. I've got a P4 2.0 Gig 256MB RAM and 128MB nVidia GeForce FX 5200 and it runs smooth except for a few minor drags usually when loading a level or saving, but nothing too bad. This game is incredible but I don't know if I'd recommend this to anyone with a "slower" system than mine, it might not be worth it. Just use the game as an excuse to upgrade your PC.

I am going to give you a review of this game, not of my lack of the proper hardware in order to run it. Read the back of the box! First, this is certainly not much different from the original. Although this one does look better, it still looks and plays pretty much the same. It really is just the first game, with a new story. I don't think that is any big secret. There are very few new things. No new weapons. I do have to say I did like this one better. I think the story is better, and more interesting then the first, and the maps and environments are cooler. It is about the same length as the first, if not slightly longer. What it comes down too is if you liked the first, if you liked the sneaking, spying, and stealth of the first game, then you will like this one.

Just a friendly warning to all CDR/CDRW/DVDR/DVDRW drive owners. UBI Soft as a "feature" on their PC software that prevents installation from any drive with write capacity. Why they feel that will slow down a game cracker, and why they don't mind blowing off an entire segment of the market, is entirely beyond me, but that's not the point here. Call UBI Soft tech support BEFORE buying this or any other PC game from them, and check to make sure whether or not you will be able to install. Software (such as Chessmaster 9000, just to grab a random example) doesn't come with a warning on the box (in "some" cases, they claim -- I haven't found a single box that does), nor is there a warning on the Amazon product pages (short of reviews like this). One could speculate that they're perfectly happy to let people buy their software knowing some won't be able to install it, but I'll leave their motivation to give no warning to consumers to your imagination.

UBI Soft's tech support has said that this "feature" extends to *all* of their PC titles. So fair warning, particularly to folks with laptops where DVD/CDRW drives came standard, ask before you buy. Perhaps if enough people have a problem with this flawed policy, UBI will smarten up. "Flawed" because limiting installs to drives without write capacity isn't going to slow a determined game cracker/pirate down, it's only going to prevent normal consumers from being able to install the game. Worse, they don't find out until they've opened the package and tried to install, which in some cases is enough to prevent a return and refund from the seller.

I'm certain this game deserves more than 1 star, and suspect it will see some good reviews from people who are able to install, but I can't give it more than a single. That's a commentary on UBI Soft and their "feature", not about the game itself. In fact, when I get around to writing a review of the XBox version, it may well merit a 5-star rating.

UbiSoft makes note of the issue on their web page. It's sadly verifiable. CDRW drives will have a hard time reading any UbiSoft game, it's not a rule without exception, but it will most definetly hinder some people's ability to play the game. If you want to verify this please check out UbiSoft's own website, in their FAQ- just type in "CD-RW" for your search. You won't definetly have issues with the game...but then again you might.

Such are the joys of a world where people pirate software and companies try to stop them. It's pretty lousy for everyone, the companies which make the product, the gamers who play the product, even the pirates who try to steal the product...

As for my score, I played the demo and loved it, that's all I've got to go on.

Never could get this to install even after changing the DVDR drive for a DVDrom drive. UBIsoft needs to get it's act together. It is no good alienating paying customers to stop copying by others. If you pay for a product it should work.

If you are coming off playing the original and thinking about getting Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow then chances are you liked the first one. If you liked the first one there is nothing about Pandora that will disappoint. It exceeds the original in almost every category.

There are a few new moves in this outing. They are easy to learn and incorporate if you are already accustomed to the first game. If you have not played the first SC, then you will have a much higher learning curve. I would also recommend playing the original first, as it is extremely cheap right now and very fun. The original will hone your skills for taking Pandora on.

Pandora bests the original in graphics and also corrects some strange behaviors that were in place in the original game. The most noticeable is the absence of bullet-proof light bulbs. My friends and I use to have fun pointing out that flaw in the original. We would joke around about how terrorists shouldn't be in it for the money if they had enough to install so many bullet-proof lightbulbs. We would also go on about "boo-let-pruf-leit-bulbs" in thick russian accents - good times. So far all light-bulbs in this game are breakable. I still do not understand why there is no option to simply unscrew a lightbulb. You still have to waste a bullet (or find a throwable glass bottle) to create some cover of darkness.

A new welcome feature in Pandora is the quicksave/load. I played the original on the X-box, so this might not be new in the PC versions. I don't know how many times I had to execute a sequence of events that took 15 minutes just so I could mess up time and time again at some difficult spot right before the checkpoint. No such headache here.

A few new improvements include an indicator that tells you exactly how many times you can be spotted before the mission is compromised and an indicator that tells you when bodies are sufficiently hidden.

Pandora is a fun continuation of the original. It suffers from the sequel syndrome - that it may have not lived up to expectations of some, but this is certainly a great outing for ubisoft - irregardless of their attempts to curb piracy that only serve to alienate their fanbase.

I enjoyed the first Splinter Cell, although I was admittedly not 100% satisfied with the innovative but confiningly linear gameplay. However, I was persuaded to buy Pandora Tommorrow by the playable demo.

The good news:
From the limited portion of the game I have been able to play, the game looks good, slightly better than the already impressive first Splinter Cell. It has some new visual effect tweaks here and there and a few new moves for the main character, and overall has a solid, current, but not spectacular appearance. The game environment seems to have gained some improvements in interactivity as well, with some neat features like your footsteps scaring birds out of the grass and your character casting shadows when passing in front of a projector screen added to spice things up.

As with Splinter Cell, the voice acting is good, the story is well put together, and the settings and cut scenes are professional. It is clear the designers did their homework. While I haven't had the pleasure of finishing much of the game (I'll get into why in a moment), the game has the goods.

If only it could actually deliver them.

The bad news:
My system well exceeds all the requirements and has all the latest drivers, but this game can't seem to stabilize even with the v1.1 patch installed. Frustratingly, I experienced crashes about every three minutes of gameplay in single player. These seemed to be triggered by almost all the scripted events (and there are lots - which would be good if they didn't kill the game) and each time I moved from a portion of level to another portion. All of the crashes required a reboot to be able to get the game to run again, and several of them hard hung my system - relatively uncommon on my Windows XP box. Since the game frequently autosaves for you (this is a good thing) it's not quite as bad as it could be to crash, but it's still not good at all.

The multiplayer game is more stable and doesn't appear to crash when switching maps or during play. This is good because Splinter Cell: Pandora Tommorrow has an inventive multiplayer mode where your point of view, equipment, objectives, and method of operating are quite different depending on which side you play (reminiscent of Aliens vs. Predator). However, I was inexplicably blocked from playing in multiplayer mode about three-fourths of the times I ran the game due to bad punkbuster detection; even though I had the punkbuster software installed and enabled I was stilled banned from joining servers for not having punkbuster. This problem, like the rest, only seemed to resolve itself when I rebooted my system. UbiSoft has clearly set its priorities on getting multiplayer working first, however, as almost all the updates in the latest patch are aimed at the multiplayer mode.

One thing I found odd was the multiplayer game has the same basic look and feel as the single player, but plays almost like a different game. Although the two modes share models, animations, and visual effects, I would bet that UbiSoft designed the multiplayer mode as a seperate design project. The key commands are mostly different from the single player (even though most of the character's actions are the same). The character also interacts a little differently with the game envirnonment, so it takes some getting used to.

The bottom line:
This title will probably be worth the price of admission if and when the stability problems are corrected. The game in its present state runs like an early beta test version, and as happens time and time again in the software industry, it is clear that the game was pushed out before it was ready. Buyer beware; wait for UbiSoft to spend the time - as it should have before release - to fix the game with further updates before you spend your money on this game. Afterward, this game will most likely be a good entertainment value.

I agree with the reviewers that have had problems with the copy protection. I just installed the game, and when I tried to run it, got a message saying something like "Please disable CD/DVD emulation software and restart the game." Well.. I DID have Virtual CloneDrive running, and I use it for 100% non-piracy purposes. I quit that app, then reran SC:PT a few times and got the same results. SO THE GAME DOESN'T RUN, and I have no emulation software running.

This is extremely bad form for a game, and I'm tempted to just ask for a refund instead of trying to work around the problem. How could they do this crap to their paying customers? DON'T BUY THIS GAME. We should be protesting poorly-tested copy protection schemes (which are always going to be cracked anyway). After paying $$ for a game, I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH PROBLEMS LIKE THIS.

Overall, the secone installment of splinter cell has been a joy for me. Currently I'm on the 7th level (the TV station level) and like it alot. The single player gameplay is much like the first game, but with a few improvements. To be successful in this game, Sam must rely on his stealth more than in the first game. I feel the locations are many times better than the original, with much more lifelike graphics. Also, the storyline of this game is easier to follow and more understandable than the original splinter cell. Sam only gets a few new weapons, but they are cool, and only add to the good gaming experience. If you have played the original splinter cell, this game will be a bit easy, so i recommend using the hard difficulty setting. AI has definitely been improved in this sequel, the guards are smarter than before, adding difficulty to the gameplay.

I have only played the multiplayer twice, but like it alot. It kinda feels like CS, but even better.

I would recommend this game to anyone. It rocks!!!