Reviewed: August 10, 2004
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
Ubisoft

Developer
Ubisoft Shanghai
Ubisoft Montreal

Released: July 15, 2004
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen

8
9
9
6
7.4

Supported Features:

Pandora Tomorrow is set in the very-near future with a story ripped from today’s headlines. Using real world locations and situations you are thrust into an explosive scenario of terrorism, hostages, espionage, and relentless action. This is definitely a job for Sam Fisher.

This was my third time on just as many formats with Pandora Tomorrow, and I must confess I had my doubts with the limitations the GameCube would likely force upon this excellent game. Like the original Splinter Cell, Ubisoft has taken the core Xbox game and added some exclusive content to give GameCube owners bragging rights, but nothing to cause Xbox and PC gamers too much system envy. In fact, you get the same extras PS2 owner got when their version shipped in June.

The GameCube version features:

• New Jungle Mission - Use Sam Fisher’s entire range of stealth maneuvers to evade the enemy through a richly detailed Indonesian jungle setting.
• Post-Mission Statistics and Scoring - After each completed mission, get feedback on your performance: from the number of shots fired, to the number of enemies eliminated, even your time on each level.
• New Alternate Pathways in Revisited Missions - Complete mission objectives through new pathways. Each new pathway offers its own gameplay challenges and rewards.
• New Booby Trap Gameplay - Disable explosive devices using a similar mechanic to the innovative lockpick gameplay.
• Game Boy Advance Connectivity - Connect to your GBA to turn it into a mini-radar screen.

The first is the new SWAT-pivot move that allows Sam to spin across doorways, alleys, or other narrow openings avoiding detection while hopefully obtaining a better vantage point. Sam can still double-jump and suspend himself in narrow gaps, but he can now continue that move one step further by performing another jump and grabbing a high ledge to pull up to previously inaccessible areas.

Naturally, all these new moves provide the designers plenty of opportunities for you to use them during gameplay. Unlike the original game where you had a training room to learn the ropes, Pandora Tomorrow features on-the-job training, as you are guided through the old and new commands during the introductory mission.

The health system has been radically changed to resemble something more along the lines of Half-Life. Instead of loading up on med kits and healing whenever you want, you now find first-aid stations where you are given the choice to fully heal or partially heal based on your need and the situation. Healing is now a real-time function. Unlike the first game where you could pause the game and use a med kit for instant relief, Sam must now go through an animated sequence that takes several seconds, during which he is totally vulnerable to attack and further damage.

Some other subtle changes have crept into the game design including a multi-stage alert system for enemies. It basically follows the rules of the first game where failure to dispose of bodies properly or getting caught on camera triggered the alarm and too many alarms ended the mission, but this time around the enemies will step up their game as the alarm levels increase.

This is a two-fold system that rewards stealth gamers with slightly easier gameplay and raises the challenge bar for careless players. Of course you can always wait for the alert level to decrease on its own, but in missions where time is an issue you don’t always have the luxury of hiding in a dark corner waiting for the guards to give up.

You still have a wonderful assortment of gadgets including several new toys to play with. As with the moves, the missions are designed around their use as well. You’ll be eavesdropping with the laser mic, rappelling down zip-lines, picking locks, and using all sorts of nifty vision modes including my favorite, the diversionary spy camera.

Enemy AI has been stepped up several notches, not only to conform to the new three-alert model but to also emphasize the benefits of stealth gameplay. Pandora Tomorrow is not about shooting. When your targets are wearing body armor and helmets, taking them down with a bullet is often futile. The game subconsciously encourages you to play slowly, watch, learn, anticipate, and dispatch only the enemies you must as inconspicuously as possible.

The missions are creative and tightly integrated into the levels but there are times when you feel you are being led along a tightly scripted sequence of challenges. More often than not there is only one solution to any given problem aside from the obvious choice of killing or sneaking. Certain parts of certain levels require the use of a particular gadget or one of Sam’s nimble moves. There’s no real satisfaction in figuring anything out since there aren’t too many ways to screw up.

Watching Sam walk, run, jump, climb, shimmy, or do anything else is pure poetry in motion. The new animations for the SWAT turn and split-jump-grab are nice but the coolest new move in Sam’s growing list is the ability to hang upside-down and fire his weapon from an inverted position.

The levels and environments in Pandora Tomorrow are outstanding, both indoors and out. Outdoors, we have some of the best tall grass I have ever seen outside of the real thing. It waves in the breeze and crumples as Sam walks, crouches, or crawls through it. Water is just as good as always and Sam will splash and leave ripples in its reflective surface as he walks through puddles, rivers, or ponds.

Real world architecture heightens the realism for locations like Jerusalem and France. The jungles of Indonesia are breathtaking feature lush foliage and cascading rays of light streaming down through the canopy. All the visual special effects are soundly in place. Lights cast real-time shadows on Sam and the environment and most of them can be shot out to cast the level in additional darkness. This not only makes the game world a much more convincing place, but lends itself to some tactical gameplay as well.

The traditional thermal and nightvision modes are back but they suffer from the same visual flaws of last year's game where everything is just a bit too crisp. It lacks the motion-blur light effects of the Xbox and PC. The only other issue with graphics are some areas of the game where framerates take a significant hit. Most of the time the game runs like a dream, but when choppiness occurs you can't miss it. On the plus side, the GameCube version makes use of progressive scan support for extra high resolution on supported TV's.

As with the first game, Pandora Tomorrow delivers stunning CG movies with all of the expert direction and carefully planned camera angles and special effects of a feature presentation. The movies are a welcome reward for completing missions while helping to immerse you in the underlying plot of the campaign.

Michael Ironside is back to lend his weathered voice to the lead character, Sam Fisher, while Dennis Haysbert (FOX’s “24”) joins the cast as Lambert, that constant nagging voice in your headset. Actually, their banter is quite refreshing with some genuinely witty retorts that help to lighten the mood. The rest of the supporting voice work is highly professional and totally convincing although the guards seem to repeat several phrases a bit too often.

The soundtrack rivals the quality of any film score. The music slips into the background during gameplay only to revive during alerts or combat situations. It not only drives the emotional impact of the game but also helps in your situational awareness.

The major detraction for this game is the lack of multiplayer support. If the GameCube is your only gaming system then by all means play Pandora Tomorrow on it, but if you have any other system you'll find a much better value on those formats. The multiplayer modes are a total blast and offer nearly as much content as the solo game.

As far as single-player stealth-action games go, Pandora Tomorrow is in a league of it's own. GameCube owners aren't really expecting online play so most of you can probably live without the Spies vs. Mercenaries modes and never know what you are missing, but if you ever get a taste of the forbidden multiplayer fruit, you'll probably be buying a new system.