Post by: baturkin17 on March 28, 2004, 03:58:00 AM
2006: The U.S. installs a temporary military base on East Timor to train the developing defense force of the "world's youngest democracy." Resistance to the U.S. military presence in Southeast Asia is widespread and passionate, but the threat Indonesian militias pose to Timorese democracy is deemed sufficient justification. Anti-U.S. resentment comes to a head under the leadership of guerrilla militia leader Suhadi Sadono, acting with the unofficial support of major corrupt factions of the Indonesian government. Suhadi's men attack and occupy the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, taking dozens of civilian and military personnel hostage.
Deployed by a top secret wing of the NSA (National Security Agency) known as Third Echelon, Sam Fisher is a lone field operative supported by a remote team. Fisher must defend and assist the U.S. military, both locally and from remote locations, until Suhadi's terror-driven policies can be subverted and the guerrilla faction eradicated. Charged with saving the world, its a high stakes game. If he fails, the U.S. will deny any knowledge of his existence.
MY EXPERIANCE:
So far I only played the first 3 levels, but im already hooked. It is very sharp looking , and also pretty darn hard, unless I just suck.
THE GAMEPLAY:
Very similar to the first Splinter Cell. While some controls are a little different, nothing you wont get used to right away. The AI seems to be alot smarter as well.
THE GRAPHICS:
Not to different from the original, but still excellent. The light and shadows are awesome. The detail in the levels is astounding, and the weapons look great too. So do the little rats in the cages in the lab
THE MULTIPLAYER:
Havent tested....... sorry. By the way, this is where the 1st person shooter comes in
THE SOUND:
The sound is perfect for the gameplay, when something tense happens the music goes great with it. Almost every situation has music that goes great with it. The voicing and the ambience is also perfect.
THE CONTROLS:
Almost identical to the original, with a few exceptions. Very user friendly.
OVERALL:
I Love it, I really recommend it.
I give it a 9 out of 10
yah i know this review sux , but hey, buy the game and see for yourself.
Post by: Foe-hammer on March 29, 2004, 02:09:00 PM
Post by: Mshake on March 30, 2004, 07:54:00 AM
Story:
Best left for you to experience it yourselves as a game is meant to be played, not read nor seen until U have done a minor bit of gameplay into it! Overall, the story is kind of a letdown, nothing innovative, follows the course of the world as it is now, Bio-threat<-- biggest hint ever. Metal Gear has done it with nuclear devices so now this time is Bio-related stuffs.
Verdict for story === 5/10
Gameplay:
Much better than the Splinter Cell, this is a good thing. Controls are changed or rather tweaked and I just felt the team decided to sort of put the controls inline/more compatible with the S-controller. I played once with the smaller controller and it felt nicer compared with my second time through the game with the larger controller. Point to note: Controller settings in single player is different from multiplayer (obviously, fps vs 3rd person action)
Verdict ==== 9/10
Visuals :
Improvement here and there. Framerates are good. Lightings and shadows are great. Sam Fisher doesn't like the huge ape like he was whilst walking slowly in Splinter Cell part 1. He still walks like that but I noticed the character to appear a little not so erm, extreme? maybe not the right word but you would get it once you play both games side by side. Furthermore, facial expressions are looking absolutely gorgeous. I finished the game and I open my dusted Splinter Cell to see the differences and my first edition Splinter Cell would be up on ebay soon ....
Another thing to note is that while i know it is not easy to code/develop games that operates mostly with night vision/thermal sensors, I prefer games that have a huge abundance of vibrant colors and look lively even if it's an action game. Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow is somewhat dissapointing to me in that aspect. If you played through the whole game, I am sure you would notice that more than 80 percent of the time (single player), your character would be spending his time hiding in total darkness aided only by his night vision goggles and almost ALL the missions are in the dark. Yes, yes i know this is tactical stealth kinda game but Tenchu and Metal Gear both excel in this department. They have good contrasting colors and visuals as well but not with 80 percent of the time looking through night vision goggles. Well, I know some of you would like it this way too. So it's a matter of in the eye of the beholder
Verdict ==== 8.5/10 (only coz i think there are better looking games out there)
Fisher's Gadgets:
COOOL stuffs although most of the same but this time, you begin the missions in the game almost fully equipped with all things that you need
No verdict here, part of gameplay, just wanted to add
Sound :
I am not an audio fanatic but I think they have done a good job here. Bullets sound great, voice acting is good and certainly this is not a game where soundtrack plays a great role ehhee, stealth means silence in a way right? I am comparing this to Metal Gear series where I think totally sucks in terms of simple things such as bullet sounds, weapons etc etc. The player would be immersed in a pseudo-realtime spy environment. Anything alerting the guards/enemies would get your attention through nice sound clips of suspence and action.
Verdict === 8/10
AI of enemies:
Sometimes it is good, sometimes it aint. Sam Fisher can whistle on the fly in this edition of Splinter Cell. A good or bad thing? I am not sure. But it adds to the realism of the game of such genre. Solid Snake could tap walls to make sound, getting enemies attention and luring them to their dooms whilst Fisher could whistle. Cool eh?
But I find this to be a contributing factor to the easyness of the entire game! You, the player could get through the entire game without killing a single person except in situations where you must kill to advance. Enemies would react to a whistle and you could just hide in the shadows and pop out and press your right lever button on the controller and 'bam', enemy is knock down unconscious. Good fun nevertheless and it's a challenge to go through the game without killing unnecessary enemy. Verdict === 6/10
Multiplayer:
This is another area where this game should shine. Graphically it looks not as good as its single player sister but it is adequate for hours of funtime with real-live friends as opposed to computer AI enemies. I have only tried system-link and not xblive and I have to say it is better than counter-strike. Perhaps I have a counter-strike burn-out having play it for more than 5 years. But the multiplayer theme of neutralizing bio-threats isn't as fun as planting bombs in CS imho. For those who really into SCPT's multiplayer action, feel free to add to my comments.
Verdict == 8/10
Overall : 7/10 (i think this only applies to the single player missions as i think the real fun begins when you are fragging your friends, don bother about polygon counts, no silly enemies but your mates to kill and so forth)
Recommendation: A good buy and with xblive updates and so forth, definite keeper. Focus on the multiplayer side of things though coz i strongly believe it to be a good experience. But if you are gonna spend on only one game this few months, and you most likely to play alone, no other game comes close to Ninja Gaiden.
Post by: No Mess on March 31, 2004, 01:30:00 PM
Post by: ChristPuncher on March 31, 2004, 08:22:00 PM
The mercs can set spy traps (similar to spy bullet)/ proxy mines/laser mines at points of entry etc., use motion tracking to detect fast moving spies, use electro vision to detect spies using night or thermal vision, phosphorus nades to cover a spy in a bright green substance, frag grenades (boomage near spy=death), a tazer (shocks any spy in vicinity) and a few more gadgets which I forget at the moment. They also have a torchlight to illuminate a a dark area/find a hiding spy, along with a laser for precision aiming. The mercs can also scope and kill a spy in 1-2 shots if they have good aim. They also have a melee attack which can be very nasty if used effectively. It knocks a spy on their ass and makes them easy to kill (difficult to execute however). There are healing/ammo stations around for the mercs to use as well.
The spies have thermal and night vision along with smoke nades (which knock a spy out who is in the smoke too long), flashbangs, chaff grenades (disrupts cameras/merc's vision) alarm snares (sets off motion detectors to throw mercs off), sticky cams (which can release gas) and spy bullets (tag a merc with one to put them on your radar and listen to the voice communication between two mercs) They can strike a merc to disorient him and also choke a merc/snap their neck if they manage to grab the merc from behind. In the levels, there are cameras/motion detectors all over the place that the spy must be careful not to set off as it will alert the merc to their position.
Everything is executed superbly and the MP aspect of Pandora Tommorow shows real polish, I think (SP..ehhhh).
This post has been edited by ChristPuncher: Apr 1 2004, 04:24 AM
Post by: dietrite on March 31, 2004, 10:09:00 PM
Post by: AnThRaX on April 01, 2004, 06:41:00 AM
| QUOTE (dietrite @ Apr 1 2004, 02:09 AM) |
| can you play on xbconnect or xlink?? |
Yes, msg me anytime on XBC at PapaSmurf and well play!
Post by: jz28 on April 01, 2004, 08:44:00 AM
| QUOTE (dietrite @ Apr 1 2004, 03:09 AM) |
| can you play on xbconnect or xlink?? |
yeah, any system link game will work with either xlink or xbc.
Post by: AnThRaX on April 01, 2004, 11:33:00 AM
| QUOTE (jz28 @ Apr 1 2004, 12:44 PM) |
| yeah, any system link game will work with either xlink or xbc. |
not 100% true the first steel battlion was system link but not multiplayer
Post by: jz28 on April 01, 2004, 12:41:00 PM
| QUOTE (AnThRaX @ Apr 1 2004, 04:26 PM) |
| not 100% true the first steel battlion was system link but not multiplayer |
i have a friend that has this game, but i've not talked to him yet about this...
if not multiplayer than how the hell does system link work?
This post has been edited by jz28: Apr 1 2004, 08:41 PM
Post by: DuDeR MaN on April 01, 2004, 03:25:00 PM
XBOX LIVE MULTIPLAYER:
+Great Visuals
+Incredible Sound
+2 sides/perspectives to play as
+plenty of useful and just plain "cool" gadgets
+you can whisper in your enemies ear before you snap their neck!
-only a maximum of 4 players
-the voice chat is not yet perfected.
-everyone always wants to be spies
-in ranking mode after you get to a certain rank you'll lose points if you play a level 1 player, win or lose.
| QUOTE |
| Do it the way a sequal is supposed to be done; like Bungie does a sequal |
You mean push it back another year? But seriously this isn't exactly a true "sequal" more of an add-on pack like they have for games on the PC. It's the same deal with ghost recon: island of thunder, it's not ghost recon 2... it's just something to hold you over until they make the true sequal. Also you can look at Halo PC, it's not a sequal but it has alot of feature sthe original didn't like extra levels and Multiplayer and new guns and vehicles that you can use.
Post by: tim210171 on April 15, 2004, 12:58:00 AM
My friend and I rented it out from our local video shop .
Its definately good . I have tried the multipalyer and have to say that it is very different aproach to most death match / multiplayer setups. if you play as Sam or the terrorist guy it varies as to how you play .
I love the new features to the game and it is definately a step up from the first. Eg the terrorist has an automatic weapon so if you want to go running round shooting then you can but the weapon has laser tracking and if you switch to sniper mode then the realistic way in which the target sways a little is a lovely touch. Then press hold breath to steady the gun before you fire - its great. also you get a vision mode which lets you see electromagnetic fields - good for when you want to see control panels electronic devices etc.
try out the multiplayer in a deathmatch - the steath approach to killing your apponents is great. refreshing change from running round blasting
Post by: dndxn on April 15, 2004, 01:05:00 AM
The whole game is far too dark for my liking and i had the night vision on even before the tutorial asks you to try it.
All in all i am not impressed at all with this game as a multiplayer game and as a single player game its just more of the same from the last one.
Post by: Foe-hammer on April 15, 2004, 06:28:00 AM
| QUOTE (DuDeR MaN @ Apr 2 2004, 01:18 AM) |
| You mean push it back another year? But seriously this isn't exactly a true "sequal" more of an add-on pack like they have for games on the PC. It's the same deal with ghost recon: island of thunder, it's not ghost recon 2... it's just something to hold you over until they make the true sequal. Also you can look at Halo PC, it's not a sequal but it has alot of feature sthe original didn't like extra levels and Multiplayer and new guns and vehicles that you can use. |
Do doubt. But like you said, pandora is pretty much an expansion pack, not a sequal. And since bungie is spending all their time on halo2, it would have been nice if bungie would have had gearbox also developed an expansion pack for the xbox halo; those new pc levels would have been a breath of fresh air.
Post by: AnThRaX on April 15, 2004, 12:11:00 PM
| QUOTE (jz28 @ Apr 1 2004, 05:35 PM) |
| i have a friend that has this game, but i've not talked to him yet about this... if not multiplayer than how the hell does system link work? |
Theres nothing on the title screen about it. No multiplayer/system link. But, back of the box says system link. Ill take a picture of mine and show you
Post by: DuDeR MaN on April 15, 2004, 07:23:00 PM
Post by: Foe-hammer on April 16, 2004, 10:14:00 AM
Post by: zaplon on April 19, 2004, 06:27:00 PM
Post by: jz28 on April 20, 2004, 02:29:00 AM
Post by: DuDeR MaN on April 20, 2004, 03:54:00 PM
Post by: jz28 on April 20, 2004, 04:23:00 PM
in the end it comes down to how crippled a dev decided to make a game to snuggle up to ms.
splinter cell 2 is one of those games that allows you to use the headset in system link...you lose nothing by going syslink over live, except instant competition...and if you play with friends, you have nothing gained by live.
Post by: ArcticWolf on April 28, 2004, 10:33:00 AM
A small pet peeve, not necessarily for Splinter Cell, but other games as well, is that these games should allow us to customize the control. By that, I mean give us the ability to change the controls completely, instead of giving us a few options.
Post by: desertboy on April 29, 2004, 07:54:00 AM
| QUOTE (ArcticWolf @ Apr 28 2004, 07:33 PM) |
| As most of you may already know, the original Splinter Call borrowed much from (and inspired by) Metal Gear Sold and Syphon Filter. Having said that, I still thought that Splinter Cell was the best game when it was released. Pandora Tomorrow is just as good as the first, and although not original, the Splinter Cell series is the best game to date. Unfortunate for other games, Splinter Cell set the standards for which other games are gauged. When you look at second rate games like Jame Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, the controls are terrible. The camera movements in Ninja Gaiden is pathetically poor. We can confidently say that those games have poor controls and camera movements because Splinter Cell has done such an awsome job. As Splinter Cell learned from past games, future games should learn from Splinter Cell. A small pet peeve, not necessarily for Splinter Cell, but other games as well, is that these games should allow us to customize the control. By that, I mean give us the ability to change the controls completely, instead of giving us a few options. |
I think it unfair to compare 007 to splinter cell 2, it's like comparing Die Hard to Momento. 2 very different genres, 007 was instant gratification where as splinter cell 2 was something that needed time to apprieciate.
I personally think N got it right with Zelda:oot for feel of a control system and no game since has come close (Except maybe Vice City) fo feeling like you're really in control not just pressing some buttons.
Post by: MThaG on May 12, 2004, 06:50:00 PM
Post by: jz28 on May 13, 2004, 04:06:00 PM
| QUOTE (SS-King @ May 13 2004, 06:40 PM) |
| That is bullshit, this game sucks in my opinion really, the single player is pretty great, actually THE SAME THING AS NUMBER 1, and the multiplayer is gay and they tried to make it too futuristic and gay shit, I feel they should have just made multiplayer like tsingle, One guy is sam and how ever many more there are is just the guards walking around... none of this defuse the gay bomb wanna be or w/e the hell it is, now C'MON that's just gay... King  |
totally disagree, best game i've played ina very long time....very creative multi.
Post by: jz28 on May 17, 2004, 11:13:00 AM
| QUOTE (SS-King @ May 13 2004, 09:29 PM) |
| I just dont like it man, its basically number 1 in single player, and the multiplayer, i need to find out what they were smokin, cuz that shit must really fuck you up. LOL |
its okay, its probably just because its the only game i am better than you at
Post by: DuDeR MaN on May 22, 2004, 01:42:00 PM
Whether you enjoy the multiplayer or not you should still give it to bungie for creating something rather than the norm. This game would not work as spy on spy, it wouldn't work with one spy and many mercs (way too easy for the mercs and if you played long enough you'd know of the big advantages mercs have). This game is a perfect balance for what they are trying to accomplish.
The biggest problem with the multiplayer is... well "was" the cheating. Ubisoft has since developed a patch to stop it and is erasing the scoreboards as of next week to provide everyone with a fresh, fair start. Also I heard of 2 new levels coming soon enough to make for even more excitement.
As for the single player, I beat it... it wasn't really to my liking though the environments were very well done. The single player is really just forgettable once you get through it.
Post by: Helios on June 08, 2004, 12:40:00 AM