Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow [GC]

We're going to save you some time. If you bought and didn't like the first Splinter Cell, then stop reading. Pandora Tomorrow is a sequel that utilizes the same fundamental play mechanics, the same control scheme, and the same stealth-action elements as its predecessor. Even the visual presentations between the two are very similar. So if you didn't like any of that the first time, you're not going to feel differently now. You should also stop reading if you own an Xbox. The GameCube port of Pandora Tomorrow is solid, but the game still looks and plays significantly better on Microsoft's console, and it also features online play. And if you're an Xbox owner convinced there might be something completely new in this port, there's not. That is, except for a so-called new level, which you can download from Xbox Live now anyway, marginal Game Boy Advance support, and a few bits in-between.

This is all true. But if you only own a GameCube and you happened to enjoy the first Splinter Cell, you're in luck, because Ubisoft's port of Pandora Tomorrow to Nintendo's console is highly competent. It plays well. It looks good. At times it's intense, and at times it's clever. It entertains through and through by way of smart level design and unique gameplay challenges, as well as atmospheric environments and realistic scenarios. In short, you're going to have fun, despite some mechanical and technical shortcomings -- the same ones that dented the otherwise impenetrable armor of the first game.

The Facts

• Third-person action-stealth sequel to the hit game Splinter Cell
• Control special operative Sam Fisher and infiltrate terrorist hideouts
• Approximately 32 "levels" to play through
• Use a wide selection of high-tech weapons and gadgets that aid Fisher on his missions
• Cutting-edge graphics take shadows and light to the next level
• All-new jungle mission in the GameCube version
• Post-mission statistics
• New alternate pathways
• Game Boy Advance connectivity
• Runs in progressive scan mode
• Supports Dolby Pro Logic II
• Requires five blocks for saves
• Single-player only; no multiplayer mode in the GameCube version

A series of crisp, well-made full-motion video sequences illustrate the surprisingly intriguing storyline that is the backbone of Pandora Tomorrow. The National Security Agency's top-secret initiative, dubbed the Third Echelon, presides over a group of advanced counter-intelligence operatives armed with the latest in high-tech gadgetry, weaponry, and special forces training. These are the Splinter Cells, of which Sam Fisher is the most elite. The year is 2006 and a newly installed U.S. Military base in East Timor has been met with strong Southeast Asian resistance. A guerilla outfit funded by corrupt factions of the Indonesian government and led by the militant Suhadi Sadono, attacks a U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, and takes civilian and military personnel hostage. Fisher is sent in to destroy any top-secret documentation in the embassy before the enemy can access it.

Pandora Tomorrow, like its predecessor, is a third-person action-stealth game. This is not Rainbow Six, but the franchises do share at least one commonality: they challenge you to think, to strategize, and to be smart about your attack plan. In neither franchise can you run forward into a terrorist camp, guns blazing, and expect to live. There are serious consequences to stupid actions, just as there would no doubt be in real life, and as a result the levels of realism, danger and urgency are enhanced, which in turn up the intensity of any given situation. You would probably not think twice about jumping into a gun battle with three or four armed enemies in a game like TimeSplitters 2, or in Dead to Rights, but that same prospect in Pandora Tomorrow is a huge, frightening gamble.

Fisher is a strong, agile agent, but he doesn't always feel that way. An entirely manually controlled camera system means that you have to simultaneously direct the character's movements and the view angle. The process may initially throw some players off, especially during high-action sequences when the character must think quickly on his feet. Fisher moves slowly -- sometimes clumsily, even -- through the moody locales, but what he lacks in speed he makes up for in ability. He can hunker down. Sneak around walls. Crawl through passageways. Shimmy around ledges. Hang and slide across wires. He can take enemies hostage, interrogate them, use them as a shield or knock them out. He can roll, split jump, drop onto foes, rappel, and more -- and he can pull his weapon and shoot at the bad guys during most of these moves. The sheer number or options at the agent's disposal is impressive and none of them are gimmicks -- each will have a satisfying place throughout the game's many missions.