Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow Review - Quality of Graphics
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The graphics on this game are stellar, due in large part to the use of lighting effects such as swinging light fixtures to Sam and the NPC's real-time shadows. Things are much crisper than in the first Splinter Cell and the textures are also more detailed in Pandora. These graphics don't require you to have a cutting-edge system as some titles such as Doom 3 that are being released this year. Of course it looks damn sharp if you are able to turn on all the eye candy, but it in no way affects the fantastic gameplay. Sharp graphics though they may be however, corporate plugs still irk me for some reason though...
There are only 8 missions, but they are pretty lengthy for the most part. It took me about 15 to 20 hours to get through the single player game, but a veteran Splinter Cell fan will probably do it in 10. As there are several ways to get through many of the different obstacles you face I'd give the replay factor a 7/10. Lowered from an 8 for the craptacular ending. Don't let the poor ending keep you from trying out this game though; it has many other redeeming qualities.
Pandora has the advantage of building on an already very popular game and it doesn't slack in the new feature department either so even without the multiplayer mode this would be a worthy buy if you are into the whole stealth action thing. With that being said the multi-player mode adds a whole other level of gameplay which would probably do well on it's own, put the two together and you have Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow an extremely worthy purchase for anyone who has $35-40 to plop down in exchange for countless hours of fun.
Usually I wrap up with a list of Pros and Cons but I really don't feel the need here. I had a lot of fun testing it out and just playing it in general. The controls are spot on, the graphics are beautiful, and the game play is immersive. Unless you're just out for a shoot 'em-up rampage type of game then I would easily recommend Pandora. The only problems I can think of was the fact that I couldn't play online because of a PunkBuster issue which has already been solved by the latest patch; the controls completely changing from single player to multiplayer; and the need for ImageDrive and Alcohol 120% to be uninstalled. Since the first is already solved and the second is a matter of opinion, I am more than happy to give this game the DevHardware Recommended Award.
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