Product Reviews

This latest outing for Tom Clancy's shadowy killer Sam Fisher is best considered as two separate parts. Rather than a proper sequel to the original Splinter Cell, Pandora Tomorrow is more like an expansion, adding a new set of single-player levels - but there's also a completely new multiplayer game.

Fans of the original Splinter Cell will feel immediately at home in the single-player game. You must complete a series of missions to infiltrate a terrorist organisation and prevent them unleashing a biological attack. Despite being heavily armed, success almost always depends on stealth - once detected you are outnumbered, outgunned and generally out of luck. Many of the missions must be completed without killing anyone, and you get a sense of satisfaction from taking out a guard without resorting to firearms.

However, the single-player campaign is not perfect. As with the original Splinter Cell, you'll need plenty of patience, as the game

ADVERTISEMENT

starts difficult and gets harder. Fans of open-ended gameplay will dislike the highly structured levels, with their strictly linear sequence of challenges, and the enemy AI seems a little lacking, with guards who regularly border on abject stupidity.

If the single-player game is a little disappointing, though, the multiplayer mode exceeded our expectations. Up to four players can compete at once, either online or over a local network. Players are divided between spies and mercenaries. Spies playing for the Shadownet team control their characters in the third person as in the single-player game, while mercenaries play in the first person in the style of games such as Quake. Spies are lightly armed and must stick to the shadows in order to complete their mission without alerting the mercenaries, who are equipped with enough weapons to destroy them easily if they stray into the open.

This concept works brilliantly, with a good balance between the two teams. The mercenaries' weapons are effective if the spy slips up and makes himself visible, but once in the dark spies can exploit their opponents' lack of night vision to run rings around them. This is the first multiplayer game we've seen to exploit stealth gameplay, and it works a treat. Within a few minutes, both teams were engrossed. If you liked the first Splinter Cell and you've got a fast enough internet connection to play online, Pandora Tomorrow should keep you busy for some time. If you can't play online, though, £23 seems a bit much to pay for a few new levels.