PLAY THE WAITING GAME.Byline: Redmond Carolipio Staff Writer `SPLINTER CELL 2: Pandora Tomorrow'' forces you to learn a lesson about patience: You will wait, or you will die. Ubisoft's sequel to the outstanding, Tom Clancy-endorsed ``Splinter Cell'' hasn't forgotten its roots. This is stealth gaming in its purest form. It makes you play on its terms, effectively neutralizing that urge you have to sprint in with all guns blazing. You won't find any drastic visual or game-play changes in ``Pandora Tomorrow'' because there really wasn't too much wrong with either aspect in the first game. Instead, you simply get a wealth of new challenges to face with one of gaming's best (and I think still underrated) characters, Sam Fisher For the Australian rules football player, see Samuel Fisher. Samuel Leo Fisher, is the main character in the Splinter Cell series of video games and novels. Sam Fisher is a veteran of the CIA Directorate of Operations and of U.S. Navy SEAL Team 3. . Fisher is the perfect Clancy stealth character - a low-volume minimalist who is ridiculously good at what he does. He doesn't ooze OOZE - Object oriented extension of Z. "Object Orientation in Z", S. Stepney et al eds, Springer 1992. anime badness like Solid Snake Solid Snake (ソリッド・スネーク of ``Metal Gear.'' There are no bandannas or signature hairstyle. All Fisher has is a set of goggles goggles, n the protective eyewear worn by dental personnel and patients during dental procedures. goggles see periocular leukotrichia. that glow with a green light - and even then, you get the feeling that he's not the only guy who has them. As fans already know, the task of a ``splinter cell'' requires staying invisible. Your gun is always the last resort, and ``Pandora Tomorrow'' never lets you forget this. One mission has you practically inches away from a chief terrorist named Sadono. Your job is to listen in while he makes a phone call, which always ends with the code phrase ``Pandora tomorrow.'' You'll find yourself leaning against a wall less than a foot away from him while he paces in his office. You then have to wait for him to leave, and then you have to bug his phone - all without making a sound. A lot of this stuff would be too much if you didn't have cool spy toys. You use fiber-optic cables to peek under doors, laser microphones to eavesdrop eaves·drop intr.v. eaves·dropped, eaves·drop·ping, eaves·drops To listen secretly to the private conversation of others. - and you have Fisher's trusty goggles, which switch between night vision and thermal vision. The goggle gog·gle v. gog·gled, gog·gling, gog·gles v.intr. 1. To stare with wide and bulging eyes. 2. To roll or bulge. Used of the eyes. v.tr. To roll or bulge (the eyes). headset is your best friend. Be one with the goggles. If you don't, you'll spend lots of time stepping on mines, triggering alarms or wandering into the path of patrolling guards. Many times, the goggles will serve up some clues. On a train mission, I had to find a guy with a fake leg. So I switched to thermal vision and found the person with one ``black'' leg. Spy tech is awesome. Other cool things you'll notice about the game are the outstanding level design and of course, the visuals that do more with shadows and lighting than practically any other game out there. Sam finds himself snooping all over the world, from a cryogenics cryogenics: see low-temperature physics. cryogenics Study and use of low-temperature phenomena. The cryogenic temperature range is from −238°F (−150°C) to absolute zero. At low temperatures, matter has unusual properties. lab in Paris to the back streets of Jerusalem. Helping you navigate around these backdrops are the tweaked See tweak. controls that now feel more intuitive. The only major change in the franchise has to do with online multiplayer options. The experience is different from the typical death match, where everyone runs around, blowing each other to bits. ``Pandora Tomorrow'' aims to give gamers the chance to engage in a massive cloak-and-dagger party, where you hear the subdued sub·due tr.v. sub·dued, sub·du·ing, sub·dues 1. To conquer and subjugate; vanquish. See Synonyms at defeat. 2. To quiet or bring under control by physical force or persuasion; make tractable. 3. ``pfft'' of silenced weapons rather than the loud rancor of machine-gun fire. The only possible complaint that could be made about the game could be its length, at least in single-player mode. But each mission is far from linear and asks you to do a lot of work - and waiting - so the game feels longer than it actually is. SPLINTER CELL 2: PANDORA TOMORROW - Four stars Platform: Xbox, PC. Price: $49.99. Rated: T for Teen. In a nutshell: Pure stealth. CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: no caption (``SPLINTER CELL 2: PANDORA TOMORROW'') Box: TOP 10: The best-selling video games See video game console. on Amazon.com |
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