Hey everybody welcome back! This video hit a little later than I would have liked but thanks for being patient with me. My Splinter Cell youtube journey continues with Pandora Tomorrow. I have to be honest I've always enjoyed Pandora Tomorrow but it's not one I return to often, frankly if I'm going to play a Splinter Cell I usually go for Chaos Theory first. But I did really enjoy returning to this one and making content for it. I found new things to apprecaite about this game, as well as reconfirmed the things I didn't like about it in the first place. What are your opinions of this one? How do you think it ranks in the Splinter Cell franchise? Be sure to let me know! As always I hope everyone is staying healthy and safe, see you in the next one. 00:00 Intro 1:02 - An in-between game - Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow background. 2:37 - Spies vs Mercs - Brief. 3:52 - Pandora Tomorrow narrative. 8:46 - Presentation 10:08 - MISSION 01 - The Embassy 10:52 - New Splinter Cell Mechanics. 13:57 - MISSION 01 - Part 2 - Doug Shetland. 15:24 - Mission design - In the spotlight. 17:23 - MISSION 02 - French brains. 18:23 - Choice in a Splinter Cell game? 19:38 - MISSION 03 - The train. 22:10 - The new Splinter Cell alarm system. 23:36 - MISSION 04 - Jerusalem. 25:00 - The voice acting... 28:42 - MISSION 04 - Part 02 - Dhalia Tal. 30:20 - MISSION 05 - Indonesia. 33:38 - MISSION 06 - The submarine. 36:25 - Splinter Cell combat. 37:10 - MISSION 07 - The TV Station. 39:30 - MISSION 08 - LAX 42:31 - Conclusion.
@@maxstinger1694 Thank you Max! and thank you for the sub I really appreciate it. The game will run, but you need to apply a good amount of patches to get it up to snuff. However, check out this link from the MODDB, this is the easiest way to play it 😉 www.moddb.com/mods/splinter-cell-pandora-tomorrow-fixed-shadows-widescreen-support/downloads/scpt
PT was my first Splinter Cell game. Even if I played all other games in the franchise, PT is still my favorite. I think the environments of this game are incredible like the Jerusalem level.
I think it is quite underrated, you never see this game ranked as high as the rest and people mostly only mention Chaos Theory. This game is certainly the second best of the series because the gameplay was more refined than the first and it introduced multiplayer into the series
the mp is a bigger deal than most people realize, but the moral choices with consequences and that train level make me like it more than 1 for sure. i am a bit of a black sheep though because if im being honest, Conviction is my second favorite, idk i just love the story with Sarah. (1. CT, 2. Conviction, 3. Blacklist, 4. PT, 5. 1)
@@iconoclast_rain i get why people don't like it as much because its much more linear and less open, but its like playing a John Wick game if John Wick were just a _little_ more concerned with discretion lmao.
You actually can skip the tram fight, if you activate it without getting on you can see a zipline at the bottom to circumvent the snipers, it is obscure but the ps2 version does a better job at making it clear by having it be a hatch on the floor
I think the more diverse maps, the better story, the new stealth moves (split jump and swat turn) and the improved graphics make it better than the original. The problem is the AI is so trigger happy and I find myself constantly being detected even though I’m well hidden which makes the game harder to play and enjoy. I still think it’s better, but not by much.
@@masteroogway4616 the first 2 Splinter Cell games are classics and I love their retro gameplay mechanics. a little bit more stiff and archaic but good.
Jerusalem is my favourite level of this game by far, the music is just AMAZING. You can almost feel the ghosts of the dead in this ancient city - the score is really unsettling and works so beautifully.
Nice. When my job temporarily shut down for almost 2 months in March 2020 because of COVID, I suddenly decided to buy ALL Splinter Cell games on Xbox. I've never play any Splinter Cell until then and I have to say, amazing series. Specially, Chaos Theory, maybe Double Agent and Blacklist. I didn't think I even liked stealth games.
35:22 there's actually another path. You activate the tram, but you just wait a moment for it to leave instead of actually using it, so you can use the cable bellow to go stealthy. Apart from that, pretty great review, I'm subscribing to this channel :)
While Chaos Theory remains my favourite, Pandora Tomorrow has a vibe that just jells with me. It has this really unique atmosphere, that's thrilling, suspensful, creepy, mysterious. It's probably helped by the amazing work on light and shadow, the score and the top notch dialogue. Sure the game still has its kinks, but it's probably my second favourite.
This was a fantastic retrospective review of Pandora Tomorrow. It was actually my first Splinter Cell. I had picked up Ghost Recon 2 for the original Xbox, and there was a Pandora Tomorrow demo that came with it. You literally just play part of the first mission (the embassy). I played the demo multiple times and finally went and purchased the game. Loved it. From there I went on to buy the first Splinter Cell and loved that as well. Then Chaos Theory came out not long after that in 2005. I was 14 at the time, which honestly was a perfect age for Chaos Theory. It blew me away. Of the three, I replayed Chaos Theory the most as it had the most branching map paths and extra mission items to complete. BUT I will never forget my first time. Pandora Tomorrow will always hold a special place in my heart.
Thank you for reminding me of that. I recently started playing Pandora again and couldn't remember being forced into assault on that section so just turned it off. I can pick the game back up now👍
Veteran Splinter Cell player opinion here: Pandora Tomorrow and Double Agent V2 OG Xbox are my favorite Splinter Cell games. Imagine PT with Chaos Theory graphics. Also, I still feel that CT's OCP makes matters a little too easy and its ambient sound meter is nice, but then the enemy AI can't hear well enough in the first place, making the system meter system moot. I also feel that the levels in PT are more expansive than in CT with a bigger emphasis on verticality. Jerusalem is case in point here. It also doubles as one heck of a virtual tourism @ night tour (city vista when trying out the reworked SC20K). Double Agent V2 is sort of a super refined Splinter Cell omnibus game that puts the best of all of them together....except for the story outcome at the end which was a super obvious setup for Conviction at the expense of certain key characters.
Kirk and the Completionist with splinter cell uploads on the same day! What did we do to the youtube gods to deserve this! Ubisoft you see this??? 15 year old games still getting love from the community... Do the right thing!!!
You don’t have to use the lift at 35:47 you can press the button to send it then climb along the cable underneath in the dark, combat isn’t forces there the stealth option just isn’t obvious
Apart from the few levels in the terrorist HQ it is classic splinter cell in levels that I found very interesting, diverse and well made. The HQ moments were very short and not a pain, nor were the trust meters. I liked the story a bit less but as far as gameplay goes it's splinter cell/10
@@NKWittmann I actually had a few problems with the trust meters, but that’s because it was the second splinter cell I ever played. And I can never figure out the Rubik’s cube thing at the end, if I ever get that correct it’s by chance, the 3d puzzle just breaks me like the sphere lock puzzles in ratchet 2
Fantastic review and a nice trip down memory lane! I can’t remember when they switched to a different engine but I absolutely loved the look and feel of these early games. Tbh they were my lead into any kind of gaming. I didn’t want the levels to end, particularly Jerusalem which was visually and atmospherically beautiful. I know they were linear and based around the single player world but with the puzzles and varied approaches I felt pretty immersed and of course the lighting and sound built the tension. Later when the engine swapped I felt the lighting and maps became more blocky and clumsy. Here’s to Sam! Thanks for the rundown
Honestly, I have revisited the whole serie regularly throughout the years. Pandora Tomorrow always feel just as relevant as the next opus. Never knew it was a totally diffrent team that did the game. I miss those games...
Yeah while Blacklist was a marginal 'return to form' (enter massive YT debate here).. The original trilogy was so grounded and distinctive. I too miss them, even though I still play the first and Chaos Theory
7:42 if this game was made to be a stop gap for chaos theory theres noway that the "B" team (shenghai) was going to get permission to do some character building. i can already imagine during story building of this game that the conversation was to give the fans something familiar but refined rather than innovate so that when Chaos Theory comes, its a home run. You have to walk before you run, and this was a brisk jog rather than a full on sprint
35:50- it's NOT a forced action sequence of the mission. if you fall down right under the moving cabin you will hang on a rope and slide it forward the same the cabin goes. This just proves how of a big deal a mission design was.
Lol same. Redid PT which was as great as I remembered (discovered a lot more ways to complete it stealthily than when I played it as a child though lol) and redoing OG SC at the moment, which I find even better than I remember, and I remembered it as a huge experience. Awesome series. Next will be CT and DA or course.
If I was to go a bit further, I'd say that character development wasn't that necessary for these games... As OP said it, PT feels like "another crisis, another job to do", but this job is the game itself. DA is criticized for its departure from the classic story routine, and Blacklist is for portraying a different Fisher. The developers aimed to make the series evolved, and if it's true that I liked all of these games and the gameplay improvements in the last ones even, I'd be down for "just another day at the job" with good old Sam and Lambert, much like CT is (remember that it was criticized at the time for feeling too close to the previous games...) So in conclusion, I'd say bringing more of the same would have been bad for the press but great for fans of the series like me, because the original recipe didn't need any improvement besides, as OP pointed it, a few quality of life improvements in controls.
Your reviews are so well-written, I’m enjoying them a lot! Also, I’m definitely booting up SC1 soon, I’ve been missing it since watching your SC series.
I’ve found the best way to take out Soth at the end is to sticky shock the patrolling guard (as knocking him out doesn’t cause the timer to immediately start) and then firing a diversion cam onto a pillar near Soth and the final guard, and then using the gas to knock them both out. Then I can leisurely pop all three in the head while they’re unconscious and win. And I beat them using stealth tactics too like a proper stealth operative.
This came up in my recommend. I have been playing through the Splinter Cell series recently and they still hold up to this day in my opinion. Currently playing Conviction.
You know what? I think this game is way better than the original release. I recently went through all of them on the Xbox Series X and man, going from 1 to 2 is SUCH a drastic jump in quality, gameplay wise. I don't know what it was, it just felt a lot smoother to play and less unfair (of course, it has its frustrating moments). Great video as well!
Thanks Glenn! I think a lot of that has to do with Shanghai smoothing over a lot of the rough edges. For example Sam automatically dismantling from pipes or your equipment (lock pick, optic camera) popping up in the selection box instead of having to equip them. Those things seem small but they make a big difference. Plus yeah while there are certainly frustrating parts I think they did a good job of balancing the difficulty.
Honestly as a kid just past the mid 2000s I still didn't have Internet but every time I went to game the artwork on the cover always made me want to play with the cool night vision goggles I played through the first three Pandora tomorrow I remember always being my favourite eventhough I know now chaos theory is the popular opinion this one to me will be the best.
Honestly, I don't want to see a new Splinter Cell game like The Division or what Ghost Recon had become. I'd like to see a very well done and tightly focused Splinter Cell. MGS5, in my opinion, showed that stealth games aren't that great stretched to gigantic and time wasting open world ones. Probably should hope for a spiritual successor at this point. I really don't trust Ubisoft to do right by this franchise.
Just wanted to say I'm a huge fan. Love the style and I'm going through all the uploads. Keep at it, I'll rec the channel where I can! From one Boomer to another
I had a demo of this game as a kid, and it contained that train level. I couldn't run it on my weak machine, so I'd pop over to my friend, who had a much more powerful PC. I'd always bring him all the big new demos that I couldn't run. He had a Nvidia Geforce 4 MX, which was the most powerful graphics card that any of my friends had. I remember Prince of Persia: Sands of Time required Geforce 3 or higher, and we were so excited to try it out on his PC, but then turned out it specifically said "except for Geforce 4-MX". So as a result he was able to run the game, but it had a lot of graphical glitches. What a bummer that was :D Sorry, I went on a tangent here, it's just I miss my childhood so much.
Great video! I've completed that game years ago on my old pc and that was fun. Any idea how it can be played on modern gaming laptop without optical drive? As it's not available to download on steam or uplay... I can play my favourite first part Splinter Cell and Chaos Theory even on Steam Deck perfectly now but Pandora Tomorrow is missing unfortunately... Thanks
for me between this one and chaos theory was my favourites. I went to buy double agent off steam, but was really underwhelmed as the version i had on the original xbox was re released with this clunky version that had different levels to what we originally there. Had to love how there were different versions of these games back on the original xbox and playstations
There was a softlock in early Gamecube release after you are given the choice to kill Dhalia. You wont be able to leave the elevator after you load the 2nd part of the level.
41:58 You actually can do it without start the timer and eliminate everyone (even Soth) from the shadows as long as not even the workers spot you. It's tricky enough to make you go crazy with a single mistake tho 😂
Bugs and bad pacing aside. the game actually had so many improvements over the first. like it was the first to introduce the non-linear level design, which was carried on and refined in Chaos Theory. also I prefer Sam's face model and Lambert's voice here, I really felt like it was a downgrade in CT (it's just my opinion). also another thing what doesn't get mention is the music, sure Amon Tobin's music for CT was a masterpiece. but Jack Wall really did a tremendous job here, the music is mostly orchestra rather than techno electronic. and it creates a very unsettling surreal feel. this game definitely did a lot more than it gets credit for, and it shouldn't be forgotten
This is an odd one for me. This is the only Splinter Cell that I beat on PS2 instead of Xbox and I really liked it. This game is tied with Blacklist for second place for me with Chaos Theory being number one of course
As a first timer to the Splinter Cell series, I stopped my first playthrough of SC1 at mission 8 and begun a playthrough of Pandora Tomorrow immediately, and I'm so glad I did. Pandora Tomorrow is difficult, but not as "trial-and-error" as SC1, and is also more accessible thanks to the QOL improvements and more refined level design, keeping the atmosphere of the first game intact. If THIS is how much better Pandora Tomorrow is, I can't wait to go through Chaos Theory.
For me it is the opposite, even tho PT has life improvements over the first one, but the first one has less bugs, especially with AI and lightning issues
@@Krahamus pandora tomorrow had the swat turn which i dont know why it never returned to chaos theory...also Lambert's voice in this is different but regardless splinter cell 1 and pandora tomorrow are amazing and i love double agent
@@Gencturk92 PT had good things also, levels are more diverse and interesting for sure, you should try double agent ps2 version completely different compared to pc ,xbox 360 versions
@@Krahamus yeah I played all splinter cell games back in the days, its the only game even to this day i still watch the gameplay videos at least once a week. I remember I used to turn my lights my off in my room and play it at night, it felt as if I was actually in the game. yeah double agent ps2 version was better I think but the graphics was better on the other version
TIL that you can knock out a guy with a bottle to the head in PT, like 16 years after playing it (i could only play the first 2 until i was like 14-15, since they were M after that). anyone know if it works with cans too?
I always regretted not buying this when it was still on Steam, it looks like a perfect blend of SC1 and SCCT. I'm thinking I should black beard a copy soon and play through the game.
I've replayed first three games last year. Unlike SAR and CT, before that I only played PT only once. And I replayed PT once more after that, to analyze it better. I still regard it lower than SAR and CT, but it's way better than I remembered. One big flaw, that really hurts the game, is lack of text during missions. Too few dialogs between guards or Sam interrogations (compared to CT) or curious text emails (a mission in SAR could easily had a dozen of those, while in PT mission there's rarely more than three). Even that forced action sequence at the end of submarine level was way too random, because there were no proper set up or warning, while in SAR they always tried to set them up with some radio chatter to give context. And these small things give a lot of character to the game, but PT lacks it, sadly
I always found Splinter Cell Essentials had better voice acting. It was also pretty bad in an otherwise underrated and fun game but unlike non Sam dialog in Pandora Tomorrow, it was entertaining to listen to, such as the mooks and bad guy in the steel mill mission talking like pouty teenagers in detention during summer, or most of the what everyone says in Ellsworth prison. Personally I know Lambert's Pandora Tomorrow voice actor from goofs in Essentials where they reused his dialog such as when alarms go off. He also played God in Lucifer but I haven't actually seen that far in the series yet.
When you said "lets open up pandora's box" I actually thought you had a in-box physical copy and you were gonna open it and put it in the console/pc you are playing on
Speaking of bad voice acting... Gotta love how half the people pronounce it "Suh-Dah-Noh" and the other half pronounce it "Suh-Doh-Noh"... Even when they're in dialogue with each other saying the name differently. Lol. 37:14
You have the voice and style of a man who should have >1 million subs, so it's weird that you only have 11.2k as of now. Loved the video. I would only disagree with/want to point out - a) "Narrative" is for movies, this is a video game. Most people just skip,skip,skip any cutscenes. b) The game is not available on Steam (all the others are), you have to go the pirate route and then download a shit ton of fixes and patches to get it to work on a modern PC. I didn't realize Dennis Haysbert was NOT Lambert in every game but was just a one off. So I went to UA-cam and listened to videos of him compared to Don Jordan, and it's amazing how identical they sound ! Don Jordan - ua-cam.com/video/EdoCQJWnI5w/v-deo.html Dennis Haysbert - ua-cam.com/video/iDl0CluWjUU/v-deo.html
Double Agent gives choices to the player that become completely irrelevant in the overall story. You can choose to frame Enrica or not, but the canon choice is framing her. You can choose to save Lambert or kill him, but the canon choice is killing him. The truth is Double Agent gives the player the ILLUSION of choice but the actual choice was already made before hand by the developers.
29:55 Honestly, the moment the game give you this choice feels so heavy, even if there is no impact on the further gameplay. You're right it is a really memorable moment if the game. Lambert orders you to blindly kill a woman, no question asked. And it really puts you into Sam shoes for a big dilemma. It asks yourself "Are you becoming a trained murder machine, or do you still question whether or not you should take the life of somebody else?" And we can feel Sam is left greatly shaken from this choice, if we take the route of killing Dalhia. He genuinely fears having crossed a massive red line for himself and questions if he belongs to the good guys afterall.
Hey everybody welcome back! This video hit a little later than I would have liked but thanks for being patient with me. My Splinter Cell youtube journey continues with Pandora Tomorrow. I have to be honest I've always enjoyed Pandora Tomorrow but it's not one I return to often, frankly if I'm going to play a Splinter Cell I usually go for Chaos Theory first. But I did really enjoy returning to this one and making content for it. I found new things to apprecaite about this game, as well as reconfirmed the things I didn't like about it in the first place. What are your opinions of this one? How do you think it ranks in the Splinter Cell franchise? Be sure to let me know! As always I hope everyone is staying healthy and safe, see you in the next one.
00:00 Intro
1:02 - An in-between game - Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow background.
2:37 - Spies vs Mercs - Brief.
3:52 - Pandora Tomorrow narrative.
8:46 - Presentation
10:08 - MISSION 01 - The Embassy
10:52 - New Splinter Cell Mechanics.
13:57 - MISSION 01 - Part 2 - Doug Shetland.
15:24 - Mission design - In the spotlight.
17:23 - MISSION 02 - French brains.
18:23 - Choice in a Splinter Cell game?
19:38 - MISSION 03 - The train.
22:10 - The new Splinter Cell alarm system.
23:36 - MISSION 04 - Jerusalem.
25:00 - The voice acting...
28:42 - MISSION 04 - Part 02 - Dhalia Tal.
30:20 - MISSION 05 - Indonesia.
33:38 - MISSION 06 - The submarine.
36:25 - Splinter Cell combat.
37:10 - MISSION 07 - The TV Station.
39:30 - MISSION 08 - LAX
42:31 - Conclusion.
Thanks for the high quality stuff man.
I rarely sub... but hard not to, with this one.
ps:No problem running the game on a modern hardware?
@@maxstinger1694 Thank you Max! and thank you for the sub I really appreciate it.
The game will run, but you need to apply a good amount of patches to get it up to snuff.
However, check out this link from the MODDB, this is the easiest way to play it 😉
www.moddb.com/mods/splinter-cell-pandora-tomorrow-fixed-shadows-widescreen-support/downloads/scpt
@@KIRKCOLLECTS Awesome, thanks.
This is defo underrated
PT was my first Splinter Cell game. Even if I played all other games in the franchise, PT is still my favorite. I think the environments of this game are incredible like the Jerusalem level.
I absolutely loved this game, got it as a gift back then when i was 10! I played it everyday
I think it is quite underrated, you never see this game ranked as high as the rest and people mostly only mention Chaos Theory. This game is certainly the second best of the series because the gameplay was more refined than the first and it introduced multiplayer into the series
lol the bugs and issues made it hard to replay. it was fun when i played it the first time tho
the mp is a bigger deal than most people realize, but the moral choices with consequences and that train level make me like it more than 1 for sure. i am a bit of a black sheep though because if im being honest, Conviction is my second favorite, idk i just love the story with Sarah. (1. CT, 2. Conviction, 3. Blacklist, 4. PT, 5. 1)
@@quinnmarchese6313 conviction is great, fr
@@iconoclast_rain i get why people don't like it as much because its much more linear and less open, but its like playing a John Wick game if John Wick were just a _little_ more concerned with discretion lmao.
John Wick game? Max Payne 3 @@quinnmarchese6313
No other game holds such spot in my heart as the first 4 splinter cell games do...
You actually can skip the tram fight, if you activate it without getting on you can see a zipline at the bottom to circumvent the snipers, it is obscure but the ps2 version does a better job at making it clear by having it be a hatch on the floor
Your comment revealed this to me. In fact, it’s the mission where I attacked fewest enemies
Pandora tomorrow in my opinion is superior to the original . I just love it so much.
I think the more diverse maps, the better story, the new stealth moves (split jump and swat turn) and the improved graphics make it better than the original. The problem is the AI is so trigger happy and I find myself constantly being detected even though I’m well hidden which makes the game harder to play and enjoy. I still think it’s better, but not by much.
@@masteroogway4616 the first 2 Splinter Cell games are classics and I love their retro gameplay mechanics. a little bit more stiff and archaic but good.
@@LevisH21 agreed
The French cryogenics lab had a hell of an atmosphere. Used to creep 6/7 year old me the hell out! Train mission was always my favourite tho
Jerusalem is my favourite level of this game by far, the music is just AMAZING. You can almost feel the ghosts of the dead in this ancient city - the score is really unsettling and works so beautifully.
for me it's Saulnier because of the music
Nice. When my job temporarily shut down for almost 2 months in March 2020 because of COVID, I suddenly decided to buy ALL Splinter Cell games on Xbox. I've never play any Splinter Cell until then and I have to say, amazing series. Specially, Chaos Theory, maybe Double Agent and Blacklist. I didn't think I even liked stealth games.
Minus your job shutting down thats awesome! I love binging series like that.
Can't believe this game is now technically vintage
35:22 there's actually another path. You activate the tram, but you just wait a moment for it to leave instead of actually using it, so you can use the cable bellow to go stealthy.
Apart from that, pretty great review, I'm subscribing to this channel :)
Yep definitely something I missed 😬. But thank you for watching and subbing!
While Chaos Theory remains my favourite, Pandora Tomorrow has a vibe that just jells with me. It has this really unique atmosphere, that's thrilling, suspensful, creepy, mysterious. It's probably helped by the amazing work on light and shadow, the score and the top notch dialogue. Sure the game still has its kinks, but it's probably my second favourite.
The jungle levels made PT great for me
The old Ubisoft intro makes me feel so nostalgic
Yeah man. Definitely the cleanest best pleasure.
Uploaded 15 min ago. Yeah why not. Thanks algorithm. I love Splinter Cell so let's watch :)
For my money, one the single greatest stealth games ever created that is criminally overlooked.
This splinter cell pandora tomorrow is like metal gear solid 2
This was a fantastic retrospective review of Pandora Tomorrow. It was actually my first Splinter Cell. I had picked up Ghost Recon 2 for the original Xbox, and there was a Pandora Tomorrow demo that came with it. You literally just play part of the first mission (the embassy). I played the demo multiple times and finally went and purchased the game. Loved it. From there I went on to buy the first Splinter Cell and loved that as well. Then Chaos Theory came out not long after that in 2005. I was 14 at the time, which honestly was a perfect age for Chaos Theory. It blew me away. Of the three, I replayed Chaos Theory the most as it had the most branching map paths and extra mission items to complete. BUT I will never forget my first time. Pandora Tomorrow will always hold a special place in my heart.
35:22 There's a zipline underneath the elevator that you can use to get by stealthily. It's not a forced action sequence.
Whoopsies, I'll check that out. Thanks for the heads up.
Thank you for reminding me of that.
I recently started playing Pandora again and couldn't remember being forced into assault on that section so just turned it off. I can pick the game back up now👍
This game was the first splinter cell game I ever played and it got me so hooked into the splinter cell series.
Really well made video. Under the elevator in the submarine mission there's a zipline which lets you go to the submarine undetected though.
Veteran Splinter Cell player opinion here: Pandora Tomorrow and Double Agent V2 OG Xbox are my favorite Splinter Cell games. Imagine PT with Chaos Theory graphics. Also, I still feel that CT's OCP makes matters a little too easy and its ambient sound meter is nice, but then the enemy AI can't hear well enough in the first place, making the system meter system moot. I also feel that the levels in PT are more expansive than in CT with a bigger emphasis on verticality. Jerusalem is case in point here. It also doubles as one heck of a virtual tourism @ night tour (city vista when trying out the reworked SC20K). Double Agent V2 is sort of a super refined Splinter Cell omnibus game that puts the best of all of them together....except for the story outcome at the end which was a super obvious setup for Conviction at the expense of certain key characters.
Kirk and the Completionist with splinter cell uploads on the same day! What did we do to the youtube gods to deserve this! Ubisoft you see this??? 15 year old games still getting love from the community... Do the right thing!!!
We have been waiting for the next game!!!
Dude you’re good at this. Keep it up!
You don’t have to use the lift at 35:47 you can press the button to send it then climb along the cable underneath in the dark, combat isn’t forces there the stealth option just isn’t obvious
Double agent is low key awesome, wish it was a little darker in lighting though
Apart from the few levels in the terrorist HQ it is classic splinter cell in levels that I found very interesting, diverse and well made. The HQ moments were very short and not a pain, nor were the trust meters. I liked the story a bit less but as far as gameplay goes it's splinter cell/10
@@NKWittmann I actually had a few problems with the trust meters, but that’s because it was the second splinter cell I ever played. And I can never figure out the Rubik’s cube thing at the end, if I ever get that correct it’s by chance, the 3d puzzle just breaks me like the sphere lock puzzles in ratchet 2
Fantastic review and a nice trip down memory lane!
I can’t remember when they switched to a different engine but I absolutely loved the look and feel of these early games. Tbh they were my lead into any kind of gaming. I didn’t want the levels to end, particularly Jerusalem which was visually and atmospherically beautiful.
I know they were linear and based around the single player world but with the puzzles and varied approaches I felt pretty immersed and of course the lighting and sound built the tension.
Later when the engine swapped I felt the lighting and maps became more blocky and clumsy.
Here’s to Sam! Thanks for the rundown
Honestly, I have revisited the whole serie regularly throughout the years.
Pandora Tomorrow always feel just as relevant as the next opus.
Never knew it was a totally diffrent team that did the game.
I miss those games...
Yeah while Blacklist was a marginal 'return to form' (enter massive YT debate here).. The original trilogy was so grounded and distinctive. I too miss them, even though I still play the first and Chaos Theory
You'd think they'd put these on premium 🙄
So this is underrated? I didn't know, personally I think it's best to this day.
7:42 if this game was made to be a stop gap for chaos theory theres noway that the "B" team (shenghai) was going to get permission to do some character building. i can already imagine during story building of this game that the conversation was to give the fans something familiar but refined rather than innovate so that when Chaos Theory comes, its a home run. You have to walk before you run, and this was a brisk jog rather than a full on sprint
Great video :) looking forward to the rest
35:50- it's NOT a forced action sequence of the mission. if you fall down right under the moving cabin you will hang on a rope and slide it forward the same the cabin goes.
This just proves how of a big deal a mission design was.
I want a splinter cell movie about samfishers life from childhood to splinter cell
Great video man, your channel is so underrated. The content's great and you're a fantastic presenter
Great video!! I’ve been going back through the old splinter cell games thanks to your videos, been having a great time thank you 😁
Lol same. Redid PT which was as great as I remembered (discovered a lot more ways to complete it stealthily than when I played it as a child though lol) and redoing OG SC at the moment, which I find even better than I remember, and I remembered it as a huge experience. Awesome series. Next will be CT and DA or course.
If I was to go a bit further, I'd say that character development wasn't that necessary for these games... As OP said it, PT feels like "another crisis, another job to do", but this job is the game itself. DA is criticized for its departure from the classic story routine, and Blacklist is for portraying a different Fisher. The developers aimed to make the series evolved, and if it's true that I liked all of these games and the gameplay improvements in the last ones even, I'd be down for "just another day at the job" with good old Sam and Lambert, much like CT is (remember that it was criticized at the time for feeling too close to the previous games...)
So in conclusion, I'd say bringing more of the same would have been bad for the press but great for fans of the series like me, because the original recipe didn't need any improvement besides, as OP pointed it, a few quality of life improvements in controls.
Your reviews are so well-written, I’m enjoying them a lot! Also, I’m definitely booting up SC1 soon, I’ve been missing it since watching your SC series.
Awesome job as always man
One of my favourite franchises and this is my favourite installment I love the levels and everything seems to work Dennis Haysbert as Lambert too 😀
I’ve found the best way to take out Soth at the end is to sticky shock the patrolling guard (as knocking him out doesn’t cause the timer to immediately start) and then firing a diversion cam onto a pillar near Soth and the final guard, and then using the gas to knock them both out.
Then I can leisurely pop all three in the head while they’re unconscious and win. And I beat them using stealth tactics too like a proper stealth operative.
This came up in my recommend. I have been playing through the Splinter Cell series recently and they still hold up to this day in my opinion. Currently playing Conviction.
0:16 did you just said "in 2002"? TWENTY YEARS AGO?? Damn I feel old now... 😮
You know what? I think this game is way better than the original release. I recently went through all of them on the Xbox Series X and man, going from 1 to 2 is SUCH a drastic jump in quality, gameplay wise. I don't know what it was, it just felt a lot smoother to play and less unfair (of course, it has its frustrating moments). Great video as well!
Thanks Glenn! I think a lot of that has to do with Shanghai smoothing over a lot of the rough edges. For example Sam automatically dismantling from pipes or your equipment (lock pick, optic camera) popping up in the selection box instead of having to equip them. Those things seem small but they make a big difference. Plus yeah while there are certainly frustrating parts I think they did a good job of balancing the difficulty.
@@KIRKCOLLECTS they certainly did! I'm glad your video gives people a chance to check this one out again, it certainly deserves it.
@@glennvandormolen8018 For sure, one of my favorite franchises.
Honestly as a kid just past the mid 2000s I still didn't have Internet but every time I went to game the artwork on the cover always made me want to play with the cool night vision goggles I played through the first three Pandora tomorrow I remember always being my favourite eventhough I know now chaos theory is the popular opinion this one to me will be the best.
Honestly, I don't want to see a new Splinter Cell game like The Division or what Ghost Recon had become. I'd like to see a very well done and tightly focused Splinter Cell.
MGS5, in my opinion, showed that stealth games aren't that great stretched to gigantic and time wasting open world ones.
Probably should hope for a spiritual successor at this point. I really don't trust Ubisoft to do right by this franchise.
Just wanted to say I'm a huge fan. Love the style and I'm going through all the uploads. Keep at it, I'll rec the channel where I can!
From one Boomer to another
Thank you so much Shane, I'm glad the vids are boomer approved 👍 Hope you're having a good day.
The train level man, the train. I played the demo on the train when I was a kid and that’s the sole reason why Pandora is my favourite. Nostalgia haha
Appreciate the inclusion of Xlink Kai gameplay. Always makes me happy knowing we can still play these magnificent games 19 years later
This game looks amazing for its age I missed out on it wen it first came out but I bet ppl were blown away by the graphics back then
Pandora tomorrow is amazing. I just finished my first playthrough on xbox one.
This was the only one in the original trilogy I haven't played and now I'm ready for it. Sounds awesome.
My first Splinter Cell. I see this first time when my big brother play it and this been night train level oooohhh man i loved this shit💚💚💚💚
Lmao.. that guy saying "insurance policy".. so ironic. They did that on purpose
Unpopular opinion but Pandora Tomorrow is easily the best game in series, all thanks to its amazing level design og atmosphere.
PT definitely has some cool levels and locations but I think a few more ebonics missions could have been possible.
the game seems too short.
The part on submarine with the tram, it's not a forced combat sequence. You can let the tram leave then climb down and hit a zip line
Just finished it last week. Enjoyed the gameplay and all the QOL improvements. That ending though WOOF.
Thanks for making chaos theory, just finished watching this today ........ Double agent version 1/2 next lol
I had a demo of this game as a kid, and it contained that train level. I couldn't run it on my weak machine, so I'd pop over to my friend, who had a much more powerful PC. I'd always bring him all the big new demos that I couldn't run. He had a Nvidia Geforce 4 MX, which was the most powerful graphics card that any of my friends had. I remember Prince of Persia: Sands of Time required Geforce 3 or higher, and we were so excited to try it out on his PC, but then turned out it specifically said "except for Geforce 4-MX". So as a result he was able to run the game, but it had a lot of graphical glitches. What a bummer that was :D
Sorry, I went on a tangent here, it's just I miss my childhood so much.
Man, I LOVE these videos, Ca you do Chaos Theory plz?
35:28 It can. Just let the tram go and grab onto the cable pole. You don't need to shoot a bullet. I uploaded my game play.
"Oh Lambert, You're so funny I could just shoot you."
Double Agent: "Looks like I'm up..."
Chaos Theory: "Sit down."🙄
Love the levels in this game! :) And great video!
When is you Double Agent video coming out? :)
The swat roll never made sense to me. Just imagined guards spotting your whole back
32:55 lol "Бурлаки на Волге"
Da
35:20 actually it's not a forced combat sequence even though it took me some tries to make it.
Great video! I've completed that game years ago on my old pc and that was fun. Any idea how it can be played on modern gaming laptop without optical drive? As it's not available to download on steam or uplay... I can play my favourite first part Splinter Cell and Chaos Theory even on Steam Deck perfectly now but Pandora Tomorrow is missing unfortunately... Thanks
I love the idea of M.C. Escher getting jealous of Splinter Cell
for me between this one and chaos theory was my favourites. I went to buy double agent off steam, but was really underwhelmed as the version i had on the original xbox was re released with this clunky version that had different levels to what we originally there. Had to love how there were different versions of these games back on the original xbox and playstations
There was a softlock in early Gamecube release after you are given the choice to kill Dhalia. You wont be able to leave the elevator after you load the 2nd part of the level.
Let’s see a blacklist review!
Fans love this SAGA and waiting for the next entry game of this Franchise 🤔 UBISOFT❗
41:58 You actually can do it without start the timer and eliminate everyone (even Soth) from the shadows as long as not even the workers spot you. It's tricky enough to make you go crazy with a single mistake tho 😂
Bugs and bad pacing aside. the game actually had so many improvements over the first. like it was the first to introduce the non-linear level design, which was carried on and refined in Chaos Theory. also I prefer Sam's face model and Lambert's voice here, I really felt like it was a downgrade in CT (it's just my opinion). also another thing what doesn't get mention is the music, sure Amon Tobin's music for CT was a masterpiece. but Jack Wall really did a tremendous job here, the music is mostly orchestra rather than techno electronic. and it creates a very unsettling surreal feel. this game definitely did a lot more than it gets credit for, and it shouldn't be forgotten
This is an odd one for me. This is the only Splinter Cell that I beat on PS2 instead of Xbox and I really liked it. This game is tied with Blacklist for second place for me with Chaos Theory being number one of course
I want more of your videos on splinter cell bro...
As a first timer to the Splinter Cell series, I stopped my first playthrough of SC1 at mission 8 and begun a playthrough of Pandora Tomorrow immediately, and I'm so glad I did. Pandora Tomorrow is difficult, but not as "trial-and-error" as SC1, and is also more accessible thanks to the QOL improvements and more refined level design, keeping the atmosphere of the first game intact. If THIS is how much better Pandora Tomorrow is, I can't wait to go through Chaos Theory.
For me it is the opposite, even tho PT has life improvements over the first one, but the first one has less bugs, especially with AI and lightning issues
@@Krahamus pandora tomorrow had the swat turn which i dont know why it never returned to chaos theory...also Lambert's voice in this is different but regardless splinter cell 1 and pandora tomorrow are amazing and i love double agent
@@Gencturk92 PT had good things also, levels are more diverse and interesting for sure, you should try double agent ps2 version completely different compared to pc ,xbox 360 versions
@@Krahamus yeah I played all splinter cell games back in the days, its the only game even to this day i still watch the gameplay videos at least once a week. I remember I used to turn my lights my off in my room and play it at night, it felt as if I was actually in the game.
yeah double agent ps2 version was better I think but the graphics was better on the other version
Will you make a video on Chaos Theory too?
TIL that you can knock out a guy with a bottle to the head in PT, like 16 years after playing it (i could only play the first 2 until i was like 14-15, since they were M after that). anyone know if it works with cans too?
Still such an underrated channel
A pandemic no one has ever seen. Then came 2020 , Covid tomorrow
I always regretted not buying this when it was still on Steam, it looks like a perfect blend of SC1 and SCCT. I'm thinking I should black beard a copy soon and play through the game.
you can get it for free online it's considered abandonware, no need to blackbeard it
20:30
actually if you don't use the optic cable and just open the door the guard won't be there.
I've replayed first three games last year. Unlike SAR and CT, before that I only played PT only once. And I replayed PT once more after that, to analyze it better. I still regard it lower than SAR and CT, but it's way better than I remembered.
One big flaw, that really hurts the game, is lack of text during missions. Too few dialogs between guards or Sam interrogations (compared to CT) or curious text emails (a mission in SAR could easily had a dozen of those, while in PT mission there's rarely more than three). Even that forced action sequence at the end of submarine level was way too random, because there were no proper set up or warning, while in SAR they always tried to set them up with some radio chatter to give context. And these small things give a lot of character to the game, but PT lacks it, sadly
I will ALWAYS miss that janky walljump from the first game
Nice
We need this gem on GOG along with Chaos Theory. Come on...
I don't get the guard's voice actors accents problem, MGS3 didn't gave their GRU and KGB operatives Russian accents either and people loved that game.
For me it’s
1 chaos theory
2 Blacklist
3 Pandora tomorrow
4 conviction
5 Splinter cell
I always found Splinter Cell Essentials had better voice acting. It was also pretty bad in an otherwise underrated and fun game but unlike non Sam dialog in Pandora Tomorrow, it was entertaining to listen to, such as the mooks and bad guy in the steel mill mission talking like pouty teenagers in detention during summer, or most of the what everyone says in Ellsworth prison.
Personally I know Lambert's Pandora Tomorrow voice actor from goofs in Essentials where they reused his dialog such as when alarms go off. He also played God in Lucifer but I haven't actually seen that far in the series yet.
When you said "lets open up pandora's box" I actually thought you had a in-box physical copy and you were gonna open it and put it in the console/pc you are playing on
And can't find it ! Thx Ubi
Speaking of bad voice acting...
Gotta love how half the people pronounce it "Suh-Dah-Noh" and the other half pronounce it "Suh-Doh-Noh"... Even when they're in dialogue with each other saying the name differently. Lol.
37:14
Spintercells is great but hitman will always be my favorite stealth games
Hitman is great, I'm really looking forward to playing the new one.
About to bust out the gamecube now 🤣
Aren't the Splinter cell games terrible on gamecube and ps2??
💛💛💛
People dump on this one. I loved it when it was released. I also loved the HD remastered version.
You have the voice and style of a man who should have >1 million subs, so it's weird that you only have 11.2k as of now.
Loved the video. I would only disagree with/want to point out -
a) "Narrative" is for movies, this is a video game. Most people just skip,skip,skip any cutscenes.
b) The game is not available on Steam (all the others are), you have to go the pirate route and then download a shit ton of fixes and patches to get it to work on a modern PC.
I didn't realize Dennis Haysbert was NOT Lambert in every game but was just a one off. So I went to UA-cam and listened to videos of him compared to Don Jordan, and it's amazing how identical they sound !
Don Jordan - ua-cam.com/video/EdoCQJWnI5w/v-deo.html
Dennis Haysbert - ua-cam.com/video/iDl0CluWjUU/v-deo.html
Double Agent gives choices to the player that become completely irrelevant in the overall story. You can choose to frame Enrica or not, but the canon choice is framing her. You can choose to save Lambert or kill him, but the canon choice is killing him. The truth is Double Agent gives the player the ILLUSION of choice but the actual choice was already made before hand by the developers.
I miss Lamberts voice. I wish they hadn't killed him off.
Well they found a way to bring his daughter back, so you never know lol
Was this on PC?
Amazing game. my favorite. SC1 is 2nd best.
29:55 Honestly, the moment the game give you this choice feels so heavy, even if there is no impact on the further gameplay. You're right it is a really memorable moment if the game.
Lambert orders you to blindly kill a woman, no question asked. And it really puts you into Sam shoes for a big dilemma. It asks yourself "Are you becoming a trained murder machine, or do you still question whether or not you should take the life of somebody else?"
And we can feel Sam is left greatly shaken from this choice, if we take the route of killing Dalhia. He genuinely fears having crossed a massive red line for himself and questions if he belongs to the good guys afterall.