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WARNING to all CDRW drive owners

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 27 / 37
Date: March 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Just a friendly warning to all CDR/CDRW/DVDR/DVDRW drive owners. UBI Soft as a "feature" on their PC software that prevents installation from any drive with write capacity. Why they feel that will slow down a game cracker, and why they don't mind blowing off an entire segment of the market, is entirely beyond me, but that's not the point here. Call UBI Soft tech support BEFORE buying this or any other PC game from them, and check to make sure whether or not you will be able to install. Software (such as Chessmaster 9000, just to grab a random example) doesn't come with a warning on the box (in "some" cases, they claim -- I haven't found a single box that does), nor is there a warning on the Amazon product pages (short of reviews like this). One could speculate that they're perfectly happy to let people buy their software knowing some won't be able to install it, but I'll leave their motivation to give no warning to consumers to your imagination.

UBI Soft's tech support has said that this "feature" extends to *all* of their PC titles. So fair warning, particularly to folks with laptops where DVD/CDRW drives came standard, ask before you buy. Perhaps if enough people have a problem with this flawed policy, UBI will smarten up. "Flawed" because limiting installs to drives without write capacity isn't going to slow a determined game cracker/pirate down, it's only going to prevent normal consumers from being able to install the game. Worse, they don't find out until they've opened the package and tried to install, which in some cases is enough to prevent a return and refund from the seller.

I'm certain this game deserves more than 1 star, and suspect it will see some good reviews from people who are able to install, but I can't give it more than a single. That's a commentary on UBI Soft and their "feature", not about the game itself. In fact, when I get around to writing a review of the XBox version, it may well merit a 5-star rating.

just finished 2nd level...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: April 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Any fan of the 1st Splinter Cell will not be disappointed. This game is pretty amazing. The gameplay is pretty similar to the 1st, the levels seem to be much the same, and there have been a few outdoor missions thrown into the mix. The enemy A.I. is a little better this time around, I think. They've added a whistle to the distraction arsenal and I've used it a couple times successfully. The other additions are the 1/2 split jump and the SWAT turn. The graphics are what makes this game so good. I've been floored by some things like the village, the subway station, the morgue, and the train. The light/shadow and motion physics are fantastic. I haven't played online yet, but I'll get to it.
That's one downside to the game-HEFTY system requirements. I've got a P4 2.0 Gig 256MB RAM and 128MB nVidia GeForce FX 5200 and it runs smooth except for a few minor drags usually when loading a level or saving, but nothing too bad. This game is incredible but I don't know if I'd recommend this to anyone with a "slower" system than mine, it might not be worth it. Just use the game as an excuse to upgrade your PC.

A Better Splinter Cell

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: April 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I am going to give you a review of this game, not of my lack of the proper hardware in order to run it. Read the back of the box! First, this is certainly not much different from the original. Although this one does look better, it still looks and plays pretty much the same. It really is just the first game, with a new story. I don't think that is any big secret. There are very few new things. No new weapons. I do have to say I did like this one better. I think the story is better, and more interesting then the first, and the maps and environments are cooler. It is about the same length as the first, if not slightly longer. What it comes down too is if you liked the first, if you liked the sneaking, spying, and stealth of the first game, then you will like this one.

CDR/CDRW/DVDR/DVDRW

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: March 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

For everybody information, this note is at http://www.splintercell.com/us/faq.php :

Note: This game contains technology intended to prevent copying that may conflict with some disc and virtual drives.

CDRW issues?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 14
Date: June 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I agree with the reviewers that have had problems with the copy protection. I just installed the game, and when I tried to run it, got a message saying something like "Please disable CD/DVD emulation software and restart the game." Well.. I DID have Virtual CloneDrive running, and I use it for 100% non-piracy purposes. I quit that app, then reran SC:PT a few times and got the same results. SO THE GAME DOESN'T RUN, and I have no emulation software running.

This is extremely bad form for a game, and I'm tempted to just ask for a refund instead of trying to work around the problem. How could they do this crap to their paying customers? DON'T BUY THIS GAME. We should be protesting poorly-tested copy protection schemes (which are always going to be cracked anyway). After paying $$ for a game, I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH PROBLEMS LIKE THIS.

Don't buy this until a good patch comes out!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: April 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought this because I really enjoyed the first Splinter Cell. I was hoping it'd just be the same as before, with the multiplayer incorporated smoothly. I discovered to my disgust that this is a piece of crap. After I installed, I tried to set it up to play. Appearently it doesn't like my drivers I have for my Radeon 9800. So I rolled back to the ones it said were working. Bull ****! Those didn't work either. I install the patch, and I get horrid frame rate, plus the graphics are completely distorted! I have a rainbow color about an inch thick running around my whole monitor when I play! It is so distracting I can't even play it. So I fire up the multiplayer. Absolute crap. Horrid framerate, same bad graphics, aweful sound, the works!

So I uninstall it, planning to return it. I then discover that it's anti-copying scheme screwed up my virtual cd drive software. It blocked the program from making virtual drives just because Ubi Soft was afraid someone would copy it and pass it around on the net. Yet they can still do that anyways! All it does is block law-abiding citizens from using legally purchased software.

I managed to fix their problem, yet I refuse to install their software again until they fix this game and promise not to add this anti-copying crap to other games.

Wait for fixes

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: May 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I enjoyed the first Splinter Cell, although I was admittedly not 100% satisfied with the innovative but confiningly linear gameplay. However, I was persuaded to buy Pandora Tommorrow by the playable demo.

The good news:
From the limited portion of the game I have been able to play, the game looks good, slightly better than the already impressive first Splinter Cell. It has some new visual effect tweaks here and there and a few new moves for the main character, and overall has a solid, current, but not spectacular appearance. The game environment seems to have gained some improvements in interactivity as well, with some neat features like your footsteps scaring birds out of the grass and your character casting shadows when passing in front of a projector screen added to spice things up.

As with Splinter Cell, the voice acting is good, the story is well put together, and the settings and cut scenes are professional. It is clear the designers did their homework. While I haven't had the pleasure of finishing much of the game (I'll get into why in a moment), the game has the goods.

If only it could actually deliver them.

The bad news:
My system well exceeds all the requirements and has all the latest drivers, but this game can't seem to stabilize even with the v1.1 patch installed. Frustratingly, I experienced crashes about every three minutes of gameplay in single player. These seemed to be triggered by almost all the scripted events (and there are lots - which would be good if they didn't kill the game) and each time I moved from a portion of level to another portion. All of the crashes required a reboot to be able to get the game to run again, and several of them hard hung my system - relatively uncommon on my Windows XP box. Since the game frequently autosaves for you (this is a good thing) it's not quite as bad as it could be to crash, but it's still not good at all.

The multiplayer game is more stable and doesn't appear to crash when switching maps or during play. This is good because Splinter Cell: Pandora Tommorrow has an inventive multiplayer mode where your point of view, equipment, objectives, and method of operating are quite different depending on which side you play (reminiscent of Aliens vs. Predator). However, I was inexplicably blocked from playing in multiplayer mode about three-fourths of the times I ran the game due to bad punkbuster detection; even though I had the punkbuster software installed and enabled I was stilled banned from joining servers for not having punkbuster. This problem, like the rest, only seemed to resolve itself when I rebooted my system. UbiSoft has clearly set its priorities on getting multiplayer working first, however, as almost all the updates in the latest patch are aimed at the multiplayer mode.

One thing I found odd was the multiplayer game has the same basic look and feel as the single player, but plays almost like a different game. Although the two modes share models, animations, and visual effects, I would bet that UbiSoft designed the multiplayer mode as a seperate design project. The key commands are mostly different from the single player (even though most of the character's actions are the same). The character also interacts a little differently with the game envirnonment, so it takes some getting used to.

The bottom line:
This title will probably be worth the price of admission if and when the stability problems are corrected. The game in its present state runs like an early beta test version, and as happens time and time again in the software industry, it is clear that the game was pushed out before it was ready. Buyer beware; wait for UbiSoft to spend the time - as it should have before release - to fix the game with further updates before you spend your money on this game. Afterward, this game will most likely be a good entertainment value.

CD-RW issues

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: March 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

UbiSoft makes note of the issue on their web page. It's sadly verifiable. CDRW drives will have a hard time reading any UbiSoft game, it's not a rule without exception, but it will most definetly hinder some people's ability to play the game. If you want to verify this please check out UbiSoft's own website, in their FAQ- just type in "CD-RW" for your search. You won't definetly have issues with the game...but then again you might.

Such are the joys of a world where people pirate software and companies try to stop them. It's pretty lousy for everyone, the companies which make the product, the gamers who play the product, even the pirates who try to steal the product...

As for my score, I played the demo and loved it, that's all I've got to go on.

Take a deep breath...hold it...now release slowly... Better?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 14
Date: March 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Let's all just calm down a bit. Is there a problem? Perhaps, ... I don't know. However, let's just ponder a bit on the "overall" issue raised which was - Would a large company REALLY release a product that WILL NOT install or play with a cd/dvd burner?

To answer that, NO they would not. Consider how many computers are sold, and already have been sold, with ONLY 1 cd/dvd burner. Millions. So, they would be cutting their own throat if they purposely did that. If you just think about that for a min, you will realize that this is being blown out to be WAY bigger than it is. Now, is there a problem with it not installing under certain conditions, etc... Perhaps. Well, what game in recent history did not have to be patched? It's just as simple as that.

The problem, if it exists at all, WILL be fixed by the company ASAP. There is no malicious or intentional programming to keep persons from playing the game. That is just ridiculous. Also, I agree, you really can't "review" a game until it is released, so all those doing so here are just stating their own "personal" opinion as to what they "hope" it will be like. Me too... I hope it is GREAT.

Best first person shooter yet

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: February 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Splinter cell Pandora Tommarow incorperates all the pluses of the original and all the best parts of it are even better. You can do all the moves of the original, plus a few more. The graphics are even better than the first and there are several outdoor missions in which the sun either sets or rises gradually, changing the shodows in which you can hide. Speaking of hiding, there is now an on screen gauge that tells how visable you are to enemy mercinarys.

There is now a unique multi-player that allows you and three others to play each other, X-box and PS2 have it, but I'm not sure about Gamecube. You can play 1 on 3 or 2 on 2; one side are the spies and the other are the mercinaries. Each are evenly matched, but each have different advantages. The spies can see from a third person view allowing them to be more aware of their surroundings while the mercinaries have a first person veiw allowing them to shoot more accuratly, but they can't see behind or to the side of themselves. Each side has their own gadgets and each have thier own weapons as well their own objectives, the spies have to complete an objective and the mercinaries have to stop them. The mercinaries have auto-matic weapons that can easily kill a spy but all the spies have are one shot pistols that can only stun an enemy, thus the only way a spy can kill a mercinary is either by jumping on him or breaking his neck. The mercinaries have the advantage in open combat, but their poor vision means tht a spy can gain the upper hand with stealth, at least untill they're discovered. This means that both sides need different stratagies to win.

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