Been replaying the series recently as Splinter Cell is one of my confort games, I always loved Pandora Tomorrow, for me I would rank it above the original, the inclusion of the laser dot for the Five Seven is brilliant, this allows you to be precise enough to not miss your shots anymore, in SC1 you always had a big gamble when shooting the pistol even if used in close and the aim perfectly placed, forcing you to reload the checkpoint for a coin toss... Not in SC2, the trade off is that the NPC sees it if you take too long to aim, so it's balanced.
The alarms system in top of being actually displayed on the HUD is game changing too, they will wear more armor each time you trigger one level, first alarm means bulletproof vests, second alarm add helmets too, you really put yourself in a loosing battle if you play recklessly.
The graphics and atmosphere are amazing compared to SC1 few wow moments.
Lots of little details were QOL changes like the door codes are displayed on screen while you in front of the keypad, no need to search the notes in the menus, you can open doors while carrying bodies, the light meter flashes when and where to drop a corpse or when you are in a darker spot...
New movements like the semi split jump in tight places that allow you to jump to even higher places, the quick transitions between two covers without being seen, the whistle to lure NPC.
It's really challenging compared to other entries, fair compared to SC1 dogs patrols and aiming RNG die and retry, but too rigid and corridor like level design compared to SC3. It's for experts of SC1, the kind of players who use diversion cam to take out 3 bad guys at the same time knowing where to exactly place it, the NPC spawn trigger and their routing, the kind of big brain plays of SC1 in the Myanmar abattoir level when you meet the hostages and must defeat Grinko and his guards in a 5,6 man vs 1, with the atrocious gunplay of SC1, but having played the game 10 times, you place 5 mine wall before triggering the fight and they all get insta-killed after the cutscene, that kind of play.
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