messy collection of thoughts
Somewhat better than the original (maybe?). The level design feels less restrictive than what I remember from there, though it's still incredibly rigid and doesn't attempt to hide to it. Guards, cameras, light, shadows, all objects, really, are set up in such an artificial manner that the developers may as well have put a big blinking arrow telling you where to go. It ends up feeling less like sneaking and more like instinctively following the clear path created for you.
I'm not expecting Thief or Hitman levels of openness either, just some interesting bits of level design, Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2 are both fairly linear stealth games and provide more interesting scenarios than anything here. I know Splinter Cell is capable of it too, the last mission shows it. You enter an airport to take down some terrorists, standard stuff, but you suddenly get notified that some are disguised as civilians. Now you're actually challenged by having to stealthily take out specific targets, keeping yourself and their deaths hidden from the real civilians. It's far more exciting than anything the game has done before, and I had a spike in joy before realising this was only happening in the last level.
Mechanics here are fine, mostly the same as the original but with a couple new additions. The gunplay is still terrible, however. "Aiming in" is slow and spread is wide, even reaching beyond the crosshairs at maximum accuracy. Quicksaving before any attempt at shooting a light is practically essential. I still don't understand either why Ubisoft have created an accuracy system that discourages you from playing this like action game, yet there are several forced shooting sequences.
Pandora Tomorrow also has real issues with not utilising its mechanics enough too. Sticky cams and rappelling and shooting upside down from pipes and sneaking through gaps by hugging walls and that weird split jump thing that you can climb from, those are all cool but they're barely used. When they are it's usually because they're the only thing you should do. This makes the existence of the boring level design just that bit more frustrating. The mechanics needed to give it flavour are there, just not implemented enough.
Somewhat better than the original (maybe?). The level design feels less restrictive than what I remember from there, though it's still incredibly rigid and doesn't attempt to hide to it. Guards, cameras, light, shadows, all objects, really, are set up in such an artificial manner that the developers may as well have put a big blinking arrow telling you where to go. It ends up feeling less like sneaking and more like instinctively following the clear path created for you.
I'm not expecting Thief or Hitman levels of openness either, just some interesting bits of level design, Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2 are both fairly linear stealth games and provide more interesting scenarios than anything here. I know Splinter Cell is capable of it too, the last mission shows it. You enter an airport to take down some terrorists, standard stuff, but you suddenly get notified that some are disguised as civilians. Now you're actually challenged by having to stealthily take out specific targets, keeping yourself and their deaths hidden from the real civilians. It's far more exciting than anything the game has done before, and I had a spike in joy before realising this was only happening in the last level.
Mechanics here are fine, mostly the same as the original but with a couple new additions. The gunplay is still terrible, however. "Aiming in" is slow and spread is wide, even reaching beyond the crosshairs at maximum accuracy. Quicksaving before any attempt at shooting a light is practically essential. I still don't understand either why Ubisoft have created an accuracy system that discourages you from playing this like action game, yet there are several forced shooting sequences.
Pandora Tomorrow also has real issues with not utilising its mechanics enough too. Sticky cams and rappelling and shooting upside down from pipes and sneaking through gaps by hugging walls and that weird split jump thing that you can climb from, those are all cool but they're barely used. When they are it's usually because they're the only thing you should do. This makes the existence of the boring level design just that bit more frustrating. The mechanics needed to give it flavour are there, just not implemented enough.