MaybeMusic

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow

14. July 2024 /

Year: 2004
Type: Gamerip
Composer(s): Guy Dubuc; Jack Wall; Marc Lessart
Number of tracks: 39

★★★★★

Venturing forth ... secretly

Two years after his debut, Pandora Tomorrow marks the second appearance of Sam Fisher, who once again has to put a stop to evil villains as an agent of Third Echelon, a top-secret subdivision of the NSA. This time it's off to Indonesia for the man with the jaw for a knockout blow, where he has to neutralize a military leader who has come into possession of a biological warfare agent - so far, so classic.

Instead, the man at the helm of the music department has been replaced, and instead of Michael Richard Plowman, someone else is pulling the strings. Who exactly? Well, as is so often the case, the internet is not in agreement due to a lack of an official release. Here I'll just go with the Splinter Cell-Fanwiki, which speaks of a joint composition by the trio of Jack Wall (cutscenes), Guy Dubuc and Marc Lessard (in-game). The main theme, on the other hand, was composed by Lalo Schifrin, a five-time Emmy winner who is more at home in television and, among other things, came up with the iconic Mission Impossible-melody. Unfortunately, we have to refrain from expecting a composition of a similarly rousing character as the Tom Cruise tune - and not just because Schifrin only contributed the rather mediocre “Main Menu”.

As with its predecessor, the gamerip for Pandora Tomorrow is entertaining. Although the change in composers has brought a little more variation to the ambient soundscape, the score is still not really exciting. Due to the nature of a gamerip, the 39 tracks have a similar length - mostly around 1.5 minutes - and are named according to the levels. Songs such as “Jungle Standard 1-4” are more of a single piece than individual tracks. Unlike its predecessor, the album divides the songs not just into “Stress” and “Fight”, but “Standard”, “Suspicion” and “Fight”. This creates a natural increase in tension towards the end of a set piece, which is why the techno-like and action-packed “Fight” songs come off better in my opinion than the calmer “Standard” tracks.

Compared to its predecessor, the areas sound even more different, albeit still stereotypical: the “Jerusalem” track in particular feels familiar to us from various Middle East shooters or the first Assassin’s Creed, whereas “Jungle” and “Submarine” have a Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater-/Predator-atmosphere thanks to the use of the panpipe. “Criogenics”, on the other hand, is almost psychedelic.

The soundtrack offers an interesting mix in its own right, but once again remains devoid of identity. Meanwhile, the density of things to listen to increases. In particular, the addition of strings such as cellos in tracks like “Submarine Suspicion” or “Submarine Fight” provides a pleasantly profound antithesis to the upbeat techno on the surface. Musically, the heated shoot-outs with the henchmen meet the cool composure of the experienced secret agent. Even if there was nothing here for me yet, the course taken is absolutely right and should be further explored in the later parts of the series.

Nostalgia warning

The rating of the individual tracks is purely subjective and clearly colored by my own experience with the game. You can find out more in the article About Nostalgia.

Nr.TitleInterpret(en)Ratings
01Main MenuLalo Schifrin33/5
02Embassy StandardGuy Dubuc; Marc Lessart33/5
03Embassy SuspicionGuy Dubuc; Marc Lessart33/5
04Embassy FightGuy Dubuc; Marc Lessart33/5
05Criogenics StandardGuy Dubuc; Marc Lessart22/5
06Criogenics SuspicionGuy Dubuc; Marc Lessart33/5
07Criogenics FightGuy Dubuc; Marc Lessart33/5
08Train Standard Track 1Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart22/5
09Train Standard Track 2Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart22/5
10Train SuspicionGuy Dubuc; Marc Lessart33/5
11Train FightGuy Dubuc; Marc Lessart44/5
12Jerusalem Standard Track 1Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart33/5
13Jerusalem Standard Track 2Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart22/5
14Jerusalem SuspicionGuy Dubuc; Marc Lessart33/5
15Jerusalem FightGuy Dubuc; Marc Lessart22/5
16Jungle Standard Track 1Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart11/5
17Jungle Standard Track 2Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart22/5
18Jungle Standard Track 3Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart22/5
19Jungle Standard Track 4Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart22/5
20Jungle SuspicionGuy Dubuc; Marc Lessart33/5
21Jungle FightGuy Dubuc; Marc Lessart44/5
22Submarine Standard Track 1Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart22/5
23Submarine Standard Track 2Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart22/5
24Submarine Standard Track 3Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart22/5
25Submarine Standard Track 4Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart33/5
26Submarine SuspicionGuy Dubuc; Marc Lessart44/5
27Submarine FightGuy Dubuc; Marc Lessart44/5
28TV Station Standard Track 1Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart33/5
29TV Station Standard Track 2Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart22/5
30TV Station Standard Track 3Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart22/5
31TV Station SuspicionGuy Dubuc; Marc Lessart33/5
32TV Station FightGuy Dubuc; Marc Lessart33/5
33LAX Standard Track 1Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart33/5
34LAX Standard Track 2Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart33/5
35LAX Standard Track 3Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart33/5
36LAX Standard Track 4Guy Dubuc; Marc Lessart33/5
37LAX SuspicionGuy Dubuc; Marc Lessart22/5
38LAX FightGuy Dubuc; Marc Lessart22/5
39CreditsJack Wall44/5

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