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Pandora-ing to the masses

We chat to Julien Bares, producer of Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, about the process of bringing the game to PS2.

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Image credit: Eurogamer
Eurogamer Staff avatar
Interview by Eurogamer Staff Contributor
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Eurogamer Technically speaking, what compromises have you had to make to port the game to PS2? Is the loading time significantly greater on the PS2? Have you had to split the levels into smaller chunks like you did last time around?
Julien Bares

We had to split them for memory issues but it is actually making the gameplay better because you have more saving points, because we have watch how people were playing and have changed the location of several checkpoints.

Eurogamer What was the reason for the delay between the release of the Xbox/PC versions and PS2? Wasn't the original plan was to release simultaneously?
Julien Bares

There was no plan but quality, we knew that the best thing we could do was to offer a never seen quality on PS2 - to make such big levels, to have a great rendering for lights, to make the most beautiful water ever seen on PS2 took us some time so that's why we had to release the game later.

Eurogamer Tell us how the online portion of the game differs from the Xbox on the PS2? Is it the Shanghai studio doing the conversion once again? How many worked on the game?
Julien Bares

No, it was done by Ubisoft Paris Studio and Annecy, Paris for the single player part of the game and Annecy for the multiplayer one. At its maximum, the team reached a hundred people, for some weeks only. For the multiplayer all that was in Xbox is also on PlayStation2.

Eurogamer Are there any gameplay changes on this version, as with the previous Splinter Cell on PS2?
Julien Bares

Yes, a lot, first the game has some new gadgets and features. You can disable the mine by a very simple gameplay, a bit like the lockpick gameplay for instance.

Eurogamer Have you added any extra content?
Julien Bares

There is a level in the jungle that should fullfill all your expectations. But more than extra content, we have added extra tuning to make the gameplay even better: it means better AI, better multipath, there are a lot of them hidden now.

Eurogamer Are the team already working on SC3 for PS2? When is that likely to come out? Is the PS2 really up to the job of handling the outstanding tech seen in SC3?
Julien Bares

No comments ;-)

Winking smilies on Eurogamer. Whatever next. Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow is due out on PS2 on June 11th and you can read our review here.

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