Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six

"A variant on the usual 3-D shooter, Ant-Terrorist style."

Firstly I would like to say that this is a kind of mix between "first impressions", and "Complete". I have not had the game long enough to be "Complete", but have had more experience at it than "First impressions". Well, with that out of the way, let me explain the reason's why.

Well here I am looking at a box that says "Half-Life". I read the credits, "Best game of the year", "Incredible", "fantastic", etc. This sounds like the game for me I thought. Although I am not incredibly fond of 3-D shooters, I thought, hey, if it's game of the year, it should be good for anyone. So I picked up my copy, and whacked it into my CD drive, twiddled my thumbs, as I waited for it to load, and got treated to an interesting intro, marvelling at the graphics etc. I started playing and thought it was quite interesting. As I played more, and ot the guns and stuff, I started to think, hey, well, whats the difference between this, and Quake 2 ? I loaded up Quake 2, and played, and really found no (IMHO) utterly clear distinguishable difference. Sure, powerups werent found floating around like forgotten christmas presents, and maybe the suit you got on is better than the armour that the "Q" marines have on, but underneath all the story and everything, I found just another 3-D shooter, with pretty average AI (IMHO again...) albeit a good one. (3-D shooter that is, not AI !)I loved the gun sounds they were so beefy.. I still play it. Anyhow, This is the game of the year ?, I thought. So began the circumstance which led me to buy Rainbow Six.

DAY 1. I have always liked Tom Clancy's Novels, particulary because I am very interested in most of the stuff that he writes about, military, I am especially into Military aircraft and Secret Anti-Terrorism services. Then I heard about Rainbow Six. I knew that this was a new novel of his, that I was searching from library to library, bookshop to bookshop to find, even a copy that had its front cover torn off, anything. Sold out, sold out, sold out.... Anyway, I had previously borrowed the unofficial prequel Spec Ops, and was quite unimpressed by it. It was an excellent idea, but poorly executed. So this was on my mind as I looked at the box of R-6. The one I was looking at came packaged with a copy of Tom Clancy's Clear and Present Danger. this was novel I didnt own of his, and having previously saw the movie, this was a plus to my decision. (The book also blocked my view of the back of the box.....) After debating for about 20 minutes (during which the storekeeper must have thought I would steal something, because I noticed one of the other people working there start to kind of shadow me pretending to fill the already full shelves.....)I decided to buy it (much to the relief of the storekeeper...)As before, I went home and whacked it into my drive, sat though the installation, trying to think about what it would be like. A mundane start up screen was shown before me, I compared this to the screen in my manual, and was a bit disgruntled that I liked the pic in the manual better. So, being the "model" gamer that I am (One who actually practises BEFORE playing a game, and reads the manual thoroughly BEFORE playing....) after reading through a detailed manual, which sounded pretty cool, with detailed explanations of all the factors that can affect the player (mostly to do with the AIMING...)that sounded promising. I punched in "Training mode", and got some pretty VGA'ish and bland graphics. couple that with a gun that sounded so pussy next to the Half-Life guns. I wasn't too impressed. It was pretty hard as well, with the one shot one kill concept, (like in real life, pretty much one bullet ends your life...)and also the terrorists themselves being "smart".

So, after that session, I turned off my computer, and thought, what a lousy buy. Little did I know that things were about to change.

DAY 2.

Thinking that perhaps I didnt give it a chance, not even having played the campaign mode yet, I tried it again the next day. I clicked on Single Player, and started. The "planning" phase (which differentiates it from normal 3-D shooters, you must actually "plan" what you are gonna do.... gee life is tough ;-D)is simple and easy to understand. Clicked on go, and waited. And waited. The loading time for single player missions was horrendous. FINALLY it showed the familiar screen of the "Action" phase. Of course I got wasted in 5 seconds, despite all the training. I waited for another long time, while the game went back to the planning phase to let me try to correct what I screwed up ("a luxury real teams dont have", as quoted from the manual). as I played the game more and more, I got more involved each time. It was actually FUN to be part of a team for once (without multiplayer) rather than be some buff, save the world/universe/girlfriend/boyfriend/two lovers during my teabreak type. I began to appreciate the fact that in real life, there people out there doing this kind of stuff, right at that moment. (Rainbow six is a fictional work of course though....)I began to really see how the stats affected players, with seeable differenced in different people. Even their faces had each been individually "pasted" on, so you could, at a glance, if you knew who was who, tell who you are looking. Height differences are clear, and I started to notice that the people moved actually quite well. Planning became a game of real thought instead of a chore, that sent other teams other than yours to their deaths. Trying to get the mission perfect the first time became a challenge rather than a fluke. Even the loading times became okay...-ish, because they often have screenshots of your next objective, and you can note some details that might help in mission, just like a real spy, gather data, etc. I began to appreciate the graphics more, simply because they werent there for show, as most games are. They were there, simply, just to give layout. All the important details are shown, but non-important ones are not. Who needs to see a huge swab of blood on the wall, just for show to make you nervous, when all you need to do is blast some guy while he is on a wall to make a blood mark. Your nervous enough already, seeing as you can die with one shot. As the missions progress, even the graphics get better, with good light source shading, and colours, and depth. Sound is still a bit weak, I myself prefer the silenced weapons (or supressed as they say) the sound is closer to reality, and it's also more stealthy, which is DEFINITLEY what you need to be. If your an Audio/Video buff, who must have Super 3-D enhanced triple giga power meter style graphics, and super subwoofer 10000 and 1 with extra bass added sound, then perhaps this game is not for you. The voices in the game are clear, but limited. Basics include a status report, basic acknowledgements (Roger, Yes sir etc.) and other little CB radio type sayings like Alpha this and Alpha that, and clear, and escorting etc. It DOES support 3-D cards, I have a voodoo 2, and it runs prefectly on mine, with no slowdown. At all. Which is another reason not to stack on graphics IMHO. The gameplay MAY be a bit tedious, with repeated deaths, seemingly being shot out of nowhere, actually having to "plan" a mission, etc. But if you look past all that, you see a game which reflects real life, being an anti-terrorist can be immenseley satifsying. Not everyone may like the gameplay, but for me, its a thumbs up. As for replayability... I am not too sure on this one. Being the sort of game that it is, once you have finished it, you have seen everything. I suppose the replayability comes from the ambition to get a missions absolutely perfect, or try mission impossible style one man army. Or fully co-ordinate strategic waves, on go-codes, seeing everything snap into place, all actions prefectly executed like greased oil. (Well, maybe not like greased oil...). It may have only one objective based way of completeting the mission (as in, you MUST save GameFAQS to complete the mission, or you MUST take out all terrorists etc) but there are so many ways you can do it, that it will take you a while.

Well, there you have it. My thoughts on Rainbow Six in a nutshell. I would recommend purchasing this, instead of renting it. Or, perhaps even better, try out the demo. Not only will this allow you to try out the game, and not pay for it, but you can check for compatibilty problems instead of finding out after you bought the game. I have currently bought the novel R-6, and and hope to read it while playing.

Thank you for your time I hope you enjoye this review !

Spider.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99