Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six

"A challanging, yet fun game with great gameplay."

This game was a complete shock to be. After installing it, I decided to skip training and just start with the first mission. Me, being a Doom/Quake/Half-Life player, popped in, shot the terrorist, and decided ''Hey, this ain't so bad''. Boy was I wrong. I lost the first mission, three times. When I finally passed it, two of my men where dead. I recently finished it, and I must say - the game is one of the most challenging and fun games yet.

The graphics were dot on. The locations looked realistic and crisp, and all the character models looked fairly good. When people were shot, blood spread aroudn the area. Many realistic touches were added, including night vision, making this game easily earn a 10/10 in graphics.

The music was fiarly ambient, but good. The one great tune was the ''funeral at sea'' style music played when your men got slaughtered. The sound effects were appropriate for every gun, and the many, many, voice actions were well done as well. I thought that maybe the music could have been slightly better, but overall, a 8/10

The story was very very well done, but it was also optional. A friend of mine is currently playing level 9, and hasn't read any of the story. I found it great, and read every last word. The story is external to gameplay, and unveiled through various mission briefings. This eaisly nets a 9/10

The gameplay was par excelent. The difficulty alone gets the game an 8/10, but the smooth control, and overwhelming assortment of actions you could do really boost it. Much of the game relied on your choices, instead of the games, so without a doubt the game gets a 10/10

Anyone at all who has a computer (and the whopping 567 megs for full install) should buy this - the replay value is immense. Plus, with some snooping around, you can find that most of the games internal properties, such as gravity and the gun settings, can be tweaked, along with the characters. You'll be playing this one for a while if you take my advice and buy it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/22/00, Updated 04/22/00