Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown

"Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown--a worthy continuation of the series"

Introduction: Rainbow Six: Lockdown for the Gamecube is a pretty good tactical shooter with some minor flaws. This latest iteration in the popular Tom Clancy's series of videogames deviates from the slower, methodical gameplay of its predecessors with a more action- and character-oriented presentation. This may or may not be a welcome development, depending on the player's familiarity with (and fondness for) the earlier games.

Gameplay: The majority of the game centers around squad-based shooting action with the player controlling main Rainbow operative Ding Chavez and typically accompanied by three multinational teammates. A few sniper missions featuring Dieter Weber are inserted throughout the levels to help give some variety to the gameplay. Mission objectives range from the usual Rainbow assignments (hostage rescue, bomb defusal, terrorist cleansing) to one memorable mission where you must free a captured team member. The story and character relationships play a much bigger role this time than in previous installments—you will actually become attached to your teammates and somewhat engrossed in their attempts to protect the world from a nefarious terrorist plot.

Lockdown is fairly easy at the default difficulty, especially because the player can purchase cheat codes by finding “intelligence items” (briefcases) scattered throughout the level. God mode cannot be unlocked until all of the other cheats are; but an invisibility cheat which is unlockable early on can obviously make the game into a piece of cake. Additional weapons for your team can be purchased as well.

Controls are generally excellent and well-mapped to the Gamecube's controller. You have some control over your teammates—you can tell them to head to a certain spot, breach a door using several options, clear a room, hold position and peek around a corner.

Lockdown for the Gamecube has no online play but does feature a split-screen co-op mode. Unfortunately, framerate does tend to drop when playing with another player (a problem not as evident in the single-player mode but that does show up occasionally).

Levels are somewhat more linear than previous Rainbow games but occasionally open up somewhat to allow for multiple paths.

Graphics/Sound: Ubisoft has done an excellent job porting Lockdown to the Gamecube here. Textures and animations are well-done; and this is one of the better-looking games on the Cube. Sound is excellent as always (what else would you expect from a Tom Clancy title?) and really adds to the immersion. From the war-torn streets of South Africa to the wind blowing sand in a Middle Eastern desert town, the player will feel as though he is there with the team, fighting for freedom. Some ragdoll physics and limited environmental interaction add to the realism as well. The only problem I found with the graphics is the disappearing terrorist bodies—a problem that plagues many shooters.

Play Time/Replayability: On the default difficulty level (without using cheats) expect to spend about 10-15 hours going through the campaign. The game can then be replayed on a harder level. In addition there is the two-player co-op mode as well as side missions using the game's maps (such as terrorist hunt or infiltration). Unlocking all the weapons and cheats can add to the length as well, so the game is fairly long with some replay value.

Final Recommendation: For players who only own a Gamecube with some interest in tactical shooters this is a no-brainer: BUY THIS GAME! Players with other play options (Xbox, PS2, PC) will certainly have many other titles to choose from, some better than Lockdown. But this is still a worthy tactical shooter in its own regard. Some long-time players may balk at the more action-oriented, Hollywood-blockbusteresque approach that Ubi has taken here. But this is still an enjoyable and tense game. Final score: 7/10.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/09/06