Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3

"There is just one word to describe this masterpiece.....Whoa!"

Alright before we start this review let me tell you that I have been looking forward to Rainbow Six 3 for awhile now (ever since the first trailers for the PC version). It came out and was instantly a hit, getting great reviews everywhere, so I knew I just had to have it. I ended up buying it about 3 days after release and here are my thoughts....

Note: This review is based strictly on OFFLINE play, without a headset.

STORY/ PLOT - 8/10

The story in this game is about a bunch of terrorists in places like Switzerland and Venezuela. You are Rainbow Six, an elite team that is out to stop all terror and save hostages. It is the typical Tom Clancy type story, nothing really that special about it. But, my question to you is: Who is going to buy this kind of game based on its story? I mean come on, these games are all about the gameplay and presentation.

GRAPHICS/ AUDIO - 9.5/10

The environment and lighting in this game look so very real you will lose yourself in the game from the start. The environments have plenty of detail and variety, and no jaggies what-so-ever. When standing in light you can see your shadow and everything. The only thing to make me give this a 9.5 is that the character models are sort of blocky, not bad though, and the gun holes in walls and such don't look that great. Those are very small gripes though. Great graphics and Great lighting effects overall. The audio though is really what gives the game a more realistic feel. The gun shots and explosions, along with the shattering glass sound so genuine that you'll actually think you are in the game. Not to mention the voice acting is quite good.

CONTROLS - 10/10

One thing that I was worried about was the controls. I mean there are so many actions and stuff to do, I didn't know how well the Xbox controller would be compatible. Well I should have never worried because the controls are dead on. You will get used to all the buttons so quick and they are all really simple and easy to begin with. Left trigger is switch between Primary and Secondary weapons, Right trigger is shoot current weapon (or throw, if it is a grenade), Y button is night vision, B button is thermal vision, and X is reload if you just tap it, and if you hold it down you can go to weapon select. The A button is the action button. It lets you open doors, disarm bombs, etc. Well say you want your team to open a door and throw a flashbang grenade in before you proceed, well all you have to do is stand a distance from the door until there are brackets around the open door picture and hold down A, a list of commands will come up and you simply use the directional pad to select what you want them to do. There is also the Zulu actions where you and the team can enter a room at the same time from different positions. Overall, the controls are really easy to use and very responsive.

GAMEPLAY - 10/10

Alright, this is the best part of the game! The gameplay in this game can sort of be compared to a mix of Splinter Cell and Halo. It is also like the Ghost Recon games, except most of the levels take place indoors and in small quarters. Also, your team members actually listen to you in Rainbow Six, unlike Ghost Recon. Well anyways, the game starts off with a briefing and then you get to pick your weapons for the mission (not your team mates weapons). There are 4 slots, one for Primary weapon, one for Secondary weapon, and two for little items such as frag, smoke, tear gas, and flashbang grenades, along with a gas mask and claymores and stuff like that. Pick your weapons and then go into the mission, there is no pre-planning stage for Xbox version. Even without the planning stage the game still feels very realistic and strategy-based. You have 4 health bars, so basically you can take 4 shots or less, depending on the gun the enemy is using. Enemies can be laid flat in an average of 2-3 shots since your guns are usually alot stronger than theirs and you are wearing body armor. If you die then game over, if one of your team mates die, then you can keep going but the mission will seem alot harder. The frame rate in this is not very fast, though it doesn't need to be. You can walk straight up, or you can crouch and walk. You can also lean around corners and shoot through some doors. The objectives are mainly, 'rescue these hostages', 'disarm these bombs', 'kill these terrorists', etc. Just the usual stuff, but it is done so nicely and the levels have so much variety that this NEVER gets boring....Trust me. There are 14 single player missions and I am currently on mission 5. Levels are sort of short, but last a rather long time since you will most likely die a couple times during the mission. You can save a total of 3 times each mission and when you die you can load from one of the 3 saves. When you cut off your Xbox, though, the saves will be lost. I played some levels at least 10+ times because I like to beat the level without using saves and doing everything perfect. There is also 2 modes to replay missions if you want. They are: Practice Mission, where you just basically play the mission again, and Terrorist Hunt, where you go around and your only objective is to kill all the terrorists. Playing a level more than once hasn't got boring yet and I don't really see it going that way. Its just too much fun!

DIFFICULTY - 10/10

This game is hard, even on Recruit. It forces you to think strategically and be a good shot. I haven't played on Veteran or Elite yet, but jeez, I bet its really hard. The game is hard, but not to a point where you just wanna break your controller like Splinter Cell.

OVERALL - 10/10

Overall this game is near perfect. It is my favorite FPS ever made, and I've played alot of FPS's. It is also coming close to favorite game of all time, taking the place of KOTOR and Shemnue 2. Give this game one chance and you'll be blown away, its simply amazing. If it comes down to RENT or BUY, then I'd definitely say BUY!!! There is too much to do to beat in a rental, plus you'll wanna play this over and over and over again. Buy this game on Zulu....GO, GO, GO!!!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/04/03