Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six

"Better than I expected, but still no good."

Review:

Rainbow Six is probably one of the more successful FPS franchises out there. Following the road that Counter-Strike pioneered, Rainbow Six on the PC brought us a brand new look on video games and the entire FPS genre as we know it. Apparently, Red Storm Entertainment, through some obviously not so serious group meetings, decided to rake in more dough by milking the franchise to the bone. And that is exactly what this game looks like they did, force out the succulent juice out of the proverbial teat.

On the PC, Rainbow Six and Red Storm managed to create an atmosphere that was beyond anything we had experienced before. Instead of just creating an aura of tension about the player through sheer action -- which is what FPS's have been doing since their creation -- it created a sense of electricity through a lack of action. It introduced both suspense and strategy to First-Person Shooters and introduced a brand new demographic of gamers to the FPS. The game worked on so many levels not just because it was a breath of fresh air amongst a sea of stale, generic FPS titles, but it was also a First-Person Shooter.

On the Gameboy Color, however, the effects of the Rainbow Six series has hardly left its mark. Opting for the isometric view, the game actually works fairly spectacularly and the basic structure of the game is surprisingly sound. However, I can't help but point out that the title was doomed from its conception. Handheld consoles are meant for gamers on the go, this means titles that are quick and frantic, or RPGs with numerous save points and fairly simplistic puzzles. With Rainbow Six, they remained very true to its PC cousin and included every major aspect you can imagine: deciding your group roster, their uniforms and weapons, and even planning out individual team mission routes remains almost purely intact and is something to be applauded for. However, I once again stress that this type of meticulous caretaking and strategic planning isn't the game for most handheld gamers.

You begin the game at the title screen, which is composed of a "New", "Resume", and "Options" menu. Starting a new game brings you to a name screen where you write your name in. From there we get to the meat-and-bones of the title, the game brings you to a Briefings menu where you can select your roster, team distribution, and mission planning; the one part of the game that impressed me the most. However, the general user-interface is rather confusing. Instead of going for a simple "Next"/"Previous" button layout, you instead must decipher where you are in the menu and what buttons to press. If you don't understand, trying the game out will give you the whole picture. Needless to say, an attractive and efficient UI is something that every game needs; such a poorly designed one as that which I found in this title is something that would turn off any ordinary gamer.

Finally, after 15-minutes of careful planning you get to the game. Right-off-the-bat I noticed a dire error, the controls aren't very responsive. However, I forgave Red Storm this time and continued on with the gaming. It was only a few more seconds into the game when I noticed some rather erratic behavior from my AI teammates. The AI is fairly weak in Rainbow Six and is painfully obvious as you see terrorists and allies alike smashing into walls and getting stuck between stairs. This is something that could have used some serious fixing.

At last, I found myself unable to get any satisfaction out of the game. Though I have to admit that it has some novelty attraction to it, once you actually get going it's rather difficult NOT to turn the Gameboy off. I loved the isometric, top-down view and the fact that its Planning Screen was very true to the original. However, the terrible UI (you can't even cancel out of a menu once you get in!) and slow, SLOW controls killed what could've been something great.

Final Score: 5/10 (F)

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 05/30/04