By Sean Ewing
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six games have basically created the squad based shooter genre. Since its initial release, squad based shooters have taken off dramatically, becoming arguably the most crowded genre in gaming today. Each reiteration of Rainbow Six, however, has revised, reinvented and re-examined the genre. This version does everything right, and introduces new aspects that you never knew you wanted.
The control is spot on, as it should be. Ubisoft absorbed Red Storm, the creators of the first two games, and their experience in the genre shows. You can switch view types and weapons on the fly and the controller feels perfectly mapped. Once you encounter opposition, things happen very fast in this game and a clunky control would have doomed it. Instead, it feels very natural switching weapons, secondary weapons and view types.
The story doesn’t really break any new ground, nor does it need to. You control Domingo Chavez and his team of international special operatives. Terrorists are up to no good, so you and your crew ride out to sort things out. There is a pretty interesting story, dealing with OPEC and oil reserves. Fans of Clancy will eat it up, but it’s ultimately forgettable and secondary to the action. Fortunately, it never tries to be anything it isn’t, so you are left with great missions and pretty good reasons to go out on them.
The graphics are very impressive, with realistic character models. The environments are very good looking, but the industrial areas are very grey and very nondescript. Fortunately, the developers give you plenty of opportunity to stretch your legs in the jungles of Argentina and plenty of other lush locales. The cherry on top is the inclusion of the rag doll physics. This is a complex physics engine that can be boiled down to its lowest denominator: You target a terrorist on top of the stairs-naturally, you pop him one, and he will fall realistically down the stairs; meaning it’s entirely possible that his head will get caught in the banister and his body will jerk to a sudden stop.
The Heads Up Display (HUD) has been completely revamped, as well as the mission setup menu. No longer do you have to tediously assign multiple waypoints and go-codes for your teams. You lead one team, and you assign go-codes and way points on the fly. This handles great and really serves to speed up the action. The tutorial does a fantastic job of introducing the new concepts and getting you comfortable with them.
The multiplayer is what people will probably remember most about the game. It is deep and customizable, easy to play, and plenty of maps and online support for it. Playing on Xbox Live feels great, and there’s not a shortage of players online. Using the headset is fantastic, as you can issue commands to your online teammates. As an added treat, in single player mode, you can order your team various commands and hear as they respond individually in your earpiece. Moments like that are akin to a game telling you “I love you” and bringing home flowers just because.
Some people could fault the game for dumbing down the tactical portion, and those claims are certainly not baseless. However, after spending a lot of time with the new engine, it’s hard not to like it, and issuing go-codes on the move and adapting your plan to new situations is just fun, and captures the “special forces” feel that they are going for.
The pace of the game is well balanced and very tense. As you lead your team through the areas, you don’t know exactly where a terrorist will appear, and you can die very easily in this game. If a terrorist gets a clear shot at you with an automatic weapon, it’s almost always over. The team AI does a pretty good job of shooting and watching your back, but as point man, it’s up to you to take it slowly, peek around corners, and just generally assess the situation.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3 once again turns the squad based shooter on its ear, and the genre becomes much more exciting and user friendly as a result. If you are a long time Rainbow Six fan, then it’s a no-brainer. If you are an action gamer who likes to flex some brainpower, along with a trigger finger, you’ll find a lot to love in Rainbow Six 3.
Final Grade: B+