Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 - Review

Added January 12th, 2004 by Tyler

Introduction:

As the long wait for Halo 2 still has us tearing our hair out by the roots, there are a lot of great games to fill the void until then. One such title that came out just in time for Christmas is Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3, the best game as of yet in the franchise. Believe me when I say, that in my opinion, that this is not only the best Rainbow Six game, but the best game in the Tom Clancy franchise. What makes this FPS so much better than the rest of the bunch? Keep reading...

Gameplay:

Unlike the previous games, you must take the role of Ding Chavez, the leader of an elite squad of counter terrorists sent to save the world, unnoticed and unforgiving. As it seems, it’s the year 2007, and the U.S. is smack dab in the middle of a crazy oil crisis. Venezuela, the U.S. current and only oil supplier, also becomes a target, along with the U.S. and all American interests. So who do they call in? Team Rainbow. These guys aren’t you're average ghost busters. They're a top-secret squad, made up of the best of the best in each of their fields. They may be our last hope. You'll lead your squad in over 14 missions, each completely different from the other. In one mission, you may have to take out a group of terrorists, while in another you’re doing your best save a bunch of hostages. Luckily, this is all drawn together with awesome teamwork from your squad. Ordering your squad is very simple, and has never been better thanks to Voice Recognition. You can talk to your squad, via the Xbox Communicator and they will do as you say. Shout “Open and Clear ", and they bust open a door, and clear the room of all terrorist threat, leaving you time to decide your next move. And you never really have to keep track of your squad, thanks to the excellent A.I. that has been given to them. They'll crouch behind tables, looking out and around, giving you backup and cover when it is needed. And believe me, it's needed. This chapter of the Rainbow Six saga is extremely tense and jam packed full of action. The fire fights in this game are legendary, and the story is top notch. Luckily, taking out enemies has never been better, seeing as how the equipment you've got to choose from is easily up to par. There are at least 20 different primary weapons, all based around real life guns, (as with all Rainbow games), along with over 20 secondary weapons. Not only that, but there are a ton of grenades, mines, and even smoke masks to equip your squad with, making them a very lethal bunch of boys. Don’t get me wrong however; this is your grandma's kind of game. This game takes skill, patience, and smarts.

Graphics:

The Rainbow Six series hasn’t been known for outstanding graphics in the past, but this game steps out to change that. The guns in this game are gorgeous, along with the environments. If you walk into a hanging chain, it will sway back and forth, this being very handy in telling where you enemies are during multiplayer action. The character models in this game are OK, with some being fairly decent, while others not looking all that hot, but they get the job done. All characters however, move around with great realism. One thing I found especially cool about this game were the physics. Shoot an enemy standing at the top of the stairs, and he’ll roll down each and every stair, only to land flopped up against the wall below. I was shot someone, and they ended up falling back, and sitting on a chair, and I find this totally awesome.

Audio:

The sound is this game is also up to par. So much so, that once I used a .50 caliber rifle online, which the server was against, and my whole team had a "chat" with me about, all because they could tell I was using this gun by the way it sounded when I shot it. Through out the game, you'll hear shouts from your team mates, locating enemies, or letting you know where they are, and where they are going. This plays a crucial part in your team work. The music also sets the mood for squad based enjoyment. Equipped with Dolby Surround sound, this game can and will blow your mind in the sound department. The only thing it's missing is custom soundtracks, but I don’t really see how that could be meshed into this game.

Controls:

The controls in Rainbow Six 3 are right on. Ordering your team around has never been easier, even without the headset. A simple point and click orders your team to move to wherever you need them to be. A click of the black or white button and you've got a book of orders to give your team, such as zulu or cover, which makes giving your team orders in the heat of action easy as pie. Even easier, is using your headset. Yell out one of many pre-programmed commands, and your team will go at, making it the easiest possible way to get the job done. This is always as easy as it seems however. Because the game recognizes the pre-programmed commands, you sometimes have to talk to your TV like you would a 3 year old, with loud, slow, clear words. You can’t always just go “Open n’ Clear”, because it might not recognize it. Don’t get me wrong, 75% of the time it hears you just fine, but the other 25% you're stuck going “O-P-E-N A-N-D C-L-E-A-R, which can get annoying. Most of the time you’ll find it awesome though. The commands that you can use are as follows:

“Move”
“Open And Clear”
“Close”
“Climb”
“Secure Hostage”
“Escort Hostage”
“Secure Terrorist”
“Demo Up”

All of which are pretty self explanatory. I think it’s good to have options on how you command your squad. Not only that, but the Xbox controller is set-up perfectly for this game, almost like it was made in Rainbow Six in mind. There are many different control set-ups, but the default is as follows:

Left Thumbstick - Move/Strafe Click – Change Stance
Right Thumbstick – Look Up/Down Click - Zoom
Left Trigger – Quick Weapon Switch
Right Trigger – Fire- Use Weapon
A- Action (Hold-Order Menu)
B- Thermal Vision
X- Reload (Hold-Weapon Menu)
Y- Night Vision
Start – Pause
Back - Map
Black – Team Hold
White- Zulu
D-pad – Peak Left/Right

Replay:

But all of this, the game play, the teamwork, everything, is nothing but preparation for the war that is still to come. The war that you'll be fighting over Xbox Live. You and up to 15 others can test your skills, by battling each other in modes such as survival and team survival, or team up and take on the campaign missions as a team. Both of these are endlessly fun, making the current raining champ of the Xbox Live Community. You get extremely immersed in this Live battle, talking to your teammates, setting up pre game strategies, and then talking trash to your opponents after the game is over. This game is your Xbox Live partner, and will be for awhile.

Summary:

It's obvious that the game that we all want is Halo 2, but sorry guys; we're in for a wait. This game deserves a spot in your library, and will keep you coming back for the Live play. Not only that, but this game should just keep getting better thanks to the content download that's on the way. Like every game, there may be a few flaws, such as a few laggy spots online, and sometimes not being able to tell where enemy fire is coming from, but nothing that can manage to take anything away from this wonder. This game is your medicine for the sick wait Bungie has infected us with.