User Reviews (1 - 11 of 16)

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Thriller

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 16
Date: November 24, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I got this game and was amazed, I had never seen any game like this. It was just what I was longing for in a computer game. It kept me on the edge of my seat for hours. I love it because you can plan what your teams do in third person, then play it in first person. When playing many computer games I find it hard to memorise all the keys and their functions, but this is not the case with Rainbow Six. A definate must buy.

#1 Game for Shooters

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: July 03, 2000
Author: Amazon User

A wonderfully exciting game on the tail of a equally exciting book.

I promise that Rainbow Six is the most realistic shooter game you will have ever played. (It parallels the book.) When preparing for a mission, you can put as much or as little effort into the battle plan as you want. You can spend an hour pondering blueprints and tactics, or you can just pick out your weapons and storm the terrorist site. Enemy soldiers react with reasonable AI, if they see you they WILL try and kill you. And sometimes the bad guys can be just as sneaky as you. And be careful about getting hit. If you take a shot in the arm, you'll live, but you have a heck of a time shooting. But one sniper shot to the head, and you are out of the game... for good. There are so many chaotic variables that can modify a characters performance: fatigue, wounds, heavy armor, bad shot, bad luck. It is not a game you can play through blindly. Not only do you need to be up to the challenge, you need to be fast, smart, and sometimes patient.

I must also suggest purchasing the Gold, since it comes with the Eagle Watch pack. This contains new characters from the book, new weapons, and five real world locations.

Excellent gameplay, good plot, stunning graphics

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: May 06, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game is great for the gamer, whether they like strategy or action it's got both. It's no kind of shoot-em-up game but rather a game that relies upon the players quick wit, planning techniques, and response under pressure. This game is fully playable with training missions and 16 playable levels. Eagle Watch (the expansion pack) comes with five extra levels including two extremely good training missions, (they help alot). It's got an extremely playable multiplayer game which is completely shoot-em-up, although you can play co-op on levels. If you pick up Rainbow Six pick up this Gold Version because it comes with both the R6 missions and the Eagle Watch missions.

RAINBOW SIX GOLD EDITON IS GOLD!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: December 09, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I have played this game and have been blown away. Not only does it have superb graphics but it gives you the feel of a real special operations expert out on the field. There is no music but the constant drip of water or fire of guns from far away builds the supense. You'll here the chatter of automatics and quickly look at your team members life meters to see who won. You could either get the assuring sound of "Tango down!" or the feel of falling of your view when you reach the area where your dead partners were supposed to clear. This game is very realistic and I reccomend it to all gamers

Realistic gameplay with an easy-to-use interface

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 12
Date: November 12, 1999
Author: Amazon User

Rainbow Six combines realistic gameplay with easy-to-use commands and interfaces to produce excellent results. You can choose several different options to make gameplay more or less realistic. The AI of the non-player characters (NPC's) is not always great; but for the level of detail involved, the AI is adequate most of the time. However, for intricate operations (i.e. clearing a room or tracking down a moving terrorist or "tango") choosing to play the character yourself is the best option. The Eagle Watch mission pack includes a "full watch" mode which is helpful in allowing you to refine your mission planing skills. Both the original version and the mission pack allow for either first or third-person views during gameplay. In addition to all of this, the graphics are exceptional even on a 12" LCD laptop screen! Overall, if you're looking for a realistic RPG that doesn't require knowledge of a three hundred page manual to play, this is it.

Don't overlook this one

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 22, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I recently bought this game and I am thoroughly impressed- to say the least. This one is much better than the N64 Version- better graphics, better explosions, more conversation, better sound effects, more realistic gameplay, better AI, and is much more user-friendly. I bought this based on other people's reviews, and they were right- this game rocks! You start out with the extensive training mode. Firing ranges, grenade and flashbang practice, door breaching, room clearing, and, most importantly, hostage rescue. You then begin a campaign, hand pick your team, weapons, gadgets, etc. then - the part that most amazed me - the planning phase. You assaign each of your men to teams, then give each team waypoints and certain commands to carry out. When you begin the mission, the computer plays for the members of the other teams and carries out their orders- EXACTLY AS YOU PLANNED! This game draws you in so much that you feel like you're actually there. And once a certain team member dies, he doesnt come back. Not just an endless supply of lives like Duke Nukem - you only get one. I must warn you though, this game takes up LOTS of disk space, and you need a really fast computer to run it. This is probably the best price you will see for the game anywhere, so grab it while you have the chance. "Are you ready to save the world?"

The best game out there

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: February 29, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Rainbow Six is the most compelling, aweing game I have ever played in my life. The graphics are out of this world, and it is realalistic. You must choose your weapons and supplies. There is a very good balance between stealth missions and "go-get-em" missions. You only get 2 or three shots before you are killed. You have a special team of operatives all with different attubites. Not like those Quake shoot-em up games. This is a must buy for everyone. Tom Clancy and Red Storm are ingenious.

Just simply Awsome!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: January 23, 2000
Author: Amazon User

These two Rainbow Six games are simply awsome. Everything about these two games are simply awsome. In total there are 22 totally realistic missions where you have to go in and get the objectives done, if that's plant a camera or a bug somewhere, or to rescue a few hostages, or to just go in and kill all terroists. It took me about two weeks to get all missions done, and if you get into trouble, look in the strategy guide for tips. Not to mention that this gold pack is a great deal, two games and a strategy guide for 25 bucks.

"Realism" does not always equal "Fun".

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: July 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I've heard about this game Rainbow Six for years. I've always been curious about it but I haven't played it till recently. I must be missing something because for some reason I did not enjoy this game very much.

One thing I've always heard about Tom Clancy games from players is "they are so realistic". The realism is Rainbow Six is partly what drags the game down. Everything is caught up in trying to be as real as possible that for me at least, it sucked the fun right out of the game. The premise of the game is that you are leading an anti-terrorist group called "Rainbow" made up of the top special forces operatives in the world. But from the outset the game is bogged down in tedious details. Mission planning is unncessarily over complicated. I spent maybe an hour planning a mission that my team was wiped on in under 3 minutes. It seems that three quarters of the game is spent in the planning stage. Selecting team members, equipment, weapons, mapping a mission plan all seem more important that actually performing the mission. This led me to bouts of "Oh come on!! I just want to play the game!!!". The online play doesn't fair much better either I'm sorry to say. The average online game is about 30 seconds in length and I was frequently shot in the back after the first 5 seconds. After which I was relegated to watching the other online players. Also the problem of veteran players racking up stats for some game "leagues" by preying on lesser skilled players is rampant. Unfortunatley there's not much that can be done about that.

The controls fair no better. The control scheme is complex to the point of frustration. Other teams just stand there waiting for you to give them "GO Codes". But they are more like ducks in a shooting gallery. Being picked off one by one till you are the only player left. There is an option to remap the keyboard controls but that unfortunatly doesn't make things any easier.

The graphics look a bit dated but the game ran very smoothley on my computer.

Rainbow Six is a game that has a really good idea but falls horribley short in its execution. It's needlessly complex and overly tedious. If you are a Playstation 2 owner I'd recomend SOCOM: US Navy Seals over Rainbow Six. For PC I would recomend Operation Flashpoint. Both are alot more playable and more enjoyable.

Wobbly

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: July 07, 2000
Author: Amazon User

'Rainbow Six' is oddly unbalanced, though fascinating. A realistic simulation of small-scale anti-terrorist tactics, it's excellent in theory if often bizarre in execution. For a start, you don't just dive into a mission and fight, you have to plan it first. This is the first problem - without knowing how the environment will be, it's very hard to work out an effective plan. Although the map you use to plot the path of your team can be toggled into a semi-3D view, it's slow and cumbersome, and working out which lines are walls, which are fatal glass windows, and which areas are overlooked by balconies, is impossible. Therefore, you have to treat the first couple of attempts on a mission as if they are a practice run. Worst of all is the fact that, once you have set the plan, it's set in stone - apart from a generic 'halt' command, you have no way of altering it whilst in the action phase. Therefore, you play the mission until you complete it, and then go back and work out the most effective plan. The fundamental flaw, though, is that you can create the perfect plan, and still lose to random chance and / or AI stupidity. The action phase is fascinating. Unlike 'Quake' and its ilk, bullets here are immediately lethal. The bad guys tend to be extremely, infeasibly accurate, even when firing on full auto, so the game is enormously tense, as you peek around corners trying to spot a villain lurking in the shadows. The visuals are stark and angular, but seem to fit the precise, analytical mood of the game quite well, and the sounds are fab. On the other hand, it's extremely hard, often unfairly. Neither your soldiers or the enemy appear to be particularly smart. Order your men to use grenades, for example, and they will inevitably blow themselves up, after which the enemy will mill around for a while before getting bored and standing still, as if random grenade explosions were just one of those things. It's best to be the 'point man' and use your associates to cover you than to send them against the enemy. The wide choice of weaponry boils down to a single silenced machine-gun and a portable radar device, and once you have played the missions once, you'll probably want to do them solo the next time. The emphasis on hostage rescue is often frustrating, too - after playing the mission, a single slip-up at the end results in the hostages being shot, and you have to do it all over again.

The game works best during the excellent 'stealth' missions, in which, 'Mission Impossible'-style, you have to infiltrate an enemy stronghold without being seen. It becomes a completely different game, in fact - a bit like 'Thief', but with technology.

It's interesting to compare it with the two other high-profile 'soldier sims', 'Delta Force' and 'Hidden and Dangerous', too - the former is more cartoony, with most missions being solo sniper-fests, whilst the latter gets the planning right, whilst being full of bugs.

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