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The New Generation of Rainbow Six!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 28 / 37
Date: December 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Raven Shield is going to be the next best one-person shooter game when it comes out and this review will show you why!

FEATURES:

-57 guns from the old Rainbow Six games and a lot of new ones like the heavy machine gun RPD. There are 12 pistols, 14 sub-machine guns, 3 shotguns, 16 assault rifles, 5 sniper rifles, and 5 heavy machine guns. You can customize any of these guns by adding a mini scope or silence suppressor to it. Also the sounds of the guns are more varied so unlike in other Rainbow Six games where all the guns had around the same sound you almost will never hear that in Raven Shield.

-Amazing all new Next Generation Unreal Graphics give the game a Ghost Recon look but with Rainbow Six levels and gameplay. These graphics will be unmatched by any other game when it comes out. The Uniforms are unbelievably detailed with pistol holsters, frags hanging off belts, and the microphones positioned in front of the mouth.

-New camera view which is like Counterstrike and Medal of Honor where you can see the gun and not just the crosshairs. The only disadvantage of this new view is that the gun obstructs the view of some of the screen especially with all of the add-ons. The Red Storm designers are considering multiple views so the one you see in the Demo is not final.

-There are 15 single player maps and 6 multiplayer maps. If you have played any other Rainbow Six games this is usually the set number of maps for them. The single player maps are supposed to be much harder then any other Rainbow Six game because the AI's have actually become a challenge. Unlike the other Rainbow Six games where you could be standing right behind an AI for an hour and he wouldn't notice you.

GAME OVERVIEW:

-To make Raven Shield have a Ghost Recon feel Red Storm Designers let you assume all three positions in Raven Shield. Standing, Kneeling, and lying down . In the lying down position when using certain sniper and heavy machine guns you will even set up a tripod. When you switch from your primary you will actually put it in a pocket on your back and when you switch from a pistol you put it in a holster.

-A huge jump from other Rainbow Six games to Raven Shield is that there is now no more F1 view. This makes the game a lot more realistic and challenging then having a cheap view where you can peek around corners without exposing yourself.

-To all those Frag lovers out there, frag grenades in Raven Shield seem to have no power compared to other Rainbow Six games. You can throw a grenade into a small room with an enemy in it and easily still not kill him. But don't get me wrong, Frags still get the job done. Flashbangs on the other hand have dramatically improved. A flashbang easily covers the whole room and when it blows up your screen freezes and slowly in a 30 second period goes back to normal. The little bar that shows how far you are throwing your grenade or flashbang is gone so it makes throwing frags and flashbangs a little harder.

-The heart beat sensors have also improved greatly. You usually don't have a map somewhere on your screen where the enemy players show up like in other Rainbow six games. So now when you pull up the heart beat sensors they go up to your eyes and you look threw a whitish screen with crosshairs. When an enemy is near a white circle comes up on the screen and a beeping noise occurs. The faster the beeping noise, the closer your opponent is to you. Heat Seeking has also been added to the game and can be used by snipers with certain equipment. Nightvision is also a lot more realistic in Raven Shield then other Rainbow Six games. Unfortunately this makes it not as good as it used to be and almost totally unnecessary to use.

STRATEGIES:

-Take full advantage of the new Heart Beat sensor and small automatic sidearms. In my opinion the most effective all around gun is the MPA4 with a scope add on. Try to avoid using silenced suppressors because it may aggravate you how many times you have to shoot your enemy to decease him.

-The heavy machine guns may seem like a planted camper weapon but let me tell you. If you are assaulting in a small highway and encounter an enemy at close range. The extremely inaccurate 100 rounds will easily find its target and desolate your enemy. Not to mention the surrounding environment.

CONCLUSION:

-Raven Shield is a whole new type of one-person shooter game starting with the incredible graphics to the awesome selection of weapons. I am bad with the W=forward and S=backward controls but with a few days of practice you may find yourself on the top 100 list. Raven Shield in stores February 2002 no true Rainbow Six fan can miss this....

R63 RAVEN SHIELD: It's every bit as good as you dared hope

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 14
Date: March 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This review is based not on the demo but on the retail version of the game, bought yesterday (the day of release, March 18th). I should also mention that I do not play MP so I cannot judge the product from that perspective.

The game is stunning. The development team has risen to the challenge of evolving a classic and the result is breathtaking. Here are the highlights:

The graphical and sound environments are superbly rendered with terrific attention to detail; the result is a truly immersive atmosphere, the indoor equivalent of GHOST RECON. The weapons sound great and real creativity has been applied to the voices and ambient sounds. Highlights visually include superb weapon effects, character models/animation, uniform details, lighting effects and level design.

All of this would be useless without great gameplay, however, and here RS3 really shines, exceeding the high standards set by the earlier versions. Hostile and friendly AI have been revolutionized; bad guys react with some initiative now, they can conduct flanking actions, and they are very responsive to sound, forcing the player to plan routes and choose weapons with care. In the past your teammates were at best spare lives for the player, at worst a liability; no longer. Friendly AI is now good enough to be relied on to enter and clear a room ahead of the player, a huge step forward, and the beautifully thought-through and executed contextual orders menu allows the player to capitalise on these enhanced team AI capabilities. The contribution this makes to gameplay is enormous, as it means you can plan missions which exploit your team's skills rather than compensate for its weaknesses. Only in SWAT 3 has there been such a high standard of user interface combined with superb friendly AI. Other innovations include the ability to open doors and windows gradually and to fine-tune coordination between teams with an on-the-fly go-code called a zulu code. The decision to allow tangoes to surrender is a brilliantly implemented SWAT-type reflex challenge to the player and contributes greatly to tension and realism.

Massively enhanced AI and playability are further refined by greater realism in weapon effects/performance and innovations like thermal sights for the sniper rifles and a very convincing heartbeat sensor. Intelligent improvements have also been made to stance and movement options, which now include a progressive lean/peek feature and the ability to go prone (if there is room).

The only reason I am not giving this 5 stars is that I have not yet played through the entire campaign. Like its predecessors and the GHOST RECON series, however, a game as accomplished as this can only be the result of real talent, commitment and inspiration on the part of the development team. We are fortunate to be able to benefit and the game is worth every penny. It's a classic.

not as good as Rogue Spear/GR

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 13 / 17
Date: March 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Ok, I've been a VERY addicted player of all the RS games + Ghost Recon. These are almost the only games I have played for years, and I have played them constantly. Since this is the sequel to Rogue Spear, here's a quick comparison. They basically rewrote everything, and left out features that were in Rogue Spear. The result is better graphics, but more of an arcade-style action game. Using strategy (creating plans) is not useful, because even on the easiest level your computer-controlled teammates...get shot constantly. They sometimes turn and stare at a wall or cleared area instead of where the threat is. After playing the first several maps, I've noticed a boring consistency-there are no interesting scripted actions carried out by enemies. Their AI stinks (although they will 'nade you pretty effectively). I'm still amazed that they'll run out bravely into the line of fire, walking over a huge pile of corpses only to join the pile shortly. The AI stinks equally for both "good guys" & "bad guys." I've read that some of the maps are used for more than one mission...You still can't really customize your weapons. You can only use one weapon accessory, as opposed to the REAL SOPMOD M4 which Spec Ops can configure however they wish. Ie. You can't put both a scope and C-MAG on an M4. No flashlights either. No option to use Aimpoints, Reflex scopes, or ACOG 4x scopes. You can't use both high-cap mags and a silencer on pistols (or rifles for that matter). There is still MUCH lacking in the way of realism.. IMHO its gotten worse since Rogue Spear. You can't shoot through chairs and other paper-thin objects. ALL doors make noise when you open them (easily heard by nearby people). Shooting a person in the foot 2 or 3 times will kill them. Computer-controlled snipers (teammates)-evidently don't believe in the "one shot one kill" creed. Characters can run around for hours with a machine gun held at ready position without ever getting tired. In summary, the game seems more geared towards arcade-style "spray and pray" gameplay and MP games (because the AI doesn't matter when all the players are human). It really annoys me that the game industry does this...they always dive for the better graphics/animation and rewrite stuff instead of IMPROVING existing code. There are very very few new features in RS3 that I've noticed, and I'm disappointed. I would have been much happier if they had reused the pre-gameplay (briefing, planning, etc) stuff from Rogue Spear, and ONLY focused on adding new features and improving gameplay. I should not have paid...for this. There are plenty of bugs. I would wait for a patch or two to come out, then pay less for the game. Or just play the MP demo, since the game...in SP mode anyway. All that said, the graphics/animation are pretty nice...

Old Fomula Refined

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: April 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

In a nutshell Raven Shield does a lot right in a pretty package but suffers from the same pitfalls of past games. The game sticks to the same winning formula of the past titles. For the most part this is a good thing.

The first thing the player sees in the game is a number of slick looking menus. These have been revised from past games to make them more player friendly. They are all well done with dramatic music and familiar voice over. R6s' famous planning phase is intact and still not as easy to use as it should be. Clicking to place waypoints for your team seems easy enough until you click on an area that you can't put a waypoint at, like overlapping another waypoint. There is no indication that you can't do this, and in game it doesn't matter one way or another, there isn't a good reason why the game won't let you. It can get picky about other things, such as putting waypoints too close to walls or doors. Assigning your team to toss a [explosive item] in to a room can be tricky. You might want them to toss it clear across the room and find out that it's out of range or there is some object blocking LOS that is not obvious on the map. So you have to keep clicking on the map until you find a spot that the game will let you assign a [explosive item] toss waypoint to. You can avoid this pain in the neck if you use a default pre-made plan. There should be nothing that makes your own planning such a hassle however.

Of course the actual meat of the game is the action. Rainbow Six really shines here for giving you a mix of stealth, suspense, loud gun battles, impressive [explosive item] effects, and team tactics. The new first person gun models look great. The vast number of [firearms] all sound distinct and are very impressive. The HUD has been cleaned up and better laid out. Another new feature is adding other equipment to your [firearms], like a scope or a silencer. Your team can now be given dynamic orders outside the plan via an easy to use pop up menu. Watching them breach, flashbang and clear a room is interesting and just plain cool. With Ghost Recon it seems that Rainbow isn't going to be outdoors much. With the Unreal powered engine one would think they could toss in a few missions hunting down [criminal] camps. So most of the time you play a high tech SWAT team rather than a real spec-op unit.

Not all is well. The AI is a hit or a miss, and this is usually a weak point for Red Storm. The enemy AI is very good. It will try to flank you, flush you out with [explosive item], and go for reinforcement or when they know they are out gunned they will surrender. Yet it doesn't do this in any clever manner. A [criminal] might run from a frag [explosive item], and run in to your team and get chopped down. Often they will [destroy] them selves with their own [explosive item]. Other things about how the AI reacts are erratic and break the illusion of competent enemies.
However inconsistent the enemy AI is, your team's AI is worse. A lot worse. From getting stuck on doorways, grenading them selves, getting in your way, to just plain not paying attention and getting killed by a trigger happy bad guy. For some reason they all use full automatic with whatever gun you assign them. It's terrible to see your team fire off rounds and simply not hit anything. Nor can they slowly open doors. They just fling them wide open for all the tangos to see and fill with lead. Much of the game I had to plan my assault based on what my team couldn't do very well rather than what they could. Since they [end life] so easy, and you can't replace them, you might have to reload a dozen times before you get it right.

Still this is done with some good graphics. Character models are made with lots of polygons and great textures. Some of the faces look photo realistic. The environments are richly detailed, even if you are indoor most of the game. Little things like footprints, steam from pipes (or bullet holes in pipes), detailed shadows, reflections in car windows, animated tree limbs and seeing the breath of your teammates on winter maps all paint a realistic feeling world. Oddly it seems that with the newest 3D engine they could have pushed it further. 3rd person [firearms] could use some more polygons, the sky is a simple skybox, nor are shadows as good as in Splinter Cell.

One area that has really been improved is multiplayer. No longer are you bothered to log in to MSN to play. The game comes with an in-game search and browse screen. Setting up filters makes it easy to find the kind of game you want. Of course if MP isn't your bag, there is a nice single player custom mission option too.

Overall this is solid game that features a range of features and great action worth checking out for weeks.

It is going to be great.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 12
Date: January 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

My rating is only a prediction based on magazines and beta versions but I think this game is going to be a hit. It uses the Unreal II engine to provide amazing graphics. You can see the wrinkles in their uniforms. Also the AI is improved significantly. Your teamates don't get their asses blown off anymore. The controls are a little simpler and the planning phase is also less complex. The sounds are very realistic because Red Storm got their hands on all the guns used in this game (except the fictional ones) and fired each one to record their actual sound. If you are into the Rainbow Six Series, or just enjoy blowing the stuffing out of terrorists--This game is a must.

It takes two to

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: January 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Speaking theatrically for a moment, there's an important, and oft confused distinction between the terms 'realistic' and 'naturalistic'. Naturalism seeks to show its audience a slice of sensory reality; that is, something that looks, sounds, even smells like real life. Realism, on the other hand tries to show the real truth about life - not the costumes or lights of the stage, but the relationships, tension and drama of the world.
Raven Shield, the latest in the Rainbow Six series, is a healthy helping of both. As such, it's not really fair to describe this title as a totally 'Realistic' action game. There's no such thing. What you do get is a highly charged and tension wracked experience that features a great many lifelike moments, packed with guns and gadgets and hours of enthralling gameplay.

As part of the elite Special Forces organization 'Rainbow', it's your job to lead a team of highly trained soldiers to thwart the machinations of evil, gun-toting baddies. You get to equip your team, plan your attack, and lead your troops in the 1st Person, much the same as previous titles in the series. There's a lot in common with the game's predecessors - an emphasis on stealth, team tactics and accurate shooting, especially when there are hostages involved. The game world is lovingly created, from the mission planning stage where you kit out your agents, to the huge interactive environments you'll be stalking through. Ubisoft has positively crammed detail into this game, and visually it's by far the most striking of the series. If your video card is up to the job you'll be treated to lush, high-res graphics with plenty of environmental effects, such as swaying trees, billowing smoke, fluffy snowflakes and more. All the weapon models and animations look fabulous, and you can see each weapon and grenade dangling from the belts of your troops as you lead them into action.

Equally the sound is top notch, with bullets that positively sizzle past your head, and convincing speech from your team...nothing beats hearing 'tango's down' crackling over your headset. There's plenty of ambient sound to enjoy as well, and the game rewards players who pay attention to subtleties like footsteps, or doors creaking open.

The game AI is robust and versatile, though its here that many players tend to throw around the word 'realistic' in disparaging tones. Sure, there's room for improvement - your team occasionally gets disoriented when traversing doors or ladders, and the enemy intelligence will sometimes ignore your gunfire, or the death of a nearby colleague. Still, these occasions are infrequent, and on the whole the game puts on a good show, considering it's responsible for up to 7 computer controlled commandos and dozens of terrorists in one level.

Coupled with a robust and enjoyable multiplayer mode, Raven Shield has almost all the bases covered for a tactical shooter. My expectations in the realism department are catered for, and then some, with tons of options and weapons to play with (over 50), all based on their real life counterparts. 'Based on' is a good way to describe how true to life this game is...if you want something more convincing I suggest you uninstall and never again play this game after you first die - hey, no second chances in the wet-works department. For everyone else in search of a thoughtful and highly atmospheric shooter, this latest adventure should sneak its way into your collection; and then flash-bang the pants off it!

Great Game! A MUST for all Tom Clancy or FPS Fans!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game blows all other rainbow six games by FAR. This one has some of the best FPS AI I have encountered. They pin you down, take cover, plan ahead, and many more things. The graphics are downright great. Your gun fires and all of the peices move just like a real gun. any attachment to your gun will appear on-screen with you, which is a nice little graphical feature. The gore is in the right place. There isnt much except blood splatters on the wall when bullets penetrate your target. The levels are well thought out and fun to play in. There are lots of interactive elements such as glass, barrels of explosive stuff and a few other cool things. The team playing and planning on this game is the main focus. You must coordinate all of your teams to work in unison and clear the stage together as many points in the game are guarded by two or more differnt lines of fire. The campaign is fun to play and is a pretty good storyline, not that it really matters. You will be focusing on blowing terrorists away steathily and so precisely that you get the feel of being in the game as a professional anti-terrorist operative. It is really fun to run and whack all of the terrorists with your MP5-SD. Don't think that you can just run and gun in this game though, the terrorist reaction time is quick. The difficulty levels are vastly different. Elite can get your team killed in a hurry, but recruit will allow players to get the feel of the game while still having a challenge. The weapon selection is much larger than in the other rainbow six games too. You get plenty of cool weapons, and most all of them can be silenced which adds a degree of customizability. Smoke grenades and Flashbangs are to be used much more in this game. Terrorists will no longer fire right through smoke. You can use it for cover and use thermalscopes to snipe them. You can use tear gas to make them scatter too, but without a mask you will be affected too. The effects of all of the grenades are graphically impressive too. Your vision becomes blurred and delayed with gas, and an image is burned on your retinas when you see a flash. Your ears will ring like in real life on the game when loud noises are close to you (grenades and explosions only). The only thing i can complain about is that you go to like 2 or 3 stages twice in the same campaign. There is a variation in each however. Like changing from day/night or unlocking new parts of it. This game also has infinite replay value as you can adjust difficulty level and number of operatives. The only thing more rewarding than clearing a stage on elite level is clearing it with only one player. The game engine that it runs on (unreal I think?) is AWESOME. The ragdoll physics are so awesome. You can shoot people and they dont fall down in a pre-animated way, they fall up agaist walls and objects like in real life. Making people fall down stairs and ledges is ultra-rewarding. You should not be distracted too easily with the awesome graphics however, the terrorists aren't brain-dead this time and will kik your booty if you jack around. So buy this game and feel what it is like to be an anti terrorist operative!

P.S. I cannot reveiw the online play because my area has no highspeed internet and its unplayable with dialup. But I hear it is just as fun as rogue spear (which i played like 2 years in a row online every chance i got)

P.P.S You better have a nice computer for the graphics to be good if you buy the computer version.

I give it 10+/10

Awesome Graphics Rainbow Six with a lot of flaws

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: August 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I have been a big Rainbow Six fan games since 1998 when the first game came out.

I was extremely amazed when I see the graphic improvement in Rainbow Six Raven Shield graphics and sounds, but to bear Tom Clancy, I think this game needs a lot of works. The story line is kind of boring and not very exiting.

Red Storm entertainment should have realized that the game has a lot of bugs and try to fix the bugs before they put it on the market.

Well, Rainbow Six Raven Shield has a lot of flaws, the A.I. can shoot you from a distance away with the UZI while his eyes are looking somewhere else. Everybody who has shot a gun knows that you can not aim at a target while your eyes are not on the target. Game becomes extremely hard and very frustrating to play, since the Artificial intelligence cheats!

Another terrible flaw in this game is, the graphic runs very slow. I have a Pentium 4 2.5 with 1 GIGs of RAM and RADEON 9800 and the game still runs very slow. I tried to change the Raven Shield graphic settings and still the game runs awful! I thought it was my computer problem, but I tried to reinstall windows and tried to reinstall the game, but still the game was slow!

In conclusion, Raven Shield is an OK game. Great works on the graphics and sounds, but it has an awful story line and a lot of bugs!

ejeffrie.com

Scary multi-player demo experience

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: December 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This review is based on the multi-player demo, but boy does it look promising...
Ultra-realistic environment, weapons and character movement. The weapons view replaces the reticle view and gives it all a nice edge. You can even see the fingers move and reloading animation is fabulous.
The controls are very intuitive, as icons appear wherever you can use an object or open a door. The sounds give each level a very scary feel and when you hear a grenade rolling your way, it's time to get outta there.
Dowload it, play it! I can't wait to see the single-player game.

good but with some flaws

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: February 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Let me say, this game is really good. My three stars are not a reflection of problems with gameplay, so let me describe the game play first. In R6 3, you again lead a super secret team of commandos through a series of missions, some involving stealth, others firepower and most a combination of the two. As you might expect, the graphics are amazing. The weapon sounds are good also. This time, your HUD includes the barrel of your gun, which some gamers think adds to the experience. You can also issue commands on the fly to your team in case you come across an unexpected situation. The emphasis is on planning and careful execution, not raw firepower.

My problem with this game is its repetitiveness. There are 15 levels, 3 less than Rogue Spear. But at least three of the levels use the same maps as earlier ones! That's right, in this game you have to go back to levels you cleared earlier and fight again. Sure, they have a different reason for each and there are different objectives. But I don't appreciate having to go back and replay a level I beat earlier. I think maybe Ubi Soft was trying to get this game out so they decided to ditch a few levels that were giving the programmers a hard time and just redo a few earlier ones.

If it weren't for that, I'd give it 5 stars easily. It has everything you enjoyed about the earlier R6 games and then some more.

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