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Rainbow Six 3 Xbox : But where's the Strategy?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 43 / 51
Date: November 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The original PC version of Rainbow Six 3 was "muy excelente". It featured much freedom throughout the game: it allowed you to plan out your course of action throughout the missions, your operatives, their weapons, and even down to their uniforms. You had the freedom to utilize up to four squads together comprising 8 or less operatives. Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield was clearly the king of all Rainbow Six games. Sadly, these freedoms have not been implemented in Rainbow Six 3 for the Xbox.

It is alarming how the Xbox version could be so different from the PC version. UbiSoft calls it "redefined console oriented gameplay, with a new interface, new circumstantial actions, and clearer icons, to lead Rainbow to success", but it is really more like a stripped down version of the PC version. When the original Rainbow Six came out in 1998, the whole idea, the selling-point of the game was the planning-out of the mission and the one-shot, one-kill process. No longer are these true in the Xbox version. Now, you can only control Ding Chavez, and lead your squad of 4 operatives including Eddie Price, Dieter Weber, Louis Loiselle, and yourself. What about the planning and the one-shot, one-kill policy? Those were thrown out too. Now it is more of a run-and-gun game more along the lines of Half-Life and Unreal. I found that you could take up to 15 bullets before you die. And when Ding Chavez dies, the mission is failed, but if any of the operatives get "incapacitated", they pop right back up for the next mission (assuming you accomplish the previous one without them). In the PC version, if your operatives die, they are gone for the rest of the game, and for injuries, your operatives take about 2 missions or so to recover. Talk about missing realism for the Xbox.

Now, seeing how you are stuck with the same 4 operatives, the least UbiSoft could do was give each of the guys distinct personalities, but that was not the case. You get 4 boring guys that are basically the same except Louis has an annoying French accent.

But, throughout all these caveats about Rainbow Six 3 for Xbox, there are many good things. For example, the lucious graphics based on Splinter Cell. The excellent lighting schemes (shadows, heat-vision, etc.), and fantastic details such as fluttering curtains and volumetric fog have been implemented in this game. Also, the inclusion of voice-recogniion technology for squad commanding is an excelent bonus, which really pulls you into the game. The sound is also excellent like the PC version: the super 5.1 positional sound, and even realistic static as you "talk" to your operatives. The inclusion of Xbox Live is also cool. The multiplayer is excellent and loads of fun. The problem is, is that there is no split-screen gameplay, so forget about inviting your friends over for a tango-killing fest.

The gameplay itself deserves a 2 out of 5. The entire selling-point of the R6 series is gone, and what's left is a run-and-gun mess unlike the other games in the Tom Clancy series.
But, with the inclusion of awesome graphics, sound, voice-recognition technology, and excellent Xbox Live gameplay (but no split-screen for Live-deprived people), it deserves a 4 out of 5. But beware, if none of the above-mentioned things in the previous sentence appeal to you, then I suggest you stick with Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield for the PC. It is more expansive, and includes the heart of the Tom Clancy series itself : tactical strategic gameplay.

Very good game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 20
Date: November 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If you are familiar with Ghost Recon, this is just like it except indoors.

The graphics and animation for the game is great. When a character talk, you can see his mouth move. The environment looks great, and the music and sound effects complement it well.

Gameplay is divided into two parts. Offline and Online. I haven't spent much time with the offline game, but here's what I know so far. You can use the headset to issue voice commands to the other characters. While the commands are not in the manual(and for good reason), you can find them on the net. There are a lot of voice commands to keep you and your team busy without going through all sorts of menus. The game doesn't really have a story, just a number of different missions that have nothing to do with the other mission. Afterall, its more like the real thing. There are three difficulty levels, "recruit", "veteran" and "elite". All quite challenging.

Now this is where I spend most of my time, ONLINE. While I'm not sure how many maps are there, there's definately more than ten, and there's a map waiting for you to download when you log into XBL. There are quite a number of game types to choose from, including: sharpshooter, survival, team survival, mission, terrorist hunt, etc. There are quite a number of weapons to choose from, and you can quickly switch to your secondary weapon in the heat of battle. Such weapons include automatics, semi-automatic, handguns, pistols, grenades(various), and the hady gas mask. A wrong move can leave you watching the rest of the match from the lobby. You can carry a total of four weapons/items during each game, and can change them while in the lobby. If you want to go on a frag hunt, or do it as a team, or even play though the offline mission with other people, then do it. Yup, you can play coop with up to 4 players. Pretty intense I must say. Teamwork is definately vital to success. There are some missions that are near impossible without good teamwork.

While you may experience some lag, it definately isn't bothersome. You won't be shooting at someone and suddenly he vanishes and I'm talking about 16 players here. Very stable I must say. If you are familiar with Wolfenstein, then the lag is definately better than that. You can use a sniper rifle and not worry about someone skipping across the screen. Your connection speed is shown with stars, one to three with three being the best. Most people have a three star connection. I can host games of up to eight people (using a cable connection) and a dedicated server of 16.

The controll setup is pretty good, and you can choose from a number of predefined setups. Luckily you can also invert the Y stick. Night vision and thermal vision are just a button away, and I truly find them useful, especially when you can't see through the smoke. Using thermal vision, you can see people on the other side of a door, but not through walls(and for good reason). You can choose a southpaw control setup if you desire. However, you can't set each button as you can do in Moto GP.

The number of people keep growing and it grows very fast. The last time I checked there were 200K+ people. The total number of players is displayed at the top of the statistic board.

If you've been wondering if this game is worth the purchase, my reply is it definately is. Go pick this game up and stop those terrorist.

Awesome, Awesome Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 25 / 34
Date: November 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is great! It is probably the best Tom Clancy game I have ever played. The graphics are superb. They are like Splinter Cell because of the lighting and interaction with curtains and things like that but not as perfect as Splinter Cell. There are also about 14 missions which keep you busy and plenty of weapons to choose from. What I love about the game is the use of the Xbox Communicator. You can tell your team to do the things you want them to do. For example: If you want them to open a door clear and frag the room you say OPEN, FRAG, AND CLEAR; then they do it. Or you can add ON ZULU to the end of the phrase and they will only do it when you say ZULU GO. Its great!!!

The only things that dissapointed me was that you cant pick the type of armor for your team as you could in the old Rainbow games. Also, you are only a 4 man team. I liked the 4 teams of 4 and being able to tell them where and what to do. But those things were not near enough to make me like this game any less.

Very well put together shooter!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 21
Date: October 31, 2003
Author: Amazon User

So far I have only played through part of the single player portion of this game but I can already say that it is one of the best first person shooters I have ever played! To start off, the game has excellent graphics, very similar to Splinter cell. In fact, you can call this game "team splinter cell" with the high tech gadgets replaced with great weaponry! The weapons in this game will cause you to drool...All of the best assualt rifles, sub-machine guns, sniper rifles, grenades & grenade launchers, and heavy machine guns make it into the arsenal for rainbow.
I am also amazed by all the team commands you can give to your other 3 team members. Entering a room has never been better.... such as blowing the door down, using a flashbang entry, frag entry, or just opening the door guns blazing. It's really cool! The single player campaign is similar in style to splinter cell, but it's a lot more realistic & believable and of course more action packed.
Now the only gripe I had with rainbow were the controls. Placing the target on an enemy is a little difficult, because the joystick seems slightly sensitive on the xbox controller. But other than that, the game is near perfect! And that's just the single player! I have yet to play it against a friend or on LIVE. If the single player is this good, then I am more than sure the multi-player & online play is excellent. Definitly worth getting!!!

warning

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: October 31, 2003
Author: Amazon User

It is not a bad game, but just wanted to worn people that - like me - expect to be able to play multiplayer on same xbox. You can only play multiplayer through system link or through Xbox Live system. There is no split-screen multiplayer. So - no cooperative gaming on same xbox.

Otherwise - it is very nicely done game.
Still, Ghost Recon - is better in my opinion.

The Most Realistic First-Person-Shooter To Date.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: November 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Ubisofts latest Tom Clancy military FPS, Rainbow Six 3, is simply the best to date. Gameplay wise Rainbow Six 3 (R63) plays like a typical FPS. There are two big things that excell this Rainbow over the others. 1) The AI for your squad is much better this time around. The squad members are very good about cover themselves and setting up perimeter covers. 2) The orders you give your squad are very accurate to military monuvers. I also love the ZULU tatics making it posible to storm rooms from two different doors at the same time. Other things I really enjoyed about this Rainbow Is the weopon selection. There are alot of primary and secondary weopons to choose from and also a good selection of grenades to aid you. If you enjoy the Ghost Recon games then you will love Rainbow Six 3. The only thing missing from R63 is smarter AI for the terrorist, though not push overs they are not the sharpest tools in the shed at times. Over all Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 is a very realistic FPS and a thrill to play. This is a MUST BUY!! for X-box owners.

Great game, strategy a bit lacking, but still a solid 4 star

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: February 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I took a while to purchase this game, due to the fact the last game that got "good" overall reviews on here, turned out to suck (Unreal Championship). I must say I really did enjoy this game.

Basically in RS6. You assume the role of Ding Chavez, the leader of a 4 - man strike team. You complete various missions that deal mainley with eliminating terrorists and saving hostages.

When you first start this game, you will see that it is very similar in appearance to Splinter Cell. This game effectively uses the aspects that made Splinter Cell so great. The lighting effects are spectacular. You can often look at shadows to see where your enemies are which is very helpful. UBI Soft has again done an excellent job with the graphics in this game. The levels almost look life-like.

The sound in this game is good and way above average. If you have your XBOX hooked up to a home theatre system, then turn it up a bit to get the full effect of the various types of weapons. One thing I did like about the sound though is that different guns make very distinct noises. I especially love the sound of the .50 caliber sniper rifle and the USAS Automatic shotgun. The sounds of the cities and towns you are in are pretty cool as well. For example if you are outside in a town you can hear cars and kids playing in the street. If you are in a bar in New Orleans, you can hear Jazz music playing through the speakers.

The gameplay is also above average even though it could have been much better. One VERY cool feature of this game is the fact that you can command your team using your actual voice if you have the XBOX communicator headset. You can give your team commands like opening doors, covering, throwing grenades etc etc. I am really suprised on how well the voice recognition worked. I was expecting me to have to set up something to actually "train" the game to learn my voice and in fact spent about an half hour looking for an option to do that, but it does not exist. The game does an OK job in recognizing your voice, which is pretty amazing in my opinion. I have a deep voice but the game did a pretty good job in recognizing my commands. Sometimes however, the game misunderstands what you say and does something entirely different or does not understand it at all and does nothing. Of course if you want, you can always use the controller to give commands, but it is not as much fun as voice. The only time I gave commands from the controller is when I ABSOLUTELY needed my team to do something because my life depended on it. One thing that was missing from the gameplay is actually giving individual team members commands. If you asked them to do something, then the whole team did it together, which is kind of corny. So if you want your team to split up, then it would just be two groups; you by yourself and the other 3 team members together.

The story line behind the single player campaign is just average. While each level is impressively done, the story line behind it is not. There is not too much depth in the story line and the final mission was bit of a dissapointment.

I would have liked to see a bit more stategy involved the single player campaign mainley ordering individual team memebers. Another thing that I did not like about the game is the fact you only get three saves per level. In splinter cell, you get an automatic save when you reach a certain checkpoint, however in RS6 you are given three TOTAL saves per mission to use at anytime. If you use your 3 saves just to get by one part of the mission, then you must complete the rest of the mission without dying. A strategy I used was to save after an objective was complete. Usually a mission has 2 or 3 objectives so this worked out nicely, eventhough I occasionally ended up playing a portion over and over again. Another "unrealistic" but probally nessacary feature is that if your team members became "incapaciated" in a mission, they will be back up on their feet in the very next mission. I take "incapaciated" to mean "dead", so that is kind of unrealistic but I can see why it as done that way. In my missions if any of my team members died, then I would just reload from my last save point, to keep the game realistic.

XBOX live on this game is the best part of the game. My favorite game and only game I play on Xbox live is Terroist Hunt, were basically you have a squad of 4 actual human players going through different levels eliminating terroists. It is very fun and you can easily play for hours at a time if you don't watch the clock. You can of course also give orders or take orders from your human teammates. You can also play the single player campaign online where your computer squad is replaces with real players. Other games on XBOX live include "deathmatch" type games, which I don't really play that much. For the most part, the people on XBOX live who play RS6 are very cool and mature and not some snotty nose kid who doesn't know what their doing or just come online to act childish just to get attention. I have met a couple who fit in the latter category, but that is it.

Overall I am very impressed with this game. It could have used a bit more strategy in the single player campaign, and also the storyline lacks depth. but other than this, this game is a solid 4. Definetely worth checking out.

WOW!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: December 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

You are Ding Chavez or your Xbox Live screenname whatever it is in this fast-paced first person shooter.This game has cool missions,cool equipment and cool Xbox Live modes.The Xbox Live modes can be Coop or Adversarial,Adversarial is better though,you can stratagize with your team-mates and whipe out the enemies with stealth but then again you can run out with your whole squad with guns-a-blazin',you can also do this in single-player with the Xbox Live headset.You can say to your A.I. buddies "Open flash and clear."so the open the door throw in a flashbang and clear the next room.here is a list of some commands.

"Open,flash,and clear."
"FRAG!"
"Regroup."
"Climb."
"Breach and clear."
"Hold."

The game has shooting coolness of Ghost Recon and stealth/affects of Splinter Cell,and stuff from the old Rainbow's.Its not as realistic as the PC version which is a bit better because on PC I spawned and I lost 5 seconds later.Some cool tactics are to lean over corners,use thermal and night vision,and crouch(sorry no prone this time).Overall this game is great and very fun.I would recommend this over the PC version.

You know what I noticed.......Where's Rainbow Six 2?

Sorry Tom CLancy!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: January 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

With the everpopular Tom Clancy's games getting better and better in previous years, you have to ask yourself "what happened here?" Now i was a huge Tom Clancy fan ever since the very first rainbow six for Nintendo 64, and still to this day won't second guess a Tom Clancy game. However this game falls short in my expectations due to lack of Split-screen multiplayer, and missing single player experiences. Now I understand that with the internet now available for all major consoles, developers are really pushing for internet gaming, but for those of us that don't have DSL or Cable in order to play this game online, there is no split-screen multiplayer for us. No more good old days like the first Rainbow Six or even Ghost Reacon (2-players or more) where we could sit down with a friend and storm through a thrilling campaign. Not only is there no split-screen multiplayer, the single player game is clearly lacking. With the previous Clancy games based on stealth this one seems to forget that whole idea entirely. There is no sneaking around in this game. Enemies will see you through thick smoke or even across dark rooms without even moving. The sadest part about this game is that the game relys on scripted sequences. What I mean by that is everytime you play the same level the enemies will pop out through the same spots and blow up the same doors. In one level you will always be rushed in the meat packing plant and can't avoid the situation at all. Now it is still an ok game, with great visuals and sounds and at first play you will be blown away. However this is still not your typical clancy game, you can't be stealthy and you can't gather a bunch of friends and play unless you have online. It seems developers were so excited about getting this game out for Christmas they missed a few basic steps. So.... the question is do you really want a mediocre first person shooter!

Solid game but could have been much better

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: January 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I had hoped Rainbow Six 3 would combine the gameplay of Ghost Recon with the graphics of Splinter Cell. While managing to offer solid fun, it unfortunately fails to replicate the main strenghts of either of those titles.

The graphics are far better than Ghost Recon, but despite the much-ballyhooed use of the Splinter Cell engine, come a bit shy of matching that game's visual richness.

There is also not as much interactivity with the environment as in Splinter Cell. Most notably, lamps and lights cannot be shot out. You can empty your M16 clip into a camping lantern on the ground to no effect. Many doors simply have no way to pick them or blast through. There is also no way to jump over or move objects. Therefore, an oil drum in front of an open doorway is enough to block your passage. You can crouch, but you can't lie prone.

One way the game fails to match Ghost Recon is that you are stuck with the same four guys, and can only directly control the main character. It would have been really great to have a roster of soldiers to choose from, the ability to upgrade their skills, and to be able to switch among them in combat.

My last gripe is total lack of split-screen multiplayer. At least a simple co-op mode should have been included.
Unfortunately I don't have Xbox Live.
Those are the main complaints, but there is still lots of good stuf about the game.

First, the game play itself is very smooth and gripping. The controls are well laid-out and the heads-up display and other interfaces are easy to use. The lack of an enemy radar or indicator that shows the position of your foes adds to the realism. It's a pretty alarming experience to be creeping along quietly only to find yourself on the wrong end of a hail of bullets with no clear idea where it is coming from.

I also really like the ability to issue a variety of commands to your squad, as opposed to very general aggressiveness stances as in Ghost Recon. Whether it's ordering them to move to the next corner, throw a frag grenade down a flight of stairs, or breach and clear a room on your order, there is a good set of options to make use of your team members.

There is also a great selection of weapons, including several varieties of submachine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles and grenades, opening up more tactical options (for instance, will you just frag a room, or flashbang it in hopes of taking some bad guys alive, or will you toss a smoker and flip on the thermal goggles and pick the baddies off at will?)

Overall, I'm glad I have Rainbow Six 3 to offer up some squad shooter thrills, but can't help but feeling frustruated that the game missed several opportunities to be the best in its class.

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