 |
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 (Xbox)
| Overall Customer Rating: |  | | | | Graphics: | (Not Yet Rated) | | Sound: | (Not Yet Rated) | | GamePlay: | (Not Yet Rated) | | Addiction Level: | (Not Yet Rated) |
44 Customer Reviews
RRP: £39.99
Amazon Price: £29.98
You Save: £10.01 (25%)
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Platform: Xbox
Publisher: Ubisoft
View other products by Ubisoft
|
|
Editorial: In Tom Clancy's Raven Shield, the third game in the Rainbow Six franchise, the men and women of Rainbow return to thwart the plans of an evil madman out to recover hidden Nazi loot. This barebones plot is merely a tool to link the objective-based missions that are the meat and potatoes of the game. A standard mission will start you off with a situational briefing and overview of your objectives. After the briefing you'll pick your team of up to eight operatives in as many as three different fire teams, and then outfit them with a wide variety of realistic weaponry. You can choose to map out a mission plan for you and your AI-driven team mates, or you can just drop into the mission and figure things out on the fly. Raven Shield allows for cooperative and competitive online play, but unfortunately there's no mechanism that allows you to play cooperatively with friends through missions in a linear order with the storyline intact. This missing feature aside, cooperative play is still a great feature, and a refreshing break from standard death match play. There are several significant improvements in Raven Shield, most notably the use of the Unreal graphics engine. It's vastly superior to previous games and provides crisp, clean graphics that are beautiful enough to help suspend disbelief--a feat that's typically more difficult for games with modern settings. New controls in Raven Shield such as incremental door-opening and fluid movement controls allow for much stealthier (and thus more fun) movement around the map. Rainbow Six: Raven Shield should appeal to anyone who favours realism in games and is tired of fast-paced but mind-numbing first person shooters. --Jon Grover
|
|
Write a review for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 (Xbox) and share your thoughts with others.
View All Amazon Customer Reviews...
"Counter-Strike beater!" - 29 July 2004
Wow! Definitely the most absorbing and engrosing first-person shooter I've played on the X-Box. I only got round to buying this recently at the reduced price and boy was it worth it.
This is one of the most hyper-realistic war FPS games I've ever played.
***Enemy AI is outstanding (enemies are intelligent enough to shoot their hostages if provoked, seek the nearest cover, shout for backup and run away or retreat when outnumbered). There are lots of terrorists to shoot too so rarely a dull moment to be had! And head shots are lethal, needing only one well-aimed shot. This also means the difficulty level is very high, and with only 2 save points allowed per mission (with large maps to get through), and a team of limited abilities (if you don't send them to cover when under fire they'll get wiped out very quickly), it means the going gets frustratingly tough at times, especially on the highest "Elite" setting.
***The choice of weapons and equipment is impressive, and with a few additions. There are the usual knives, pistols, shotguns, sniper rifles, grenade launchers and automatics of course, but there are also new weapons like chain guns (e.g.M203), explosives (e.g.Claymores or remote charges) and several types of grenade for different uses, (including tear gas with the appropriate effects on your vision!).
***The animation is smooth and the graphics engine is excellent with some impressive light and shading effects (based on the Splinter Cell engine - you'll recognise some of the "moving curtain" effects from there).
***Sounds are of a high quality, with an atmospheric orchestral soundtrack, not to mention realistic sound effects - including human voices from your team members ("Contact! Tango rear!" for example) and crackling interference on the mic. In fact, when you use the headset, you can give voice-activated instructions to your team, which works surprisingly well. It gives you a hell of a kick to shout "Open Flash & Clear" to your team at a doorway, and watch them charge in and clear up all the terrorists! Clever stuff.
***Single player is addictive as hell - great cut-screens develop the storyline and characters nicely. It also serves as a kind of briefing before the next mission. There are various (up to 3) objectives per mission, but your route through the map does tend to be fairly linear. Still, there are lots of entry points to most rooms - give the "Zulu" code and you can command your team to enter via a different doorway to you as you move into position. Another clever touch.
***The online multiplayer game can be a bit jerky and annoying at times I found, and with varying levels of shooting accuracy. Then again, I guess it's just dependent on the weapon you use and how good/bad a player you are!
***Maps vary in size - they're demanding with several levels (accessible via stairways or slopes, like the 6-storey car park map "Parkway"), rooms and places to take cover behind (e.g. oil drums, vehicles and explodable boxes).
***The actual gameplay is fantastic, and although not as fast-moving as other games (RS3 is mainly based around stealth tactics, using cover and grenades), you will find that you meet your opponents quickly as they "spawn" nearby. This speeds things up a great deal.
***Controls are virtually identical to other FPS games and is fairly easy to just pick up and play, although Counter Strike regulars may get a bit confused with the lack of a jump button and the slow turning of the character at first. The "peek around the corner" function (D-pad left/right) will also take some getting used to.
***There's plenty of new downloadable content now available, with around 5 new maps and a new multiplayer game option.To sum up, this is a brilliant game with some great touches and a lot of fun to be had, but you need to have a lot of patience. Try before you buy if possible. If you want the most realistic modern war FPS on the X-Box, go for this. If you want something more arcade-style with less realism, go for Counter Strike. Looking forward to RS3:Black Arrow now!
|
"Simply the best" - 26 June 2004
I am an experienced gamer, and am about to get xbox live, so using my initiative I decided to buy rainbow 6 3. Quite simply the graphics are stunning, the AI is good, and the prospect of playing this game online is, well, awesome.There are also many levels, (in great detail I might add), and often, in a tense situation, the game really gets your heart beating. The only thing that I could think about that could be improved is that in single player campaigne, they could use some other sceniarios other than 'secure the hostage' all the time. If you are into tactical shoot 'em ups like this then I strongly recommend Ghost recon and, for £40 you can get splinter cell Pandora with R63 as well. £20 each. Lastly, be careful. This game can be considerly difficult, but that just adds to the fun of it. First class, Mr. Clancy. And to you, buy it!
|
"Possibly the best xbox live game!" - 3 July 2004
if your lucky to play in the amazing world of xbox live gaming then this is a must have, ive been playing rainbow six since it was released and i still play it regulary now, it has a big following with 100's of people still playing this amazing game online, if your an unlucky one and not have live gaming then rainbow six lacks offline once you complete the missions theres not much that wants you to do it all other again, apart from harder settings theres not much else after you complete,
a MUST own for xbox live gamers, still a pretty good game offline. 3/5 offline 5/5 online.
|
"Rainbow sounds nice?" - 27 March 2004
What a nice pretty title. Rainbow six 3 well it is counter-terrorism at it's best.You control a team of four super tough army guys. it's a first person shooter and my favourite thing about it is door options. On certain doors you can interact with them by either opening them or telling your men to: open and clear,flash and clear,frag and clear or my favourite breach and clear. Frag or flash are grenades a flash is none lethal a frag is flash is good for hostage situations. Breach clear is one of a kind you blow the door clean off! It's a thinking shooter not mindless killing but not super tactical. Its ace.
|
"Best tactical shooter on xbox" - 18 January 2004
How can anyone say this game is not excellent? I mean, let me just explain what i love about this game.
Offline:
First of all your enemies are never at the exact same place. Games get boring if you always know what's gonna happen. It isn't like this here. Your enemies use various weapons from grenades to sniper rifles. The graphics are excellent, but the best thing is the interaction between you and your team. Of course it's all AI, but your team really answers to what you say and when I write "say", I mean "say". You can command your team using a headset, so the whole thing gets more realist even if you feel stupid in the beginning coz you keep shouting at your tv to attack ;). But it is fun. With the Zulu command you can order your team to wait at a certain point and execute your command when you decide. Eventhough it's good I don't play offline, because you can play even better missions online.
Online:
You have various options online. There's Missions, Terrorist Hunt, Team Survival, Sharpshooter, etc. During Missions and Terrorist Hunt you play with other online gamers against Terrorist from all over the world, just like you would offline. The difference is that you can discuss your next moves with your team and learn different tactics. Also your enemies move about and you don't know if they'll be in the same room you found one hiding in the last time you played that particular map. Team Survival for example you play in a team against other players. That's what I play most, for hours on end. It just doesn't get boring, because everyone uses different tactics, weapons (there are a lot of weapons to choose from like Sniper Rifles, Automatic Machine Guns, Tear Gas, Various Grenades and more), etc which change depending on the map. Another great thing is the sound. If you listen closely you can hear your enemies footsteps, just like you would in real life. You can hear if they're reloading or changing their weapon if they're near enough as well. Ok, for those who compare with GR or SC, well the game is totally different and I can't tell you which you'll like best. But I will go so far to say that RS is the best online shooter based on graphics, gameplay, team tactics, etc. It's a hard game coz you can't just run into the line of fire and expect not to die. You need to use your mind as well. But once you've learned some tactics you'll love finding different ways to get your opponents to walk into your net and get shot in the head.
|
"AWESOME!" - 29 December 2003
Having previously played the Ghost Recon games on XBox, I was extremely pleased to see that Rainbox-Six 3 uses a similar interface and controls so it was very straight-forward to get into the game.
I've only played the first couple of missions on EASY level so far, after having to hunt for 2 hours for the CD that my girlfriend had obligingly hidden after all the Xmas pressies had been opened!!
The graphics are superb and this puts games like MOH Rising Sun to shame. The enemy AI is pretty good too and team control is a doddle!
All in all this is a MUST HAVE game for the Xbox. BUY IT!!!
|
"reply to joniboy80" - 28 December 2003
So it’s dull? Ok I’ll let you have your own view but some of the criticisms are unfair. Being shot 3 or 4 times before getting killed is a more realistic in the heat of war. Tom Clancy obviously believes, and I agree, that running into 50 bullets and not getting killed is the most unlikely thing to happen in real life so he has incorporated the most likely event into the game. He must also believe that picking up a health pack doesn't heal the wound instantaneously making you and your health fine. This again makes it a more realistic game, which in today’s market is one of the leading games. The AI of not just your squad but also the enemy is the best I’ve seen to date. If you tell your men to move to a certain place they cover all angles. When enemies know they are out numbered they surrender allowing you or your team to take them hostage. Graphics are above average, for example, on one level you are in a skyscraper and you can look out the window to a view almost like real life apart from the odd blur. I only give this game 4 because each level involves the same thing quite a lot. Either rescue some hostages or kill every man in sight. Some good fun and a lot of frustrating game play. Definatly worth buying.
|
"Rainbow on Live" - 14 December 2003
If you have XBox live you simply need this game. I have had the game for roughly a month now and have barely touched single player mode, multiplayer being so unbelievable. When I did play the single player mode, I was completely blown away with the voice recognition, stealth and fun that it provides. It gives just the right balance between mad weaponry and stealth- i.e. Its a bit more forgiving than something like Splinter Cell, allowing the fire and forget people to feel right at home. Being able to talk to the team in multiplayer also adds another dimension- you can have a chat in the lobby about who is going to "lead" who is going to go where and what weapons to select to give your team a distinct advantage over the other. I was never a fan of ghost recon on pc- All that boring crap has been done away with, no more of this learning twenty commands or pinpointing on a map before playing the game. You can simply jump straight into the game and love it from day one.
|
"The Best First Person Shooter on the XBox" - 8 November 2003
I've been waiting for this game for nearly two years now, and its been well worth it. Ever since it was suppose to be Xbox version of Ravenshield, but with so many features dropped and altered, its virtually a new game, hence the name Rainbow Six 3. The result is a game with a strong emphasis on action shooter rather then on tactical planning. Not quite the arcade shooter like the forthcoming SWAT Global Strike Team there is enough tactical elements to keep it from being a run around and blast everything type of game.
Features dropped are the tedious map planning (which is good), the three fire teams down to one, and the individual team member and weapon assignments (which is bad). I would have preferred to be able to pick the specialist and their equipment, for example one team member to be the Automatic Rifleman for extra fire support like in a real life fire team. However the game changes the other members' weapons accordingly to whatever type of weapon you've chosen. Such as I wanted a more stealth approach to a mission and chose a silenced weapon, the computer changes other team members' weapons respectively.
I don't think its anything to do with the limitations of the games console because Xbox's Ghost Recon had most of the setup features from its PC version, but I would have liked the two fire teams and the on mission map planning feature from Ghost.
Still this is a great game, and once you're on a mission with just the one team against an army of terrorist you can really feel the adrenalin pumping. You can order your team to move to spot and take down a room like in the PC version, but what really kicks it above the other team based shooter games, PC or Xbox alike, is the AI of your team members. They actually look for cover. Tell them to move to a spot they sometimes split up to get the best cover, one member covers the rear and corners like a real life fire team. Unlike other games which just stand out in the open aimlessly. However unlike the PC version you cannot take control the other members of your team and once you're died its game over.
The enemy AI is not bad either, they move for cover or approach to attack. Throw a grenade they sometimes run to the next room.
Graphically its fantastic from what I can tell as I only played the one mission and it was at night so everything is in monochrome green with the night vision goggles on. However from the makers of Splinter Cell the game utilises some realistic light effects. Characters cast shadows from a lamp, not the grey static shapes like in a PC game. Not sure if the game has the same movie like beams of light like in Splinter Cell. The sound is crisp and sharper then Ghost Recon, and if you have it linked to a 5.1 sound system you can feel you're a middle of a fire fight. Ran across a street and came under enemy fire, your team members responding it was like a scene out of Black Hawk Down.
With Xbox Live feature this could be the online first person shooter for the Xbox that can rival the best online PC games.
|
"Go, go, gooo!!" - 26 July 2005
I fairly new to xbox and this was one of the first games I bought due to reviews, and high opinions of the game. I glad to say I think the game is great. Very realistic locations, detalied graphics and weapons and lots of fun to be had. You have 14 missions basically to shoot terrorists and defuse bombs rescue hostages. Some missions are great especailly like the Villa, Penthouse and The Rock rip off of Alcatraz sneaking into the shower area just like the film! I maybe new to xbox but think this early game is great value for money. You have a traininning mode for newbies to the gerne, practice any mission, or use a location just to hunt down terrorists. You have to be careful to as enemy AI is very good spotting you early, running away and investigating noises. You can choose your rifle and other weapons before the mission depending on what tactics area you are in, wide open spaces sniper rifle, close quarters sub-machine gun etc. You can also use night vision and thermal goggles to add to the fun. This is great fun and an Xbox live game to with new maps to download and hours of fun to be had at a bargain price. Scope this out!
|
|
| Sponsored Links
|
|
Official Xbox 360 Magazine
|
|
|