In 1998, a well known writer whose works have been beloved by millions published the latest in his series of militaristic novels, this one based on the forming of an international counter-terror hostage rescue team, codenamed Rainbow. Coinciding with the release of Rainbow Six, a small time developer pushed out a game based on the author’s work. Combining amazing realism with an intriguing storyline and awesome gameplay, the game and the sequels that have followed have become a footnote in the advancement of video games.
Now, in 2005, we now are witness to one of the most anticipated titles of the year. Rainbow Six: Lockdown, a game plagued with delays but filled with high hopes, arrived just last week. What do I think of it? You’re just going to have to click that little link below to find out.
Please note that the review only covers the Xbox edition of the game and does not include information exclusive to the other 2 formats of the game.
As mentioned before, I would like to point out that this review is based entirely on the Xbox version only, meaning that those who are planning on getting Lockdown on other platforms should only follow the singleplayer and the general multiplayer sections. The results will vary between each version of the game.
The basic story goes a little something like this. You play, once again, as Ding Chavez lead operative for team Rainbow and son-in-law to John Clark, the leader of Rainbow and long time compatriot to Clancy series protagonist Jack Ryan. However, that’s getting off topic. As Ding, you fight through a solid 14 mission campaign against a terrorist organization known as the Global Liberation Front, who have stolen and are developing a black market nanovirus, codenamed Legion. During this, you make jaunts all over Europe and Africa, striking where terrorists take action. The missions primarily range from hostage rescue, to bomb disposal, to just plain old terrorist hunts.
That being said, let’s dissect this Clancy workup.
Graphics
Seven years ago, Red Storm Entertainment presented us with a game with amazing visual appeal, and has since then given us a bountiful presentation with each iteration of the series since then. Lockdown is no exception.
All the outdoor environments in Lockdown are quite beautiful and feature many diverse scenes, like the one above. Flora and fauna are much more present in this installment when compared to the others since the first game, with particular detail placed on trees and bushes. However, the praise for the environments fades when the topic switches to that of the indoor ones. While the outdoors are indeed large and open, most of the indoor areas are much smaller, comprised mostly of narrow hallways. In addition, in some of the more ethnic and poor levels of the game, the textures are a bit dull and dingy, while rooms seem to repeat themselves.
Ubisoft, however, offsets the pitfalls of the environments with the lighting and the character-environment interactivity. The developers succeeded in advancing the already well done lighting engine, providing us with quite dynamic shadows and brightly lit areas. You can almost get a sense for what the place feels like just from seeing how well lit an area is. No longer can a player play through a daytime level using night vision the entire time; the engine has compensated for this, as you will be blinded by light blooms as you go from dark to light environments and as you look at the light sources themselves. That has been a major rant for me in the past, and I’m glad Ubi and Red Storm fixed it. Also, ala Splinter Cell, the lighting is also real time in many spots, as characters and enemies will project their own shadows against the floor and walls as they walk around a light source. Thermal vision, which has been a series staple in the past this time around seems to have taken a nose dive, as, while it keeps in the standard limited distance and the displacement of heat among objects, it goes a little too far. Up close, models with body heat are unrealistically detailed, with the ability to tell the difference between, for example, strands of hair.
The models and weapons are much more detailed in this update to the franchise. The general method in the past for the Rainbow series has been to recycle old models and simply enhance them slightly for the next installment. Lockdown is the exception. Characters now look much better than what was presented in Rainbow Six 3. A simple example of this can be found in the fact that female operatives return this time around. The guns have also received quite an overhaul. Each model itself has been reworked from the ground up and placed a slightly different angel based on the proportions of the weapon itself. However, it appears that the secondary pistols have taken a beating, as there is a very narrow selection this time around, in addition to the models looking quite second rate when compared to the primary weapons. Regardless, returning players will take notice of the changes almost immediately.
One of the key features this time around, however, lies in a most unthought of item: Ding’s goggles. This simple item is more than just a cosmetic application; it actually affects your performance based on your actions. The environments reflect on the goggles, ie. going into a cold environment causes the edges the develop frost while the whirlwind from a passing helicopter causes dust and dirt to build up over the view. In addition, being shot can be more than just hazardous to Chavez’s heath; it can impair your ability to play. Indeed, receiving too much damage causes damage to develop on the visor, cracking it with bullet holes and making it rather hard to make out the world in front of you.
Overall, the graphics have been addressed in most areas, but are lacking in others. The lighting, updated models, and the character-environment interaction saves everything from being a crapy presentation however.
Graphics: 8 out of 10
Singleplayer
Rainbow Six has always retained a noteworthy title for stories and scenarios worthy of the Clancy novels in realism and excitement. The pursuit of the GLF and their NBC weapon Legion is no exception. Each mission begins with a briefing by Rainbow Six, aka John Clark, himself, who gives you the basics of the operation and tells you to move out. No longer simply composed of a team of Chavez, Price, Losielle, and Weber, Rainbow has diversified and become an equal opportunity employer with the addition of new and almost forgotten personnel, including several female operatives and others from separate backgrounds. Each character has their own distinct backstory and personality which serve to fuel the tension of the moment. Unfortunately, however, you can’t choose who you want to go with you.
Most missions start off with a beautiful cinematic which, while not as amazing as some games of the past, have served to be among the best that I’ve seen in a long while. Each mission either encompasses the standard Rainbow action of a 1-4 man team lead by Chavez going about the neutralization of the terrorist threat or, quite more frequently, missions that switch back and forth between this and a sniper mode, acted out by Weber. Each sniping session involves the protection of the Rainbow team on the ground below, and the damage they take is reflected upon I found myself enjoying the onslaught of sniping dozens of terrorists from the roof of a building or the backseat of a helicopter.
Returning in this version of the game is a feature I have long since found novel in the Rainbow series: voice command. Using this, you can give many diverse commands to your team without having to waste time pulling up a command menu. This function is more useful when ordering the clearing of rooms than simple commands like following and holding. More often than not, though, you will find yourself at ends with the command system and the AI of the team.
That being said, I’d like to take this opportunity to say a little something about the AI of the game. Now, as one can expect, AI is not easy to program, either for a enemy or a digital compatriot, but it seems like this is the biggest weakness of the entire singleplayer experience. In the last two installments of the Rainbow series, Rainbow Six 3 and Black Arrow, the friendly AI has been quite smart and more often than not a sure-shot system, while the enemy AI has been pretty much dumb as a doorknob. Rainbow Six is almost notorious for their lack of a strong AI, and in this installment, this reputation continues. The friendly AI seems to have been dumbed down, as firefights at almost point blank range can result in dozens upon dozens of rounds being fired at an enemy only 15 feet away uncovered with the end result being the enemy being constantly missed. It seems that a calculation error was made in the shot trajectory, and it is all too clear at times. The enemy AI visually has not received much of any type of improvement, as for example, enemies who are standing right next to each other will not take note of gunfire around or at them, nor will they take note of the death of their partner. What enemies excel at this time around seems to be their accuracy, as they seem to know almost exactly where you are and get in headshots quite often. Enemies do perform crouched approaches and occasionally go for cover, in addition to being able to only hit their target on the mark within certain distances, but other than this, I feel like I’m shooting persistently stupid cardboard cutouts. What happened to good AI?
Overall, the singleplayer has promise, with an intriguingly interesting new take of diverse gameplay, but gets a slap on the wrist with poorly functioning AI.
Singleplayer: 7 out of 10
Multiplayer
Ah, yes, Rainbow’s most popular feature. Many epic battles have been fought within the confines of the Rainbow multiplayer, and many more battles are about to commence. The multiplayer component, and probably the most improved features since the last iteration of the series, is composed primarily of adversarial modes with a standard co-op mode, each of which can be played via split screen, system link, or XboxLive. The adversarial modes have the same standard fighting modes that have stuck true to the series, with survival and sharpshooter modes for those who feel like mowing down opponents, to objective-based modes such as conquest and retrieval. Each mode in itself has not changed much, save for the ability to speak to your teammates once they or you have been killed. While one would think this to be an advantage, the observation mode forces the watchers to see from a fixed third person perspective. A good trade off, I would suppose. Squad support is back this time, so you and your buddies can go blazing into the night against other groups from around the world. Nothing can give you and your squadmates much more satisfaction than hearing the outraged cries of your opponents in a foreign language.
Maps are quite different this time around as well. No longer diverse in nature, most maps have a distinctiveness all their own. Unfortunately, the maps no longer carry with them the large outdoor environments that a sniper or player with a good zoom would enjoy, so those clamoring for the days of Airport or Cafe are in for a rude awakening. Most of the maps are somewhat medium-sized when compared to their older companions of days past, making them much more action oriented. The weapon set available to players compensates for this.
The one component that is new to the series however promises to be one of the most fascinating additions in the series in the time to come. This is called Persistent Elite Creation mode, or PEC. In it, players can create a new identity to battle as when on XboxLive. Each account holder is allotted a character that they mold to their liking, configuring dozens of combinations of skins and classes of characters to match their desires. There are four character classes, the first of which is the Commando, the straightforward run and gun soldier capable of using heavy assault weapons and wielding riot shields. Secondly, there is the Spec Ops soldier, who can hack into cameras around the level and wields a tertiary knife for silent kills. Next, we come to the Engineer, who can open otherwise inaccessible paths through levels and is a very capable trap master. Finally, we come to my personal choice, the Combat Medic, who can heal his/herself and others, as well as deploying nerve gas grenades and setting up portable field clinics. I feel the Medic is a good and strong support role, but the reader should find out for themselves what kind of role they wish to take on. Do note though that each character has a set class of weapons they are allowed to use, so if you have your heart set on a certain gun, you’ll have to think about what you want to do. I miss my Ak-47…
Unlike the Rainbows of old, however, where you could simply enjoy a nice run and gun match against anyone who stood in the way of your bullets, now you must think twice about your actions because they do more than just determine your statistics; they determine your status among both your clan and those throughout XboxLive. The system has almost been rewritten entirely for PEC, giving the experience the feeling of more than just a shooter, but that of a RPG. The system is now divided on two levels: experience points earned toward improving your characters abilities while the other being receiving credits to purchase secondary items, such as grenades and body armor, as well as accessories, such as headgear and new camouflage patterns. The actions you take during a match determine your overall score and from this, you earn both credits and experience points. It gives a distinct feeling of another well known shooter known as CounterStrike, but gives a more crucial impression as to the players abilities once a room has closed.
The most intriguing part of the entire PEC mode lies in the fact that this version is 1.0 and will be subsequently updated in the months and Rainbow Six games to come, meaning that you can carry over your info from the previous installment of the Rainbow series and have it up and ready to go in a future title. Why have such a strange, yet interesting feature built in? Well, the way that the PEC mode is formulated, it would be an outrage for users to have to start all over in the next game, having to re-earn their status and such.
Overall, the multiplayer component is a fresh and liberating experience, one that allot of players will find was a good point of evolution for the series. I look forward to using my elite in the years to come in future editions of the series.
Multiplayer: 9 out of 10
Presentation and Closing Thoughts
While Lockdown promises to be a hit game in the months to come, it is evidently clear to anyone that plays through the singleplayer experience, it becomes abundently clear that what is described on the box and in the ad campaign does not add up to the final product. The game is touted and doused in claims of being hunted and the capture of Weber, but this only pertains to a very small portion of the experience and, in the end, is almost insignificant when compared to the overall goal of the campaign. It would have made for a more suprising twist had this have not been focused on for the ad campaign. In other words, truth in advertising this is not.
In closing, Rainbow Six: Lockdown looks to be one of the most active games played online for Microsoft’s console this year and will no doubt be a contender when the Xbox 360 rolls out onto the market. I look forward to the pain I will inflict upon my enemies.
Final Verdict: 9 out of 10
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Rainbow Six: Lockdown Publisher: Ubisoft Developer: Red Storm Entertainment Genre: First-Person Shooter Players: 1-16 ESRB: M for Mature (17+) Get Locked Down! 
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