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Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Gold Pack Edition
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Graphics & Sound:
Both the Riva 128 and the TNT2 Ultra display the game’s graphics beautifully. And beautiful they are -- with immersive environments and detailed textures, Rainbow Six is easily one of the best put-together 3D environments available today. However, there are the occasional textures that look bland and uninspired. The character models are very detailed, showing the exact types of armor and weaponry that they are equipped with. Everything combines to make an immersive environment that really gets you into the gameplay, making you feel like you are one of the team members out on the hunt for the current group of terrorists. There are a few graphics problems, some fixed with the patches, such as the old Hall of Mirrors effects.
The added Eagle Watch CD does add some real-world environments to explore, which heightens the experience somewhat. The realism is somewhat shattered, however, as one wonders how terrorist groups manage to break into the Taj Mahal, the Forbidden City, and the U.S. Capitol Building, without the world at large getting really, really pissed. The locations seem more like a draw factor than anything actually necessary to the game.
The sounds are fairly realistic, with gunshots and lock picks and explosions that are neither mind-blowing nor wimpy. They suit the game adequately. The music is much the same -- subdued, barely noticeable, and unobtrusive. |
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Gameplay:
First of all, be prepared to spend considerable amounts of time before even entering each level. You have to plan out everything that the various squads do, tell them how they are going to do it, and give them the right equipment to get the job done. Of course, you could just do like my friend did and beat the entire game with one person, but that makes the game more of a super-realistic first person shooter than the strategy title that it is meant to be. And be prepared to reload... a lot. You will die, and die again, and die again, and die some more before you figure out just how you are going to beat the level with minimum casualties. Sure, it’s realistic -- being a counter-terrorist is really tough work -- but it’s very, very quickly frustrating.
Rainbow Six also has lots of issues with crashing. It would crash for no apparent reason, even after the patch was installed.
When you’re controlling a character, it’s great fun. There are some control issues, however, that mar the gameplay. It’s tricky to climb ladders, for one. Oftentimes you’ll just fall off of the top of the ladder. There’s no movement when you’re crouching, which makes for rather unrealistic gameplay as well. And the team A.I. is decidedly odd -- doing some things well and others worse than my 18-month-old niece. And considering the enemy A.I. has such absurd accuracy, you may find unwilling dog-piles of corpses just around corners. The fact that foot shots can kill also hinders the realism of the game. Rainbow Six is definitely a game that you only play through once -- it’s pretty cool the first time, but after that, you just don’t want to deal with all the problems.
Multiplayer, however, is where the game excels. The basic game offers six different multiplayer modes: Survival, the old school deathmatch, Team Survival, Stronghold, where you either hold an area or assault it, Double Stronghold, where each team must hold an area, Double Bluff, a hostage game, and Recon/Regroup, which is a demented hide-and-seek. The Eagle Watch CD adds six more, such as Assassination, Terrorist Hunt, and a mode where you must save your base from being blown up. With 22 multiplayer maps, each of varying sizes and complexity, you’ll have plenty of places to practice your multiplaying. The strategy varies widely depending on what game you’re playing, although you can always cap your teammates when you get tired of whatever the current game is. Playing on a LAN is recommended, because you can use voice transmissions instead of having to waste time typing. The multiplayer is solid, all in all. |
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Difficulty:
Rainbow Six is very difficult. Until you figure out each mission, which takes a different strategy each time, you’ll be dying a lot. Once you figure it out, though, it’s much like a complex game of chess... with guns. The variety of weapons and armors make the game easier, as long as you make the correct choices. You’ll be reloading plenty, though. It’s a toughie. Eagle Watch is similarly difficult, with no ramping-up of difficulty like the original 16 missions had. The strategy guide that’s included with the Gold Edition gives lots of useful pointers that help in playing the single-player game, but it’s often really difficult to put into action what the book hints at you to do. It is still a worthwhile addition to the package, however.
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Game Mechanics:
There are a lot of buttons you have to remember, and at first, the game can be disconcerting in its complexity. The old-school mouse and keyboard combo works best both in multiplayer and single-player, but the controls never seem to truly become second nature. The occasional crashes didn’t help for the continuity either. The multiplayer in Rainbow Six is solid and fun, as long as you have a speedy LAN connection. But the single-player game lacks something. Its difficulty, oftentimes caused by bad A.I. instead of poor planning on your part, really detracts from the game, as does its absurd difficulty. A little more gameplay tweaking would have been useful.
As a whole, with the Gold Edition containing the strategy guide and the add-on pack, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Gold Pack Edition is a worthy investment, if you’re into this type of game. I highly suggest trying it before you buy it. You may pick it up immediately and love it, but you may find it too obfuscated to be playable. If you get into it, though, it’s truly an enjoyable experience. If only single-player was a little tighter, this would be near-perfect. As it stands, it is merely a good game.
Installation:
Installing this game is very simple. Each CD has an autorun that installs itself. Before you install Eagle Watch, you need to install the original game. The Eagle Watch CD also conveniently patches the game to v1.04, fixing many (but by no means all) of the bugs in the game.
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-Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications AKA Phil Bordelon |
Minimum System Requirements:
P200, Windows 95/98, 138MB HD Space, 16MB RAM, 16 Bit Video Card, 4X CD-ROM, SB16 Sound Card |
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Test System:
Pentium II 300, 64 MB RAM, nVidia Riva 128 Video Card, 32X CD-ROM, SB AWE64 Sound Card, Windows 95
Test System 2:
AMD K6-III 450, 256 MB RAM, Creative Labs TNT2 Ultra w/32MB RAM, 6X/24X DVD-ROM, SB Live! Sound Card, Windows 98 |
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