Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Lockdown
Score: 85% ESRB: Mature Publisher: Ubisoft Entertainment Developer: Red Storm Entertainment Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 - 16 (Online) Genre: First Person Shooter/ Squad-Based/ Action
Graphics & Sound: Rainbow Six: Lockdown's aim is to create a game in which you, the player, actually care about the characters around you. These aren’t merely digital models composed of polygons and textures; these are real, living entities that you’ll protect and fight alongside of. In order to reach this level of attachment with players, a few new elements have been added to try and bring players closer to the experience. Whether or not the developers have been successful lies mostly on the player. Graphics and sound play a key role in getting players "into" the game. The first and most noticeable graphical enhancement is the use of a goggled vision mode while playing. The edges of the screen are encased in the framing of goggles and even have a neat warping design that attempts to make it feel like you're really behind the goggles of a Rainbow Six member. To top it all off, as you take damage, the goggles will fracture and crack to show just how much damage you're taking. It's not the most original of ideas, but coupled with some of the game's other special effects, it’s a nice touch. Beyond the effects, Lockdown does suffer from some noticeable problems – namely the stiff character animations. These problems aren't likely to become too much of a distraction since you'll spend a good part of the game in dark, cramped hallways and if you're doing a good enough job of leading, your squad will remain well hidden (and protected) throughout most of your mission. Ten other "personalities" replace the otherwise generic soldiers that made up your team in past games. Once again, the aim is to give each of these characters, which include females, their own personalities that come out in the form of radio-chatter during mission. For example, if you have Loiselle (a self-described ladies man) in your group, he'll flirt with any female members of your team. This brings up interaction between group members, since some -- like Ayana – will coldly shoot him down. Those who are able to get into the game will find that the experience does bring you a little closer to everything; or something like that. Personally, I was able to see where the developers were pushing things, but the only time I ever really "felt" for my squad was when one would die during a mission. However, my mourning wasn't for the loss of a loyal comrade, but because I was one gun short and needed to reload.
Gameplay: During a routine mission in South Africa to rescue the President of that country, the team runs up against a group calling itself the GLF (Global Liberation Front), who have come into possession of a deadly nanovirus called Legion. Of course, Rainbow Six is called on to stop this threat, but it turns out that the GLF has targeted the Rainbow team as a test subject. This leads the team into unfamiliar territory, as they'll have to protect themselves while at the same time trying to stop the terrorists and keep Legion from being released and killing millions. During the game, you'll take the role of one of the two team members, Ding Chavez or Dieter Weber. Each member has a specific role in the group, which will leads to the game's two different experiences. While playing as Ding, you'll experience the more traditional Rainbow 6 experience as you lead a team through enclosed spaces and take out terrorists while trying to reach mission goals. The game presents itself as a traditional FPS, only you have a squad to back you up and order around. Generally, your squad mates can take care of themselves, though they do need direction and will sometimes get in the way. Dieter's missions are a much different experience, as you'll take on the role of a sniper hidden away from the action. Here, you're main mission is to lend fire support to the team as they work their way through areas. How good a job you do here translates into how easy, or hard, your mission with the squad will be. If you're a crack shot and get the enemies before they get your team, you'll have a healthy team to work with. If not, you'll have to limp through a mission with an injured group. The addition of sniper missions is a good one, though it does add some frustration when your team takes cheap hits because you were struggling to line up a shot. Though functional, the sniper rifle tends to be a bit jerky and sluggish. As a result, areas that should be fun become somewhat frustrating. Multiplayer modes make up much of the fun in Lockdown. Both co-op and competitive modes are included. Co-op modes can be played in a two-player, split-screen mode or over Xbox Live with up to four players. Competitive modes support up to 16 players online and include deathmatch, CTF and a conquest mode. The flow and feel of the online experience is great. Servers are generally lag free (with the few hiccups popping up due to issues with my server) and feature automatic updates to your rankings. Perhaps the best part of Lockdown, besides the always great online experience, is the inclusion of a persistent role-playing element to the game's already stellar multiplayer mode, or PEC mode. In PEC mode, player data is saved on the Xbox Live servers and allows in-game characters to evolve over time. Players can choose from the game's class types, each with their own defining skill sets, as well as a character's looks. As your player ages through gameplay, so will their skills. Players can also assign points to specific skills to enhance the mode's personalization. Players will be able to further enhance their characters by spending in-game credits on upgrades like camo, armor and weapons.
Difficulty: One of Lockdown's major failings is A.I., which tends to be pretty dumb. Having enemies dodge for cover instead of standing out in the open is always a cool addition to any game yet, when they try to hide behind chairs and objects much smaller than themselves, it's hard not to laugh. On top of that, they will always leave the largest, most vulnerable spots open while hiding, making for easy kills. Your squad isn't exactly comprised of honor students either. There were numerous times where a team member would cross my line of fire (while I was shooting at someone) and take a hit to the head. Had I ordered this, things would have been fine; but I didn't, so it was a cheap death. What's really amazing is that these stooges are allowed access to explosives, which they will inevitably use to blow up themselves or their squad.
Game Mechanics: Rainbow Six began as a hardcore tactical shooter, but has slowly found it’s place as a faster-paced, arcade-style shooter. This doesn't mean that the strategy and tactics that made Rainbow Six what it was are gone; it just makes it much more accessible to the general console audience. Lockdown continues the franchise's evolution, though it's not all good. On the positive side of things, the controller layout is well done and functional. Except for the few jerky movements that pop-up during the sniper missions, the overall scheme is responsive and shouldn't give you too many problems. Ordering around troops is as easy as pressing a button in the general direction of what you want to accomplish. Breeching locked doors, something you will find yourself doing often, is as easy as pointing towards the door. From here, the A.I. will take over and initiate a breech and clear maneuver where they knock down the door, toss in a few grenades and clear out the room. Generally, the A.I. is good at performing these tasks alone, though there are lapses where a soldier will toss a grenade into a corner (only to have it bounce back) or unload a clip in the direction of an enemy and fail to hit the guy. Aside from ordering around your troops, cycling through various vision modes also plays a major role in Lockdown. In addition to the standard night and thermal vision modes, a heartbeat monitor mode is included. This mode is more limited than the other two (it drains its battery quickly), but it is also the more powerful of the modes. In fact, the essentially gives you X-ray vision and makes it too easy to know what's coming up – taking away the tension that has been one of the franchise's hallmarks. Rainbow Six: Lockdown is a solid entry into the franchise, even if it tends to become more of a run and gun shooter than previous games. Players are likely to get more out of the multi-player modes than the single-player campaign. However, this is to be expected of the series, making Lockdown more of a purchase for the multi-player minded gamer.
-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker
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