PlayStation 2

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield

Hearing good things about the Rainbow Six series, I thought, "What the hell" and decided to pick it up. Of course that was after they were sold out of Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm and I was desparate for a new game.

Many books have become movies, and a selected few have even become games. One of the more revered book-to-game translations would probably be the line of books which Ubi Soft is renowned for: their interpretation of Tom Clancy’s line of books, such as Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon. These games have all hit several different systems, but the PS2 was left out of the Rainbow Six 3 release, a popular anti-terrorist game which was a smash hit on the Xbox. Ubi finally decided to release the game for us PS2 gamers, but how does it fare?

Moins enthousiasmant que sur Xbox, Rainbow Six 3 trouve tout de même sa place sur PS2. Merci au gameplay solide qui rattrape la réalisation trop juste. Meilleur à mon sens que le SOCOM de Sony et surclassant les Ghost Recon, le titre devrait ravir tous les fans du genre. Outre ses graphismes, on ne lui reprochera que son aspect un brin linéaire en solo, l'usage un peu trop fréquent de scripts et l'impossibilité de faire les armes de nos équipiers.

While some other people might suggest purchasing the Xbox version, I'll pass on that, considering someone who has never played it, does not have the right to judge which one is better. If you own a PS2 and Xbox, simply ask yourself which you prefer: graphics (Xbox advantage) or offline multi-player (PS2 advantage). If you want online gaming, you're set, since it is included in both versions, but of course, Xbox Live costs, when the PS2 online service does not. If you own a PS2 and not an Xbox, this choice is easy; either purchase it now or rent it to see if you will enjoy it.

Military operations rely on plenty of teamwork and precision execution. Rainbow Six 3 certainly bases itself on this fact, but what it tries to do and what it achieves can be two different things. Sneaking around with your crew, your fates are always intertwined. The game lets you give some great orders to your soldiers, such as having them wait to act on your signal (called a Zulu go code). Unfortunately, your teammates’ execution of these commands is uneven. Since you can only take a few bullets, and precision is often needed to survive, the experience can be a bit frustrating and repetitive.

The game may carry the legendary name of Rainbow Six, but the gameplay has been reduced to a close-quarter combat shooter with training wheels.

While the PlayStation 2 is complicated, perhaps even aggravating, to develop for, especially for developers from the PC side of things, Ubisoft has been one of the standout companies who, on the whole, has been able to take its PC and Xbox code and convert it to PS2 well. The PS2 version of Splinter Cell is the biggest and best example of this process. It appeared early on that the Ubisoft Shangai team, the same guys who handled Sam Fisher's adventure conversion, would be able to perform the same magic with Rainbow Six 3. But that's not really the case.

After a successful campaign on the PC and most recently on the Xbox, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3 is hitting the PS2. The game does a fine job of offering up the same kind of team-based tactical shooting as its other incarnations, but unfortunately succumbs to a myriad of technical inadequacies, like muddy graphics, boggy framerates and long loading times. Also, the levels have been substantially watered-down and stripped bare from the Xbox version. While not a bad game, the PS2 version of Rainbow Six 3 is certainly the weakest of the bunch.

The PS2 version of Rainbow Six 3 can still be a tense and exciting first-person shooting experience both online and off, but it loses a lot in translation from other platforms. There's no negotiating with terrorists in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3. As an elite counterterrorist operative, you and your team will be called upon to settle highly sensitive situations with decisive force.

Dass man außerdem immer aus der Sicht aus ein und derselben Person spielt, hat auch seine Vorteile. Man kann sich mit einem Charakter identifizieren und glaubt, noch mehr direkt im Geschehen zu sein. Ich stehe Taktik-Shootern auf der Konsole nach wie vor etwas skeptisch gegenüber, aber Rainbow Six 3 hat auch auf der PS2 seine Reize. Dass auf einer Konsole die Steuerung mehrerer Teams und auch die Missionsplanung wohl zu kompliziert gewesen wären, ist verständlich. Dass man die Karten aber derart linear gestaltet hat, ist nicht ganz nachzuvollziehen. Hier hätte man sie ruhig so lassen können wie bei der PC Version. Wer sich zwischen SOCOM 2 und Rainbow Six 3 nicht entscheiden kann, dem rate ich doch zu erst genanntem, da die Missionen dort etwas abwechslungsreicher sind und der Spieler etwas mehr Freiheiten hat. Wer sich aber einen echten Taktik-Shooter-Fan nennt, der sollte sich sowieso beide Games zulegen.

Tom Clancy is making bank on all these tactical warfare titles bearing his name. However, there is a reason these games are so popular. For the most part, every one of them has been darn good. Surprisingly, Rainbow Six 3 marks the first time the Rainbow Six arm of the Tom Clancy octopus has shown up on PlayStation 2. It's a long time coming.