Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown

I'm starting to get real sick and tired of squad-based shooters that feature allies with all the intelligence of a leprous sheep. Throw in uninspired level design and tired terrorist clichés, and you’ve got pretty much every squad-based shooter this generation. Rainbow Six: Lockdown is a shining example of every one of these problems. Seriously – don’t go near this title if you don’t want to take the war to Xbox Live. But it’s all better once you jump online and experience just what Xbox Live can do for a first-person shooter.

After reviewing roughly 4,700 Tom Clancy tactical shooters in the last few years, I'm running out of ways to say that they're all the same. Fortunately, Lockdown actually displays some innovation. Just in time, too - I was about to start making up stuff about Tom Clancy eating the souls of the elderly to fill up space. Glad I don't have to do that now.

Trotz horrendem Schwierigkeitsgrad bin ich ein glühender Verehrer von "Rainbow Six 3". Bei "Lockdown" muss ich jedoch enttäuscht feststellen: Der Vorgänger war besser! Zwar bringt Redstorm mit den Sniper-Missionen Abwechslung ins Taktik-Geballere und auch das neue Speichersystem lässt wenig Raum für Frust. Allerdings hat sich der Nachfolger technisch nicht weiterentwickelt: Gefallen die hübschen Außenareale, macht sich spätestens bei den faden Innenbereichen und karg texturierten sowie lachhaft animierten Gegnermodellen Ernüchterung breit. Weiterhin fällt die KI beider Seiten durch dämliche Aktionen negativ auf. Der grandiose Mehrspieler-Part mit den Aufrüst-Möglichkeiten holt die Kohlen dann doch noch aus dem Feuer und garantiert Spielspaß über Wochen.

It would be misleading to suggest that Rainbow Six Lockdown is in any way shape or form a bad game, and we certainly enjoyed playing through it even with a nagging sense of ‘been there, done that’ – there are only so many ways you can sneak up on terrorists and only a few of the levels feel truly original. It’s more of the same except slightly dumbed down. It’s still above average and the multiplayer modes are worth investing time in if you’ve enjoyed them before. Where the Rainbow Six series goes from here is anybody’s guess.

Rainbow Six: Lockdown for the GameCube is a step closer to greatness and one of the reasons you should buy this one if you’re looking for the best Rainbow game on the Cube. Sadly we won’t be experiencing the amazing online multiplayer portion but the single-player campaign will not let you down.

Lockdown feels in many ways like a top-40 pop album. All the polish and the basic elements are there to make it a great product, but it seems to lack a soul. You'll probably get some mileage out of multiplayer, which is as frenetic and enjoyable as you can expect from a game of this nature, especially co-op play. But the single-player gameplay doesn't hold up its end of the bargain quite as well. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown rides that precarious border between tactical and arcade, and while still fun on the whole, it probably doesn't address either side as adequately as it should.

Lockdown feels in many ways like a Top 40 pop album. All the polish and the basic elements are there to make it a great product, but it seems to lack a soul. You'll probably get some mileage out of multiplayer, which is as frenetic and enjoyable as you can expect from a game of this nature, especially co-op play. But the single-player gameplay doesn't hold up its end of the bargain quite as well. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown rides that precarious border between tactical and arcade, and while still fun on the whole, it probably doesn't address either side as adequately as it should.

In its extraordinary Tom Clancy series, Red Storm and Ubisoft have generally made moderate incremental steps to improve each title, sticking with a firm simulation- and realistic style approach. While loading up gamers with a healthy arsenal of powerful weapons and tools the team's approach to the gameplay in Rainbow Six Lockdown is a mixed effort that feels forced, awkward, and edgeless, while retaining only some of the game's best qualities.

Multiplayer is far better than single-player, but unlike the radical overhaul that the Xbox version received, both PS2 online and GameCube split-screen feel uninspired. Again, both co-op and competitive multiplayer don't suck. They just fail to rock. Hopefully Ubisoft can break Rainbow Six out of its rut in the next round of hardware, but this gen's final iteration is nothing special.

Multiplayer is far better than single-player, but unlike the radical overhaul that the Xbox version received, both PS2 online and GameCube split-screen feel uninspired. Again, both co-op and competitive multiplayer don't suck. They just fail to rock. Hopefully Ubisoft can break Rainbow Six out of its rut in the next round of hardware, but this gen's final iteration is nothing special.

Rainbow Six has the tactical shooter formula d`own pat. Although Lockdown plays with the formula a little more it's still an entertaining game, but we it's stepping forward while moving back. I just hope next time I'm fighting a team as good as Rainbow and not kids in hoodies.

In its extraordinary Tom Clancy series, Red Storm and Ubisoft have generally made moderate incremental steps to improve each title, sticking with a firm simulation- and realistic style approach. While loading up gamers with a healthy arsenal of powerful weapons and tools and incorporating a unique online growth system for Xbox players, the team's approach to the gameplay in Rainbow Six Lockdown is a mixed effort that feels forced, awkward, and edgeless, while retaining only some of the game's best qualities.

Like the previous games in the franchise, Rainbow Six: Lockdown follows the exploits of Ding Chavez and the rest of Team Rainbow, the world's premier counterterrorism unit. It seems that a megalomaniacal villain has stolen an experimental, man-made virus that could wipe out the world if released. It's up to the team to take him down and save the world. Not surprisingly, their adventures will take them all over the world, and each of the game's 16 levels takes place in a different locale.

An Rainbow Six Lockdown gefallen zwar die abwechslungsreichen Schauplätze, die solide Grafik und die gute Steuerung. Als meine Teammitglieder jedoch wiederholt meine Befehle verweigerten und durch Säulen versuchten auf Feinde zu schießen, war meine Geduld arg strapaziert und ich pfefferte den Controller entnervt in die Ecke. Die unausgewogenen Schwierigkeitsggrade sorgten für weitere Wertungsabzüge.

Fans of the series and newcomers alike should avoid Rainbow Six: Lockdown and instead pick up the last two games in the series (Rainbow Six 3 and Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow, both of which can be had pretty cheaply now, and offer infinitely more enjoyable gameplay. I can only hope that the reason Lockdown is so bad is that they took the A-list developers and put them on the next-generation titles, because if Ubisoft keeps up with this franchise killing trend, we’re all going to be looking for a new company to provide us with our tactical shooting fix, and I don’t want to do that, because I really love these guys’ previous work.

Qu'est-il advenu de Rainbow Six ? Ce qu'il advient d'une formule qui veut trop séduire et qui pense pouvoir se contenter de son nom. Même si certains passages sont ardus, c'est plus en raison de la masse d'ennemis que d'une phase tactique délicate, comme dans un shooter standard en somme. Mais non content d'avoir perdu l'esprit de la série, lockdown se permet en plus d'afficher une finition vraiment discutable, à tous les points de vue.

Qu'est-il advenu de Rainbow Six ? Ce qu'il advient d'une formule qui veut trop séduire et qui pense pouvoir se contenter de son nom. Même si certains passages sont ardus, c'est plus en raison de la masse d'ennemis que d'une phase tactique délicate, comme dans un shooter standard en somme. Mais non content d'avoir perdu l'esprit de la série, Lockdown se permet en plus d'afficher une finition vraiment discutable, à tous les points de vue.

On ne peut que rester dubitatif devant Rainbow Six Lockdown. Alors que son mode solo est catastrophique, surtout pour un soft qui se veut tactique, son mode Live est vraiment prenant. On reste sur une impression amère où l’on aurait vraiment aimé que le jeu soit mieux fini, quitte à le repousser… Ami solitaire et amoureux du sens tactique, passe ton chemin… En fait, ami tout court, passe ton chemin… Enfin sauf si tu as le Live et que tu veux bien être mon ami !

Qu'est-il advenu de Rainbow Six ? Ce qu'il advient d'une formule qui veut trop séduire et qui pense pouvoir se contenter de son nom. Même si certains passages sont ardus, c'est plus en raison de la masse d'ennemis que d'une phase tactique délicate, comme dans un shooter standard en somme. Mais non content d'avoir perdu l'esprit de la série, lockdown se permet en plus d'afficher une finition vraiment discutable, à tous les points de vue.

If played as a new game, not part of the Rainbow Six series, Lockdown isn't totally awful. The campaign is lengthy and the gameplay is fairly fun and simplistic. Problems with team-mate and enemy AI, plus some surprisingly rough presentation just aren't in keeping with the series, and while online play is fun or a while, previous games in the series feel better to play and can now be bought at a budget price. Lockdown is obviously a new direction for the series, but I hope Ubisoft has a rethink before the series makes its inevitable next-gen debut.

Round about the time when Gay Pride asserted itself and Rainbow Brite horned in on the Cabbage Patch monopoly, the University of Hawaii changed its mascot to the Warriors, a far cry from its previous happy-go-lucky mascot, the Rainbows. Unwilling to accept the namby-pamby image usually associated with the colorful byproduct of a good rain, Tom Clancy’s anti-terrorist shooter, Rainbow Six, has stuck to its guns and held on to the name and franchise. If rainbows really do end at pots of gold, this one is protected by a leprechaun packing an uzi.

After spending the last three years dallying about on console systems, the Rainbow Six series has finally come home to the PC. Like the prodigal son, it wanders back onto our hard drives with nary an explanation about where it's been, what it's been doing, or why it's the way it is. Your reaction will probably include varying degrees of joy, disappointment, and maybe astonishment, because this is not any Rainbow Six you remember.