Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six

aka: Black Ops, Rainbow 6
Moby ID: 962
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Description official descriptions

You have been recruited by John Clark to be a member of Rainbow, the most elite counter-terror team in the world, with members from various countries of the world. You start out rescuing hostages from the terrorists, but as you go on, you discover there are bigger things at stake - such as the entire world.

Rainbow Six is a first-person shooter with an emphasis on realistic weapons and tactics. You must use existing intelligence like floor plan layouts to plan your assault. You can use up to four teams, with a variety of equipment from simple body armor to biosuits, breaching kit and more. There are many different weapons available, from pistols to machine guns to shotguns to grenades. You can switch between different teams as needed, or leave them under AI control. It is possible to coordinate different teams with go codes, engage a variety of terrorists or perform stealth missions. The game also features multiplayer with a variety of maps and mission types to choose from.

Spellings

  • 彩虹六号 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Windows version)

117 People (64 developers, 53 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 81% (based on 53 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 85 ratings with 2 reviews)

A highly realistic, deadly shooter that may not be for every deathmatch player.

The Good
It usually doesn't take long for me to get weary of the standard deathmatch games. Power-ups, god-like endurance, and ridiculous architecture just don't suit me after a few rounds. That's the main reason I loved Rainbow Six.

Even in full armor your men can rarely take more than two or three shots with the average weapon before going down. Weapons are very deadly and accurate at the ranges they should be. Sneaking around is the key and one cares about one's life. As an old fan of paintball, this was one of the first games to 'feel right' in my mindset. There's just a much better thrill knowing that at any point you can be taken down with one lucky hit. Games usually amount to teams creeping about, then in a few short moments of shooting, it's all over. To me that's more exciting than running about gunning down the same people in the same corridor over and over.

While I'm not a big gun fanatic, I can appreciate the use of realistic weapons and relatively realistic results from them. Even a non-enthusiast will learn the decisive advantages of the various caliber weapons and will more than once be glad they chose a silenced weapon.

The levels are well designed and all feel like they could be real structures. Everything you come across makes sense. The embassy looks like one would imagine, as does the amusement park. You won't find any odd jumping tests here.

The graphics more than serve their purpose. The game graphics are crisp and clean and while sometimes appear to have a lower than preferable polygon count, never really take away from the enjoyment of the game. The rest of the interface shows just about all you need and no more. From that panel, you can usually get a good idea of what your section and the other sections of the team are up to.

This is a minor item, but I liked the fact that the members of Rainbow could very well be real military specialists. You have a few members from the book, such as John Clark and Ding Chavez (more were added in the sequels), but there's also a number of realistic new squadmates. You won't find the young computer hacker, the nubile young girl or any of the other cliched team members found in most games. Although one female is perhaps a little young, most of the members of Rainbow are veterans, with varied backgrounds and history.

The Bad
The planning stage makes or breaks most missions. This can get frustrating for those who don't like this portion of the game. The first time I played through, I played with a friend that loved the planning stage, so he did that and I played through the missions. It was the perfect combination with his well-crafted plans and my getting to play 'Ding Chavez, man of action'. Playing again a year later, I found myself enjoying the action more than the planning, despite the importance of the latter (especially considering the AI as you will see). The planning stage isn't bad, but it just isn't everyone's cup of tea.

And you will need your planning, as that's the only way your teammates will function. While you can win most missions by just doing all the work yourself, there are some situations (as when terrorists are holding two separate groups of hostages at gunpoint) where you'll need to coordinate your efforts. It doesn't help that you sometimes find your way blocked by teammates and have to bump them around to move ahead...sometimes bumping them into the enemy's line of sight.

The enemy is not much smarter. You can sometimes tap a tango's friend who was standing three feet away from him and he'll completely ignore it. Even when they do notice, they often run right into your sights. When the AI works nicely and the terrorists behave in a logical manner, it can be fun. When they don't, it's almost as if your high trained military squad is going up against the local teenage paintball team.

The lack of snipers (remedied in the sequels) can be felt, if for no other reason than having someone who can monitor the big picture.

The Bottom Line
Based on the Tom Clancy novel, Rainbow Six is a tactical counter-terrorist simulator that is quite an enjoyable first person shooter for those who prefer the deadliness of reality. Those who think they may enjoy this type of game should probably check out Rogue Spear and its add-on, as many of the issues I have with the original were corrected in the later additions.

Windows · by Ray Soderlund (3501) · 2000

Had to put it in my attic!

The Good
I was playing this game so much, I had to pack it up, and hide it in my attic! Every few years, one of "those" titles gets introduced.....a game that literally alters the world of PC entertainment-----as you might guess: this is one of those games. So much thought and planning went into every single level.....they're fun, creative and allow for all sorts of playing styles. I liked being both commander and soldier, required to both direct the action as well as participate in it too. I liked every single weapon, but found myself toying with the different methods of using flash-bang grenades and frag grenades to handle the enemies. No small plus is the VAST availability of mods for this title.

The Bad
Sometimes, the terrorists can be downright stupid.....standing at a wall, trying to run right through it. Other than this, this game slams!

The Bottom Line
A realistic anti-terrorist game that provides a refreshing alternative to standard sci-fi First-Person shooters.

Windows · by Paul Budd (425) · 2000

Trivia

German version

In the German version, all blood effects were removed and killed enemies disappear almost instantly.

Novel

There is a Rainbow Six book by Tom Clancy that tells a much more detailed version of the game's story. The game has many more missions than the novel of the same name by Tom Clancy. Red Storm decided they want to do a tactical shooter, while Tom Clancy said his next book will be about terrorism and counter-terrorist outfit. It's only natural to have them work on the same backgrounds.

The book only has about about half-dozen missions undertaken (the bank, the "schloss", Europark, military base, Australia, and Brazil) by Team Rainbow. The game has much more than that, along with some very different plots.

Online servers

The game's online servers (which were hosted on MSN Gaming Zone) were shut down on 19 June 2006 in the wake of MSN Games' shift from "CD-ROM matchmaking service" to casual online games.

Slogan

Rainbow Six's slogan is "Play as if 5.7 billion lives depended on it."

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • June 2001 (Issue #203) – Introduced into the Hall of Fame
  • PC Gamer
    • April 2000 - #6 in the "All-Time Top 50 Games" poll
    • October 2001 - #9 in the "Top 50 Games of All Time" list
    • April 2005 - #22 in the "50 Best Games of All Time" list

Information also contributed by casimps1, Entorphane, Kasey Chang and PCGamer77

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Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas
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  • MobyGames ID: 962
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Derrick 'Knight' Steele.

PSP, PlayStation 3, PS Vita added by GTramp. Nintendo 64 added by Kartanym. Macintosh added by Kabushi. PlayStation added by Grant McLellan.

Additional contributors: Paul Budd, Kasey Chang, Jeanne, Apogee IV, AdminBB, CaesarZX, Patrick Bregger, Plok, R3dn3ck3r.

Game added March 5, 2000. Last modified March 7, 2024.