Open, breach and clear on Zulu! Go, go, go! The Rainbow Six franchise has always been about tactics – bringing the standard FPS a strategic twist that required careful positioning and using your three AI team mates effectively in order to progress, clearing rooms one by one and methodically dealing with your foes. While an element of this still remains in Rainbow Six: Lockdown, to the delight or anger of consumers (depending on your views on the series) the game feels a lot more like a straight shooter – you have much less reliance on your fellow soldiers than you did previously, and you’re capable of taking more bullets than before, but all of the tactical options you had previously (plus a few new ones) remain. This change to the core gameplay of the series makes the game both less intelligent and more accessible, and this slight difference in direction for the new game will either having you cheering or turning away in disgust. But hey – who said playing with guns was a clever thing to do anyway?
Ironically for a game with the word ‘Rainbow’ in the title, the opening level we played was quite grey and dismal, but we have been promised that later levels in the game will be more colourful. The visuals are impressive, but seem to lack the polish of the previous Rainbow – this, however, is something we believe will be sorted out for the final version. The FMV in particular is absolutely stunning and is up to the standards we have come to expect from a Tom Clancy game, with plenty of detail and fancy effects thrown around to impress the viewer.
One change to the series that we found rather interesting was the multiple roles you can take on during gameplay. They say variety is the spice of life, and Lockdown throws plenty of spice into the mix with opportunities to take on the roles of the various members of the (now ten-strong) Team Rainbow, with missions that have you cover the rest of your team from a helicopter with a sniper rifle, or defuse a bomb. All the team members in the new game have a very distinct personality, and make wisecracks or comments as they go about saving the world. As you do.
The Rainbow Six 3 multiplayer is renowned for being one of the most enjoyable and involving online FPS experiences on consoles, and Lockdown only improves on the standard game with plenty of new modes and extras, as well as a few customisation features – but again, the environments are ever so slightly less impressive than before. Hopefully, we’ll see the game with a bit of spit-and-polish before release. One other minor complaint is that the maps are nothing to shout about compared to the likes of Airport and Garage on the previous games – they feel so much more cramped and confined than their predecessors, which is something we suppose makes combat tenser and more frantic, but again is something we feel slightly let down on. Regardless of these few niggles, however, the multiplayer experience is as fresh and entertaining as ever, and you’ll spend many months battling it out the new-fashioned way through Xbox Live or Sony’s Online Network Play service.
Yes, the new Rainbow Six game has its problems – every game does. But we at Gaming Headlines still believe that the game will deliver on most, if not all of its promises, and offer a consuming and addictive multiplayer experience alongside its single-player campaign. The game’s out very soon, people – keep an eye out for it.
James Hamilton
