Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas PlayStation 3

Released on 29/06/2007

• Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 Patriots announced for 2013

  Ubisoft has announced that the popular Rainbow Six franchise is set to make its long-awaited return in 2013.

  Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 Patriots is now in development for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC and will once again involve players in the world of high-tech counter-terrorism operations.

  An immersive core single-player experience will see gamers fighting against a revolutionary organisation bent on overthrowing the US government, with first-person gameplay presented from multiple character perspectives.

  Rainbow 6 Patriots will also offer a variety of cooperative multiplayer modes and options, which will challenge players to coordinate tactics and work as a team to accomplish their objectives.

  David Sears, creative director at Ubisoft, said: 'Terrorism has evolved and so has Rainbow 6 ... All the team play, tactics, and realism that fans of the series love have been coupled with an exciting new narrative direction.'

  Rainbow 6 Patriots will be the first new instalment in the series since the launch of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 back in 2008.

  Published: 08/11/2011

• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas Preview

  Viva...

  Look in any high-street bookstore and you will inevitably see at least one Tom Clancy novel. You’ll know it’s a Tom Clancy novel because his name will often appear in large gold embossed letters, with the title of the book cowering beneath it in shame. His name alone is enough to sell product, it doesn’t really matter what that product is called.

  Tactical action

  Myself, I’m not a fan of his particular brand of hard-nosed conspiratorial military fiction, but luckily this is not a book review. This is a preview for the latest incarnation of the first of his franchises to really make a splash in the gaming world back in 1998, with its (then) unique twist on the popular first person shooter genre, adding a whole new level of tactical action and shunning the all-guns-blazing attitude of previous shooters.

  Eight years, four games and several other successful licenses later, Rainbow Six is still at the top of the pile of tactical shooters.

  This time eschewing the globe-trotting nature of the previous games, Vegas sees the newly revitalised Rainbow Team battling a terrorist threat over a number of missions set in, as the name suggest, Sin City itself.

  So, new team, new terrorist plot and new surroundings. What else is new?

  So, new team, new terrorist plot and new surroundings. What else is new?

  Well, the engine, kind of. Using an updated version of the already stunning Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter engine, Rainbow Six has inherited much of the visual flair and grandeur which made GRAW such a pleasure to play. The character models are extremely detailed and move convincingly, the environments are rich and atmospheric and the HUD is comprehensive and easy to use. The sense of scale from GRAW also persists here, with moments between missions where you see the full extent of the Las Vegas skyline proving absolutely breath-taking.

  Possibly the greatest facet of GRAW employed here is the cover mechanic. Run up to a wall, pull the left trigger and the action will pan back to a third-person over the shoulder perspective and your character will press against the cover. From this position you can lean over the top or the side and return fire, either blindly by sticking your gun out to lay down some rounds to get your adversaries behind cover, or you can pick them off from safety with the precision aiming mode.

  The alternate vision modes here appearing to be not only an improvement, but even going as far as being useful

  Not everything has carried over of course. The primary perspective still remains first-person and the squad controls are much more robust, allowing for the kind of pin-point tactical precision that we all expect from the series. There’s still an immense thrill in approaching your target silently, preparing your team to flash and clear a room full of blissfully unaware terrorists, while you take a position at another door and watch through the snake-cam as your meticulously laid out plan comes into fruition, and the tango’s meticulously laid out brainstem comes out the back of his head.

  Synapse-snapping

  You’ll be glad to know as well, that the worse-than-useless night vision from Ghost Recon doesn’t seem to making a comeback, with the alternate vision modes here appearing to be not only an improvement, but even going as far as being useful, which in the case of the thermal mode at least is a first.

  The single-player campaign then, is shaping up to deliver exactly the kind of synapse-snapping strategic gameplay interspersed with moments of adrenaline pumping action that we’ve come to expect from the Clancy licenses and Rainbow Six in particular.

  Read the Multiplayer Preview >>

  Preview by: Iain Thomas
  Version Tested: Xbox 360
  Preview Published: 27.10.06

  Published: 27/10/2006

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