Today we are starting a new series where we look back at the Rainbow Six series. It might blow your mind when you realize that this series has been around since 1998!
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six (1998) Sony PlayStation, Nintendo 64, PC, Sega DreamcastThe first game to really make Tom Clancy a big deal in the world of video games (as he had been in other media) was the original Rainbow Six game. The game was first released on PC and then was ported to console via the PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and then a little later, the Sega Dreamcast.
It has been reported that for this game, Tom Clancy wanted a shooter that was more tactical based and required the player to think before they would shoot. The Rainbow team is an elite counter terrorism unit that is sent into various places to bring down a target and save hostages. For the time the story was pretty in depth, but these days it is probably seen as a bit simplistic.
It was the strategic gameplay that hooked many people. A mission can be completed in mere minutes, but this mission may have to be replayed over and over again. There is a lot of trial and error in Rainbow Six as the player tries to figure out what is the best way to go about completing a mission. Watching all your planning work out and the mission be successful is a great feeling.
At the time of the release the PC version was reviewed pretty well, but this kind of game was not something console gamers were used to and as a result, the console versions were not reviewed as well. Especially the Dreamcast version which many reviewers at the time said was a lazy port.
While it may seem basic by today’s standard, the original Rainbow Six is a real landmark video game and if you are interested in checking it out. The PlayStation version an actually be downloaded from the PlayStation Store.
Get ready to dish out some more orders to your squad as we have a look at another one of the classic games in the Rainbow Six series.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Lockdown (2005) Xbox, PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, PCBy now, Rainbow Six was one of the premier shooter franchises and for this installment, things to a bit more of an action heavy kind of feel. Once again you play as Rainbow team. In the year 2009, you have been tasked with putting a stop to a terrorist organization called Global Liberation Front who have a virus called Legion that they want to unleash.
The console versions of the game were certainly more action based. Added into the console versions were these sniper sections which had a real shooter gallery kind of feel as you had to pick off various targets. Interestingly these sniper sections were not in the PC game. While Rainbow Six Lockdown still featured many of the tactical elements from past games. Action certainly seemed to be the direction that Ubisoft wanted to take the series in.
This more action heavy game resulted in mixed reviews, especially for the PC version as many fans felt this was a dumbed down version of what they had come to love.
Both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox would get their own exclusive online mode with the PlayStation 2 having Rivalry and the Xbox having a mode called Persistent Elite Creation which was actually a huge deal and something many people got into. The GameCube version did not support online play, but it did have an exclusive 2 player co-op mode.
This is not one of the more popular games in the series and you could argue that the response it got made Ubisoft take a long hard look at the series.
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