Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six
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| Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six | |
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| Developer(s) | Red Storm Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Red Storm Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | August 21, 1998 (PC) 1999 (Mac, PS, N64) 2000 (DC, GBC) |
| Genre(s) | Tactical shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T (Teen) |
| Platform(s) | PC, Mac OS, Dreamcast, PlayStation, N64, Game Boy Color |
Rainbow Six is the first in a series of first-person shooters computer and video games. It was developed and published by Red Storm Entertainment for the PC in 1998. It was later ported to Mac OS, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Sega Dreamcast and Game Boy Color. An expansion pack, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Mission Pack: Eagle Watch, was released on January 31, 1999.
The concept of the game was developed in part by Tom Clancy, who soon began writing a book of the same name for his John Clark series of novels. The game's development team coordinated their efforts with Tom Clancy and much of the game corresponds to the book and vice versa; however, the endings differ because the game was completed first.
[edit] Gameplay
Rainbow Six is a tactical shooter, which focuses more on stealth and tactics than on sheer firepower. Terrorists (or "Tangos") can be dispatched with 1 or 2 shots, as can the player, or any of his/her teammates.
Before each mission is a planning stage, where the player is given a briefing, and then chooses the operatives to be involved in the mission, their weapons, equipment and uniform. Then, the player gives orders that each team will follow during the mission. The planning stage determines elements such as the path the AI-controlled squads will follow through the mission, as well as where they will deploy devices such as flashbangs or door-breaching charges.
In the mission itself, the player takes control of one team leader, and can see their plan of action on their Heads-Up Display. The teams not under player control follow the orders given to them in the planning stage. The player can take control of any living team leader.
The game forms a campaign that is a series of scenarios, with the plot being advanced in the mission briefing of each scenario. Any casualties that occur during a mission are permanent, so the deceased cannot be used in future missions. However, the player has the ability to "rewind" to retry a successful but disastrous mission.
Online multiplayer gaming was popular on the Mplayer.com and Zone.com services and for a time featured a thriving competitive clan based community.
Unlike the other versions, the PlayStation version actually showed the gun being held in the player's hands.
[edit] Plot
RAINBOW is a newly created multinational counter-terrorism unit, composed of elite soldiers from NATO countries, formed to address the growing problem of international terrorism. The organization's director is John Clark, and the team leader is Ding Chavez. The term "Rainbow Six" refers to the director of the organization, John Clark.
Soon after its inauguration, RAINBOW finds itself responding to a series of seemingly unrelated terrorist attacks by the Phoenix Group, a radical eco-terrorist organization. Throughout its investigation, RAINBOW is assisted and advised by John Brightling, chairman of the powerful bio-tech corporation Horizon Inc.
However, RAINBOW eventually learns that the Phoenix Group is actually a front for Horizon Inc itself. Brightling's company is developing a super-virus, codenamed "Shiva", with the ability to kill every human being on the planet. In order to protect "mother nature," John Brightling is planning to kill the entire human race, sparing only Brightling's chosen few, who will re-emerge and rebuild the planet into a scientific and environmentally-friendly utopia. To achieve this goal, he has used the scattered terrorist attacks to create fear of terrorism, which he then exploited in order to secure a security contract for his own private security firm at the Olympic games. Brightling's plan is for his "security personnel" to unleash the virus at the games, spreading it to all the countries of the world.
RAINBOW succeeds in preventing the release of the virus at the Olympic games, and Brightling and his collaborators retreat to their Horizon Ark facility in the Brazilian jungle, from which they had originally planned to weather out the global holocaust. RAINBOW infiltrates the facility, killing all of Brightling's collaborators and capturing Brightling himself.
[edit] External links
| Rainbow Six: | Rainbow Six • Rogue Spear • Raven Shield (Black Arrow) • Lockdown • Critical Hour • Vegas |
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| Ghost Recon: | Ghost Recon (Island Thunder) • Ghost Recon 2 (Summit Strike) • Advanced Warfighter • Advanced Warfighter 2 |
| Splinter Cell: | Splinter Cell • Pandora Tomorrow • Chaos Theory • Essentials • Double Agent • Conviction |
| Other: | The Hunt for Red October • SSN • Politika • ruthless.com • Shadow Watch • The Sum of All Fears |
