Too MUCH arcade, too LITTLE Rainbow Six. This game is nothing we loved, and more than we wanted.
So the AI is piss-poor. What else?
Oh yeah. Did you like switching from one teammate to the next? Psh, you noob, you can't do that anymore! That's totally unrealistic. Or at least, I'm assuming that's why Lockdown doesn't let you do it. But then, why have realism in this place we like the unrealism, and not in the AI? Pointless, disappointing, irritating change.
Tactics. Forget em. There is no tactical map, there is no waypoint system letting you tell the team exactly how to move, there is NOTHING. It's like an arcade game, in other words. It's just pick some gear and click start.
Start up. IRRITATING. Red Storm apparently decided to try some new fangled security feature that checks your disc every single time you start up, and I've had it tell me I needed to restart because it's finished the operation when I don't remember doing any kind of operation, and so indeed, I had to restart before it would let me play the game. This little watchdog/bouncer program is just a petty annoyance that is more trouble than this PoS game is worth.
Gameplay. This game is trying to be a fast-paced action shooter like half-life or quake, but they forget they come from a long line of games DEDICATED to slow, careful, intelligence-oriented combat where if you rushed through a map you WOULD lose at least a few members, so instead we have a sort of sterile hybrid child that hobbles along. As said before, the AI is all-but-retarded, making combat situations utterly boring, as you slowly move your crosshairs from one idiot baddy to the next, hoping a little deep inside you that this would be the baddy that actually fights back and justifies the money you spent. It takes being completely surrounded on every side before the enemy manages to take me out. this is not because I'm necessarily a good player, this is because the hand of god seems to be in full force protecting you the player.
Graphics. Graphics are ok. Personally, I wish they'd have stuck with Raven Shield graphics and then done better with the gameplay.
Sound. Sound... well, insofar as "quality" goes, I suppose it's just as well as any other game, but if you ask me how the sounds of the guns are, I'd tell you to stick to playing Counterstrike.
Conclusion-
No tactics, no team choosing, piss-poor AI, sterile hybrid offspring of gameplay.
This game is not worth the 20$ I paid for it. I want my money back. I'll have to be seriously wooed and cajoled before I'll buy another rainbow six game if there's even a hint that they thought they did alright with lockdown. the ONLY thing I really liked in this game was the way you can throw grenades. It is genius. Brilliant. But it's the only plus this game has going for it.
ps- as a final note, I'm just going to list those things I feel are missing from the game
This game doesn't have-
-prone
-zooming in without scope
-switching to different teammates
-tactical layout and mission progression
-regular names of weapons
-an even vaguely realistic cap on the number of bullets you can carry: 450?!
-widescreen resolutions
-a good selection of weapons (MANY weapons are left out, it feels)
-distint and unique differences between the weapons
-multiple teams/squads (goes along with the tactics)
-Enemy AI
-Friendly AI
-fun weapon sounds
-a comfortable visual interface
-a comfortable default keyboard layout
-a quick and easy start up
-any redeeming qualities beyond the grenade throwing system
-fun
Thanks for reading my review.