Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown
Rainbow Six: Lockdown is the sequel to that game (since R6: Black Arrow could be considered something of an expansion pack), and it features a brand new single-player campaign, tons of interesting multiplayer options and more terrorists than you can bring home to supper.
First, lets dive into the single-player game. Lockdown places you in the shoes of series regular Ding Chavez as he leads a four man squad through fourteen precarious missions. The story, as it turns out, is pretty uninspired. Evil guys with accents, a stolen biological agent, mass hysteria, you know the rest.
In terms of actual gameplay, not too much has changed since Rainbow Six 3. You're still able to order your squad around with simple button presses, having them stack up in front of a door or provide covering fire on a target. This is cool when it all works out, as you've got this bad ass squad backing you up and taking down baddies. It's not so cool when it doesn't. About a third of the time, giving orders like "Go Here" and "Open this Door" resulted in some incredibly unhelpful pacing back and forth, as if our team was really thinking about the ramifications of the order. They also have the propensity to miss targets that are standing right in front of them (the same can be said about enemies, though this shifts to the opposite extreme later on). For an elite squad of anti-terrorist operatives, they might want to hit the books again.
Even when your squad is working as you want them to, the level design in Lockdown is pretty boring and painfully linear. It makes you yearn for the open-ended maps from the Rainbow Six of yore, where there were several options for intrusion. Occasionally you are given a choice in Lockdown, but more often than not you're just led down the primrose path, guns blazing. If you're fond of standard room clearing, there's plenty to be found here, though it begins to get old rather quickly.
The graphics in Lockdown are also nothing to write home about. Sure, at times the smoke effects and outdoor environments are beautiful to look at, but those are rare exceptions amidst bland, square-shaped rooms that are totally devoid of character...or even furniture! Also, some of the effects, like the thermal vision, are pitiful when compared even to other Tom Clancy games (Splinter Cell, anyone?). The worst visual offender, however, would have to be the animations of your squad, as well as your enemies. It's strange, because we don't recall the characters running in such a stilted fashion on Rainbow Six 3. Could it have taken a step down from its predecessor? Whatever the case, sticking your hand blindly in front of you is not the end-all, be-all animation for every action under the sun.
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In all, the single-player game is only remotely saved by the co-op feature, which isn't even all that great, considering a teammate's death will leave them out of the mission for the duration. It's fun working together, but not so much when you're left staring at your partners back for 10 minutes.
If you're intending on buying Rainbow Six: Lockdown for the single-player game, don't. It's not very good. The multiplayer, on the other hand, is the reason to pick this one up.
The star of the multiplayer (at least on the Xbox) is its much-ballyhooed RPG element, a first for this sort of game. When you first start off, you create a character, choosing from a set of different classes, including medic, commando, engineer and special ops. From there you can choose your weapon load-out, which is rather limited to begin with. As you play more games, however, you'll gain credits and experience, which you can then use to unlock new weapons, as well as other gear. You can also improve your stats, such as your accuracy or engineering skills, spending points at each "level" to make your character entirely your own. We do have some concerns about the balancing, especially whether a level 20 person will always be able to take out a level 5 and so on, but at least the game gives you the option to play on servers without these RPG elements thrown in.
The maps in multiplayer hearken back to the original Rainbow Six, as they're expansive and varied, with plenty of entrances and exits to limit standard choke points. Expect to fight in such locales as dockside warehouse districts and burnt out city streets, with plenty of opportunities for cover along the way. All in all, the maps are just plain fun, and the matchmaking service is generally painless, allowing you to get into a game without much fuss.
A decision about Rainbow Six: Lockdown really just comes down to what you're looking for in a game. If you want a solid, deep multiplayer experience that doesn't involve energy swords, Lockdown is a great choice, sure to keep you and your friends busy for several weeks. On the other hand, if friends are something for other people, you'll probably find the single-player game overtly unsatisfying.