There is no doubt that Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six was, quite simply, a blast to play one time through. But then the fun faded, not only because there was a limited number of missions to play, but because the weapon types seemed to be lacking, the artificial intelligence was odd (to say the least), and multiplayer games became stale after a few goes. Despite a number of user-created mods and the ability to change the game mechanics to your liking, Rainbow Six still felt like a game with a limited life span.
Red Storm Entertainment's answer, for now, is Eagle Watch, a brand-new mission pack for Rainbow Six. First and foremost, the mission pack contains a new five-mission campaign that takes place in various famous landmarks, such as Big Ben and the Taj Mahal. The missions run from moderate to hard in difficulty and do not differ from the mission structure in Rainbow Six. There is little variety or randomness to the missions (no need to pack heartbeat sensors on these trips - they are already "planted" on each of the missions), and you won't have to do any planning either - default mission plans are already included.
The missions also include four new operatives to employ, as well as three new weapons (the H&K G36K and G3A3 assault rifles and the .50 caliber Desert Eagle pistol) and two new training levels. A nice small touch is the inclusion of a "full watch" feature, which allows you to plan and execute a mission without actually having to control any of the operatives.
The big plus in the mission pack is the inclusion of six new types of multiplayer games, including assassin (each team escorts its general while trying to kill off the other teams' generals), scatter (you begin the game scattered throughout the map), scatter assassin, team terrorist hunt (your team must kill more than half the terrorists on the map to win), scatter team terrorist hunt, and save the base (each team must defuse a bomb in the other bases). Like Rainbow Six you'll need someone acting as a server online, or you can get on the MSN Gaming Zone or Mplayer to find a game.
These new multiplayer games add the variety that Rainbow Six sorely needed. Scatter is the best and most challenging mode and is recommended for those interested in cooperative play. Terrorist hunt is a fast-paced race-against-time-style shooting match to see who can kill the majority of the terrorists (or each other) first. Quake aficionados will prefer save the base, a variation on capture the flag or team fortress, which requires you to enter your enemies' bases while defending your own. And assassin can be fun but surprisingly difficult, since it is normally quite easy to kill people in Rainbow Six.
For the most part, the multiplayer modes work, and there don't seem to be too many problems with crashing servers, though of course the connection speed matters a great deal. Unfortunately, that is about all Eagle Watch has to offer. Eagle Watch adds absolutely nothing else to the Rainbow Six mix except a little more of the same, more or less. None of the major complaints with Rainbow Six were fixed (such as moronic AI and superaccurate terrorists), and those interested in the single-player game will be left with very little to cheer about. Multiplayer fiends, of course, will have a field day and should remain satisfied until someone comes along with a nifty mod (like the "NATO" patch) or the sequel hits the shelves.
