It's a rare game, in today's era of quick-cash-in sequels and rehashed pc-to-console or console-to-pc ports, that manages to match, or even exceed, the fun of its predecessor. Rainbow Six 3, for the Xbox, is one such title. An Xbox port of a PC shooter normally wouldn't get my blood pumping, but R63, with streamlined gameplay, Xbox live multiplayer, and a fantastic voice-command system executed via the Xbox live communicator, is the exception to the rule.
Rainbow Six 3 has you once again commanding Rainbow Six, an elite antiterrorism squad with international jurisdiction. You play as Ding Chavez, reactivated after… well, let's be honest, reactivated after blah blah blah, to fight the evil blah blah blah terrorism cartel, with plans of world blah blah blah. Who cares about the inane Tom Clancy plot? It's a squad-based shooter that lets you gun down terrorists while screaming orders to your squaddies. What else do you need to know about the plot? (Fans of Tom, don't worry - there's plenty of pseudo-military mumbo jumbo, and, YES, you still fly around in those goofy black helicopters)
The complexity of Rainbow Six, both in graphics and gameplay, has taken a bit of a hit in the translation to the Xbox. The animations of your enemies and squadmates are a bit rough, and some of the models, particularly of hostages, are noticeably low-poly. Of course, it should come as no surprise that the Xbox cannot match the graphical output of top-of-the-line PC hardware, but the difference isn't too glaring. The game may not look as good, but it still looks good. Banners flap in the wind, explosions are visceral and satisfying, and enemies still die in ludicrous jelly-boned positions, thanks to the ragdoll "physics". The game furnishes you with the now-requisite alternate vision modes, night-vision and thermal imaging, but you'll only be using them in a few set places. One nice touch: when you kill a tango, his body will visibly begin to cool in the thermal sight.
As for the gameplay, it's been simplified (don't say 'dumbed down') for the console transition. Gone is the prolonged pre-mission planning, where you'd obsessively review maps and profiles and try to figure out the perfect path for your operatives to take on their way through the game. Instead, you now begin the mission at insertion into hostile territory, and give your squad orders on the fly. Missions usually break down to a formula of "kill terrorists, save hostages," with a bit of "defuse those bombs, please," thrown in for good measure.
The aural experience, however, is where R6:3 really begins to shine. While inside a mission, if you've plugged in your Xbox live communicator headset, you'll hear mission updates crackling in over the headset, both from your HQ, and from your squad members. Even better, instead of using the built-in command menu system to boss your team members around, you can bark orders at them through the microphone of the headset, and watch them carry out your will. It's incredibly immersive and satisfying to evaluate a situation, target a nearby door, yell "Breech and clear on Zulu," and watch your squad members cluster around the door, ready to use explosives to blow down the door and gun down any hostile within, on your command. You can then position yourself at another entrance to the room, and yell the go command - "Zulu!" And then all hell breaks loose. At the sound of your go command, your team executes their orders, busts into the room in an explosive flash, and begins laying down fire. As this is going in, you enter through a side door, and start picking off confused terrorists, now caught in your crossfire. Fantastic stuff, made all the better by being able to give orders with your voice, instead of your controller. It really makes you feel like you're in the action.
And once you've had your fill of playing against the computer, on one of three different difficulty levels, you can take this bad boy online, and match your skills against people all over the country, in either co-operative or death-match play. For the most part, the play is smooth and lag free (though, as the ESRB warning says, content may change during online play.) Of course, the folks you play with online may not be as happy to take your orders as your AI squad members were.
Overall, Rainbow Six 3 manages to be that most rare thing; a PC-to-Console port that not only retains the quality of the original, but also tailors its gameplay perfectly to the console. This game is a hell of a lot of fun, particularly if you're Xbox Live enabled. Terrorists, beware.
