'Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield' demos now available!

[Goodsport]

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp Singleplayer demo

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp Multiplayer demo

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp The full retail version of the game is scheduled to hit store shelves later this month.


-G

 

[Lazybones]

Personally, I never got into this game... I tried the first one (bought the "gold" edition from the bargain bin), but the complexity of the planning was just too much for me (I have a very short attention span when it comes to FPS). I would generally use the default setup for my teams, but while my own squad generally did well, I'd get a message that another squad failed (prisoner shot, bomb set off, etc.) and the mission would end.

Anyone have any comment on the evolution of the series?

 

[Goodsport]

Personally, I never got into this game... I tried the first one (bought the "gold" edition from the bargain bin), but the complexity of the planning was just too much for me (I have a very short attention span when it comes to FPS). I would generally use the default setup for my teams, but while my own squad generally did well, I'd get a message that another squad failed (prisoner shot, bomb set off, etc.) and the mission would end.

Anyone have any comment on the evolution of the series?

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp When I bought Rainbow Six when it first came out, I actually put off playing it for a month or so for the same reason (the complexity of the pre-mission planning). I did eventually play it and got used to it, but you are correct that it was initially intimidating.

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp It's interesting that for the first time in the Rainbow Six series' history (and perhaps for only the second time in the development team's history, Splinter Cell being the first), they used a game engine developed by someone else rather than their own in-house game engine (both Raven Shield and Splinter Cell use modified versions of the latest Unreal 2/Unreal Tournament 2003 game engine).


-G

 

[mmu1]

I never really got into these games either, although I definitely tried. For me, the planning was too tedious (and pointless, since the default plan always worked well, and I wasn't going to spend hours tweaking it), and completing the missions seemed to have more to do with luck (does my second elite entry team get stuck in a doorway or staircase and shot to pieces again, or do they overcome the architecture and we triumph?) than skill.

That, and in the one I played (Rogue Spear), the terrorists were all crack marksmen capable of making head shots from almost any distance (to make up for crappy AI, I presume) - better, it seemed, than my own teammates - which absolutely drove me nuts.

Splinter Cell, with only one guy to control and worry about, is more my cup of tea. If I need to control twelve damn people, make the game turn-based like X-Com or Jagged Alliance.

 

[DMFTodd]

Mission planning is tedious - and pointless. Most missions you play with no planning: You just tell a squard where to start and then you move each squad yourself. You might put in orders for movement when the unit is in the clear (you move in manually, clear an area, then let the planning take the unit to the next location while you move another unit).

Rogue Spear, Rainbow, great games.

 

[Lazybones]

The PC Gamer review of RS3 states that the game is essentially more of the same (bad AI, movement issues, etc) with much better graphics. They gave it an 80/100 rating.

 

[Goodsport]

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp Two more days until the retail version of the game hits store shelves!


&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp

-G

 

[Goodsport]

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp Now that the retail version has been in store for a bit, don't forget to download both the v1.2 patch and The Raven Shield Platoon's Map Pack Version 2.0.


-G

 

[Goodsport]

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp And the game's first expansion Mission Pack ( Rainbow Six 3: Athena Sword ) is due in stores later this year.


-G