It all started with Wolfenstein 3D, a game that took the gaming community by storm with its unique blend of mazes to negotiate and testosterone induced action. That same formula was further perfected by Doom and then of course Quake, which had as much gore as any of the famous Romero zombie movies (Night of, Dawn of and Day of the Dead). But in all the frenzy that has followed these shooters there has been one thing truly lacking, a more serious realism based shooter.

This aint Cape Canaveral...

This past year has seen more of the same Quake follow ons with games such as SiN, Shogo and more recently Half-Life, all following the same formula of action over realism. But this same year we’ve witnessed a small company from North Carolina rise above the crowd and not only redefine the standard of the action shooter but create a whole new genre in the process; realistic strategic shooters.

Wanna play nice when my boyz in black come calling? I think not, go join your friend!

Redstorm Entertainment made its mark on the gaming community and altered our way of thinking with their hyper realistic counter terrorist sim Rainbow Six. Proving that shooters CAN have realism and gamers want that in a game, Rainbow Six is the biggest break in first person shooter genre to come along since the first Wolfenstein and I feel it is most definitely THE shooter of the year.

While many gamers have been charmed and wooed by Half-Life with its blend of action and plot in an action based shooter, I personally feel Rainbow Six beats it hands down. Half-Life has stayed the course of action shooters and has you fighting aliens from another dimension and allows a gamer to take multiple hits and regenerate those lost hit points at magic health stations.

Tango Down!

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Half-Life but it has gone the same route as Quake has gone for me; once beaten I never play it again save for multiplayer when I want some quick thought free action. My multiplayer experiences with HL have been less than stellar as lag slows gameplay down to a crawl at times, further pulling HL down from the excellent multiplayer in R6. Rainbow Six has broken free of that action standard with a realism based system in which one shot does kill, while also challenging your mind as much as your reflexes with their perfectly balanced mix of action and tactical planning.

Redstorm not only decided to do a realism based shooter but grabbed the bull by the horns and tackled one of the most difficult of all real world military operations to simulate: counter terrorism. Obviously judging from the constant posting in the forums on the Redstorm web site, I am not alone in my enthusiasm for this mind blowing and highly addictive shooter.

Within months after the successful, initial release of Rainbow Six Redstorm has already finished a mission pack entitled Eagle Watch which will give fans of the original game even more challenges to face in single player mode as well as more multiplayer maps in which to wreak havoc.

After playing the final of Eagle Watch for a couple of weeks now I’ve got to say that this is a very solid expansion to the original, adding 5 new real world areas to play in, which include the Buran space shuttle test site, the Taj Mahal, the Forbidden City in China, the famous clock tower Big Ben and finally the U.S. Capitol Building.

Furthermore, a couple of new training maps are added, my favorite being the City Street Hunt that looks to be as much fun in multiplayer as it is in single player. This mission pack will nicely tide we Rainbow Six fans over until we can get our hands on the sequel to this highly unique and realistic series.

An Indian seperatist gets... separated 

We’re once again treated to a neat little intro video of Rainbow in action, all taken from gameplay as was the first then it’s off to the missions themselves. The first mission has you called in to stop a terrorist takeover of the Russian space shuttle Buran. Moving through the dimly lit hallways of the shuttle launch complex and winding your way up to the shuttle itself taking down tangos as you go, there’s some very good action in this mission. Rainbow is again called up next to face down an Indian seperatist group’s takeover of the Taj Mahal where they’ve taken hostages and planted a bomb they threaten to detonate if their demands of a formation of a separate Sikh state are not met.

Escorting Precious Cargo...

Both of these missions are actually rather easy compared to the next one you’ll face in Britain where a vicious splinter group if IRA terrorists called NOMAR have taken over the British Houses of Parliament. They’ve planted a bomb and have taken hostages into the clocktower of Big Ben, if their demands are not met by midnight they will set off the bomb killing everyone inside and destroying this historic landmark. While the SAS could do the job the British government has called on Rainbow in an effort to stop any further troubles by using domestic forces.

The reason I felt this was a tougher mission than the last is not only due to the number of tangos you will face but the terrain you’ll be fighting on. With many rooms to clear in this large level you’ll also be forced to deal with the additional obstacle of tangos on multiple levels in the same room, as a lot of these rooms have balcony areas. These terrorists are tough and deadly (being highly motivated and experienced IRA fighters), a firefight with them is over quickly and they are lethally accurate.

Large multi-level rooms in BHOP

Proper use of overwatch and coordinating room entries are paramount to your teams survival, there’s no ‘John Wayning’ it here if you want to get all of your team out alive. To make matters even more difficult is the need to travel up several flights of stairs to the Big Ben clock tower, each is heavily guarded by tangos that don’t want to let you by so easily. You will get a great appreciation for the term CQB in these hallways as here it is truly Close Quarters Battle!

This mission also looks to be an excellent and tough multiplayer map due to it’s great size, and should make for some terse fighting in the stairwells as they are deadly choke points.

After a successful completion of that takedown you’ll move on to the Forbidden City in Beijing. In an uncharacteristic move by the Chinese government, Rainbow has been called in following a failed rescue attempt by Chinese forces. Chinese revolutionaries have seized this Forbidden City and have taken hostages, it’s up to you to rescue the hostages and take them all down.

Bad day at the office?!

You’ll find the tangos aren’t too hard to take down outside but that will change a bit once inside as you must move up stairs to reach the hostages, who are held in several places throughout the map. Luckily one of the tweaks made to the R6 engine has been on the use of grenade throwing making it easier for you to toss grenades to levels above you. Lead into these areas with flashbangs and quickly follow up with your teams clearing the room and removing hostages to safety.

Traveling the tight stairwells of Big Ben

Finally you’ll be called upon to rescue a US Senator and another hostage that have been taken in the Senate wing of the US Capitol Building. This mission has the same code designation as the mission pack itself, Eagle Watch. Coupled with that challenge you must also disarm another bomb in this mission, just as in the Taj Mahal mission. Again you will be facing tangos on multiple levels in some areas of this map and must be always alert and aware of your surroundings. This is another challenging mission and should be another great mutliplayer mission as there are scores of rooms to hide in.

One less bad guy...

I haven’t yet had the opportunity to do a multiplayer test on these maps but judging from past experiences with the original R6 maps these look to be as good if not better than some of the originals! With the already solid multiplayer aspects of this game in place there should be no problems with gamers finding some great, high-speed action.

An additional feature thrown in to the mission pack is the allowance for the gamer to choose what is being called ‘Free Watch Mode’. If you choose this mode you can set up your teams plan and then sit back and watch it unfold on the screen before you, from either the first person or third person perspective.

This is a nice feature for a couple of reasons as it allows you to ‘let the pros do it’ and watch the AI carry your strategy to the enemy. It also serves as a great learning tool for those new to the game as a tutorial of sorts that lets you not only see how a well thought out plan is executed but as a sort of ‘leaders recon’ of the layout of the maps.

Nice paintings adorn the walls of the Capitol

I would love to see this feature carried into the sequel by allowing gamers to create demo videos similar to Quake demo’s so you can swap and share your great battles with your friends. Unfortunately this feature does not carry over to the original Rainbow Six game and let you use it for those missions, but it is a great feature that just further enhances an already outstanding game.

Another satisfied customer...

There are new operatives from which you can choose as well as three new weapons to add to the arsenal from Rainbow Six. I’m not going to spoil the fun for readers of the Rainbow Six novel, but you may be happy to see characters from the book starting to filter into the game itself!

The new weapons include the Desert Eagle .50, HK G36K and the HKG3A3, all nice additions to help you in your fight to take on terrorism wherever it rears its ugly head. They also can punch through bodyarmor well and have serious man-stopping power to put down those tough to take on tangos.

Hey don't I know you from somewhere?

On January 28th there’s only one purchase to make, Rainbow Six Mission Pack: Eagle Watch at $19.99 you can't go wrong!

Stay tuned for the multiplayer review coming soon that will cover the new missions and training maps in better depth both in co-op as well as head to head play.

Rating:

• Core Rating : 100
• Gameplay : 95
• Graphics : 90
• Sound : 92
• Intelligence/AI : 92
• User Interface/Mission Planner : 100
• Fun Factor : 100
• Learning Curve (in hours) : 2-4 hours
• Overall Rating : 95