Sequels to games these days are commonplace, and sometimes the follow-up game doesn’t offer anything new over the original – just more of the same. Obviously this isn’t ideal, and gamers often feel cheated when paying £40 for a game that really offers nothing new. So how about upgrade packs and mission disks for games? If you loved the original game, and are very happy to have more of the same, these ‘half-sequels’ are perfect. Retailing at £19.99, Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow is exactly this - and more…
What you get with Black Arrow is ten new missions to play through both offline and online in co-op via System-Link and Xbox Live. On top of this, and for the first time on the Xbox version of Rainbow Six 3 (RS3), you get an excellent split-screen two player mode which lets you play the missions or terrorist hunt co-operatively. There's also another mode called 'Lone Rush', in which you have to run through the levels taking out terrorists as fast as you can (each kill adds 5 seconds to the tight time limit). It's incredibly addictive and completely different to the normal Rainbow Six approach - an excellent addition. The split screen mode works beautifully, with no slowdown and not drop in detail either - the only thing missing is that the weapons aren't in view and you just get an aiming reticule (Ghost Recon-style), and you don't see your hands when throwing a grenade. Xbox Live 3.0 is also integrated into the game, allowing you to send text and voice messages to people on your friends list, and you can set up leagues, tournaments and your own squads (like a clan) through the game’s menu system.
The game does have a story, and the player is treated to a nicely CG rendered intro setting the action in motion before you begin. If I tell you that a series of attempts to kidnap telemetry and rocket scientists pulls Team Rainbow into a spiderweb of international intrigue, you’ll get the idea, and to be honest, you don’t really care about the plot too much, as there is no involvement with characters and it’s quite weak. You just want to play the missions and shoot some Tangos. Like before, the missions range from straightforward terrorist hunt, bomb deactivation and hostage rescue scenarios. The areas you play through are very well designed, and vary nicely too. The positions of the enemies change when playing the same mission over and over, and that always keeps you on your toes, which makes it interesting when you have to play through a level again because you got killed near the end. You can of course save up to four times per level, but everyone always seems to forget that when playing Rainbow...
The game engine itself is of course the same as used in the original RS3, with a few tweaks to animations and enemy AI. Unfortunately, the game still suffers from the strange aiming issues, meaning shooting enemies in the head doesn’t always result in a kill, or it can go the other way and you can seemingly miss them but actually take them out. Although a few additions to AI are evident such as enemies rolling out of the way of your shots to escape, they do sometimes refuse to die when emptying a clip into them (perhaps related to the aiming issue?), and unless you are in their visual range, you can make as much noise as you like and they cannot see/hear you. This never actually ruins the game at all, just occasionally frustrates when you’re in the heat of a mission.
You can still use the voice commands via the Xbox headset to control the rest of your squad, but I found using the controller much more affective and accurate. Press and hold ‘A’ to bring up a list of commands, and you can pull the ‘R’ trigger to add ‘Zulu’ commands (delayed orders) too. It works much better than voice, and means you can sneeze whilst playing without setting your men up to ‘open, frag and clear’ a room and kill all the hostages at the same time!
In the graphics and audio departments, Black Arrow is of the same quality as RS3, with beautifully modelled guns and nicely detailed environments - and of course the absolutely fantastic Dolby Digital 5.1 sound which improves the experience immensely. The cinematic music you get when certain events are triggered in missions is a nice touch, and I must mention the front end music which I think is superb, and really gets you in the mood for the game.
With a certain massive first-person shooter (the name escapes me) on the horizon shortly, it may be difficult for some people to be able to justify buying another FPS when they know they probably wont be playing it after November. But at less than twenty sheets, with ten new missions, new online modes and the fact that this isn’t just another average shooter, I think people will be happily playing for months to come - RS3 deathmatch modes are fine, but there really is nothing like playing the co-op mode with mates. And remember that RS3 ran happily alongside last year’s big release, Project Gotham Racing 2, with regards to numbers playing online, so it shouldn’t make any difference this year either. If you loved Rainbow Six 3, and want some more, this is an absolutely essential purchase, and if you’re new to the series, at £20 or less (£18.99 as I type from GAME) this is the perfect time to get into it - you won't spend your gaming money better. Highly recommended.
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