Rainbow Six Gold Pack Edition

by Peter Olafson
January 01, 2000 00:00 AM PST

Go for the Gold

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You didn't have to reach the end of this Rainbow to find gold. In Rainbow Six, gold was everywhere. It was in the teeth-clenched multiplayer mode. It was in the way I controlled my breathing--as if I was really on the job in an anti-terrorism unit. It was in the darkness under the stairs and around the next corner, and in that odd protrusion up ahead. An enemy gun muzzle? A friendly elbow? Or just an odd protrusion?

As the Rainbow Six follow-up, Rogue Spear, nears release, publisher Red Storm has returned to 1998's ground-breaking 3D squad game with results that re-validate the game's success. The wordily-titled Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Gold Pack Edition consists of the original release, the Eagle Watch add-on and a strategy guide that covers both.

The game and its add-on have aged well. They are every bit as resilient and as entertaining as they were last fall.

Rainbow Six was a solid foundation. It wasn't just a shoot-em-up. It wasn't just a strategy game. Its planning mode made you think about the 3D world before you stepped into it, and your presence within the 3D world was richly participatory because you'd put it in order in advance. There is nothing like being in a place where the passers-by are passing by because you instructed them to do so. This shooter, if shooter it was, was about something. It mattered.

The Eagle Watch add-on was more of a great game. Sometimes, that's all we want. But, beyond the usual array of new missions, weapons and operatives, it also provided a set of stern training exercises that repaired the rather ordinary ones in the original and an over-watch mode that allowed you to monitor your troopers without the burdens of playing a part�and helped you learn why things worked or fell down.

Finally, Prima's 225-page guide is thorough, specific and graphically vivid. (The index is a nice touch.)

Now, the game could use some work. The AI still seems flimsy. Too many terrorists just stand around and react to the player at the moment of confrontation. I'd like to see more flexibility and coordination on the other side.

But this is an issue of fine-tuning, and doesn't significantly affect Rainbow Six's intensity. This is a must. This is pure gold.