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Fans of Tom Clancy’s games will love the new Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield

One of the most eagerly anticipated videogame releases of the year Raven Shield is the sequel to the immensely popular Rogue Spear and the third game in the Rainbow Six line, which has already sold more than seven million copies worldwide.

The Rainbow Six line is known for its action-packed game play and heart-stopping realism - Raven Shield mercilessly continues in this tradition. It features a brand new Tom Clancy storyline in which 'Team Rainbow' is led all over the world executing a series of dramatic operations.

The Story

The Rainbow team has been called on to intervene in incidents involving several dangerous groups who ruthlessly demand cooperation from all involved parties. From skinheads protesting the deportation of an elderly Nazi to heavily armed drug runners involved in the oil trade, these criminals will stop at nothing to get their way. Investigations lead Intel to Hermann Lieber, a wealthy Croatian businessman and owner of several sites where these incidents occur.

Another man is also under suspicion: Alvaro Calderon, an Argentinean national running for office on a far right-wing ticket with connections to neo-Nazi groups. In this game, the Rainbow team must workm to uncover Lieber's despicable plans and react with trademark heroism and daring-do.

Innovations

A first person emotive camera for greater immersion and all around intensity of experience. The camera is unique in that effects are used to directly transmit sensory reactions to players. For instance, when an enemy shoots, the player will experience blurred vision on screen as well as mild deafness for a short period of time

90 degrees of control over the 'peek and crouch' position, allowing for greater hideability and regulation of movement. Gradual and quick door opening also means better infiltration gameplay

'Commander mode' for online strategic play will allow one player to act as a general guiding his team through the maps. Using a state of the art Wind Rose interface to give clear and fast orders, the general will not take part in the action phase but will coordinate from a safe place

Eight Clancy-approved techno-thriller scripts! Imagine yourself in immense geopolitical turmoil, with only your skills, team mates and realistic high-tech weapons to guide you behind the scenes in covert black-ops

Game Features:

All new graphics using the next-generation Unreal Engine

A redesigned command interface

New movement commands, including the prone position for the first time in the franchise

All new weather effects

First person view weapons – All new for the Rainbow Franchise

All new lighting effects

15 single player missions

New multiplayer modes and features

Previous successes in this range have been: Tom Clancy's Rogue Spear, named 2000 Action Game Of The Year by PC Gamer and Computer Gaming World magazines. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six was also named 1999 Action Game of the Year by PC Gamer.

The games’ producer, Chaddi Lebbos, talks about being asked to become involved in the game. "You can imagine what my reaction was! Being a producer on Raven Shield, I always need to keep in mind that we're not dealing with any old game here...it's Rainbow Six. I need to make sure the standards of quality in terms of gameplay remains consistent, and combined with graphics and sound, everything needs to be balanced perfectly and of the highest quality in order to bring the best possible experience to our fans.

"This franchise is probably the most popular on the FPS (firt-person-shooter) market with Half Life, and of course, the pressure on the team is high to make Raven Shield a whole new experience! We need to make good decisions to preserve the authenticity of the franchise and add innovations that will surprise Rainbow Six and FPS fans.

"So yes, it is a big pressure for us to continue what RSE has built so far. However, it also means high motivations because we know that fans and customers have been waiting very long for it. The development team itself is build of Rainbow Six fans, so I think we're on the right track!"

Special Training

So how much (if any?) special training or research has gone into the look and feel of the game? Lebbos says: "As we did with (the) Black Thorn title, we are constantly working with RSE. The story is mostly managed by RSE and the game design is supported by RSE. Many decisions are also debated with RSE first. They know the franchise more than anybody and it's important to have feedback from them on any parts of our work.

"We want this game to be the most realistic Elite Police tactical simulator. To achieve this goal, the development team leaders have been trained by the GTI SQ team (elite hostage-rescue team in Montreal, Canada). Moreover, we are working closely with a member of LAPD Tactics. He's a strong adviser that helps us on the design of gadgets, tactics and tells us how an operative should react on specific situations."

On the new features of the game, he adds: "I really like the new peek and crouch controls which are quite innovative. It doesn't disturb the way I'm used to playing Rogue Spear, but if I need more precision, the full control is useful and will help me to discover hidden places to shoot the enemy."

Multiplayer Demo

The PC multiplayer demo features two levels (street and prison), 15 weapons, several gadgets and two multiplayer modes (survival and team survival). The team survival mode can be played with up to 15 friends.

The final game features 15 all new single-player missions including the discovery of a cache of biological weapons and stopping an armed gang of robbers terrorising a London bank.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield is out now for PC, Game Cube, Xbox and PlayStation 2.

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