 Review By: Jared Black |
Developer: | Ubisoft Montreal |
| Publisher: | Ubisoft | |
| Genre: | Squad-based FPS | |
| ESRB: | Mature | |
| # Of Players: | 1-4 (2-16 system link, 16 online) | |
| Online Play: | Yes | |
| Accessories: | Xbox Live (online play, content DL, scoreboards), Communicator (voice commands), HDTV 480p, System Link, In-game Dolby Digital |
As far back as at least the NES (ex: the Ultima series), the trend when porting PC games to console has been to "dumb down" the game to either appeal more to the console's younger user base or to fit all possible actions on a controller with fewer buttons than a keyboard. During this generation of consoles, Ubisoft's methodology has been to do the same…but to also make fundamental changes so that each port is better suited to the console's strengths. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 for Xbox was a good example of this. With a radically different interface then it's PC brethren and a tighter focus on delivering an action-packed gaming experience, the game received rave reviews and became one of the most popular Xbox Live titles of its time.
It's a shame then that Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown takes all of that progress made in Rainbow Six 3 (and to a lesser extent the stand-alone expansion Black Arrow) and basically craps all over it. That defecation begins with the storyline. While somewhat standard fare for the series and genre, Ubisoft felt the need to add in a lame twist to make it "personal". In this case (and I'm not spoiling anything because it was heavily advertised), one of your squad-mates is taken hostage at one point in the game. This fails to make an impact for two key reasons; (1) the only characterization presented during the game is a few lame bits of dialogue between missions (one character telling another character her butt is nice is not what I'd call character development), and (2) the actual twist is handled poorly and resolved almost immediately. In other words, you aren't given any time, or reason, to really care.
Storyline aside, where this game really takes a step back is in the gameplay. In short, Ubisoft has basically turned what used to be a thinking man's shooter into just another run 'n' gun game where you kill a lot of terrorists. Enemy A.I. has never been the series' strong point as it has always relied instead on smartly placed scripted events, but it's even worse this time around either because they intentionally dumbed it down or the competition has advanced so much (probably a combination of both). How Ubisoft can tout "increasingly intelligent enemy A.I." as one of this game's features with a straight face is beyond me. Enemies regularly fail to realize that another soldier in the same room has just been shot (or even that you're standing right beside them), and will simply stand there until it's their time to die. They also rarely work as a team, instead taking up their pre-assigned positions or charging blindly into open areas.
That idiocy isn't one-sided however, as your teammates are pretty stupid as well. Several times during the game my team was completely separated from me, not because of any enemy actions but rather because they simply got lost. When they did manage to keep up, they frequently got in the way and refused to move for several crucial seconds. In other instances, all three of my teammates would try to go through a door at the same time with hilarious (until they were picked off by terrorists anyway) Three Stooges type results. Since we're on the subject of bugs, I guess this is a good place to also mention that on several occasions I somehow managed to fail mission objectives before the game even told me what those objectives were supposed to be.
What all of this really means is that most of the series' emphasis on good team-based tactics is wasted. Very few times did I find myself actually needing to make good use of room-clearing tactics, instead resorting to peeking through doors and picking off enemies myself. Why bother waiting for my team to get setup at each closed door before clearing a room when I can simply run and gun my way through?
Because running and gunning in an engine built for a more steady pace isn't boring enough, the game also features several sniping areas. Taking place at the beginning of many missions, the player uses Weber to pick off enemies and provide cover fire while Team Rainbow infiltrates (or flees) an area. Since the enemies are usually tiny from Weber's vantage point, the player must rely on clues from the rest of the team to determine where enemies are located. However, these audio clues are usually very vague, so a lot of trial and error is involved in getting through each section. Several times I found myself reloading the game, with my only goal being to actually locate the enemy (in particular one with a RPG, which can decimate the entire team in one shot) so that during the next inevitable restart I could have my reticule aimed at that spot. Admittedly a few of these sniping scenes were actually pretty tense and thrilling, but on the whole they don't really add much to the experience.
Apparently because the game wasn't already easy enough either, the other big change to the single-player mode is the addition of a heart monitor. Basically it works like any other vision mode (heat, night, etc.), except it gives Ding the ability to see the relative location of any person throughout the level based on heartbeat alone. While it only works in short spurts, its fast recharge rate makes it much too easy to rely on and significantly reduces the challenge level even more. I actually like the idea, but wish they had implemented it on a limited per-use basis instead.
Of course, from the advertising prior to the game's release the big focus this time around is on the enhanced online support. This takes the form of Persistent Elite Creation mode, which is basically a fancy term for "career mode". Unlike most of the single-player mode, it's actually handled really well. You start out by choosing from one of four character classes (medic, engineer, special ops, or commando) with each having its own strengths and weaknesses. Then, as you play online you'll level up your character and unlock new items and abilities. This isn't anything we haven't seen in other genres already, but for a shooter it's pretty deep. Of course, the downside to any online career mode is that newbies start at a huge disadvantage and that makes the barrier to entry fairly high here. Also, in my experiences spawn killing was a huge problem (done to me, not by me) with no effective countermeasures put into place to stop it, so prepare for a good bit of frustration mixed in with the fun.
The Clancy line of Xbox games has always been stellar graphically (with the exception of the original Ghost Recon), and that's true here too. For the most part it looks like fans of the previous games would expect it to, with plenty of nice indoor environments and spectacular weapons effects. This game also presents the action through a set of virtual goggles, so as you get shot up the goggles begin to crack and vision is distorted. While it's very cool, it also results in some pretty nasty slowdown in heavily populated areas suggesting that the team tried to push the Xbox just a little too hard here. The rag doll physics are also pretty entertaining, although not set up to be used effectively (guys falling off buildings and things like that) as often as they could've been.
And for the first time in a really long time, I actually have a complaint with the audio in a Clancy game. It's not so much that the audio is weak (it's not by any means), but that it doesn't come close to matching the excellent audio found in other recent games such as Ghost Recon 2: Summit Strike. This is naturally due in part to the use of close quarters fighting indoors, but even explosions and other things like that don't resonate with the same intensity. I may be nitpicking here, but overall the sound came off as merely more of the same with little done to enhance it over previous games.
Bottom Line:
It's no surprise to me that, at the time of this review, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown is the only full Clancy title available on Xbox that's not backwards compatible with the Xbox 360. It's easily the worst Clancy game for the system, although to be fair that does still make it better than many other war games out there. Thanks to the excellent Xbox Live support, this is a decent purchase for Clancy completists and online gamers only. For everyone else, it's a rental at best.
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6.0 |
Posted: 2005-12-19 19:41:25PST