by:	August 17, 2004

Well, Rainbow Six 3 is back, and what a hit it is. You can expect the same graphics from the previous version of Rainbow Six 3, because there is absolutely no change in that department. In fact, nothing was really changed in Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow except for some nice added features. The guys at Ubisoft were just improving on an already good game, and the new Xbox live 3.0 features are sure to make it better. There is also a preview of Ghost Recon 2 which is a must have.

-Gameplay
The gameplay for Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow is the same but with new added features. Before I get ahead of myself with the multiplayer features, let’s talk about single player. The new single player campaign has diversified and challenging objectives. Whether it’s saving a hostage from terrorists or just doing recon missions, it is invigorating. The terrorists’ AI has been greatly improved, so it’s no longer run and gun. If you think you’re just going to kill each person that is standing there, then think again. The terrorists will use hostages as human shields or call for backup when they are outnumbered. There are exactly 10 new campaign maps that are really interesting to explore. The maps can be very puzzling while the missions are diversified. Some missions can be linear, where you shoot people till there is no one left alive, and some are hard enough that it forces you to count on your teammates. Even though most of the missions count on you for success, your teammates come in handy most of the time as well. The environment doesn’t really play a part, because there is no camouflage to surround you with. Most people on Xbox Live will say: ?man, I wish I could shoot out these lights, but to do so, you’d need a totally new game engine like Splinter Cell. You can hide in the dark areas, but that’s not really interacting with the environment. Still, trying your best to get an upper hand on the terrorist has come a long way: using commands like tango, or your weaponry like flash grenades, smoke grenades or tear gas. They all become a useful part of the game, but it’s usually just about confusing the AI and catching them off guard.

The weapons you get to use are vast, and you’ll have to use different ones, considering the map when you choose. The best guns are the average guns that don’t seem to have powerful stats, which seem misleading. The fammas and G3AC have the same stats, but each is unique in its own way. It really doesn’t matter if one gun is more powerful than the other, it’s more important to use one you are comfortable with. You get to pick from an array of weapons, so there no harm in trying them all until you find the right one. Now to the multiplayer aspects of the game and the new Xbox live 3.0 features. Once you signed into Xbox Live, you get a list of options to choose from: Quick match, Optimatch, Create Match, Competition, Community, Statistics, Options, and Downloads. The two to notice here are Competition and Community. Community has several options to choose from: Inbox, Friends, Players, My/Create Squad, and Recruiters. Inbox allows players to communicate with each other using either a voice message or a text message. Creating a Squad is more than impressive, and is one of the greatest Xbox Live features there is to date. You are allowed to create your own logo from optional categories, able to create your own team name, tag to be shown on games, team motto, description of what your clan is about and URL if you have a team website. On top of that, you’re able to recruit regular Xbox Live players and edit their position in the clan. The positions are Director, Commander, Officer and Operative. The director can pretty much do anything he/she wants, and each lower rank gets limited powers. Once you set up your clan and have a clan match with another clan, this is where competition comes in. Note that competition is only available to people who aren’t behind an NAT (a firewall of some sort). Your clan is sent to a lobby with the opponent clan and your records are saved. The last added feature is where you can change your equipment while you’re dead. It might seem small, but it’s great when you’re on a server who starts prematurely.

Aside from those new features, there are also 2 new gameplay modes. One is Total Conquest, in which each team tries to control all the COMSAT positions simultaneously for a certain amount of time (user defined). The other is Retrieval, which is a race to get the blue canister and decontaminate it in your depot station (similar to capture the flag). The other 4 game play modes return from the regular Rainbow Six 3: mission, survival, team survival, and sharpshooter. Even though there are incredible new features, campaign, and gameplay modes... you can’t help but feel like this is just an expansion pack.

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