History of Rainbow Six (1997 - 2020)

welcome back everyone i'm nick930 and today i wanted to share with you the complete history of tom clancy's rainbow six tango down rainbow six is a first person tactical shooter franchise created by redstorm entertainment published by ubisoft and endorsed by the late american novelist tom clancy in each game players control members of team rainbow an international anti-terrorist unit whose sophisticated skills and precision allow them to effectively clear up fortified positions and secure sensitive objectives the series is often recognized for its role in establishing the tactical shooter genre and despite a few missteps throughout the course of the past 20 some years it still remains one of the most popular tactical shooter games available to this day so how exactly did the rainbow six property manage to retain its popularity and what can we expect from the series in the future well to answer that let's take a look at how the series began back in the late 90s in 1984 a baltimore novelist by the name of tom clancy released his first book the hunt for red october it was met with overwhelming praise and even received endorsement from u.s president ronald reagan greatly boosting the 36 year old writer's credibility following this unexpected success clancy went on to write several more books all sharing similar literary themes mainly involving highly trained american special forces thwarting international terrorism as his influence grew clancy sought to expand his legacy outside the pages of his books and established clancy interactive entertainment he then coordinated with a small game development studio from north carolina to create an interactive experience based on his latest submarine warfare novel ssn the game helped convince clancy that the video game medium was worth investing in and a day after its release the two studios were consolidated into red storm entertainment they released a few small games including a turn-based strategy title based on clancy's book politica and a 3d rts game about aliens defending against human invaders but it was their next title that really helped to put them on the map a game that would not only spawn a massive decade spanning franchise but also redefined the tactical first person shooter forever using a custom quake modification redstorm toyed around with ideas for a more authentic fps experience including more limited movement and real-life weaponry but the most interesting and at the time unusual gameplay mechanics that they incorporated was the one shot kill a simple tweak that immediately changed the entire feel of the shooter action recognizing its potential the studio then constructed their own system architecture and crafted complex environments and unique player interactions all based around potential real-life scenarios a lot of their ideas send from the real-life us hostage rescue team but seeing how this would limit the game's scope they invented a new fictional team of international operatives instead and gave the project the working name black ops clancy intrigued by this new project suggested that the title be renamed he sat down with red storm's ceo doug littlejohn and the two eventually landed on the name rainbow six with rainbow being derived from the south african rainbow nation of 1994 and the number six being the numeric ranking for a u.s naval captain the name stuck and clancy encouraged redstorm to adopt the title to coincide with his upcoming book release meanwhile the rookie developers at redstorm encountered several hurdles throughout the course of the game's development unlike most games made around the time the developers didn't go based off of any sort of design documentation or outline to keep their process organized but instead had multiple artists create levels for several weeks at a time while the programmers ironed out the complex artificial intelligence this resulted in a painfully tedious process one that lead designer brian upton admits was a logistic nightmare but the team remained committed to deliver what they felt would offer a revolutionary experience storm now anxious to show their project to the world rustled together a rough demonstration of the game for the electronic entertainment expo in 1998 and were overwhelmed by the response that they received word about the game's unique shooter formula spread like wildfire on the show floor prompting attendees to make repeat visits to their boot now recognizing just how popular this title was set to become the pressure to deliver a quality experience mounted the team spent the final months perfecting the game's complex ai and planning phase system while also throwing together a rough narrative to help add in some cohesion and finally in august of 1998 redstorm entertainment released tom clancy's rainbow six exclusively for the pc platform with additional console and mac ports created by third party studios a year later the first rainbow six takes place in the late 90s with a deadly eco-terrorist organization referred to as phoenix launching seemingly random attacks around the world in response the newly established team of multinational operatives team rainbow are deployed to help deal with each threat pacifying groups of terrorists rescuing hostages and disarming deadly explosives but after successfully thwarting all phoenix's attacks it becomes apparent that the attacks were actually a coordinated effort operating under direct orders from a supposed ally the horizon corporation who plan on wiping out a massive portion of the human population using a deadly bio weapon during the 2000 olympics it's an ambitious plot and one that shares a lot in common with a book of the same name and its realistic sensibilities along with its emphasis on highly skilled operatives thwarting international terrorism would go on to define the general narrative structure of every game under the clancy banner from then on out contact as for the gameplay rainbow six offers a uniquely tactical shooter experience unlike anything that was available at the time each mission is split into two parts a planning phase and an action phase in the planning phase players are given an extensive briefing of the upcoming mission with lots of info about the targets the location and other relevant intel once players feel that they've learned enough they can then progress to the roster selection menu where they hand select individual operatives to use throughout the course of the mission each operative has their own name stats and specialties and selecting a healthy balance of different skill sets can greatly improve the team's effectiveness for things like room clearing or reaching sealed entrances the next tab is the kit selection window where the weapons armor and tools can be customized to suit the player's preference there's only a handful of weapons available mainly m16s and mp5s though there's a few variants for each along with a few gadgets like grenades flashbangs breaching charges lock picking kits and heartbeat sensors the latter of which was actually suggested by tom clancy himself after setting up the roster's gear operatives can then be sorted into individual teams with 4 slots available per team but with only a maximum of 8 total allies per mission players are forced to split up these teams based on their personal preference some missions for example offer a lot of entrances and are better suited for multiple simultaneous breaches with squads of two while other missions are more straightforward and linear and two squads of four are recommended to help deal with multiple threats within a single area this becomes especially important with the next tab the planning screen this is probably where players will spend most of their time in the original rainbow six using the chosen team configuration players now need to draw out specific directions for each individual team lead lines drawn indicate movement while nodes or waypoints indicate new orders players can tweak a lot of the settings for each of their waypoints depending on how they want the ai to behave teams can be set to move slow and cautious or fast and reckless both of which have their uses depending on the situation they can even set up special actions mainly for doorways where team members will set up breaching charges or prep grenades to help clear out rooms to time these actions more precisely go codes can be assigned for any waypoint which requires the player's input to initiate the following action this mechanic allows players to pull off perfectly coordinated attacks and when done properly they are some of the most satisfying moments throughout the series especially if the player is responsible for the custom plan the planning phase can certainly be overwhelming especially for players looking to just jump straight into the action so redstorm did include pre-built plans to utilize most of which offer a reliable set of waypoints to follow though nothing really compares to setting up your own personal plan and carefully fine-tuning it until you can storm through the map flawlessly with minimal casualties in the action phase players control one team leader directly while the other teams follow through on their respective plans the game is played primarily in first person with a red crosshair appearing in the center of the screen and a detailed toolbar providing critical mission info like each team's status a minimap with plans drawn out on them and basic weapon information but it's the combat where rainbow six really makes a name for itself bullets in this game are lethal with single short bursts being more than enough to put down anyone for good and this is hugely important as these terrorists even on the easiest difficulty really don't mess around the reaction time is incredibly fast giving players only a split second to respond this combined with the weapon accuracy that fluctuates wildly with any sort of rapid movement requires players to move at a much slower pace and engage enemies in the safest possible way flanking enemies will grant valuable extra time to line up lethal headshots and the use of tools like flashbangs and heartbeat sensors are critical especially when trying to prevent civilian casualties there are 16 campaign missions to complete each with unique layouts and scenarios combined with randomized guard placement and objectives the maps typically consist of small two-story residential or office buildings with lots of different entry points to make use of and players should carefully review blueprints of the accessible structures along with estimated objective placements to plan their approach and minimize any hazardous encounters the objectives include eliminating all the terrorists on the map diffusing bombs and rescuing groups of hostages escorting hostage though there are a few missions towards the end that require the player to go in solo and sneak around without being detected these stealth operations are probably some of the more annoying missions in the game with instant failed parameters when being detected and no authorization to use lethal force though they at least add a bit of variety to the experience and then of course there's the game's online multiplayer that played a critical role in redefining the competitive fps space with one of the earliest tactical shooter pvp experiences in the industry the game's multiplayer options allow for both full cooperative play of the main campaign along with a competitive pvp mode that pits two teams against each other in objective based death matches that take place in repurposed campaign environments the game modes include various forms of death matches and objective based scenarios like rescuing a group of ai control hostages which helped us set it apart from other late 90s online shooter games the fans quickly erected privately owned competitive leagues that have since blossomed into the growing esports experiences available today though rainbow six's influence on online competitive gaming is so extensive i think i'll save that for its own standalone video in the future by the end of 1998 rainbow six had greatly exceeded sales expectations it was a massive hit and is recognized today for popularizing many aspects of tactical shooter games that we take for granted things like perma-death one-shot kills and limited ammunition are all concepts that became commonplace after this game and red storm entertainment had firmly placed themselves into a new niche market that would only continue to grow from there on out following the initial pc and eventual mac release redstorm reached out to a couple of third-party studios to bring their experience to the emerging console space including the sega dreamcast the nintendo 64 and the sony playstation and while the two former systems came close to emulating the beloved pc version the playstation version wasn't quite on the same level the planning phase was stripped away and instead there's only three controllable operatives in each mission turning each level into a mess of trial and error the only upside to this version is that it's the first entry in the series to feature a rendered first person gun model but despite this misstep the series was still growing steadily in popularity with many newcomers discovering the tactical sub-genre that would eventually consume the market today meanwhile in early 1999 redstorm released their first expansion pack for the original pc version called eagle watch which added in five more campaign missions to play along with some new gear and updates to the game's multiplayer modes most notably the first instance of the fan favorite cooperative terrorist hunt that pits two teams of players against each other along with the third team of ai-controlled terrorists to add to the chaos like the main game this content was well received but it was merely a small taste of what was to come later that same year tango's insight with the sequel redstorm sought to expand upon what they had already accomplished with bigger missions more interesting situations to defuse and a few tweaks to the feel of the gameplay but they soon found themselves caught on a short leash as their strict release window and poorly managed development pipeline made any major changes to their formula almost impossible the same engine architecture was reused along with many of the same assets like basic controls and mechanics but they were able to sneak in a few quality of life improvements to strengthen the game's popular multiplier suite redstorm even included features based on feedback from their audience a collaborative practice that continues to shape elements of the series to this day and after only a little under a year of development red storm released the second entry to the series rainbow six rogue spear rogue spear takes place a few years after the events of the first game with team rainbow now dealing with a group of russian mobsters supplying deadly weapons and equipment to terrorist organizations around the world the plot isn't quite as ambitious as the original game but it retains a lot of similar elements and it does ramp up in intensity towards the end when the antagonists threaten to trigger a nuclear meltdown at a power plant from a gameplay perspective rogue spear serves to fortify the already solid tactical shooter gameplay design introduced previously the format of the well-received planning and action phase system remains intact though there are a few minor tweaks here and there for example team waypoints during the action phase now appear in the minimap with their own color rather than all of the different team waypoints appearing as the same color like before players can also crouch and move at the same time and even lean out from around corners minimizing exposure to enemy gunfire a significant amount roguespeare also features a large increase to the number of available weapons including the aug the l85a1 and even powerful bolt action sniper rifles that can be assigned to the new sniper class to neutralize long distance targets when given the order to account for new mechanics like this the levels in rogue spear are also much more expansive and varied the locations range from docks tv stations and oil tankers to even more interesting locales like a hijacked 747 on a runway an opera house a museum and an old castle fans of rainbow six siege may even notice some interesting similarities with some of these locations especially the chalet that serves as the inspiration for the map of the same name in the series most recent release but it was rogue spears multiplayer that really helped to drive the series forward not only does it include all the modes from the first game and its eagle watch expansion but it also includes the first truly cooperative terrorist hunt mode where a team of human players face off against the ai in any of the available environments without any specific objectives to worry about this cooperative experience has since become synonymous with the rainbow six franchise and has been featured in almost every single rainbow six game since but the competitive mode still remain the biggest selling point for pc gamers as the online competitive atmosphere only further intensified with fierce skirmishes on fan favorite maps like bunker the met and train yard this old school multiplayer offered large-scale 16-player objective-based death matches and included many of the improvements from the single player once again red storm had delivered as rogue spear was widely praised across the industry the game scored highly among critics garnering scores in the upper 80s though many did take note of the game's lack of innovation and new features sure you could lean and shoot sniper rifles now but it was still more of the same and its visuals were quickly falling behind the competition following rogue spears release red storm along with a few other third party developers created several ports and expansion packs the first expansion is called urban operations and adds in eight new missions to play along with a few legacy missions from the first game but urban operations is probably best known for its inclusion of a new mod management system allowing for user-generated content to be more easily loaded into the game this was a major deal back then as it helped to greatly strengthen the online community surrounding it and is a strong reason for why the community today still remains active several months later the second expansion rainbow six covert ops released adding with it three more missions along with a collection of six multiplayer maps unlike urban ops covert ops was not intended to be an expansion pack instead it started development as an actual training simulator pitch for law enforcement but because of a severe lack in funding it was ultimately released as a standalone expansion instead these expansions alongside continued positive sales numbers for both rogue spear and the original rainbow six eventually caught the interest of the up-and-coming french publisher ubisoft who then offered to purchase red storm along with the rights to publish games under the tom clancy banner this proved to be a major step for not just ubisoft and red storm but for the rainbow six series that could be properly improved upon thanks to the additional funding offered by this new acquisition but before that could happen red storm was already hard at work on a brand new ip one that would take their tactical shooting formula out into wide open spaces ghost recon as i mentioned in my documentary last year was hugely successful for red storm it helped to cement the studio as the undisputed champions of tactical shooter gameplay and allowed the developers to attempt much larger scale operations and along with it more exciting action-based gameplay a lot of the same aspects from rainbow six are incorporated in these early titles including one-shot kills and permadeath but there were also some nice changes like more impressive graphics controls and most importantly a way to directly control squad movement in real time using a planning screen implemented directly into the action phase lessons learned from the ghost recon series would significantly influence steps taken with the rainbow six series moving forward creating a long lasting bond between the two franchises that still exists to this day as we move into the early 2000s the history of rainbow six gets a little bit messy with the ubisoft acquisition the new ghost recon property being introduced and various expansions and ports it seemed tom clancy games were just being thrown all over the place greatly confusing the market and discouraging newcomers from jumping on board rogue spear received a third expansion titled black thorne that again added to the robust list of weapons missions and multiplayer maps and south korean gamers even received a special exclusive title called rainbow six takedown which along with previous content offered a series of special korean based operations along with unique operatives weaponry and multiplayer content console ports also continued to be released though shared about the same fate as the previous title the dreamcast version was mostly the same as the pc version albeit with incredibly convoluted menu controls to account for the lack of button inputs and the playstation version once again failed to really deliver the same type of experience though it did at least try with more squad management features that weren't available previously the development team behind this port rebellion then released another game exclusive for the playstation called rainbow six lone wolf this is probably one of the more unusual entries to the series as it only features five single-player missions and features no ai teammates at all the game's story is based around a counter-terrorism operation in norway and follows series regular deng chavez as he attempts to stop an illegal arms shipment from trading hands with russian terrorists the gameplay is significantly dumbed down from its pc and dreamcast cousins with no planning phase no ai companions and no multiplayer and relies entirely on its tactical first person combat it's ultimately another forgettable entry to the series for playstation owners and after its failure ubisoft decided that for now on it would hold the rainbow six property much closer to the chest only allowing its own internal studios and red storm to work on new entries a move that would help to maintain a more consistent quality for the titles moving forward after the ubisoft acquisition and the successful launch of the new ghost recon series the tactical shooter genre experienced a massive boom throughout the industry rainbow's gritty realism offered a completely new take on the genre one without the fast-paced rocket jumping and strafing that had long been associated with fbs games and other developers in the industry took notice as well inspiring them to create their own realistic military-themed experiences with a lot of the same rules and concepts one-shot kills the need to reload weapons and an emphasis on team play all quickly became common aspects of the shooter formula and soon would replace the likes of doom quake and duke nukem in the early 2000s replacing them were a large assortment of new ips like conflict desert storm the delta iv series medal of honor call of duty and of course the hugely popular half-life mod counter-strike but one of the most striking similarities came with 1999's swat 3 that transformed the old police quest franchise into something that felt eerily similar to rainbow six red storm aware of the sudden uptick in competition knew that the only way to keep rainbow six on top was to give it a complete overhaul first they had to abandon their old graphic engine opting for a much more advanced unreal 2 instead with this new graphical architecture they were able to completely redo the game's mechanics while also modernizing the graphical design character models were made up of more polygons the artificial intelligence was enhanced and new physics effects were thrown in to make the combat more visceral they even rendered full 3d gun models as it was now an expected industry norm but an even greater focus for the studio was on the improvements to the multiplayer an asset that both redstorm and ubisoft agreed was hugely important to the success of the series and would ultimately become one of xbox live's first hugely popular online shooter experiences finally after about four years of development ubisoft and red storm entertainment released the fan favorite tom clancy's rainbow six three raven shield exclusively for the pc with a separate console version that i'll talk about more in a bit raven shield story takes place in 2005 with team rainbow responding to several international terrorist attacks once again only this time it's being perpetrated by a group of nazi sympathizers from croatia threatening to utilize chemical weapons in south america the game story is built very similar to the original two titles with most of the info being delivered via the director of rainbow john clark during a briefing sequence at the start of each level during the missions themselves the focus continues to be primarily on the action though there are a few unique dialogue sequences at insertion points now along with a few new fmvs at play when successfully completing levels providing a little more insight into the consequences of team rainbow's intervention [Music] but the tactical action is still at the core of what makes this series special and ravenshield delivers this in spades the format is very much the same as the original games there's a prep phase where you select your team gear and draw out a plan in the action phase where you shoot lots of bad guys and save the day but each one of these elements has been given a huge upgrade with more functionality than ever before the gear selection screen for example not only lets players change their armor weapons and equipment but also allows them to equip attachments to their guns like a scope an extended mag or a suppressor the planning screen has also been reworked with less visual clutter and easier to understand tools waypoints now show distinct icons to symbolize things like roe and unit direction and there's even a direct visual feed for each selected waypoint that provides way more information about the game world than the simple flat blueprints from before this allows for greater planning precision including an option to directly manipulate the view angle for each waypoint to help guide the ai to target enemies around corners and this is crucial because raven shield is probably one of the more challenging entries in the series enemies are vicious and can spot team rainbow from greater distances so utilizing environmental cover is key to keeping members of the team alive to account for this raven shield introduces some great new fluid motion controls to peek around corners and even includes a new prone stance that can be used to stabilize weapons and get the drop on enemies in some circumstances tango down the game's weapons have all been reworked to feel more effective and powerful with tighter bullet spreads and more recoil that more closely resembles their behavior in real life one of ravenshield's best changes though is the interactivity with doors as silly as it sounds doors are a major part of rainbow six's gameplay as passing through a door haphazardly can have devastating consequences so now instead of just swinging the door wide open and praying there's nobody on the other side raven shield offers a new option the door piece that allows players to use the mouse wheel to gradually open the door inch by inch greatly minimizing the chances of being gunned down another major addition to this game is the contextual team commands that allow players to command their ai teammates during the action phase when the situation calls for it this means the ai is no longer tied entirely to the route set in the planning phase and can be redirected to move to specific locations move out regroup reform on me or even set to breach rooms using several different available methods [Music] it's not necessarily a perfect substitute for a well-designed plan but it occasionally is necessary especially when dealing with randomized enemy patrols and objective placement then of course there's the multiplayer that combines all these great mechanics of the fan favorite competitive atmosphere the cooperative mode also makes a return with the entire campaign available to play online along with the return of terrorist time to add a bit of unpredictability to late night lan parties charlie go down and thanks to third party chat clients like xfire and teamspeak ravenshield was even more popular on the pc than the past two entries with a highly active online community and continued growth of user-generated modifications raven shield was ultimately a huge success with reviewers giving the game high scores for its difficult but rewarding tactical action but ravenshield's success was nothing compared to the series's first big break on the console platform to help promote microsoft's newest online gaming network for their xbox console ubisoft attached their montreal studio to create a port of the game simply titled rainbow six three this port was created using the unreal 2 engine as well though to help save on time a lot of the techniques and assets incorporated in it were carried over directly from ooby montreal's previous project tom clancy's splinter cell including an identical thermal vision effect similar animation designs voice actors and even the impressive dynamic cloth physics what's even more interesting though is that despite sharing a lot of the same general concepts and ideas this version of rainbow six three is almost nothing like its pc counterpart the story for example scraps the idea of croatian neo-fascists and features a group of radical islamic terrorists instead and rather than releasing a nerve gas in rio de janeiro the finale sees team rainbow thwarting a chemical attack at mardi gras instead but these are minor tweaks when compared to the gameplay design which feels far simpler by comparison to compensate for the bulky gamepad controls this game makes use of much more forgiving aim assist along with flatter level designs to reduce the need to aim up and down the planning phase is also missing though the contextual squad command system is retained and is a key part of the game's tactical gameplay players can for example assign their three team members to stack up on a door for a breach and can even use impromptu go codes that allow for effective simultaneous room breaches hostile down it's overall a much simpler more forgiving experience made even more evident by the inclusion of a visible health bar rather than the typical heart rate monitor from before but it proved to be extremely popular among early xbox console adopters with many veteran xbox players recalling rainbow six three as one of their earliest xbox live experiences and this was a huge deal as rainbow six three success on the platform convinced ubisoft to take console gaming more seriously a decision that would inevitably have major consequences to not just future console games but also their pc counterparts and with splinter cell and rainbow six three now having introduced console gamers to clancy's unique techno thriller atmosphere ubisoft had their montreal studio immediately begin work on a follow-up meanwhile red storm continued to support their positively received raven shield with a couple of expansion packs the first expansion titled athena sword released in early 2004 and included a new campaign terrace hunt maps and multipart content the campaign's missions are surprisingly much larger and more intricate than the environments featured in raven shield with large city streets and fortresses providing some great variety for fans of both the co-op and competitive multiplayer athena sword also included seven new weapons and a few extra online game modes to choose from it was received extremely well by the playerbase and provided countless hours of additional tactical gameplay but sadly athena's sword also marked the end of an era for the pc community as it would be the last hardcore tactical experience delivered to them by redstorm entertainment as the studio had begun to turn their attention more heavily towards the console side of things however this was not the end of rainbow 63's pc support as ubisoft had their casablanca studio in collaboration with redstorm released one final expansion a year later open and clear i'm on it this expansion titled iron wrath was originally set to release only a few months after athena soared but after being delayed several times the developers decide to just release the content for free via an online download iron wrath includes seven more campaign missions to play through along with three more remakes of classic missions five new weapons and five new online game modes again this content was well received bolstering rainbow six three's glowing reputation further but the pc platform success was overshadowed by the continued success of ubi montreal's xbox counterpart which also received its own standalone expansion titled rainbow six three black arrow black arrow plays identically to rainbow six three on the xbox all the squad controls movement and combat remains the same but like athena sword it adds in a new campaign along with several new weapons and some minor improvements to the gameplay overall when considering all the expansions and ports rainbow six three was a crowning achievement for the rainbow six intellectual property it stands today as one of the series's defining moments taking everything that worked for the original two titles and improving upon them with a beautiful visual design and some great new gameplay mechanics but most importantly the title success on the xbox and to a slightly lesser extent the ps2 and gamecube brought with it an influx of new fans to the tom clancy universe that ultimately would change the design philosophy for both the rainbow six series and other related titles for years to come in the mid-2000s game developers across the industry began to gravitate more heavily towards the console market and with rainbow six three performing so well on the xbox ubisoft continued to supply the platform with triple a time clancy experiences including new entries to the splinter cell series an exclusive ghost recon sequel and a fourth mainline entry to the rainbow six series titled rainbow six lockdown created in-house by redstorm entertainment rainbow six lockdown takes place four years after the previous game with ding chavez and the rest of alpha team tracking down a terrorist organization called the global liberation front who plan on selling a deadly viral weapon called legion to other terrorist cells around the world much like the design of rainbow six three and black arrow on the xbox lockdown story is delivered with a slightly more modern sensibility with cinematic cutscenes combined with flashy briefing animations and some minor dialogue throughout the course of each mission the gameplay has also been modernized quite a bit straightforward level designs scripted action sequences and large-scale firefights all make up a bulk of the experience and classic options like pre-mission planning or swapping between operators are not available even when playing on the pc in their place are greatly improved combat controls and contextual squad commands both aspects that felt relatively weak before weapons are now much easier to control with faster ads time and more forgiving recoil and the game's health system which is still limited to a standard health bar is much more forgiving allowing players to take more hits before being killed like with the previous xbox releases players can only take control of lead character ding chavez in the campaign and participate in a series of semi-linear breach and clear missions designed to take advantage of the game's dynamic tactical squad commands and its streamlined first-person combat mechanics enemies are typically more abundant in this game with upwards of four to five in each area so making effective use of the ai squad members is critical in order to successfully clear the terrorists out new to lockdown are additional door breaching methods including a sledgehammer breech that can knock down doors quickly and an option to shoot directly at door hinges toppling the door from a distance other new features include a rework to the thermal vision that allows players to see straight through walls and cleaner ui props that make things like squad commands or throwing grenades easier to understand there's even some unique sniper based missions when playing the xbox version of the game that help to add a bit more variety to the campaign and of course the game's online multiplayer also returns but with a new online progression system called persistent elite creation where progress made in any of the game's modes either online or offline would be carried over and used to continuously progress the player's weapon arsenal and unlocks as far as the combat is concerned rainbow six lockdown is a marked improvement over its predecessors as it takes the bulky weird movements and smooths it all out with a much more modernized control scheme but this comes at a cost as lockdown's more simplistic and casual experience feels like a disservice to fans craving more of the hardcore tactical planning and execution from the past reviewers through almost every outlet criticized the title for abandoning its roots knocking the game for its almost shooter gallery approach everything feels dumbed down to account for the larger audience on the console market and while red storm had initially intended to make the pc release more tactical like its predecessors they were ultimately forced to sacrifice these features for the sake of meeting their deadlines though it wasn't all bad since the console version plays almost exactly like the hugely popular rainbow six three and black arrow the game still managed to generate some solid sales numbers with console gamers and players were generally content with the improved visuals and more polished combat design after lockdown red storm entertainment was finally done with the rainbow six franchise and turned their attention almost exclusively to the ghost recon property instead especially the next generation leap that would prove to be hugely successful for the series but convinced that there was still some life left in the rainbow property ubisoft turned to their quebec studio in hopes that they'd be able to right the ship the fifth main installment to the rainbow six series was intended to be a return to form for the series with remakes of fan favorite missions and less of the bombastic action featured in lockdown the development team assumed control of the same unreal 2 assets redstorm had used previously to help piece together the experience and within only a few months of development ubisoft quebec released rainbow six critical hour exclusively for the xbox platform critical hour takes place sometime after lockdown with john clark announcing his retirement and planning to hand the reins of team rainbow over to long-time series protagonist ding chavez but before he does that he briefs the recruits to the team on the various exploits that the international band of operators have experienced in the form of several unrelated flashbacks the story essentially boils down to a clip show or a compilation of greatest hits from the rogue spear and original rainbow six days and aside from establishing that chavez is now the director of the organization it really doesn't add much to the overarching plot what it does do though is present newcomers to the series a chance to experience some of the most classic rainbow missions in a not so classic way the gameplay is pretty much the same as the past few rainbow six console releases with an increased focus on action as opposed to carefully thought out plans and experimentation there's still no planning phase teams are limited to only four operators and the tactical squad commands boil down to pointing the ai to a door and having them serve as distractions while you sneak in the back it's very much the same as lockdown black arrow and rainbow six three in these regards critical hour's biggest feature though is the return of seven classic missions from the original two rainbow games including operation fire walk black star racer ice deep magic aztec palace and infinite seven what's more these missions have even been redesigned in order to account for the game's new action focused direction with more linear structures increased enemy density and a greater emphasis on door breaching but aside from that healthy dose of nostalgia critical hour is another major step back for the series as it fails to deliver anything of actual value to the once great tactical shooter series even its target audience on the xbox saw a decreased interest with lower online player numbers and significantly fewer sales forcing the development team to cease plans for a pc port critical hour was a critical disaster it achieved abysmal scores averaging around 50 on metacritic and currently holds the title for the least popular mainline entry to the rainbow six series and while it certainly was a disappointment it also is not too surprising either with red storm now focused on a next-gen ghost recon and ubi montreal busy with chaos theory ubisoft always intended critical hour to be a sort of gap filler keeping the rainbow property relevant while also biding time for one of their bigger studios to tackle a proper follow-up and with the team at ubi montreal wrapping up work on the third swinner cell they were now free to pursue a true next-gen experience one that would transform the rainbow six series forever in 2005 almost every studio working under the ubisoft name was acutely focused on the next generation of console gaming mainly the xbox 360 and sony playstation 3. and with the game industry having rapidly grown throughout the course of the mid-2000s the pressure was on for developers to deliver the revolutionary next steps ubi montreal determined to deliver on their promise spent the better part of 2005 working with the new unreal 3 engine architecture allowing them to incorporate more advanced lighting and post-processing effects in larger and more complex game worlds one of their biggest focuses though was on improving the realism of the game's many character models especially in how they moved but rather than keyframe each animation like they had done in the past they utilize a motion capture studio to record thousands of unique animations all lending themselves to much more realistic character behavior taking it a step further ubisoft wanted to deliver a more meaningful cinematic presentation as well and opted to limit the single player campaign's scope to a single city based around only three rainbow operatives this more story oriented approach combined with some innovative tweaks to the gameplay mechanics resulted in a drastically different direction for the series and after a year of full development ubi montreal released tom clancy's rainbow six vegas first for the xbox 360 and pc and then for the ps3 and playstation portable a year later vegas's story is probably one of the more ambitious and cinematic narratives offered in the entirety of the rainbow six franchise the game kicks off with a small scale counter-terrorism operation near mexico with players assuming the role of series newcomer logan keller as they command a three-man team to neutralize a terrorist cell leader named irina morales but after finally cornering morales in an old mining tunnel logan's team is ambushed and his teammates gabriel and khan both mysteriously disappear logan having failed to capture morales is forced to exfiltrate by chopper and is immediately flown back into the states to deal with a new incident brewing in las vegas nevada here logan regroups with a new pair of ai companions michael walter a british demolitions expert at hyung park a south korean electronics and recon specialist together the trio of rainbow operatives fight their way through the colorful neon lit strip taking down terrorists freeing hostages and disarming bombs only to find that the events in vegas are directly linked to the scrubbed irena morales mission in mexico leading to an ultimate showdown at the hoover dam when compared to the past games it's a major step forward in terms of story quality but the updates made to the gameplay design are even more noteworthy rainbow six vegas applies three core pillars to its general gameplay structure observation planning and assault all of which are integrated seamlessly into the action players no longer need to flip through tedious briefing screens and level blueprints and are instead encouraged to adapt their surroundings on the fly making quick decisions and executing precise takedowns to pull off this new three-tiered gameplay design ubisoft tweaked several mechanics to improve the flow of the action the combat design for example is now a blend of the traditional first person shooting with a new cover based third person system that seamlessly zooms out the camera to show logan in the space around him this design while certainly not as realistic as past games greatly improves target acquisition as players can now safely view approaching enemies around corners and either blind fire or peek out to target them directly the game's health system has also been redone abandoning the old finite health bar with health regeneration instead and friendly ai who are incapacitated in combat now require a revive rather than just permanently dying like before the squad order system was also modified a good amount simplifying the controls to make them more intuitive when playing with a gamepad players can still call for their squad to hold regroup or move to a designated position but can also talk between the rules of engagement again which unlocks additional options when setting up door breaches but vegas doesn't just clean up the old features from the past it also introduces a few great new mechanics as well including a snake cam that can be used to peek under doors and attack enemies for the ai to focus on and of course the ability to repel off the side of buildings and fast rope through skylights all of which contribute to a much faster paced and intense tactical action experience when playing the game on the xbox 360 and playstation 3 players were also treated with a new online progression system similar to the one featured in critical hour that gradually unlocks additional weapons and tools for the players to use when playing online or in co-op overall rainbow six vegas was met with an overwhelmingly positive response critics praised ubisoft montreal for the beautiful visual design creative use of the environmental space and engaging multiplayer content however it wasn't perfect old school fans of the series still considered vegas to be a step in the wrong direction with mindless shooter action and flashy scripted sequences replacing the tactical sandbox approach from before but despite these concerns the game still sold exceptionally well with nearly 2 million units sold within the first year of its release and considering the game's campaign ended on a major cliffhanger it came as no surprise when a sequel was announced only a year later with the sequel ubi montreal opted for a less is more approach preserving everything people loved from the first vegas while also introducing a new campaign new level environments and other quality of life improvements and after a fairly short development period ubisoft released tom clancy's rainbow six vegas 2 for the xbox 360 playstation 3 and windows pc a month later vegas 2 begins with a brief flashback sequence at a mountaintop facility in france that expands upon gabe nowak's troubled past with team rainbow then the story skips ahead to the day before the las vegas incident in the first game players assumed the role of series newcomer bishop who serves as the squad leader of returning operators michael and hyung prior to logan meeting them to avoid treading the same ground as before though vegas 2 brings players to more varied locations in and around vegas including a convention center a wreck facility and a few of the older casinos in the city the story is a bit more convoluted this time around as it tries its best to build around the already established narrative from the first game though it does at least help to resolve the first game's cliffhanger in a somewhat satisfying way as far as the gameplay is concerned vegas 2 plays almost identically to its predecessor all the controls movement and general mechanics function the same way making the overall experience come off as more of a standalone expansion than a true sequel though the game's bright outdoor environments do offer a stark contrast to the claustrophobic and colorful casino fours featured before and there's a much greater emphasis on player customization this time around with different equippable armor sets and more varied weapons helping to mix up the action vegas 2 also introduces a new progression system called aces that awards players new gear based on their particular style of engagement long range kills and headshots for example reward players with things like sniper rifles while using explosives or killing shielded enemies goes towards unlocking more durable armor pieces what's more the system is also tied to the game's co-op and competitive online modes only further expanding on the game's well-received progression system overall despite its minimalist approach rainbow six vegas 2 received decent scores across the board averaging around the same scores as its predecessor the game was praised for its creative level designs intense multiplayer and expanded progression but was also criticized for not doing much to innovate or expand on the well-established formula it was also knocked for being much shorter than the previous title averaging a little under 5 hours for the main campaign for fans already happy with the direction that the series took with vegas vegas 2 was a nice bonus but it otherwise still failed to capture the spirit of the old games and its increased emphasis on storytelling and action would ultimately be its downfall several years later following the success of the vegas duology the rainbow six series along with many other tom clancy properties experienced an uncharacteristic pause in their development schedule ghost recon future soldier hit a few snags in development and a new open world splinter cell went quiet for several years before re-emerging as a more traditional cover-based shooter instead and with the latest console generation in full swing a bunch of new ips started to dominate the sales charts most notably activision's call of duty modern warfare series that's responsible for influencing hundreds of games to adopt similar designs and concepts this shipped in market interest towards more simple fps games put tactical shooters like rainbow six in a weird position and likely had a major impact on ub montreal's next big project for this latest entry creative lead david sears wanted to dive deeper into the narrative aspects that they had experimented with in vegas only with a much darker more realistic tone to it players would not just save the day as team rainbow but would also be able to experience the point of view of both the terrorists and their victims sparking a fair amount of controversy after its announcement but it wasn't just the story that ubisoft wanted to improve on they also spent a great deal time updating their visual design finally abandoning the unreal engine and using their in-house anvil next engine instead this allowed the team to incorporate even more advanced animation layering along with specific animations that would play when bullets impacted different limbs but there were also a few vegas oriented tropes planned as well the third person camera view when repelling and taking cover was set to make a comeback and a new sci-fi 3d spotting mechanic would have allowed players to keep track of enemies through walls similar to how it functions in the more futuristic ghost recon games finally in late 2011 ubisoft formally announced the project with a brief pre-rendered concept demo showcasing the dual story lines and an intense firefight along the brooklyn bridge the game given the working title rainbow six patriots was set to release for the xbox 360 and playstation 3 platforms in 2013 but only a few months after its reveal news of the game's trouble development began to surface creative director david sears along with many other senior level developers were cut from the project then both redstorm and ub toronto were reassigned to other projects and the game's target release date had come and gone as if the game had never existed months passed then years with more bad news regarding the project cropping up from various news outlets though ubisoft continued to reassure fans that rainbow six patriots was still actively in development behind the scenes though the development team struggled to keep up with the game's ambitious scope as the industry continued to evolve around them their dated concepts and designs became increasingly more apparent and they were ultimately faced with a critical decision either press on with a game that they were tired of making or start over was something that played more to the series of strengths over here now no hey no no no no no what did you do what i had to do in 2013 ubisoft dissolved the patriots team leaving only a small skeleton crew of 25 behind to try and come up with a way to salvage the remains they took a step back analyzed the series history up to that point and identified that the series was at its absolute best when the focus was on tactics tension and teamwork they then incorporated an experimental physics-based destruction engine that they felt added a unique twist to their tactical shooter formula finally after years of uncertainty surrounding the ip ubisoft surprised audiences at e3 2014 with an alpha demo of their new rainbow six title the demo showed a tense 5v5 competitive multiplayer match with a group of attackers breaching a small suburban house to rescue a hostage many elements from past rainbow games had seemingly returned including a pre-mission planning phase and the ability to repel but the most notable feature showcased was the revolutionary destruction physics that turned a relatively simple level environment into a fully dynamic sandbox the response was hugely positive granting the new development team a sigh of relief and after a year of additional development ubisoft released rainbow six siege for the xbox one playstation 4 and pc rainbow six siege doesn't offer a traditional single player or co-op campaign to play through and instead focuses almost exclusively on its online competitive atmosphere where players control unique rainbow six operatives on either side and battle it out using advanced weapons and gadgetry though there is a bit of a narrative woven into the game's tutorial section with a group of terrorists called the white mask occupying several locations around the world and ultimately attacking a college campus with a deadly chemical weapon but even so siege at its core is a multiplayer game and offers one of the most tense and engaging competitive experiences in the series history oh my god in its most basic form cg's multiplayer is a simple game of attack and defend one team tries to breach a location while the other team tries to fend them off however there is a unique asymmetrical twist to this design that enhances the game's long lasting appeal teams are composed of five players on each side with no health regen or respawns available this requires players to work in close collaboration with each other optimizing their respective gear to best the opposing team at the start of each round players select one of the many available operators each offering their own set of weapons and signature abilities these abilities range from simple breaching tools like a sledgehammer or explosive thermite charge to more unusual devices like a one-way reinforced window or a holographic decoy after each player selects an operator the preparation phase can begin in this phase the attacker team is limited to only remote controlled drones that can drive underneath any doorway and spy on the defensive team meanwhile the defenders need to use this time to prepare the fortifications either by reinforcing vulnerable surfaces or setting up their various traps to keep the attackers at bay once the prep phase is complete the action phase begins giving the attacker team roughly three minutes to coordinate with their team's abilities and complete their objective this group dynamic is at the center of what makes siege so endearing as opposing team configurations can make or break a team's chance at success a team composed primarily of riot shields for example may seem like a good way to avoid incoming gunfire but if a defensive team sets enough traps up and utilizes lots of explosives the phalanx will fall apart quickly likewise a group of defenders built to roam across the level environment and peak outside of windows may be harmful to an unaware attacking group but this also leaves objectives open for more sneaky attackers to take advantage of but what really sets siege apart from other hero based shooters available today is that even with a weak selection of operators a skilled team can still outperform their opponents using more effective tactics and skilled gun players siege reverts its general movement and combat mechanics back to its raven shield days with no cover system third person camera or health regen in sight players can still sprint and repel up or down walls though these two have been tweaked to feel tighter and more efficient what's more siege makes liberal use of its new destructive mechanics to drastically change the feel of every match a majority of the level environments can be partially destroyed depending on the weapon or device used an assault rifle for example can pepper walls with bullet holes slowly chipping away at the drywall while an explosive charge can blow open huge gaps that players can traverse straight through not everything is destructible though as some walls are either blocked by indestructible girders preventing players from vaulting through them or are impossible to destroy altogether helping to provide some more structure to the maps this heavy emphasis on destruction coupled with the continuously evolving list of complex operators continues to redefine the tactical online shooter space and the game to this day remains one of the most played competitive shooters on the market what's more ubisoft continues to support the title with regular updates including massive balance changes visual overhauls and even map redesigns ensuring that the game remains as competitive as possible at first rainbow six siege was met with a slightly mixed reception the game's release saw a number of technical issues including low tick rate servers gameplay balancing problems and various other bugs but with constant support of siege's live service model the game has steadily evolved into one of the most popular entries in the entire franchise and will likely serve as the foundation for several other multiplayer focused clancy games for years to come with siege's success ubisoft began to experiment with other concepts for their popular shooter game by means of special timed events offering experimental game modes for a limited time these modes generally offer basic rule changes and cosmetic alterations but one mode in particular offered something very different to the traditional formula likely inspired by the piper call of duty zombies experience ubisoft montreal had begun experimenting with concepts for a new cooperative campaign utilizing siege's core gameplay design with new ai controlled enemies mutated by a mysterious alien virus this mode played a lot like the cooperative shooter game left for dead with linear level designs and objectives forcing players to traverse through zombie-filled corridors and face off against a number of different deadly threats the mode released as part of siege's first year three expansion operation chimera and was given the name outbreak though due to memory limitations of the hardware ubisoft only offered the mode for a brief four week period then only a year after the mode released ubisoft showed a teaser for an entirely new rainbow six game during their e3 showcase titled rainbow six quarantine not much is known about quarantine other than the fact that it too is a three-player cooperative campaign experience and seems to feature similar horror tones though from the trailer it appears that operators from siege like ella and vigil will return in some capacity though it's unclear exactly how they will function in this style of game this latest project that was initially set to release in 2020 has since been delayed and information regarding its development has been noticeably quiet similar to the rainbow six patriots days though considering its name choice and the current state of affairs it seems likely that the project has been pushed aside for the time being [Music] the rainbow six series is easily one of the most influential tactical shooter games that has ever been created red storm's early efforts with the franchise have forever transformed the industry spawning countless other shooter franchises to adopt similar gameplay mechanics and ideas what's even more remarkable though is that rainbow six mostly maintained its status in the industry throughout the course of its 22 year life span sure there were a few duds here and there with some entries drifting too far from the series's core tenants but thanks to the talented team at ubisoft montreal the series has managed to proclaim its spot as a premier tactical experience and one that is enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of gamers at this very moment not much is known about what the future holds for this iconic shooter series ubisoft has confirmed that siege will be brought over to the next gen platforms with various visual enhancements offered by the newer hardware and their goal still seems to be set on releasing 100 different operators to choose between something that once seemed like a ridiculous pipe dream that is now becoming more likely with each release but news regarding their already announced rainbow six quarantine has been scarce and it's unclear if this new survival horror design is truly the right call considering the series is near collapse during patriots development but what do you guys think which rainbow six experience has been your favorite and where do you think the series should go next let me know in the comment section i also want to give a special shout out to my supporters on patreon including b-man uriel tomsoff and chad trotwine thank you so much for your continued support if you enjoy the work i do here and want to see more quality content in the future please consider joining the growing list of patreon supporters where you can get early access to new projects behind the scenes content shout outs and access to our private discord your support is hugely appreciated and of course don't forget to like and subscribe for more videos posted every week you

Channel: Nick930

Views: 721,493

Rating: 4.9523811 out of 5

Keywords: Rainbow Six, Tom Clancy, Ding, Chavez, History, Retrospective, Ubisoft, Red Storm, Development, Story, Gameplay, Features, Review, Impression, Summary, Full, Analysis, Fan, Favorite, Best, professional, High Quality, Rainbow Six: Siege, Siege, Quarantine, Rogue Spear, Patriots, Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell, Comparison, Nick930, Sam Fisher, Squad, Realism, SWAT, Tactics, Tactical Shooter, Stealth

Id: a8P9TXR5RWc

Length: 64min 10sec (3850 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 19 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/drcubeftw]

I know it wasn't as tactical as the other R6 games but I really liked R6 Vegas. I wish they had continued that series or spun it off into its own little side series.

[u/ifindhardittochoose]

Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear is still my favorite on the series, must have played hundreds of hours, trying all weapons, doing solo runs, etc. It's great fun even more than 20 years later. Rainbow Six 3 was cool, but the campaign felt short compared to previous games.

[u/Warborri]

I loved rainbow six 3 (and Black Arrow) on Xbox Live back in the day. Vegas 1 and 2 on 360 were amazing to, T-hunt couch co-op was so much fun.

Siege was fun in the first year, but i dont really enjoy playing it now. Its just.. to much and not fun to play. To bad its such a succes and they will probably never go back.

[u/Barrel_Titor]

Still have a hint of guilt from when a friend leant me Rainbow 6 on N64 and his expansion pack back in the day then forgot to give him the expansion pack back when I moved house, haha.

It was great as a split screen co-op game back in the day, wasn't really anything else like that around on console (although Swat 3 was similar on PC). Somehow managed to miss that it ever had a sequel, never played any of the more recent ones.

[u/3ebfan]

I haven’t been able to get into Siege but I have a lot of fondness with this series. Rogue Spear and Vegas were fantastic games

[u/AmbientHostile]

IMO Rainbow Six 3 for PC was the pinnacle of the series and still is the best tactical shooter to date. The only thing that may rival it is Swat 3.