Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six - PlayStation

In 1999, with the cold war behind them, the nations of the world turned their attentions to the elimination of the global terrorism menace. John Terrence Clark, an ex-Navy SEAL, now working for the American Central Intelligence Agency, proposed the formation of a multi-national organisation to combat the threat of terrorism at any place on the globe. With the backing of the Director of the CIA and the President of the USA, Clark's organisation was formed with the code name Rainbow. Based in Hereford in the UK, Rainbow draws on the expertise of the SAS, the American Army, Germany's GSG-9 and the Israeli Mossad, amongst others.

While the focus of the PC original and the other conversions of Rainbow Six was the strategy of planning and executing a special operations mission, the PlayStation version is more of an action game. Still played in the third person, levels are vast, although the challenges within them are varied. Some are full-on slaughter challenges, while others can be sparse, incorporating plenty of puzzle solving. True, the mission brief and background information is all there, as is the team roster and kit allocation. However, there is no mission planning, no teams, and the map is initially blank, only being filled in when one of your men has seen a wall.

Rainbow Six is challenging to the extent that it requires lots of skill, time and patience. While this may seem a little off-putting to begin with, progressing through the game with success is ultimately rewarding. The feeling of satisfaction on completion is often a good measure of a game's quality. Enjoy. more