| With the release of Rainbow Six, Tom Clancy’s latest techno-thriller, comes Rainbow Six, a computer wargame that ostensibly follows the novel’s plot. The game follows a multinational antiterrorist organization called, of course, Rainbow Six. R6 is a secret known only to the highest officials in the member governments. Naturally, they’re the best of the best, though that’s small comfort to beginning players. Expect to press the replay buttons early and often.
That’s because Rainbow Six has a huge learning curve. After the usual briefings and selection of equipment, the player must map out a plan for carrying out that mission. It’s an unusual and intriguing process that greatly improves the artificial intelligence of characters not under the player’s control.
The planning phase begins with the lay of the land. Villains, hostages and landmarks are then noted, presumably having been spotted by satellite and other intelligence devices. True to life, the villains and hostages are often not where they’re marked.
Using a series of waypoints, the player directs each team’s progress through the mission, with special actions available like breaching doors or throwing flashbang grenades to stun baddies. The player must also dictate a team’s behavior at the waypoints -- for instance, when rescuing hostages, the team must be in Escort mode. Engage combines a little offense with a little defense, while Clear directs the team to seek and destroy all terrorists.
After planning, it’s time for the real thing, and the plan often goes right out the window. The player controls the leader of one team, and can choose to simply not follow the plan if the situation calls for such drastic measures. Otherwise, a very nice mapping system points out each waypoint, making for easy travel.
Too bad all those nasty terrorists aren’t as nice. Luckily, few are heavily armored; most go down with a quick burst from the player’s machine gun. The bad thing is, these terrorists are fairly wily, and think nothing of popping up from behind with guns blazing. Few missions end without some sort of injury, meaning that character must spend time recuperating.
If this all sounds like Sierra’s recent Police Quest: SWAT 2 (see the review), well, it is. Here, though, the NPC AI is far superior -- team members will take a shot if they can, and usually hit. No wandering in front of the guns for them.
Also, Rainbow Six is told from a first-person perspective. Movement is controlled by the mouse and keypad, with the mouse doubling for crosshairs. That movement is smooth. Too smooth for fans of first-person shooters like Unreal, which feature head-bobbing while walking or running.
Those fans will also notice some distractingly two-dimensional graphics. Don’t worry -- it’s nothing to ruin the feel of the missions. Those crafty enemies make sure the player will be too tense to care about flat trees.
There are some nice nods to Clancy’s Jack Ryan series of novels. The group is led by Clancy’s mysterious CIA operative Clark and features Ding Chavez, another character from the last few books.
The game also features a parallel plot, with R6 performing a few innocuous missions before discovering a connection with an environmental terrorist group that, naturally, threatens the future of the free world. When all is said and done, players will be panting for a sequel. | 
