The History Of The Rainbow Six Series Part 2
Let us once again get tactical as we look at the second game in the Rainbow Six series.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear (1999) Sony PlayStation, PC, Sega DreamcastReleased just a year after the first Rainbow Six game, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear was based on the book of the same name. This time the game would first be released on PC and Dreamcast with a PlayStation port following the next year. The PC and Dreamcast versions are bother very similar whereas some graphical changes had to be made for the PlayStation version.
The story of the game is set after the fall of the Soviet Union and the Russian Mafia along with members of the Russian military have gotten their hands on some very nasty stuff. Rainbow team is required to go and free hostages and get rid of any weapons of mass destruction that these guys have.
Not a lot had changed with the gameplay as once again players had to use their brains in order to complete missions. Setting up the mission was every bit as important as the execution. If you were to just run in guns blazing 9/10, you would fail. Weapons would be detonated, you would be killed or hostages would be killed. It is a very cerebral game and that was what people loved about it.
As well as having the single player campaign the PC version also supported online play. You could either team up with other players to take on the AI or you could take part in what were essentially team Deathmatch style matches.
Rogue Spear was heavily supported with expansion packs on the PC. It was as strong seller across all three platforms and the Dreamcast and PC versions were very favorably reviewed.
The History Of The Rainbow Six Series Part 1
Today we are starting a new series where we look back at the Rainbow Six series. It might blow your mind when you realize that this series has been around since 1998!
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six (1998) Sony PlayStation, Nintendo 64, PC, Sega DreamcastThe first game to really make Tom Clancy a big deal in the world of video games (as he had been in other media) was the original Rainbow Six game. The game was first released on PC and then was ported to console via the PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and then a little later, the Sega Dreamcast.
It has been reported that for this game, Tom Clancy wanted a shooter that was more tactical based and required the player to think before they would shoot. The Rainbow team is an elite counter terrorism unit that is sent into various places to bring down a target and save hostages. For the time the story was pretty in depth, but these days it is probably seen as a bit simplistic.
It was the strategic gameplay that hooked many people. A mission can be completed in mere minutes, but this mission may have to be replayed over and over again. There is a lot of trial and error in Rainbow Six as the player tries to figure out what is the best way to go about completing a mission. Watching all your planning work out and the mission be successful is a great feeling.
At the time of the release the PC version was reviewed pretty well, but this kind of game was not something console gamers were used to and as a result, the console versions were not reviewed as well. Especially the Dreamcast version which many reviewers at the time said was a lazy port.
While it may seem basic by today’s standard, the original Rainbow Six is a real landmark video game and if you are interested in checking it out. The PlayStation version an actually be downloaded from the PlayStation Store.
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