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Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow hands on
Topic Started: May 10 2004, 04:14 PM (92 Views)
Ayane
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Tsugi wa omae no ban da!
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E3 2004: Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow Hands-On
Don't call it an expansion pack. It's bigger, better, and coming soon.

May 10, 2004 - If you're not a Rainbow Six 3 fan, you probably don't have Xbox Live. Those that do understand the joys of chucking a grenade beneath the staircase in the Presidio and blowing a crouched opponent to the observation ward (also known as the lobby). If you never caught on to the Rainbow Six 3 craze and fear it's too late to hop on, have no fear, Ubisoft is set to release a brand new RS3 game this August, allowing for newbies to discover nearly two-dozen brand new maps and several new modes of play. While Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow may use the same engine and look similar to the original RS3, make no mistake, this is not just an expansion, it's a fully realized new game.

Like the first Rainbow Six 3, in Black Arrow, gamers have several gameplay options, including Mission, Survival, Team Survival, Sharpshooter, and Terrorist Hunt. All of these can be played on or offline, but there are also several new modes to up the ante. The ten missions, which can still be played with up to four players online, now support two-player offline split-screen, so even those without System Link can kill terrorists with a buddy. It should be noted that this is a brand new storyline, with completely unique missions, separate from the first game. While I could get into greater detail about the story of the Mission mode, I'm not going to with this first hands on. First, because Missions weren't playable in the demo and second, because it's all about the new modes of play. After all, most of you know what Mission and Team Survival are all about, but what is the deal with the newness?

There are three new modes, and the most interesting, perhaps, is an as-yet-unnamed single-player mode that sounds like an arcade game in the Rainbow Six universe. This is a true solo game, with no AI or real-life partners. Players move from point to point, trying to reach the end of the map with time still on the clock. The catch is, you start with very little time and each checkpoint you past, every terrorist you kill, and each hostage you free, puts more time on the clock. Playing it too cautious will cost you too much time and playing it too fast might cost you a hostage and valuable seconds. It should be a lot of fun and the only aspect of Black Arrow that has no multiplayer options whatsoever.

The other two modes are for multiplayer and should make for excellent online additions. Both have familiar multiplayer themes. The first, Capture the Flag, is also being referred to as Retrieval, with the idea being that you are one of two teams trying to retrieve hazardous canisters and then return them to your base. The other, called Capture the Point, is a bit like Domination mode in some other games. There are various satellites throughout the map and each team is trying to gain dominance of three satellites in order to win. Taking control of a satellite is easy enough as you just need to access it for about three seconds. Keeping it is a different story, as every satellite I came across in the three maps played were located on the ground and were out in the open, making them tougher to defend. This mode will require a lot of teamwork as members will need to devise ways to defend satellites while still moving ahead to find others.

The majority of the demo focused on Capture the Point, and it's definitely looking like a winner. Two maps stood out -- Streets, set in a large European-looking urban area, and Ferry Boat, which, yes, takes place on a large Ferry Boat. The first few rounds, with everyone still settling into the concept of the mode, turned into a free-for-all, with everyone ignoring the satellites and focusing on exploring the new maps (which all seemed big, big, big). Death didn't mean much, since you can almost instantly re-spawn, but no one wins if all the satellites remain free. Once everyone settled down and really started to play, the joy of Capture the Point became fully evident. This is a team game mode for certain, which will make it frustrating to play online with anonymous jackasses, but should be a total blast with friends or people who want to actually play the game and not shoot their buddies in the back of the dome.


There are 14 multiplayer maps planned, with each one expected to support all multiplayer game modes. Four of those maps will be taken from Rainbow Six 3 and remade for Black Arrow Which four hasn't been decided yet, but the entire IGN office will be in silent mourning if the Presidio isn't included on the list. The good news about the four remade maps is that all of them will support the new game modes.

Aside from new modes and maps, there are a number of other improvements coming with Black Arrow. Missions will now be more interactive and the enemy AI, which was pretty routine in RS3 will be much more intelligent, calling for backup when outnumbered and using hostages as human shields. To keep things interesting, there will be an unspecified level of randomized events so that kinks are thrown into every mission, forcing players to adjust appropriately and allowing for greater replay value.
A good deal of improvements are coming on the multiplayer side of things. The .50 cal, which is easily the most controversial and unbalanced gun in the game, is being removed completely, replaced by an undetermined gun (which appears to be the only new weapon in the game, unfortunately). All that .50 cal cheese is gonna be over with soon enough. The turn radius will be improved slightly to make for quicker 180 degree turnarounds and the deadzone for headshots will be tightened so that shots will actually need to hit someone's head in order to kill them. On Xbox Live, an optional private lobby is being added so that dead teammates can get together in private and discuss strategy before the next match. But the most exciting change is that players can now select new equipment in the menu screen during the game. These items will become active once the player dies and respawns or a new game begins. That means that you won't have to wait for that one slow friend who needs to change his gun in the main lobby before the start of the next game. Fantastic.

Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow will be one of the first games to fully utilize Xbox Live 3.0. Voice messaging, clans, user-created tournaments -- all of it will be available in Black Arrow, further emphasizing the team elements of the game. Clan G.I. Joe, here we come!

Outlook
In a way, it's hard to get overly excited about Black Arrow. It looks and feels just like Rainbow Six 3. So much so that some might discount it as just an expansion pack. But it really isn't. Black Arrow has more features and a looks too offer a deeper game than the original and with tons of new maps (and downloadable content to boot), there will be plenty for vets to explore. The ability to create clans should really open up the game a lot more as well. Sure, this may look like the same old thing, but I could not stop playing Black Arrow. Despite some of the other impressive games shown at Ubisoft, I wanted to keep playing this pseudo-sequel. And it wasn't just me, several other IGN shipmates wanted in on the action as well. In a year with Halo 2, DOOM 3, and Fable, it's amazing to think that Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow is one of my most anticipated games of the year. There, I said it (or typed it, I suppose). Deny it all you want, but anyone who's played the original has go to be jonesing for this one.

-- Hilary Goldstein


Source: http://xbox.ign.com/articles/511/511520p1.html
"Some found Ninja Gaiden too hard. Any comments to those gamers?"

Tomonobu Itagaki "That's the spirit of Team Ninja. We do whatever we want to do - take it or leave it"
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