Rainbow Six Lockdown: First Impressions - VGF

Chronos · 08-18-2005, 03:17 AM

I picked up a copy of OXM tonight when I was leaving work, because it had a playable online demo of the newest Rainbow Six game, Lockdown. For now, the demo game is limited to the Retrieval adversarial mode, but that doesn't take away from the playability.

What's the Same:
The game modes listed are all classic Rainbow Six: Mission, Survival, Team Survival, Terrorist Hunt, Retrieval, Total Conquest, and so on. Lots of the guns you know and love are back in this game too. The online setup is also similar to the previous two on the X-Box, with minor stylistic differences.

What's Different:
Just about everything else; the style of the characters, backgrounds, and even the weapons and their displays are vastly different. The gameplay mechanics now more closely resemble Halo 2 and Counter-Strike, although there's still no jumping. The controls are also much looser, and require a more steady and delicate hand. One of the more innovative concepts is the addition of character classes, which change how you play, move, and even fight. The four classes so far are:

Spec-Op: This character is more like a sniper than a regular military grunt.
Commando: The aforementioned grunt.
Combat Medic: You can help patch up your buddies during battle.
Engineer: I'm not too sure what this one does, but it probably has to do with building stuff, and then blowing it to bits.

One thing I found seriously annoying, while I was holding the canister, and trying to fend off the other team with my pistol, was that my gun was jumping around a lot, totally throwing off my aim. Trying to hit a target, at distance, while in the zoomed mode, makes this extremely annoying and complicated. I can only hope they improve the situation some.

Also, for all of you out there who couldn't stand all those lean-glitchers, you'll be happy to know that Ubisoft has finally taken some real steps to alleviating it; in order to lean, you must now hold down the directional button. Once your thumb moves off the directional pad, your character stops leaning. If there's anyone out there who can exploit that complicated mess into a lean glitch, they deserve to use it. Talk about being double or triple jointed.

I'll let you all know more later, but for now, that's about it for my first impression, based on the demo.

Keep those scopes clean, and those barrels keen.

Nick · 08-18-2005, 05:19 AM

Ghost Recon >>>>>>>>>>>>&g t;>> Rainbow Six

10-07-2005, 11:05 PM

Now that I've played through virtually all of Lockdown, it's clear that the Rainbow Six series has fallen so far behind Ghost Recon. In particular, the A.I.'s dumber than ever (teammates and enemies) and it's more arcade-ish than it's ever been (not a good thing).

08-18-2005, 03:17 AM	#1
Chronos Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 285 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Points: 3,496.00 Bank: 500.00 Total Points: 3,996.00 Donate	I picked up a copy of OXM tonight when I was leaving work, because it had a playable online demo of the newest Rainbow Six game, Lockdown. For now, the demo game is limited to the Retrieval adversarial mode, but that doesn't take away from the playability. What's the Same: The game modes listed are all classic Rainbow Six: Mission, Survival, Team Survival, Terrorist Hunt, Retrieval, Total Conquest, and so on. Lots of the guns you know and love are back in this game too. The online setup is also similar to the previous two on the X-Box, with minor stylistic differences. What's Different: Just about everything else; the style of the characters, backgrounds, and even the weapons and their displays are vastly different. The gameplay mechanics now more closely resemble Halo 2 and Counter-Strike, although there's still no jumping. The controls are also much looser, and require a more steady and delicate hand. One of the more innovative concepts is the addition of character classes, which change how you play, move, and even fight. The four classes so far are: Spec-Op: This character is more like a sniper than a regular military grunt. Commando: The aforementioned grunt. Combat Medic: You can help patch up your buddies during battle. Engineer: I'm not too sure what this one does, but it probably has to do with building stuff, and then blowing it to bits. One thing I found seriously annoying, while I was holding the canister, and trying to fend off the other team with my pistol, was that my gun was jumping around a lot, totally throwing off my aim. Trying to hit a target, at distance, while in the zoomed mode, makes this extremely annoying and complicated. I can only hope they improve the situation some. Also, for all of you out there who couldn't stand all those lean-glitchers, you'll be happy to know that Ubisoft has finally taken some real steps to alleviating it; in order to lean, you must now hold down the directional button. Once your thumb moves off the directional pad, your character stops leaning. If there's anyone out there who can exploit that complicated mess into a lean glitch, they deserve to use it. Talk about being double or triple jointed. I'll let you all know more later, but for now, that's about it for my first impression, based on the demo. Keep those scopes clean, and those barrels keen.

08-18-2005, 05:19 AM	#2
Nick Banned Join Date: Dec 1969 Posts: 0 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Points: 10,127.00 Bank: 500.00 Total Points: 10,627.00 Donate	Ghost Recon >>>>>>>>>>>>&g t;>> Rainbow Six

10-07-2005, 11:05 PM	#3
Banned Join Date: Dec 1969 Posts: 1 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Points: 7,110.00 Bank: 500.00 Total Points: 7,610.00 Donate	Now that I've played through virtually all of Lockdown, it's clear that the Rainbow Six series has fallen so far behind Ghost Recon. In particular, the A.I.'s dumber than ever (teammates and enemies) and it's more arcade-ish than it's ever been (not a good thing).