Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown

Lockdown for the PC is more tactical than the console versions and definitely a lot of fun, but it's still got a noticeable arcade flavor.

Nicely converted to PC, but has one fatal flaw. The linear levels are too long and feel too similar even when one level is a ship and the second is a terrorist camp in the desert. A tube is a tube is a tube. [Mar 2006]

While there are some seriously entertaining mission scenarios, the single-player campaign is marred by poor enemy and teammate AI as well as some straightforward levels that have you zipping through them way too quickly.

In terms of customisable play, varied and never-dull multiplayer along with a decent co-op mode, there's no doubt that Lockdown remains an attractive and enjoyable package - but it just feels old.

Anyone who's become accustomed to the modern shooter should be able to sail right through this carnival ride, and it's really too bad. Rainbow Six is supposed to be tense and challenging. It's supposed to have compelling tactical considerations.

Overall Rainbow Six: Lockdown isn’t a bad game. I was just disappointed considering all the hype and the past record of excellent games in this series.

It's supposed to be a tactical shooter but the inadequate A.I. completely negates the need for tactics. If it weren't for the co-op mode, some excellent graphics and above-average sound, this game would be almost completely forgettable.

It does present a good, fun, rowdy terrorist hunt that offers access to detailed weapons you probably won’t find in other games, co-op support, and some interesting multiplayer action, but it’s obvious that they really didn’t bother trying much with the storyline (or just weren’t allocated enough time to put any real detail into it), and the aging graphical tech is really becoming obvious.

The Rainbow Six series has taken a major step back, and is nowhere near as good as it used to be. Let’s just hope Red Storm goes back to basics in the next outing, and we forget this rather unfortunate incident.

But the sad fact remains, the intense experience we craved is just...gone. [May 2006, p.54]

It's managed to create a whole new genre: the untactical shooter. [Mar 2006, p.104]

It's another throwaway shooter with bad AI, forgettable single player levels, and glib unremarkable multiplayer options. Here lies Rainbow Six. Rest in peace, while we go reinstall "Raven Shield."

Lockdown got rid of everything that made its predecessors stand out and kept the bad A.I. and even worse backstories. Even without the burden of living up to its predecessors, Lockdown is -- at best -- a generic shooter with pretensions at realism.

It's truly saddening to see the Rainbow Six series plummet to these depths. As it is, unless the next installment is a return to the series' glorious past, Lockdown will be the last Rainbow Six game I ever play.

Plays more like a lifeless copy of the thousand arcade shooters that came before it, rather than anything even remotely strategic.