Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown

Do not pick up Rainbow Six: Lockdown for the single-player experience. If you plan on picking this game up be sure you have Xbox Live because that is the only place you are going to find meaningful gameplay.

Lockdown offers some reasonably fun, familiar action, but in a package that's too friendly and ultimately disappointing as the final Rainbow Six of the current Xbox generation.

Lockdown really deserves two separate reviews; one for hardcore tactical shooter types of gamers, and another for run and gun gamers. While it would score well for the second group, the first group will be sorely disappointed by the game's transition to an arcade type shooter.

Gamestyle thoroughly enjoyed Rainbow Six: Lockdown. The campaign is an improvement over previous games, but the ropey enemy AI and prevalence of bugs can soon annoy.

The graphics seem to be a step backwards in the franchise but as I have said before, the PEC mode is the saving grace of this game.

There's little need for varied strategies throughout Lockdown, and once you figure out how to sweep a room efficiently, the entire game is pretty much open for completion. It makes for an interesting twist on the strategy based shooter formula, because the need for absolute teamwork is almost entirely diminished.

One of the best things about the earlier games in the franchise was the feeling that you could be taken out at any time by a hidden terrorist, which made player approach each situation much more carefully. With the addition of the heartbeat sensor, you can simply scout out every room before you enter, allowing you to easily pinpoint enemy locations.

Another great entry in the critically-acclaimed series, but Rainbow Six enthusiasts may be turned off by its quicker pace.

The "dumbing down" of the single layer game is a big disappointment, though, and Rainbow Six fans will find this to be a huge letdown. Rainbow Six deserves better than to become yet another arcade shooter.

Visually the game is sub-par at best, and the only real reason anyone would want to check the game out besides some interesting gameplay quirks, is the headset communication, which you can do in other Raindow Six titles on Xbox already.

A mediocre installment in a series where the bar - and our expectations - have been raised very high. [Nov 2005, p.128]

We'd happily slap a glowing score on the online bit, but the single-player offering is burdened by so many problems that you'd be generous to claim it's slightly above average.

A game caught between markets. Gamers who want a pure FPS shooter have much better options to look into. Gamers who want tactical, squad based shooters will consider this a watered down, arcade version of the genre.

The new arcade-style squad control may make things quicker, but it short-circuits the one thing that made Rainbow Six different: intelligent squad strategy.

Play the earlier games, as this one's a huge letdown.