Realism adds colour to Rainbow

By Daniel Florido

It may not be the best-looking game in the world, but it plays brilliantly

When I think of black arrows, my minds eye wanders to a place few people dare to tread.

It's a place of darkness, a place where flashbang grenades momentarily illuminate the foreboding figures that seek to destroy you.

As a soldier, you can only obey your orders. You get a mission briefing - rescue all hostages, remove all threats - and you must follow its directions, or failure is guaranteed.

And failure is unacceptable in this line of work.

This place of darkness cannot allow you to question motives, you can only act with swift vengeance. "Why am I here?"

Bzzzzt!! Kill!

Nuclear weapons should not be in the hands of extremists, nuclear weapons really shouldn't exist, but you know how it goes… Some guy gets a bat, another gets a knife. Then someone gets a knife, another gets a gun. Some guy gets a gun and another gets a bomb… And when some guy gets a bomb it becomes a delicate situation. A situation that requires careful, surgical planning in order to fix the problem.

Which is where you come in, soldier.

You are the fix to these problems that the rest of the world doesn't even know about, must not know about. You are the spittle-covered fingers that softly douse the flames of impending doom, long before anyone in the safe confines of their idyllic day-to-day routine finds out.

As the person holding the control pad in Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow, you take control of the Team Rainbow squad of crack troops by controlling the team leader, named Ding, and these dudes are not to be trifled with, not even a little bit.

These are guys who like wearing fatigues and camo face paint even when they're winding down in front of the TV watching 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' while noshing on fish fingers and mayo.

So what must you do to protect the corrupt and destroy the weak? A lot of killing, that's what - Tom Clancy style! The gameplay is of your typical first person shooter mould, but better, because not only have you three other operatives at your command, but you often have the element of surprise as well.

For much of the game you'll also need to rely on infra-red night vision goggles, and even thermal imaging to spot those who have been designated your target; innocence is something for bleeding heart brigade... You have your orders, soldier!

Teamwork and stealth can work wonders in Black Arrow, but finding some good cover and flushing out your foes is equally useful

Though the graphics in Black Arrow aren't the best to ever grace a tactical first person shooter, the mood and atmosphere created by the level design, and lighting as well, contribute to the game's alluring appeal.

You won't gasp as grenades go off, the character models aren't mind blowing, but taken as a sum of its parts, Black Arrow is a very hard game to put down once you've started saving hostages and taking out so-called terrorists.

The simple act of using a sniper rifle to take out a bogey is in itself a thoroughly engaging act, and when your foes take hostages, holding guns to their temples, you must try to avoid collateral damage. The tension builds in these delicate situations and you'll feel your heart beating in your chest. Yup, it's very atmospheric.

So enrapturing is this game, that at one stage a carefully planned evening with my lady friend was scrapped. Yes, I was willing to sacrifice my girlfriend to play this game, such is it's addictiveness.

"Honey, it's time to go to the art gallery. Turn off the videogames darlink!" Well, this soldier wasn't gonna have any of that. "Sorry honey, I've got a blot clot in my ass. Piss off."

The scenarios, save for one or two, are all highly entertaining, and anyone who has ever read a military/spy thriller and enjoyed it will love what's on offer here.

The weapons are detailed, accurately modelled and the sound effects are spot on, and together with a mixture of tight corridors, open areas plus multi-tiered levels and lots of staircases, the action is never repetitive and gunfights always stimulating.

Before each mission you'll be briefed on what it is you must accomplish, and you can also choose your weapons here as well. Your objectives and the terrain usually dictate your ordnance, so choosing the sniper rifle or the sub machine gun, the flashbang or the frag grenade will depend on the circumstances.

Though the gameplay hasn't changed drastically since Rainbow Six 3 arrived on the Xbox, this is no bad thing as it worked very well in that instance. Ordering your heavily-armed underlings around is as easy as pointing your crosshairs at a wall and clicking a button. Next thing you know, they're trotting to that location, and will even defend themselves too.

In fact, they're actually pretty cluey when it comes to protecting themselves, and the firefights are just as good to watch as they are to be involved in. You can also issue more intricate commands via pop-up menus and the game interface is very workable, making this first-person shooter a very console (and control pad) friendly piece of software.

I also liked the blood in this game. And I suppose it's what keeps us going. Pumping through our veins. That's its place in our world; it's where it should be. Splattered across the ornately decorated walls of a Middle Eastern temple, however, is the wrong place for it to be.

But unlike Ghost Recon 2, for example, at least this game has blood. Fire a sniper round into a man's eye socket and you'll see the results of your handiwork displayed on the wall behind him. The subtle rag dolling and death animations are also quite realistic, and your foes will slump backwards against walls or roll down stairs when the cold, bony hand of death seeks their company.

If you've ever journeyed into the digital unknown with Domingo "Ding" Chavez and his 'ask no questions' associates and you had a good time doing it, you should really check out Black Arrow. It's a very good game.

I had a great time playing it -- in fact I've been playing it way too much recently, much to the vexation of the Editor [you'll keep Florido - Ed] -- and I have no trouble in giving it a double thumbs up. The Rainbow Six 3 series is alive and well on the consoles, and I'm now very much anticipating co-op madness in Rainbow Six: Lockdown.

Game: Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow
System: Xbox
Players: 1-multi
Online: Yes
Developer: Ubisoft
Distributor: Ubisoft

Rating: 80%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)

Rainbow Six: Black Arrow is on the shelves now.