Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield - PC

Tom Clancy games, particularly Rogue Spear and Rainbow Six, have become a dominant force in the land of the PC squad-based stealth-em-ups. Red Storm has now developed a second sequel in the Rainbow Six series, a third game called Raven Shield. But will Rainbow Six 3 surpass its accomplished predecessors?

Once again, you have the opportunity to command an elite, multinational squad of special operatives against a hidden and sinister terrorist foe. In Raven Shield, RAINBOW races against time to stop terror and unravel a mystery in locations around the world, ranging from London, to the Caribbean, to Rio de Janeiro. Your job is to lead team RAINBOW in a desperate effort to battle a madman and foil his doomsday plot.

Gameplay in Raven Shield largely remains the same as its predecessors, in which players must stealthily navigate an anti-terrorist squad through more than a dozen enemy-infested environments such as mansions and warehouses. There are 15 single-player stages in this offering, all built on the respectable Unreal engine and that play host to some 57 weapons and real-world accessories. It's an involving epic with a heavy focus on strategy, but the game's multi-player options are equally enticing.

Complete with online and network play, Raven Shield comes with six dedicated and brilliantly designed multi-player maps. Here, players can compete against other real-life foes on a one-to-one basis or as part of a team if they so choose. It's nothing new, but multi-player gaming is so much fun, particularly within the first-person genre, that little if anything needs to be changed.

Rainbow Six 3 is more of the same, yes, but it uses a formula that works so well that it's near flawless. more