One of the greatest tactical shooters on the Xbox - a slow-paced counterterrorist sim, filled with excruciating tension.
There's no place to hide.
And this cold, hard fact dominates your head.
A touch of the left thumbstick. Nervously, you step into the doorway, ears alert for any movement, eyes wide, frantically scanning the room for any terrorist lifeform. Although it is necessary to hide your fright, it is painfully evident - the sweat streaming down your face, your teeth chattering although you need them not to, the way your knees are shaking when you're indoors. It's times like these when you wish you weren't an elite counterterrorist operative, and sometimes you think that you're not exactly up to the job.
But of course you are - it's what you're born to be.
Although you've only been exposed for a precious second, this small length of time seems stretched across an age - you've taken in the room and absorbed its every centimetre. A subconscious map forms in your brain, in case it will be needed later. And, at first glance, there seems to be no terrorists in the room, or anything living, for that matter - but you're trained to think otherwise. You're trained to envision enemies behind every bit of cover. Trained to think in an alternate reality. And although your suspicions of nothingness could be correct, it's still your duty to successfully pick off every lifeform in the vicinity.
But it's not only you. You have squadmates.
And the three men standing behind you, tense, waiting for the sound of hostility, give you a slight reassurance. It's always nice to know you have company. It's always a feeling that stops you feeling helpless in these grave times. But, yet, they are a burden - your orders can determine whether they survive or whether they die. One false move can result in incapacitation, or worse, death. And that's where your immense responsibility settles, evident above everything else. Their lives are in your hands, and if they die, so will you. And then these terrorists will take countless more.
It's these sort of thoughts that plague your brain at the worst moments. Moments when you're standing in a doorway, exposed to any hostile fire that might ensue.
The room is large. You seem to be standing on a corrugated iron balcony, elevated about three or four metres above the main depot. In the room there is crates, barrels and boxes stockpiled everywhere, obscuring your view, and letting you know that there just might be a hostile behind one of these, waiting to take your life, waiting to shoot you down.
And then you see it. The barrel of a gun, sticking out from behind one of the larger crates. And you can see the man looking through its scope, a flicker of a smirk on his face, a grimace of vague satisfaction. And it's here when you have to react, lightning-fast. The speed of your actions can make the difference. It's here where you have to take advantage of Rainbow Six 3's comprehensive control scheme, and duck. A click of the left thumbstick lowers you down behind the rail, and the bullets miss you by inches. The surround sound system delivers them, the sound of all hell breaking loose, the signal for a battle.
Your three AI-controlled squadmates move into the fray, crouched down to minimalize their visibility, guns prone. A standard tactical manouevre. Holding the (X) button, your arsenal flashes up on the screen. The D-Pad controls your choice, and depending on the direction you choose, a different weapon can be used. Adaptation to the situation. You opt for the stun grenade, heart pounding amongst your teammate's bullets. You throw the grenade and it lands somewhere near the first hostile. It ignites, and you're temporarily blinded for a moment by Rainbow Six 3's decent lighting system that flashes on the screen.
A barely audible thud. The terrorist is dead.
All at once, a feeling of adrenaline and relief pours into your system. It's these sort of moments that make Rainbow Six 3 better than it should be. Somehow, such a serious squad shooter takes hold of your emotions and relentlessly delivers moments to make you tense, scared, relieved, thrilled, or all of them at once.
Straightening up, you hear "Threat neutralized" in a faintly German accent. Using Rainbow Six 3's innovative squad control system, you tell your team to follow, using the Black button. You come up to another doorway on the other side of the balcony, obscured in shadow. Again, using the excellent ordering system, you toggle the Zulu Go Code, and tell them to storm in, all-guns blazing. Hell, sometimes you got to have fun.
You wait for the right time. Feeling the tension set in again. You find yourself looking at the sky shown through a skylight - it's an almost apocalyptic canvas. You examine your gun - a detailed model of a stun grenade you forgot to put away before. Redraw the sub-machinegun, and reload time. Again, taking note of the innovative control system.
You yell the Go-Code. Your teammates determinedly storm in, firing their guns at random intervals. The great lighting effects illuminate the room they are blitzing - they're back outside in the thick air, dominated above by the towers of the oil refinery. An oil refinery overcome by the evils of modern terorism. The visuals strike you as pretty darn good, and you take note of how fluidly animated the scene ahead is - your three squadmates tactically taking down the enemy terrorists. Their gun barrels are almost permanently alight with fire.
An explosion. It comes out of nowhere. Your heart stops.
It hits you too late that recklessly sending your teammates in was a bad idea. A very bad idea. The euphoria of making it this far must have clogged up your senses. But there it is. The explosion. From the bomb you were meant to defuse.
The explosion is huge. An infernal ball of flame that comes out of nowhere and causing chaos in the immediate area. Like the rest of the audio you've heard so far, it is a well-done explosion that almost shakes your ear off. And like the rest of the graphics you've seen so far, it's absolutely brilliant. But what isn't brilliant is to see your teammates caught up in the explosion. Authentic character models gone to waste. The excellent HUD system details their four life points go down to zero, along with the update at the top of the screen - Bomb Detonated. Mission Failed. You go down in a haze of disbelief, wondering how on earth you failed so rashly. The menu screen comes back.
Your mission has been terminated.
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NOTES
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I was getting tired of thousand-word reviews, and I thought I'd try something a little more creative this time. I've tried to do the entire review from the perspective of Ding Chavez, only a slightly edited version of everyone's favourite tactical soldier. It's nowhere near as in-depth as it needs to be, so it doesn't deliver all the facts about the game, but I've tried to recreate the feelings that I get whenever I play Rainbow Six 3. I think I've conveyed just how immersive the game is, and just how realistic it manages to be. I hope you enjoyed reading the review!
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END
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Back at Command, the line to Ding Chavez is opened. There is no response at the other end.
Everything fades to black.