There was a time when Ubisoft meant quality, original gaming. Over the years, however, Ubisoft has meant cliched and underwhelming sequels. Whether it’s Prince of Persia, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell or in this case Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, Ubisoft has watered down and dumbed the gaming down to a tee. No longer is skill or thought involved in playing the games.
If you remember Raven Shield, that was the first next generation update for Rainbow Six for quite some time. It used an advanced Unreal engine to offer the same, enjoyable tactical gameplay of the original Rainbow Six, but with a much needed facelift. Athena Sword continued the trend as a much needed expansion to what was a very solid game.
A console port or two later and we now have the next PC incarnation of Rainbow Six in Lockdown. Immediately from the intro you’re presented with a wholly different feel to what the game will offer. Gone is the tactical planning, the intelligent and challenging AI, replaced instead with a run and gun method of play and AI that’s as intelligent as a dead badger.
The levels themselves are rather pretty to look at, as are the graphics in general. Turning on AF and AA to max, and you have yourself a fine looking title. Advanced WarFighter cannot arrive fast enough. The DX9 effects are present and correct, with the character models being a step up from the previous incarnations. The only thing lacking, really, is detail in the enemy and some vehicular repetition. Fighting the same faceless grunt gets a little tiresome after a few firefights.
Talking of firefights, that’s all the game has to offer. In Raven Shield, Ubisoft retained the premise that a player could tactically view his squad members, position them, and infilitrate a base. This was a requirement as the enemy could snipe with deadly accuracy and end the game in a heart beat. It offered a level of tension that is disappointly missing from this game.
Many of the flaws can be attributed to lazy coding and of course the game being a console port. Playing for a console audience requires immediacy and the run & gun genre works fine. PC gamers demand much more than that, and Red Storm’s decision, with Ubisoft’s backing, to do a port that’s even worse than the console interation is simply unforgivable.
The Ai is moronic, the levels are far, far too linear and the fun of the game has all but disappeared. The saving grace for lockdown is a fairly comprehensive multiplayer mode. From playing adversaries to achieving a set of objectives first, to deathmatch and capture the flag. All the usual modes are in there.
What stands out in the multiplayer features is the Co-Op mode which allows up to four human participants to join forces and take out the enemy in the original single player missions. This does save the game a little, but due to the linear level structure, you can only go one way in the game, from point A to point B with no deviation, which again removes any level of tactics or fun in the game.
In summary, Lockdown is a watered down non-tactical run & gun game, with AI that will strike you as dead than alive, and a level design structure that’s so linear it’s insulting in this modern age of gaming.
Verdict: Fun for a short while in multiplayer mode, but otherwise a redundant addition to the franchise