Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six

About Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (1998) is Red Storm Entertainment's tactical shooter in which careful planning matters more than firepower, since a single bullet can kill any operative.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six in Depth

Based on Tom Clancy's novel of the same name, it follows Rainbow, a secret international counter-terrorist organisation, as it investigates a seemingly random rise in terrorism and uncovers a conspiracy. Characters are affected by realistic factors and can die from one shot, so tactics and planning are rewarded over brute force. The PC campaign has 16 missions, with objectives such as killing enemies, rescuing hostages, defusing bombs, gathering intelligence and planting surveillance devices, and players can choose anything from stealthy infiltration to a frontal assault, except where stealth is required. Successful missions often last just minutes but may take dozens of attempts and changes of plan.

Before each mission the player is briefed, chooses operatives from five classes, Assault, Demolitions, Electronics, Recon and Sniper, organises them into colour-coded teams and picks weapons, equipment and uniforms. Most operatives are named characters with backstories and skills, but weaker generic reserves can be used to avoid risking them. On a map of the area the player sets each team's route, "go" codes to wait for, where to use flashbangs or breaching charges, and rules of engagement, or picks a preset plan instead. In the mission itself the player leads one operative while computer-controlled teammates follow the plan. Multiplayer offers co-operative missions and competitive matches.

Making Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six

The idea grew from concepts Red Storm drew up after its founding in 1996. CEO Doug Littlejohns, a former Royal Navy submarine commander and close friend of Clancy, wanted neither an arcade shooter with "mindless violence" nor a "boring" slow strategy game, so realism, action and planning guided the design, though setbacks forced the team to crunch. Released on 21 August 1998, it earned 85 on Metacritic; IGN called it "unlike any first-person shooter yet made" and PC Gamer US "undoubtedly one of the most original and best games of the year", while AI problems and glitches drew criticism and the console ports by other companies scored lower. It sold over 200,000 copies in its first year and is considered a milestone that shaped the tactical shooter genre.