First, though, if you are not aware of what this game series is all about then know that it's basically a counter-terrorist simulation. You lead an elite team of counter-terrorists taken from all countries and creeds, outfit with the best gear there is to offer, and your general objective is to storm some terrorist group's position, kill everyone holding a gun and save the hostages/retrieve the info/disable the bomb, etc. It has historically been realistic, with each level being meticulously planned by you before you play it, in setting zones and paths for your men, checkpoints and entry tactics so you can basically enter the game and tell your team to go without you even needing to help.

However, this feature has been dropped from this version, possibly because it would probably be too much for your average console gamer. Still though, they have retained the ability for you to pick the gear and weapons for each member of your team, and there are around 50 different weapons to choose. There is also a firing range accessible from the menu so you can get a feel of each weapon and its different capabilities at short, medium and long range.

The engine in this version has been upgraded, but it's not what you might think. At first look it seems a bit low-res even on the highest graphics settings, and the texture quality seems quite low. It's not too bad, and it leads you to assume that the graphics engine is more there for a purpose than a shiny bauble to sell the game.

The physics engine is good, but not great and particle effects seem a little lacklustre. However the moment you see things like lights and smoke or fire you can see that some serious technology is in play. Fires in particular look like they've come straight out of Half-Life 2. Is this a good thing? We found it made the majority of poor graphics stand out more, and it would have been better if they had just kept the quality universally the same. If you take a game like F.E.A.R. and compare the combat in that, the graphics in this game do nothing to enhance the experience, which is a shame. Along the same theme the environment isn't very reactive in Rainbow 6. A light bulb might as well be made of titanium for all the effect you can have on it by shooting at it, which does lessen some of the counter-terrorist feel.

As far as general controls go, this game plays just like every other shooter out there, so there's nothing special here. The only difference is the requirement to give orders in the game, which is basically an improvement on the standard 'open the door' button. You use it to operate computers and call people to follow you, etc, but what its flexibility is really used for is the team commands. Here is where the game has something you don't usually find in your garden-variety shooter. In campaign mode, every mission you have three team mates who obey your every whim. If you want to be boring you can order them to follow you around, and they become just three more guns attached to you; but by using the command key judiciously you can order them to breach doors, clear rooms, take up sniping positions, suppress areas and so on. It's similar to the system used in Republic Commando but not so scripted and it gives a real sense of immersion in the game. You really feel like a commander and begin to care for your team.

Unfortunately there is a downside to this: AI. Your team mates have bad AI and so it's hard to really use them super-effectively. We've been shot numerous times by the over-excited morons in tow, which really hurts when they are carrying a scoped heavy machine gun. On top of that, when you order them to a position they'll stand right in the open, absorbing fire like some crazy fire-absorbing sponge, which means on large maps with wide open spaces it can be quite hard to keep the idiots alive.

Fortunately this AI poorness is reflected in the enemy as well. If they are not actively fighting you, enemies will walk around in circles or into walls in a most unsatisfying manner, looking more like old school FPS monsters than terrorists. And when you enter combat they'll just strafe back and forward until they hold still long enough for you to put a bullet through them, which in the end seriously distracts from the realism of the game. At no point can you convince yourself that you are fighting real people, and that's a shame for a series that prided itself on realism.

The missions you fight are well designed, and while some come off clearly as game maps, others really capture the feel of the location they're modelling. Fighting through them is quite satisfying, although because they're completely scripted there is very little replay value (unless you've been killed and have to, of course). It would have been nice if there were more cover available, so that every battle isn't just a twitch-finger shootout, but given the enemies are horrible shots this isn't a big handicap.

The story isn't really worth mentioning as it is the standard story you get with every CT game these days: someone's built a virus, it's been stolen, kill the bad guys to save the world. An interesting game mode, however, is the ability to tackle each mission on your lonesome (Lone Wolf mode), which can be a challenging alternative to tackling the mission with your stupid team.