Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six
Encyclopedia
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six is a tactical shooter
computer game and the first in the Rainbow Six series
. It was developed and published by Red Storm Entertainment
for the PC
in 1998. It was later ported to Mac OS
, Nintendo 64
, PlayStation, Dreamcast and Game Boy Color
. An expansion pack, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Mission Pack: Eagle Watch, was released on January 31, 1999. The original PlayStation version is now available for download from the PlayStation Store.
. Later they decided to make the concept more international, as HRT would only operate in the US, and renamed it "Black Ops" and incorporated operators from all over the world. It was then they found that Tom Clancy
was writing a book about terrorism and a special team to combat it, so they rewrote some of the missions to fit within the book plot and Clancy shared his research with the game development team. The book was Rainbow Six so the game was renamed Rainbow Six. However, by the time they finished the game, the book was not yet finished. Thus, the plot of the game does not completely match the plot of the book.
, which focuses more on stealth and tactics than on sheer firepower. To add to the realism, all in-game characters, terrorists
, hostages and Rainbow operatives, can be wounded or dispatched in just fractions of a second. Tools such as thicker body armor, automatic rifles, and grenades have little value before the player grows accustomed to the gameplay.
Before each mission is a planning stage, during which the player is given a briefing, and then chooses the operatives to be involved in the mission, their weapons, equipment and uniform/camouflage. In earlier games, the player pre-established orders and waypoints during this step. The planning stage determined elements such as the path the AI-controlled squads would follow during the mission, as well as where they will deploy devices such as flashbangs or door breaching
charges.
Successful missions often last just minutes, but may require dozens of repetitions and planning changes (many more for beginners). During gameplay, the player controls only one team member directly, and can see stats for that member and all units on the Heads-Up Display. Teams not under player control follow the orders given to them in the planning stage. The player can take control of any living operative at will, making them the leader.
The game forms a campaign that is a series of scenarios, with the plot being advanced in the mission briefing of each scenario. Any casualties that occur during a mission are permanent, so the deceased cannot be used in future missions. Consequently, many players replay missions that are technically successful merely to reduce the number of casualties.
Online multiplayer gaming was popular on the Mplayer.com
and Zone.com services and for a time featured a thriving competitive clan based community with numerous independent ladder style leagues.
Unlike the other versions, the PlayStation version actually showed the gun being held in the player's hands.
RAINBOW is a newly created multinational counter-terrorism unit, composed of elite soldiers from NATO countries, formed to address the growing problem of international terrorism. The organization's director is John Clark
, and the team leader is Ding Chavez
. The term "Rainbow Six" refers to the director of the organization, John Clark.
Soon after its inauguration, RAINBOW finds itself responding to a series of seemingly unrelated terrorist attacks by the Phoenix Group, a radical eco-terrorist organization. Throughout its investigation, RAINBOW is assisted and advised by John Brightling, chairman of the powerful bio-tech corporation Horizon Inc.
However, RAINBOW eventually learns that the Phoenix Group is actually a front for Horizon Inc itself. Brightling's company is developing a highly contagious strain of the Ebola virus, called "Shiva," with the ability to kill every human being on the planet. In order to protect "mother nature," John Brightling is planning to kill the entire human race, sparing only Brightling's chosen few, who will re-emerge and rebuild the planet into a scientific and environmentally-friendly utopia. To achieve this goal, he has used the scattered terrorist attacks to create fear of terrorism, which he then exploited in order to get a security contract for his own private security firm at the Olympic games. Brightling's plan is for his "security personnel" to unleash the virus at the games, spreading it to all the countries of the world.
RAINBOW succeeds in preventing the release of the virus at the Olympic games, and Brightling and his collaborators retreat to their Horizon Ark facility in the Brazilian jungle, from which they had originally planned to weather out the global holocaust. RAINBOW infiltrates the facility, killing all of Brightling's collaborators and capturing Brightling himself.
to the original game. It adds 5 new missions, 4 new operatives, 3 new weapons and new multiplayer modes. The expansion was packaged with the original game as Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Gold Pack Edition in 1999.
Tactical shooter
A tactical shooter is a subgenre of shooter game that includes both first-person shooters and third-person shooters. These games typically simulate realistic combat, thus making tactics and caution more important than quick reflexes in other action games...
computer game and the first in the Rainbow Six series
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six is a tactical shooter computer game and the first in the Rainbow Six series. It was developed and published by Red Storm Entertainment for the PC in 1998. It was later ported to Mac OS, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Dreamcast and Game Boy Color. An expansion pack, Tom Clancy's...
. It was developed and published by Red Storm Entertainment
Red Storm Entertainment
Ubisoft Red Storm is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ubisoft Entertainment, specializing in video games and related merchandise, mainly based on the works of the writer Tom Clancy. The company develops and markets their own CD/DVD-ROM games...
for the PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
in 1998. It was later ported to Mac OS
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
, Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
, PlayStation, Dreamcast and Game Boy Color
Game Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
. An expansion pack, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Mission Pack: Eagle Watch, was released on January 31, 1999. The original PlayStation version is now available for download from the PlayStation Store.
Origin
Red Storm Entertainment (founded by author Tom Clancy) had originally planned to do a special operations game featuring first-person action, and a team of operators rescuing hostages and taking out terrorists. Their first concept was modeled after the American FBI Hostage Rescue TeamHostage Rescue Team
The FBI Hostage Rescue Team is the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation's counter-terrorism paramilitary tactical team. The HRT is trained to rescue U.S. citizens and allies who are held by a hostile force, either terrorist or criminal...
. Later they decided to make the concept more international, as HRT would only operate in the US, and renamed it "Black Ops" and incorporated operators from all over the world. It was then they found that Tom Clancy
Tom Clancy
Thomas Leo "Tom" Clancy, Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage, military science, and techno thriller storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War, along with video games on which he did not work, but which bear his name for licensing and...
was writing a book about terrorism and a special team to combat it, so they rewrote some of the missions to fit within the book plot and Clancy shared his research with the game development team. The book was Rainbow Six so the game was renamed Rainbow Six. However, by the time they finished the game, the book was not yet finished. Thus, the plot of the game does not completely match the plot of the book.
Gameplay
Rainbow Six is a tactical shooterTactical shooter
A tactical shooter is a subgenre of shooter game that includes both first-person shooters and third-person shooters. These games typically simulate realistic combat, thus making tactics and caution more important than quick reflexes in other action games...
, which focuses more on stealth and tactics than on sheer firepower. To add to the realism, all in-game characters, terrorists
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
, hostages and Rainbow operatives, can be wounded or dispatched in just fractions of a second. Tools such as thicker body armor, automatic rifles, and grenades have little value before the player grows accustomed to the gameplay.
Before each mission is a planning stage, during which the player is given a briefing, and then chooses the operatives to be involved in the mission, their weapons, equipment and uniform/camouflage. In earlier games, the player pre-established orders and waypoints during this step. The planning stage determined elements such as the path the AI-controlled squads would follow during the mission, as well as where they will deploy devices such as flashbangs or door breaching
Door breaching
Door breaching is a process used by military, police, or emergency services to force open closed and/or locked doors. A wide range of methods are available, one or more of which may be used in any given situation...
charges.
Successful missions often last just minutes, but may require dozens of repetitions and planning changes (many more for beginners). During gameplay, the player controls only one team member directly, and can see stats for that member and all units on the Heads-Up Display. Teams not under player control follow the orders given to them in the planning stage. The player can take control of any living operative at will, making them the leader.
The game forms a campaign that is a series of scenarios, with the plot being advanced in the mission briefing of each scenario. Any casualties that occur during a mission are permanent, so the deceased cannot be used in future missions. Consequently, many players replay missions that are technically successful merely to reduce the number of casualties.
Online multiplayer gaming was popular on the Mplayer.com
MPlayer.com
Mplayer, referred to as Mplayer.com by 1998, was a free online PC gaming service and community that operated from late 1996 until early 2001. The service at its peak was host to a community of more than 20 million visitors each month and offered more than 100 games...
and Zone.com services and for a time featured a thriving competitive clan based community with numerous independent ladder style leagues.
Unlike the other versions, the PlayStation version actually showed the gun being held in the player's hands.
Plot
Rainbow Six is set in the year 1999.RAINBOW is a newly created multinational counter-terrorism unit, composed of elite soldiers from NATO countries, formed to address the growing problem of international terrorism. The organization's director is John Clark
John Clark (Tom Clancy character)
John Clark is a fictional character created by Tom Clancy who appears in many of Clancy's novels. He is an Irish American Catholic.-Personal life:...
, and the team leader is Ding Chavez
Domingo Chavez
Domingo "Ding" Chavez is a fictional character described as a "passionate Latino" by American author Tom Clancy and appearing in many of his novels and video games.-History:...
. The term "Rainbow Six" refers to the director of the organization, John Clark.
Soon after its inauguration, RAINBOW finds itself responding to a series of seemingly unrelated terrorist attacks by the Phoenix Group, a radical eco-terrorist organization. Throughout its investigation, RAINBOW is assisted and advised by John Brightling, chairman of the powerful bio-tech corporation Horizon Inc.
However, RAINBOW eventually learns that the Phoenix Group is actually a front for Horizon Inc itself. Brightling's company is developing a highly contagious strain of the Ebola virus, called "Shiva," with the ability to kill every human being on the planet. In order to protect "mother nature," John Brightling is planning to kill the entire human race, sparing only Brightling's chosen few, who will re-emerge and rebuild the planet into a scientific and environmentally-friendly utopia. To achieve this goal, he has used the scattered terrorist attacks to create fear of terrorism, which he then exploited in order to get a security contract for his own private security firm at the Olympic games. Brightling's plan is for his "security personnel" to unleash the virus at the games, spreading it to all the countries of the world.
RAINBOW succeeds in preventing the release of the virus at the Olympic games, and Brightling and his collaborators retreat to their Horizon Ark facility in the Brazilian jungle, from which they had originally planned to weather out the global holocaust. RAINBOW infiltrates the facility, killing all of Brightling's collaborators and capturing Brightling himself.
Organizations
- Rainbow - the main faction of the game. Rainbow is a new faction which at first was thought to be an unnecessary unit but earned it's respect after rescuing a Belgium politician in London from the Terrorist's "Free Europe". They then rescue "Horizon" worker Catherine Winston from "Hutu Rebels". After this they come across the "Phoenix Group" who threaten to destroy and oil rig, but are stop by Rainbow. They help take down "Ramon Calderon" after kidnapped 2 Horizon workers because of their "Rain Forest 200" project. They also take down member's of a Radical "Neo-Marxist" group who take hostages. They are then tasked to stop the Phoenix Group from blowing a dam, but also to rescue an informant named "Roland Kunst" to find out Phoenix's plan. After doing so they head to a level 4 bio facility to stop them manufacturing a deadly virus to be released into the general population. They succeed but some of the group get away to a near by air strip. The unit stop them from escaping on a plane, but John suspects that someone inside Rainbow gave away info and tipping them off. While looking for answers This unit takes down another Free Europe controlled hostage situation. John blames a company called "Global Security" for the mess up. Not long after Catherine Winston is kidnapped again, this time by the Phoenix Group and hold her on a ship "Orca's Smile". The team rescue her and find out that the virus is the same as one she was studying in Africa, but this strain is designed to kill humans. "Anne Lang" another Horizon worker and adviser for Rainbow is implicated as the security leak. Rainbow intrude into her house and tap her phone. The discover that her and John Brightling himself are involved with Phoenix Group. Rainbow sneak into their main base in L.A and hack the computer. They discover that Horizon is just a cover for the Phoenix Group it's self. Also that member's of Global Security who are handling security for the Sydney summer games are tide to Phoenix. They also discover that many of the ascendance are set the board flights all over the world right after the games, thus the virus that will be released will have spread to every corner of the planet. Rainbow are tasked to intercept GS leader "Bill Hendrickson" and bring him in for questioning. Afterwards they discover that Calderon the drug trafficker had been set up and had nothing to do with Horizon and was a Phoenix Group cover up, using Rain Forest 2000 as a cover to build a sanctuary survive the pandemic. They later intercept Anne Lang in Brazil after learning that she plan's to fake her own death to go into hiding but is intercepted by Rainbow and captured. Hendrikson gives up the location of the bombs and Rainbow deactivates them. Brightling and the remnants of Phoenix Group barricade them selves in the Horizon Ark it's self. But Rainbow privales in storming the ark and capturing Brightling who decides to come quietly. Rainbow clean up the Horizon, Global Security and Phoenix Group messes. Clark lastly commends the soldiers on their bravery
- Pheniox Group
- Horizon
- Global Security
- Free Europe
- Neo-Marxist
- Hutu Rebels
Character's
- John ClarkJohn Clark-Entertainers:*John Clark , opera singer known as Signor Brocolini*John Clark , British actor, ex-husband of Lynn Redgrave*John Clark , jazz horn player and composer-Politicians, judges, and civil servants:...
- born in 1942 is commander of Rainbow, and arguably the closet thing to a main protagonist the game has. Although he almost never physically appears he appears during the planning stage, during which the player can get a briefing from him. Unlike most character's Clark can give briefings on every mission through out the game. His physical character appear's during the closing cut scene when John Brightling is being interrogated by the FBI. At the end he commends the soldier's for their bravery.
- Catherine Winston - born in 1965 is a bio-hazard expert who become's involved with Rainbow after being kidnapped by Hutu Rebel's in Africa and rescued by Rainbow. She brief's the character's on most mission but not all. Unlike John Clark, Catherine makes more physical appearances than him on level's 2 and 10. Ironically both of these level's she has been kidnapped (she is kidnapped by Phoenix Group after discovering their plan). She is last seen view Brightlings interrogation.
- John Brightling - CEO of "Horizon" and the games main antagonist. He organised Horizon as a cover for "Phoenix Group" and had some member's in Global Security. He is and adviser on levels 2 and 4 but goes into hiding after Rainbow begin to unravel everything. However after his plan fail's, Lang and Hendrikson are captured and put in Rainbow's custody. Brightling barricade's himself in the Horizon Ark itself. After Rainbow storm the ark, they find Brightling to which he said "I see the Calvary has finally arrived. He states that the guns aren't necessarily as he will come quietly. Once in Rainbow's custody, he tells Clark that it's not over and in 100 years there wont be a creature larger that a rat alive anywhere on the planet.
- Anne Lang - Adviser for Rainbow and Horizon and main supporting antagonist. She is rainbow's security leak and gave away all their Intel to Brightling and she order's Catherine's capture. Clark said that he never trusted her or Beightling. Anne herself is put into Rainbow's custody after a failed attempt to fake her own death. She is last seen arguing with Clark saying that this is outrageous.
- Bill Hendrikson - head of operations of "Global Security". He is captured after he is discovered to have ties to Phoenix. He reveals that bombs to release the virus were place in the air speculation is Sydney during the summer games as he was in charge of security for it. His fate after the interrogation is unknown.
- Ramon CalderonRamón CalderónJosé Ramón Calderón Ramos is a lawyer and an ex-President of Spanish sports club Real Madrid.-Life and career:...
- A drug trafficker living in exile in Brazil. He is set up by Horizon so they can gain Rainbow's trust and is killed by them. A fact not discovered by RAinbow until they hack Horizon's computer months later.
- Roland Kunst - born in 1979 is a defector form the Phoenix Group who decides to give information about the virus that Phoenix intends in unleash if Rainbow can rescue him and give him protection. They successively do so and discover a facility were the virus is being manufactured. His fate afterwards in unknown.
Eagle Watch
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Mission Pack: Eagle Watch was released on January 31, 1999 as an expansion packExpansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
to the original game. It adds 5 new missions, 4 new operatives, 3 new weapons and new multiplayer modes. The expansion was packaged with the original game as Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Gold Pack Edition in 1999.