Rated 4.74 out of 5 stars 19 Reviews
Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow (XBox)
Rainbox Six 3: Black Arrow A series of attempts to kidnap telemetry and rocket scientists pulls Team Rainbow into a spider web of international intrigue. An international cabal of renegade military officers is trying to create a war in the oil-rich regions around the Black Sea, giving them an excuse to swoop in and seize control. Team Rainbow must stop the terrorists from developing weapons of mass destruction and prevent them from starting a devastating war. New Single-player Campaign with new, diversified and challenging objectives; new weapons and equipment; and beautiful Mediterranean and Eastern European level environments. Improved, Smarter AI Terrorists: Watch the bad guys call for backup when they are outnumbered or use hostages as human shields. New Objective-Based Game Modes - Capture the Point: Teams battle to capture and hold designated points on the map. - Capture the Flag: Teams must race to the center to take possession of a specific item and defend it as they carry it back to their compound. Black Arrow will be one of the first games to offer the new Xbox Live features, such as: User-created tournaments; Messaging; and Clan statistics. New Tactics for Online Multiplayer: Black Arrow will offer new private team lobbies where players can use a planning interface to develop strategies before online matches begin. New split-screen mode for offline two-player collaboration: Tackle each single-player mission with a buddy - and two AI teammates.
Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow (XBox) Reviews
As you know, I gave a pretty harsh rating to Rainbow Six 3 due to its online bugs which are history now (Action Replay and Molotov Cocktails to name a few) and the decent at best menu music really disturbed my judgement of the game. What Black Arrow does is give us what wasn't available to us in RS3 (2 new online modes, lone rush, co-op) but it's those few online bugs that gives this game one star less than what it deserves.
Pros: 1. Lone Rush Mode (kill terrorists alone like Schwartzenegger!)
2. Co-op terrorist hunts and missions (play with a friend, and it's cordless too!)
3. New Multiplayer modes (Total Conquest has you control all three satellites for 20 seconds from the other team and Retrieval is like CTF, except with a cannister instead of a flag, same objective though)
4. Xbox Live 3.0 is fully utilized (clan support, voice messaging, and clan competitions!)
5. New menu music (it actually rocks!)
6. Improved AI and sound (terrorists actually put emphasis in being shot or spotting you)
Cons: 1. Online Bugs. I will just explain these bugs to you. As I said before, these bugs were the only reason that I gave this game a 4-star instead of a 5-star. Trust me, the online in whole is a good experience, but it is these bugs that taint the image of the game. Here are the bugs that you will encounter in your online quest.
One, The AOL-ism when you enter a game. Once you enter a game, you go through the loading screens, map loading, and so on. And then you get through into a game you hear people on the speakers or headset, you hear music,... but all of a sudden, the music and chatter stops, and after 1-3 seconds, you see an play screen with no movement except for the loading circle on the bottom. About 5 seconds later, I found myself sitting in the main menu. Not only that, but it also boots you from the Xbox live service and you have to reconnect to the Live service! I have discovered that I can rarely get into a game when they are actually playing. I must wait until the game goes back into the waiting lobby before I can join it! Hopefully, Ubisoft will release a patch to fix this up (Apparently, there are always online bugs with the Ubisoft games. RS3 (Action Replay), SC-PT (quit and don't lose points and game is not ranked), and this game to be specific. What are the online testers doing?)
Two, Spawn Camping. UUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!! This problem is basically a problem with the newer online modes, where another team gets through to their spawn and just shoots everyone on the other team that respawns. Not only does it agitate the team that is getting spawn killed, but it takes the fun out of the game as well (I expected a challenge, not to just shoot people respawning!). I'll admit it to you, I have spawn killed before (did not initiate it, but joined in the process) and it is only fun to do for about 30 seconds to a minute, then it just gets boring. Either because you get sick of it, or the other team just quit or stopped respawning. And the attacking team has the advantage as well since you cannot move for a half second where they just shoot you and you, yes, die. Once again, where are the online testers on this sort of thing. Shouldnt Ubisoft have put up barriers on spawns or a time limit for being in the opponents spawn area (10 seconds tops) but no, We have to suffer until Ubisoft puts out a patch to stop this madness.
Three, you quit and your stats do not count for the game. It's self-explanitory. quit and the game will not count for or against you, it's not as bad as splinter cell where a player quit and the game didn't count, but it still irks me that this hasn't been fixed for a game that has been released AFTER Splinter Cell.
Final Verdict: I would still buy this game, since many people will abandon RS3 for the expansion pack, and besides, if you look past the online bugs, it is a very good game. and it's only $40. Good price for the game.
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As a MUST-BUY for Xbox Live, this game could hardly get better. Xbox Live 3.0 support works perfectly for the game. Clans (known as "Squads" in Black Arrow) improve the quality of the game greatly on their own, even more-so when you kill multiple enemies of opposing squads by yourself. Singleplayer may not be worth buying the game (to me, mainly because I focus on Xbox Live play), but multiplayer is what it's all about. As a side note, RS3: BA is the #1 Xbox Live game right now (as according to xbox.com).
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There is no comparison to this game. You can now play split screen and the two new multiplayer modes, ctf and king of the kill, are fantastic. The new single player campaign is as great as the original and the online porion is even better. The bottom line is, if you liked the first game or you like shooters in general, this game is for you. As a nice little touch, microsoft adds a free 2-month online trial.
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