Apocalypso's Atomic Arcade: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six

Showing posts with label Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six. Show all posts

2010/04/11

Tom Clancy’s First Book in Seven Years, Dead or Alive, Coming This Christmas

If you’re a gamer, and you likely are if you’re on this site, then you’ve heard of Tom Clancy. Even the spell checker on most word editors knows of Tom Clancy. His name has appeared on so many games, right from Rainbow Six, to Ghost Recon, to Splinter Cell, to EndWar, to H.A.W.X., and others. And there were the movies as well, like The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger and The Sum of All Fears.

But did you know that long before those video games, Tom was all ready an established writer?

I read the other day that Tom is going to have another book out sometime this year called Dead or Alive – his first book in seven years. He has had others in this time period, but they were actually written by other people, if that makes sense; a ghost writer, if you will. They just had his name on it, like a brand.

The book will put all of Clancy's heroes together, including Jack Ryan, John Clark, and Ding Chavez [characters that Rainbow Six players should know very well – I’ve played the original and read the book] among others, in an attempt to join forces and combat terrorism.

Ivan Held, President of G.P. Putnam’s Sons:

“This is Tom Clancy for the first time bringing all his all-stars together, including Jack Ryan. They will be going after modern terrorism.”

The book will be written by Tom, along with Grant Blackwood, a former US Navy veteran, whose also worked on other Clancy novels. Penguin Group, the publisher, says the 848 page book should be out on December 7, 2010 - a few weeks before Christmas.

Amazon blurb:

“For years, Jack Ryan, Jr. and his colleagues at the Campus have waged an unofficial and highly effective campaign against the terrorists who threaten western civilization. The most dangerous of these is the Emir. This sadistic killer has masterminded the most vicious attacks on the west and has eluded capture by the world’s law enforcement agencies. Now the Campus is on his trail. Joined by their latest recruits, John Clark and Ding Chavez, Jack Ryan, Jr. and his cousins, Dominick and Brian Caruso, are determined to catch the Emir and they will bring him in . . . dead or alive.”

By the way, I thought I would add that Tom Clancy will turn 63 tomorrow, as it’s apparently his birthday on the 12th of April.

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Sources: Reuters - Weekend Argus

2010/03/12

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier First Details

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is featured in Official PlayStation Magazine’s latest issue, nearly out now, and some details of the game have been given.

Just like the other titles, the game take place in the near future, supposedly ten to fifteen years after the events of Ghost Recon Advanced Fighter 2, and sees the ghosts going against more ultranationalists.

In the game, we all ready know that you’ll be able to use optical camouflage, or cloak, like in Crysis, and exo-skeleton legs which allow the player to jump and roll, which you couldn’t do in previous titles, much to my frustration.

Just like other Ghost Recon titles though, there’s close quarters urban combat.

There’s four player co-op, and interestingly when they talk about tools that players can use depending on their class type, you get optical camo for the Recon class, shoulder mounted missiles for the Commando, and heart sensors.

Now, when you think of heart sensors, you’re probably going to think, Ah, another one copying Modern Warfare 2. But remember that heart sensors were featured in the first Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six games over ten tears ago – except they weren’t mounted onto the side of assault rifles, and operated a little differently. Still…

Another thing which is a first for the series is there won’t be any squad commands, which didn’t work in GRAW anyway, as far as I remember. So it’s probably not hard to see why.

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Sources: TVG

2010/02/07

Rumblings: Ghost Recon Future Soldier Announcement Coming?

This all sounds like typical speculation, but it was spotted on Twitter that someone who is possibly working on the new Ghost Recon title, Future Soldier, says that a big announcement is coming next week.

"TGIF all! Looking forward to a Big announcement coming up next week! :)"

And people on the internet are convinced that this announcement will concern Ghost Recon in some capacity. I mean, it’s been in development for some time, and we’ve heard less about it than we did about Splinter Cell: Conviction at one point.

Some others have an idea it could be another Rainbow Six title. Remember Ghost Recon: Predator? What happened to that title, or has that become Future Soldier? Maybe there are two Ghost Recon games on the way…

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Sources: Twitter - Big Download

2010/01/21

Video Game Deals at Amazon: Tom Clancy’s Edition

I’ve seen some deals on Tom Clancy titles just recently. You can get Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 , and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 at half-price each.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 [Game Download] - $9.99 - Save $10.00
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 [Game Download] - $9.99 - Save $10.00
Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific [Game Download] - $9.99 - Save $10.00

Xbox 360

Scene It? Bright Lights! Big Screen! - $14.99 - Save $10.00

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Source: nowinstock.net

2009/12/05

Yowl! Cat-Life: a Mod for Half-Life

I came across this on RPS. They seem to post about these mods. The last one was a cool mod for Crysis, called DeLorean Time Machine. This time it’s about Cat-Life, a mod for Half-Life which allows you to play as a cat.

“Cat-Life is an original concept for Half-Life and the GoldSource engine.Players will experience the Black Mesa incident from the view of a stranded pet cat.

Using claws and teeth and the natural prowess of a cat, players will travel through the bowels of Black Mesa.Xenian beasts roam the corridors and laboratories and... surprise... cats are conveniently bite-sized for those in-between-meal munchies.”

This is so weird, because it’s the game I’ve always thought about, but knew that nobody would ever venture there. I mean, making a game with a cat as the main protagonist! But, here it is, and strangely using HL1 instead of HL2 for the mod.

I have a cat, and I once attempted to make a point and click style game in AGS involving the cat. Hell, I once thought about how cool it would be to have Rainbow Six, except instead of counter terrorists, put dogs in there as they take down tangos, which be the cats.

Anyhow, back to Cat-Life, the demo for this mod is out now. Instead of using a crowbar, the main weapon is the cat’s paw with sharp claws and such.

The main consensus, or theory, is that the cat in this mod is the one who is mentioned in Half-Life 2 when Alyx was about to enter the teleporter in order to reach Black Mesa East.

Isaac Kleiner: Right you are. This is a red letter day, we'll inaugurate the new teleport with a double transmission.

Barney Calhoun: You mean it's working? For real this time? Because... I still have nightmares about that cat.

Alyx Vance: What cat?

Isaac Kleiner: Now, now, there is nothing to be worried about, we have made major strides since then, major strides.

Alyx Vance: [more anxiously] What cat?

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http://www.moddb.com/mods/cat-life

http://www.moddb.com/mods/cat-life/downloads/cat-life-demo

Gordon Feline: Cat-Life

2009/11/23

Apocalypse Then- SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle

10 Years of SWAT 3

On this day in gaming, November 23rd, in 1999, SWAT 3 was released for the PC.

The SWAT series branched off of the earlier Police Quest series by Sierra, with the first two being of the isometric 2D variety, like a strategy title similar in some ways to Command& Conquer. SWAT 3 was the first title in the series to implement FPS gameplay in what was referred to as a Tactical First-Person Shooter.

It was developed by Sierra Northwest and published by its parent company Sierra Entertainment. SWAT 3 came in 3 different releases, CQB (Close Quarters Battle), Elite Edition, and Tactical Game of the Year Edition. SWAT 3 was highly praised by reviewers and is reportedly the best selling SWAT game in the franchise, and comes closest to the success of the Police Quest series.

For me, it was likely my favourite in the series. I got the game back in 2000 and played it for months on end, over and over. I mainly prefer it to SWAT 4 because the buddy AI in 3 was better than 4, I found.

Needless to say, the game was based on Close Quarters Combat and brought several realistic things in to the gameplay after observing real-life LAPD SWAT teams in action, and the motion captured animation was provided by a SWAT officer.

There were originally 16 missions, but later more were added in the other editions, which could be downloaded for free, and these missions took place in Los Angeles, California in the (at the time) futuristic setting of 2005. The aim of the game is to thwart several attempts of multiple terrorist groups to disturb a Treaty Signing, and to save hostages along the way, and prevent the destruction of L.A.

Since it was set in the near future, there was some science fiction elements brought in to the game, like the fully enclosed helmets of the SWAT team, which in real life isn’t the case, but explains the player’s HUD (heads-up display). Another science fiction item were the opti-wand, a miniature camera on a telescopic wand, that could be slid under doors to monitor the situation. This opti-wand has also since been used in the Rainbow Six series, like in Rainbow Six: Vegas, a contemporary series.

Unlike Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six or Ghost Recon, even though the enemies are usually of the same type- terrorists and criminals of varying sort, in SWAT 3, you are essentially a police officer first before anything else, and part of a SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team as element leader. Use of deadly force must be used sparingly and usually only in defence, like if a suspect shoots at you, you may return fire and deadly force is then authorized. You can shoot suspects but you will be penalized if you don’t go through the usual routine, which includes approaching in stealth mode, having the element of surprise, and giving the suspects a chance to surrender, and be arrested, before attacking. You can go dynamic once encountering suspects and shout at them, shoot them with the less than lethal ammunition and other tactics in order to get compliance. SWAT is jokingly referred to by real life SWAT teams to stand for Sit, Wait, and Talk.

Shooting of hostages or otherwise important characters will result in an instant mission failure.

Weapons are few to choose from, with an M4A1 assault rifle, MP5 and MP5SD (silenced), and the Benelli M1 Super 90, as well as the standard sidearm, a modified Colt M1911 .45 pistol. Different types of ammo can be used like beanbags or breaching ammo for the shotgun, and FMJ or JHP ammo for the assault rifle and sub machineguns. Other tools like CS gas and flashbangs, multi-tools for lockpicking, chemical lightsticks, and breaching explosives can also be employed. An omission in this title would be the taser, later included in SWAT 4.

SWAT 3 was succeeded by SWAT 4 along with its expansion, The Stetchkov Syndicate, developed by Irrational Games, the co-developers of System Shock 2, and later BioShock.

You can pick up SWAT 3 here if you want to play a classic.

SWAT at Amazon

2009/08/21

Apocalypse Then: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six

Developer: Red Storm Entertainment
Publisher: Red Storm Entertainment
Platforms: Dreamcast, Game Boy Color, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, N64, PlayStation, PlayStation Network
Original Release date: August 21, 1998
Genres: Tactical shooter

On this day in gaming, in 1998, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six was released.

The game is based on the novel of the same name, Rainbow Six, written by Tom Clancy, but the plot of the game deviates as you progress, seeing as the novel wasn’t finished by the time the game was.

It’s a squad based tactical shooter, where you take a team of international counter-terrorists through several stages. There’s the briefing and planning stage- here you get the low down on the situation, terrorists, hostages and other information, before choosing your team from a roster of specialists. After this, you choose the gear that your team will wear as well as the weapons and tools they will carry. After this you have a basic layout of the mission stage, where you can give your team waypoints and orders to carry out once the mission starts. This means the game is less of a run and gun Quake-style game, and more in tune with strategy and sometimes luck.

Years ago I used to play this game over and over. I found it a little frustrating that one had to be prepared to play the missions over and over again mainly due to the quite poor AI and some irritating bugs, and not to mention the unforgiving and surprisingly realistic damage system. One shot from a gun will likely either critically wound a person or kill them. I also enjoyed taking out my frustrations on my teammates and hostages when things went b@lls-up.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six received an expansion called Eagle Watch, as well as a semi-sequel (as claimed by the developer) titled Rogue Spear the following year. After this, through the years there have been a number of games in the Rainbow Six series as well as similar franchises which spawned from it in the Tom Clancy’s range such as the Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell games, among others.

You can pick up Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six if you want to play a classic. Otherwise you can also try Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Gold Pack Edition, which includes Eagle Watch.

2009/05/22

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six on GOG.com

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six is now available on GOG.com.

If you haven't played it, it is the progenitor of one of the best tactical shooter games ever. The game relies on strategy, planning, and most of the time, luck, with inconsistent AI and poor controls.

http://www.gog.com/en/news/date/all#g_1207317366

2009/04/05

Apocalypse Then: SWAT 4

On this day in gaming, SWAT 4 was released in 2005. It continued the same squad based tactical FPS tradition that was started with SWAT 3, its predecessor, and of course carried on with its rivalry with the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six series. Whereas Rainbow Six was more action orientated with a shoot first ask questions later MO, SWAT 4 dealt with a slower pace, with an objective of killing as few people as possible and rescuing the hostages. SWAT 4’s AI was stupid at times which forced the player to have to replay a mission countless times because all of his teammates were dead.

An expansion to SWAT 4, SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate, was released on February 28, 2006.