Rainbow Six 3: Athena Sword Preview

When a game reaches bestseller status, a sequel is usually inevitable. Making an expansion pack is a different ballgame however. Its success, of course, entirely depends on how big a community is established by the original. Its purpose is to draw gamers deeper into a familiar world, offering a more involving experience with new features and gameplay improvements. Ubi Soft aspires to do just that, offering gamers a chance to try out a brand new mission pack, in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Athena Sword. This expansion is, as we expected, geared towards the same gameplay and visual standards of Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield, so there won't be any radical overall changes. On the other hand, the developers did promise to put in some welcomed refreshments, such as new multiplayer and single-player modes, new weapons, new missions, and so on.

Let's shop for some groceries.

I've got my eye on you.

Rainbow Six 3: Athena Sword will give you a chance to try out a new single-player campaign, packed with eight complex story-driven missions. Players are going to follow the same basic plot from the previous game. As before, Guiterrez is the main villain, who continues to manage a huge band of crooks and bad-asses. One interesting thing about Guiterrez is that he still successfully controls this massive crime operation from within his prison cell, or rather his lavishly decorated prison accommodation. Anyway, such an influential criminal master-mind would normally have some full-proof take-over-the-world scheme up his sleeve, right? Yep, that's exactly right. Guiterrez has his heart set on using several lethal chemical weapons to accomplish his devious plans. Eventually, all the weapons were seized... expect one. The objective is clear: find and recover the missing chemical weapon. This operation was named Athena Sword. Of course, who better to deal with such a situation than the RAINBOW team; a multi-national group of elite counter-terrorist experts... but you probably already knew that. You will be sent into action to carry out numerous tasks throughout the globe, visiting places like Athens, Monte Carlo, Palermo, Milan, Dubrovnik, and so on. (Hey, can I go as a tourist? - Ed.)

Athena Sword has a slightly more dynamic gameplay and different ambiance than before, thanks to the variety of new elements that were added to the maps. You'll soon find that the game conveys an authentic ambiance, measuring up to real life locations, according to which the maps have been modeled. Your team will be visiting "charming" locations, such as a chemical factory, the jungle, Italian back alleys, ferry boats, etc. You'll see a wide range of unique backdrops, accurate architectural styles, and many other details that significantly increase the game's realism. Apart from the realistic background, every new map has been supplemented with civilian characters (do not require rescuing) to enliven the atmosphere even more. Also, Rainbow's drop zones will see additional policemen patrolling the area and providing cover for you and your men. These new components are nothing special, but they do give more depth to the missions and will surely make them a bit more exciting to play. When it comes to missions, it's safe to say that Rainbow Six fans won't be disappointed. The development team at Ubi Soft vowed to revamp and return several "classic" missions from the other Rainbow Six titles. Some of these missions will include 'Steel Wind' (the well-known embassy mission from the original Rainbow Six), (Oh man, that one was awesome! - Ed.) 'Virgin Moon' (from Urban Operations), and 'Sargasso Fade' (from Rogue Spear). It will be good to see these missions revised using the latest Unreal technology.

To make things a bit more interesting, Ubi Soft decided to increase the number of available firearms with seven brisk new weapons - Beretta M93R (pistol), Spectre M4 (SMG), HK G3KA4 (Assault Rifle), G3A3 (Assault Rifle) OTs-14 Groza 9/40 (Assault Rifle), Benelli M4 Super 90 (Shotgun), M240 (Light Machine Gun), and the HK SL8-1 (Sniper Rifle). Adding all of these to the existing arsenal will give players a considerable amount of unique weapons to distribute to the Rainbow team. New weapons will also instigate some new moments in combat tactics no doubt.

Why ruin the lovely atmosphere?

I hate this outfit, I don't wanna go!

While you test all these weapons, you can also enjoy numerous innovative multiplayer and single-player modes. The multiplayer now features four new modes of play, including adversarial scattered hunt, adversarial terrorist hunt (which should be recognizable to hardcore fans of Rainbow Six), capture the enemy, and kamikaze. Some of these modes are actually improved versions of familiar modes, while others are completely new. Capture the enemy, for instance, is brand new and had caught our interest straight away. This mode denotes two teams locked in "immortal" combat... so to speak.

Basically, none of the competing characters can die. Instead, when shot players will surrender, while the opposing side gets eight seconds to put the handcuffs on. Handcuffed players remain immobile and can watch the rest of the match from a third-person view... until they are released by their teammates, that is. The kamikaze mode is pretty much true to its name. A single character, equipped with nothing but a pistol and a heartbeat sensor, is randomly picked and stuffed with explosives.

His teammates must help him locate a defusing kit in order to prevent the explosion, while the opposing team has to find the detonator in an effort to blow the sucker sky-high. In order to get their mitts on these items, each side must wade through the enemy's base. So, it's meant to be a challenge both ways. That's not all though. The single-player is also going to see a new special custom mission mode - the so-called countdown mode, which obliges you to complete the same single-player missions, but within a specific amount of time. Such an aspect should be intriguing enough for those of you who prefer a more dynamic gameplay. (Can you say 'New York Minute'? - Ed.) Although it doesn't include any spectacularly innovative features, the countdown mode will hopefully offer a more intense single-player experience.