Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield Interview

Chadi Lebbos: Quickly...too quickly. We're hammering out the final details, which for a game of this size are numerous. With that said, everything looks good for our Christmas release.

Knock! Knock! We're coming iiiin!

I thought I saw something!

AT: Well, I guess there are always people who aren't that well informed. So, could you please explain what Rainbow Six: Raven Shield is all about; what the storyline is, that sort of thing...

CL: Let's get the storyline out of the way first - you've got to find out for yourself! It wouldn't be a RAINBOW game without the mysterious plot. The Rainbow Six series revolves around the exploits of team RAINBOW, a multi-national group of counter-terror experts under the command of the United Nations. In many countries, local police forces aren't trained or prepared to defuse situations caused by well-armed and prepared terrorist. RAINBOW's mission is to go in after all the negotiations have failed and swiftly put an end to any situation.

AT: From what you've seen of the game thus far, what do you think is its strongest point that will make the gameplay more exciting?

CL: We've done so much with the game that it's difficult to say, but I think the on-the-fly command system is the biggest difference between Raven Shield and the two previous games. Well, in gameplay, anyway. The graphical changes alone are staggering - first-person weapons, advanced special effects. I want to avoid picking favorites because I'm sure every fan has another favorite new feature that's different from mine.

AT: Tell us what the game engine allowed you to accomplish in Raven Shield (we saw some pretty impressive models on the screens you gave us at the E3).

CL: Well we're using the Unreal engine, which is extremely powerful. Because we started with a pre-built engine we've been able to spend a lot of time polishing individual effects. Our very talented modelers work closely with Red Storm to create our great character and first person weapon models.

AT: You revealed that the game's going to offer a total of 57 weapons. Describe some of these.

CL: We've got all the weapons that were in Rainbow Six and Rogue Spear plus a few new ones:

• MTAR-21 9mm Sub-Machinegun
• Mac-11/9 9mm Sub-Machinegun
• Micro-Uzi 9mm Sub-Machinegun
• SR-2 9mm Sub-Machinegun
• USAS-12 12g Shotgun
• TAR-21 5.56mm Assault Rifle
• Type 95 5.56mm Assault Rifle
• VSS Vintorez 9x39mm Sniper Rifle
• 23E 5.56mm Machinegun

In Raven Shield you can also customize weapons using four different weapon attachments: sound suppressor, thermal sniper scope attachment, high capacity magazine, and mini-scope. For game balancing reasons, each weapon can only have one attachment at a time. Some weapons, however, have built-in attachments such as the MP5SD5 with an integrated sound suppressor. On these weapons you can still add an attachment, like a mini-scope, making them very popular. Given our 57 weapons with up to four attachments available per weapon, Raven Shield offers over 150 unique weapon combinations to experience.

AT: Tell a little bit more about other useful items the players carries during mission assignments.

CL: We've completely reworked the Heart Beat Sensor to be a 3D binocular like device. It allows you to looks through walls, floors, and ceilings and see the beating hearts of anyone on the other side. You can watch their heart rates race as they enter combat or become injured. You can even identify terrified hostages by their fast heart rates when compared to the calmer terrorists. It's an incredibly useful tool.

AT: We understand you guys are really making an effort to bring true-to-life intelligence to CPU-controlled players. Give us an in-depth look on the AI you're currently working on.

CL: We've put a lot of effort into all aspects of the AI. Your teammates work with you to cover your flanks and accomplish the mission. We've added a new Quick order system to allow you to order them on-the-fly. You can tell them to Open, Frag, and Clear a door and then sit back and watch. Your team moves to the door, assumes a room entry formation, opens the door, leans into the doorway to throw a Frag grenade, and finally rush into the room in a methodical fashion to clear it. It's really impressive to watch them work.

Terrorists react to their environment and you. Some see you and run away, while others panic and spray an entire magazine in your general direction. They call for help and other terrorists swarm toward your position from the flanks and rear. Basically, they try to overwhelm you with their superior numbers. Some lay covering fire while others advance.

Hostages will panic and react erratically when gunfire erupts. Sometimes they hit the floor to avoid being shot. Sometimes they freeze in terror, while other times they run to you as their rescuer. Of course this is the last thing you want them to do as you still have terrorists to deal with, but you can't expect them to react logically.

AT: I noticed on some of your forums that most of Rainbow Six fans crave for more in-game realism. Recently, your crew uncovered that an elite hostage-rescue team in Montreal (Canada) and an LAPD Tactics member was consulted for making Raven Shield seem more realistic. Did you benefit from their advice? Are you satisfied with the game's realism in general?

There it is again!

This is my country-house.

CL: Extremely! Mike Grasso, our technical advisor, worked on all of the previous Rainbow Six titles and gave demonstrations at the E3. He's a senior instructor with the LAPD tactics division, and is a technical advisor to many films including Heat and The Rock.

Mike comes to Montreal often to look at weapons and tactics, and gives us a real-life feeling for the problems and solutions of Close Quarters Battle. (CQB) We've had movement and training sessions with Mike so that the animators and designers have a good idea how characters are supposed to move and look. A good example of Mike's input is in the operatives' stance. You'll notice that in all Rainbow Six games characters start off with their feet next to each other and pointed straight forward. It's this "tank-tread" style that gives the most support and the smoothest movement to real-life operatives, and you'll always have that in the game. Basically, what we get from Mike is the best, unclassified information out there, which allows us to make the most realistic game possible.

AT: Naturally, the key ingredient in Raven Shield will be the tactics, which the player can utilize during the missions. Give us an example of what the player's team is capable of.

CL: The teams in the Rainbow games have always been pretty smart. Now, however, you can order them to do a lot more "on the fly". Point at a ladder and press the Action button tell the team to climb it. Point at a door and hold the Action button and get a detailed list of what you can order your team to do:

A) Open door
B) Open and clear
C) Open and grenade. Frag, Smoke, Gas, Flashbang
D) Open, grenade, and clear. Frag, Smoke, Gas, Flashbang
E) Ring the doorbell and run away

Well, maybe not E, but A-D are real options.

AT: Can you elaborate more on the tasks players will get to achieve throughout the game?

CL: You save the world...what more could you achieve? We have the same variety of missions that are available in Rogue Spear, which includes the following:

• Neutralize all terrorists - Eliminate or capture all terrorists
• Rescue hostages - Find and rescue hostages being held by terrorists
• Prevent bomb detonation - Prevent terrorists from detonating bombs
• Prevent destruction of evidence - Prevent terrorists from destroying vital evidence
• Capture a terrorist - Bring a certain terrorist out alive so that he can be interrogated for information
• Save the world :)

AT: This is probably not a good issue to bring up, but I do believe a certain portion of gamers dislike the omission of jumping in such games (being obstructed by a little rock in front of you can be annoying). What's your attitude towards this?

CL: There are many arguments for and against jumping, but rest assured we're not going to put little rocks in front of you that you can't jump over. Basically, it all boils down to this, real world operators don't jump during a shootout to avoid being hit. They never do anything that interferes with shooting. The body of an operator is weapon platform. Jumping means you're not shooting, and not shooting means you're not stopping bad guys. When you're not stopping bad guys it means they're stopping you!

AT: No doubt you're still struggling to make a decent single-player game. But, you were somewhat secretive about the multiplayer. Could you perhaps fill us in on some of the modes we can expect to see? Do you plan to include any new ones?

CL: Making a good game is not a struggle...it's what we love to do. The only reason we were a little secretive about the multi-player game was that some things still weren't set in stone yet and we didn't want to mislead anyone.

We've made lots of improvements/additions to multi-player. Probably the biggest is that multi-player is now round based. Since there's no re-spawn sessions are played in rounds. You can change your weaponry using an in-game screen, while waiting for the next round. This method is a lot quicker and more efficient than previous versions.

You can also set up dedicated servers with rotating map lists and game modes. Speaking of game modes, we've kept most of the modes that were in Rogue Spear and even added a few such as Escort the Pilot and Bomb. Multi-player is really looking great!

AT: As you told us, you plan to release the game at the end of 2002. Any chance of getting a precise release date? When can we expect the game to show up on next-generation consoles?

Soon, soon, and soon. If I gave out that information marketing would put a price on my head :)