• Includes Collectible Poker Chip Key Chain
• Limited Edition Bonus Disk
• Exclusive Strategy Video: With insider tips and secrets from the developers, pro gamers, and Frag Dolls you won't get anywhere else.
• Pro Gamer Interview: Get an exclusive look at the life of a pro gamer with MLG player FinestX.
• MLG Pro Circuit '07 Season Highlights: Watch the pros take on the most heated matches of '07.
• Tom Clancy's EndWar(TM) Sneak Peek: Join the Frag Dolls for a hands-on look at the latest thrilling game in the Tom Clancy arsenal.

Another arcade classic - Rainbow Islands - makes its way over to the Nintendo DS with a makeover both visually and technically. It features all 40 of the old levels with some new graphical flair, but it plays a bit differently than what you may remember as inputs have been changed to take full advantage of the DS’ unique touch controls.

Though Rainbow Islands Revolution is technically a remake, there are plenty of changes made to the core gameplay that make it feel like a new game. The obvious change is from a joystick to touch screen controls. Where once the character traversed the land on two legs and jumped to create small rainbows to ward off enemies and create bridges is now replaced by dragging a boy in a bubble and an arcing stylus to now create those rainbows. It sounds like a drastic change, but the main goal remains the same – reach the top of the stage while avoiding enemies and traps.

Sadly, other than that, there’s really not much more that define this as different. Instead, it falls back on the fact that it’s a remake, though there are some things that make you question whether “remake” is a fair label. There is the graphical makeover, but compared to the DS’s standards, it’s sub-par. And it really doesn’t take advantage of the dual screen setup. While the upper screen does help by showing you more of the stage, that’s all it does, and even then, it isn’t very helpful. It would have been nice had something more interesting had been included, but hey, we can’t quite have everything, now can we.

The inclusion of all 40 levels sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t, especially with how games are today. A determined soul can easily tackle and conquer all 40 levels over the course of a day or so. It does gain some replay value in trying to find all of the crystals to unlock the best ending. It’s not much, but a nice little incentive for the completionists out there.

Other than the core game are two other modes – score attack and multiplayer, both of which unfortunately play almost identical. The goal in score attack is to score as high as possible in any 10 different levels. Multiplayer is the exact same thing except you’re playing against up to three other friends instead of yourself and the AI’s set high score. It’s a decent addition, though I have to question why every player needs to have a copy of the game inserted in their DS for such a simple mode.

I also found it odd that an untouched port of the original game wasn’t included. Some fans of the original may be turned off by the new changes. It stands out even more because the same developers managed to squeeze the original Bubble Bobble in its remake.

Rainbow Islands Revolution will only appeal to fans of the original game who are accepting of the new changes. Other than that, it really doesn’t offer anything new when it comes to touch-focused games because other games, like Kirby: Canvas Curse, does it better and with more polish.

Interesting new twist – making old joystick controls touch-screen exclusive - on an old classic

Sub-par by DS’ standards.

The bloops and bleeps and classic soundtrack still work surprisingly.

A fun title for you old-school arcade fans out there.

Crystal searching for the best ending is all you’ve got. Sad considering it’s relatively short.

]]> Fri, 03 Nov 2006 11:45:00 -0600 Aaron Dunlap http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_tom_clancys_rainbow_six_vegas_ps31 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_tom_clancys_rainbow_six_vegas_ps31 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_tom_clancys_rainbow_six_vegas_ps31# This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

You know what they say, “What happens in Vegas... is a really annoying ad campaign that I wish people would stop quoting.”

The latest addition in the Rainbow Six series for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 takes the action to Sin City itself, Las Vegas. The elite team of counter-terrorist, counter-hostage, counter-everything officers are tasked with infiltrating gigantic casinos and other Vegas hotspots to stop hostage-takers, terrorists, and all other forms of badness.

The title shares a lot of elements with Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, this game’s older second-cousin. Like in GRAW, the events all play out in a linear storyline spanning only a few hours; and when a mission is over, the player is taken straight to the next mission via helicopter and is briefed in-flight. There’s no mission briefing screen; there’s no time to study a map and spend  a lot of time scrutinizing over minute details, which was something that was one of the defining elements of earlier Rainbow Six games. For that, Rainbow Six: Vegas is a lot less deliberate and a lot more kinetic, as decisions are made on-the-fly and there will always be a new threat. 

Unlike GRAW, however, and more like Rainbow Six, is the wide array of options for performing different tasks. The E3 demo we were shown this year started off with the player’s team dropping out of a helicopter onto the roof of a casino and having to decide how to get into the building.  There are stairs from the roof, yes, but stairs are a tactical nightmare from an encroachment standpoint (one guy at the bottom of the stairs with a keen eye and a quick trigger finger and you’re hosed). The other option is to repel down the side of the building. 

Repelling in R6: Vegas is more refined than we’ve seen in other games featuring the same ability (oddly enough, almost all of them are Tom Clancy games). You can repel downward at any speed you wish; you can stop to look into windows and even shoot at enemies through windows while repelling, and now you can also flip upside-down and descend head-first, allowing you to control your weapon better and to shield most of your body from the window. 

You can also be sneaky with repelling; it isn’t all about shooting baddies through glass. You can snake the fiber-optic camera through windows and cracks to get a better look around, and while doing so you can target enemies and specify which of your teammates should attack whom for a terrifically orchestrated breach. This “enemy tagging” technique can be used at any time using the snake cam, including under doors, around corners, and so on.

Other new(ish) gameplay features are wall-hugging, a staple these days for intrusion; the ability to blind-fire out of corners or over cover (sticking the gun up and shooting without the character being able to see what he’s aiming at); and some great team-based breaching maneuvers for getting through doors, across rooms, and other mundane activities that become much more complicated when around any corner could be a mean guy with a gun. 

The game itself is really quite beautiful looking. Ubisoft is pretty famous for spectacular lighting and graphical effects, and what we’ve seen so far doesn’t disappoint. Because Rainbow Six: Vegas is being developed for the PlayStation 3 and looks to be one of the launch titles for that system, looking amazing isn’t really an option here  - but it’s still hard to tell what a final product on the PS3 will look like, as nearly everything we’ve seen has been running on development kits. Even on the Xbox 360, which we had a chance to look at (but not play) on during E3, the game looks flat out jaw-dropping. You heard me, I said “flat out.” 

The only real stitch here is the fact that there were no hands-on demos available at E3 in May - the only way to see the game was to watch a Ubisoft staffer play through and narrate what he was doing. Usually when they only allow developers to play the game on the show floor it means that the game will probably crash if you do anything but the “right” thing, but the game was still six months away from its launch date at the time. As long as everyone keeps doing his job, there shouldn’t be anything to worry about. 

Fans of the Rainbow Six roots might not like the abandonment of the whole “mission briefing” approach that defined the series on the PC, but sales charts seem to indicate that gamers prefer a more fast-paced, GRAW-style design. As the lines between all the different Tom Clancy series are so blurry anyway, you might as well just consider this a sequel to Advanced Warfighter that takes place in Vegas and not in the future. If that concept excites you, you can put all your money on Rainbox Six: Vegas this November and let it ride. Sorry, I had to make one corny Vegas pun.  ]]> Sun, 23 Jul 2006 20:10:49 -0500 Tim Grube http://www.gamebump.com/go/rainbow_six_lockdown_for_pc_ships http://www.gamebump.com/go/rainbow_six_lockdown_for_pc_ships http://www.gamebump.com/go/rainbow_six_lockdown_for_pc_ships# This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Certain formatting, imaged, and embedded content may have been lost in the transition process.

Some of the new features include: Multiplayer reward system New “Free-for-Allâ€? game type The return of three classic maps – 747, Mint and Bunkers Enemy use of Lock Fusers in single-player game play presents new challenges to the player 20 new weapons – 42 overall Six brand new weapons never used before in a Rainbow Six game 14 fan favorites from franchise historyGaming Horizon will have a full review soon.]]> Mon, 13 Feb 2006 12:54:00 -0600 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/ubisoft_announces_rainbow_six_critical_hour http://www.gamebump.com/go/ubisoft_announces_rainbow_six_critical_hour http://www.gamebump.com/go/ubisoft_announces_rainbow_six_critical_hour# Ubisoft has announced a new release in the Tom Clancy Rainbow Six series, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Critical Hour.

The game again puts players in the role of Team Rainbow as you battle it out through seven single-player missions. Many of the missions will feature updated classic maps and weapons. Critical Hour will also feature online multiplayer for up to 16 players.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Critical Hour is scheduled to release Spring 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

The Rainbow Six series has long been one of the more popular games on the Xbox and Xbox Live. Focusing more on realistic squad tactics than arcade action, it has earned a strong following of hardcore players. This time around, Ubisoft wanted to make the game more accessible, and they’ve done so with Rainbow Six: Lockdown. The core gameplay elements that veterans of the series enjoy are mostly intact, but the number of concessions made for newcomers may turn off the very same people that made the series so popular.

While many may go straight to online play, Lockdown has a solid storyline that once again follows Domingo “Ding” Chavez and his squad mates. For the first time, you’re able to control the team’s sniper, Dieter Weber, in some arcade-style sniping levels. The team is trying to recover a deadly virus named “Legion” that has the unpleasant effect of near-instantaneous death on anyone unlucky enough to come into contact with it. You’ll have to stop the terrorists to prevent them from releasing the lethal virus, and of course deal with some plot twists along the way. The campaign mode consists of 14 missions, which is plenty long if you’re the slow, plodding type. However, skilled players or people adept at “run and gun” play may find it a bit short.

There are plenty of weapons to use, and each person can have their gear customized (main weapon, secondary weapon, and two other items, like grenades and mines) before each level. Your squad mates are horrible marksmen, often finding only 1-2% of their shots actually hitting their targets. This problem can be compensated somewhat if you use the strongest and most accurate weapons going into each mission.

Lockdown’s squad mechanics are simple and easy to use. Commanding the team is done by aiming the on-screen reticle at an area, pressing A, and then choosing an action on the d-pad. If it’s a complex maneuver, another set of options opens up, and it too is chosen via the d-pad. After you’ve inputted the commands, the team reloads their weapons and carefully gets in position. They won’t execute the command until you press the black button, which gives you time to enter through another door, or simply get in position to help clear a room. Unfortunately, at least for fans of the series, strategy is much less important this time around, so simply walking into a room and popping the bad guys as fast as you can is sufficient enough to get you through most of the game.

Of course, a big component of the game is its online aspect, which like the campaign mode, has also been re-tooled. Up to 16 players can compete in deathmatch or objective-based games. Co-op play for up to four people is also present, and can be played via system link as well. To add depth to the online modes, Ubisoft has introduced Persistent Elite Creation, or PEC. This system lets you create a character from one of four classes (Commando, Engineer, Medic, and Spec-Op), and gives you credits based on your in-game performance. Credits can be used to purchase new weapons, clothing, and even to repair worn out armor and equipment. It’s a little intimidating at first, since others may already have built up characters, but it provides strong incentive to put in extra time to get good.

Ubisoft went with a new composer for the game’s music this time around, and while it’s certainly different than past titles, it fits the game nicely. Most of the time there’s no music, but when the action picks up, so does the music, which helps get your adrenaline pumping. In-game Dolby Digital sounds great with the echo of weapons firing, grenades exploding, and people yelling, coming at you from every direction.

Ally intelligence has been improved, but the bad guys were apparently absent the day extra I.Q. points were handed out. Sure they’ll run from grenades, but they don’t appear to fear gunfire, simply standing and staring at the barrel of your gun for a few seconds before reacting. You’ll very rarely witness complex attack patterns, and most areas have just one or two soldiers that don’t react unless hit with a bullet. Like an old Nintendo 64 game, a guard will simply stare at the wall unflinching while his comrade is blown away by a machine gun. Sometimes a person in the other room will hear the gunplay and comment on it but they don’t investigate, and sometimes simply walk away.

Lockdown also fails to use its audio to create tension or give clues. Remaining silent doesn’t do much for you, as guards will rarely attempt to locate the source of the noise. In addition, the ability to overhear guards is worthless since they often speak as if they are talking to someone else, even if they’re alone. If you hear someone asking a question, it’s reasonable to expect to find at least two people in the room, not one person standing behind some shelves, impervious to the world.

The addition of the heartbeat sensor is an “improvement” that falls flat. By hitting the select button, it’s possible to see living people through walls. This takes any element of surprise there may have been out of a room, since you know how many people are inside as well as their positions. Since it has batteries that must recharge you can’t leave it on all the time, but they fill back up quickly, and since there’s rarely any sense of urgency, you can simply wait around until it’s ready to use again. Fortunately, you don’t have to use it if you don’t wish.

Lockdown’s visuals are disappointing, especially considering the amazing things that developer, Ubisoft Montreal, is usually able to accomplish on the Xbox. Progressive Scan is supported, but it’s really no better than the interlaced display. The color palette is drab and uninteresting, and building interiors are taken straight from the book of lame game clichés. Character animations are also shoddy and unlifelike. Very, and I mean very little of the game is destructible, which means shooting out lights to take advantage of your night vision is out of the question, as is shooting away cover to get to a hiding enemy. Not only does it hamper the gameplay options, but it makes it hard to suspend disbelief when you toss a grenade into a room and the only long term damage it does is char the floor a bit. It is pretty cool when your visor cracks after taking too much gunfire, and because it actually makes it tough to see, it forces you to really focus on what you’re doing, bringing out your best effort.

It’s always tough to judge a game’s online performance from a technical standpoint because you never really know if problems are on your end, someone else’s, or the result of poor design. I will say that I was not alone when I repeatedly had problems with lag, which was so bad it often rendered the game unplayable. Even in cases where it wasn’t so severe, it always seemed to pop-up often enough to cause problems. Finding a game to join is certainly easier than some other online titles, but it’s still not as easy as Halo 2’s matchmaking service. Waiting four or five minutes for a good game is pretty frustrating, especially after seeing how well the process can be handled.

If the game’s minor problems were fixed, this would be a very good game. As it stands, the horrible enemy A.I., shoddy collision detection for bullets, and inconsistent online play keep it from being a game you’ll want to spend days and weeks with, honing your skills. It’s certainly enjoyable for awhile, but for the third game in the series, its lack of polish is a tremendous letdown.

If you’re going to spend time with the game online, this is a solid package.

Ubisoft Montreal can do better. How does it look worse than the last game?

If the soldiers didn’t carry on conversations with themselves, this would be higher.

If you were turned off by the difficulty of the previous games, this will be fun.

The PEC system and robust system link support give the game strong replay value.

]]> Mon, 12 Sep 2005 10:07:00 -0500