The genre of military shooter video games is one of the most popular and most profitable in the realm of modern video games, both on the home console and the computer. With titles like
HALO,
Battlefield, and of course,
Call of Duty, we often forget the founding fathers of these oversexed titles today. While
Wolfenstein and
DOOM started the nosebleed high popularity of first-person-shooters, it was games like
Medal of Honor (1999),
SEAL Team (1993) and this title from 1998 that added the military/tactical element. Today on
Forgotten Classics, we will remembering one of the founding fathers of modern military shooters: 1998's
RAINBOW SIX. At the time the game was released, Red Storm set the game slightly ahead of the 1998 release date, making this game, at one time, 20 minutes in the future.
The Tactical Shooter Video Games
The genre that this 1998 game occupies is called the "tactical shooter", and while it is similar to an first-person shooter, there are important differences. Tactical shooters are often FPS POV games, but combat is not determined by massive grenade tossing, big fucking guns, hundreds of rounds fired, and regenerating health, like the
COD and
DOOM games. Instead, the tactical shooter is low and slow, where planning is more important than gunfire, and team work is critical. Often more realism in terms of bullet damage, weapon selection, and mission; the tactical shooter is the more mature brother to the
COD games of the world. These games often verge on tactical simulations, and are not limited to Special Operations, but also include in SWAT and HRT units. The first "real" tactical shooter in video games is debated, however, it could be 1993 EA
SEAL Team. The genre of tactical shooters also includes military sci-fi, like
Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri. However, 1998's
RAINBOW SIX was the most successful tactical shooter at that time, and laid down some of the foundations of the genre.
Why is FWS Talking about R6...It is Even Military Sci-Fi?
RAINBOW SIX was designed to take place in the very near future, like a few years ahead of us, and the situations, weaponry, and geopolitics are all projections of possible scenarios.
This places
RAINBOW SIX into a unique sub-genre of military science fiction: "20 minutes into the future", and this more difficult than setting your fictional world in the deep future. Very near future tales have to live and breath in the world as we know it, but altered along realistic pathways. One of the reasons that FWS is even talking about 1998's
RAINBOW SIX is to highlight this unique tactical video game that changed some of our thinking about how military games should be designed. Plus, giving the deteriorating state of modern military shooters, like
COD and
Battlefield, I wanted to talk about a unique game within the genre that was an early pioneer.
What is RAINBOW SIX and Why the Hell is an CT Unit called Rainbow?!
RAINBOW is the name of a fictional international counter-terrorism team pulled from elite operators all around NATO and other friendly nations. Tom Clancy's novel of the same name and the video game were both developed around the same time, and it is rumored to have been based on a real counter-terrorism black unit that operated within NATO in the pre-9/11 days. While the RAINBOW CT unit was featured only in one novel, it did have some of Tom Clancy's iconic characters being involved with the unit, and there were a number of games developed around the concept. This fictionalized CT unit was constructed around 1990's understanding of terrorism, the tactics and weapons of the time, and 1990's threats. These ideas and concepts filtered through to the game.
RAINBOW SIX the video game was developed by Tom Clancy's gaming company, Red Storm (named after one of his 1980's books). Originally, Red Storm was developing an SOF game that involved black operations or even FBI HRT, but when they learned of Clancy's in-development novel, they decided to parallel their game and the novel. While both the book and the game were successful, Tom Clancy would never return to the world of RAINBOW in any novel, while the video game series would live onto today with the upcoming release of
RAINBOW 6: Siege. I actually met Tom Clancy when he came to Fort Worth in 2005 on a book tour and discussion. While he was willing to discuss the book, he shit all over the games, and told us assembled that: "
I just collect the checks". Nice. When one fan asked about why there are no more follow-up books in the
RAINBOW SIX concept, he told us that "
liberal environmental tree-hugging virgin scarifying pagans" were unhappy about his book's ecoterrorism angle, and the backlash from these groups prevented his publisher from allowing Clancy to write more. Needless to say, I was unimpressed by the man in person, but I still love the games and some of his early books, especially
Without Remorse.
Background on the Game
Most believe that
RAINBOW SIX the game and the novel were developed under a conscious cohesive strategy by Red Storm Entertainment and Tom Clancy. However, that is not so, making it just that more amazing. In 1996, Red Storm Entertainment and the game that would be
RAINBOW SIX both came about into existence. Centered around the real-world FBI's enigmatic
Hostage
Rescue
Team. It was always envisioned has a realistic shooter with an environment modeled after real-world hostage rescue missions and units. The setting moved around from Cold War to modern day, to near future, and was original going to be called "Black Ops". Tom Clancy was involved in the early meetings about this new game, and he endorsed the concept. At this time in 1996, Clancy was not looking at his own HRT based book. That would change in April of 1997. The book and game were oddly similar, and it was decided to marry the book and game under the
RAINBOW SIX banner. The original team devoted to one of the first major releases for Red Storm was Brian Upton, one other programmer with founders Tom Clancy and Doug Littlejohns. During the summer of 1997, the bulk of the groundwork was done along with advisers and consultants being brought in from Tom Clancy's contacts. Even firearms manufacturer Heckler &Koch were involved. Issues came when the game development team attempted to aline the game's mission and environments with Clancy's novel. With the failing deadlines and a project too massive for the small team, Red Storm hired more staff, and pushed to get the game out. Reception at E3 was very positive, and after 21 months of development,
RAINBOW SIX was released in August of 1998, at around the same time as the novel. It would be considered one of the best games of 1998.
The Historical Context of RAINBOW SIX
The 1990's were a great time to be gaming, and it would see the rise of the Playstation and the fall of ATARI. During this time, the first-person-shooter arrived on the scene like a juggernaut, and quickly a number of games followed in the footsteps of
DOOM and
Quake. 1998 would see the emergence of
Starcraft,
Half-Life, and
Metal Gear Solid. All of these games would have military and tactical elements, but none attempted to replicate a more realistic digital battlefield without health-packs, big-fucking-guns, or frequent ammo drops. This was also a time before Americans as a whole really paid attention to international terrorism or even the military, unlike today.
While there were events happening here and overseas, like the 1993 bombing of the Twin Towers, the specter of Al-Qaeda and UBL were simply not on the radar of mass media or most American's minds. Unlike the rise of
Modern Warfare and
Medal of Honor, 1998's
RAINBOW SIX lacked any foundation in the real-world, save for the Waco Siege and SWAT operations. There were other pioneers in the realm of realistic "shooter" games that predeceased
RAINBOW SIX, namely the
Police Quest: SWAT games from the mid-1990's, EA's
SEAL Team from 1993, and
Police Quest: SWAT 2 also came out in 1998, and was also a realistic "tactical simulator" game instead of a
DOOM style "kill'em and let god sort them out" shooters. Speaking of historical context, this was a game developed around the Counter-Terrorism tactics and weapons of time, which may look dated and hated today, but back in 1998, it was correct. Black ninja kit with urban camo, big goggles, Adidas combat boots, and a H&K MP5 SMG in your hand was all hallmarks of 1980's/1990's CT units and iconic operations like the SAS assault on the Iranian Embassy in April of 1980. This was the heyday of the iconic and legendary German MP5 submachine gun, and that the time of the game's release, 10mm and .40 chambering versions were being issued to various CT units. The 10mm variant, the MP5/10 was featured in Clancy's book, and was the primary weapon-of-choice for RAINBOW.
The Many Faces of RAINBOW SIX (1998): Port-to-Port
Sony Playstation
In December of 1999, the port of the
R6 PC game would arrive on the very popular Playstation system with the port being developed by Rebellion. This is the only version I've played until recently, and while it was different than the original PC release, it does feature one important difference: the guns. In the game, you can actually see your gun, instead of a red cross-hairs, like in
RAINBOW SIX: Rouge Spear or the original PC release. I always amazed that none of the other ports of this game had the guns featured. What is the fun in just having an floating cross-hairs? Of course, much of the tactical pre-mission planning was completely neutered, and a majority of the game was "dumbed down" for the home console. It suffered from uglier graphics, glitches, and bad AI. Most reviewers called this the worst of the
R6 ports Oddly, I read that this version of
R6 is 2nd most played due to it being on the Playstation. This can still be downloaded from the Playstation store today, and it is still ugly.
Macintosh
While Apple computers were making a come back in the late 1990's, they were often delayed in getting ports of PC game. In very late 1999, the original PC game was ported by MacSoft to the Apple, and it was shipped with the
Eagle Watch expansion pack as well, making this game a great deal when compared to the original PC release. This game was well received back in 2000 by Mac press reviews, and proved to be popular on the Macs.
The Nintendo N64
Nintendo normally avoids hard-edged military/shooter games, however, in November of 1999,
RAINBOW SIX was ported to the powerhouse N64 system by Saffire Games. This port is considered by the N64 reviewers as one of the best games on the system and scored 10 out of 10. Most of the PC game is here in the N64 port, and it was a rare shooter. One of the criticisms was the planning phase was too complex for the N64 controller, and you had to use a number of buttons and awkward position to achieve the planning phase.
Saga Dreamcast
Some have called the Saga Dreamcast port the best PC-to-Console version of the game. All of it was there including the full planning phase, and it made the most of the powerful system. Sadly, while this version was the most accurate of the ports of the original PC game, it was on a failed home video game console system. The Dreamcast would be Sega's last gasp on the home console market. Much like the Macintosh release, the Dreamcast port included the
Eagle Watch expansion missions. This port was developed by Majesco Games and was released in May of 2000
Gameboy Color
The single strangest ports of the
RAINBOW SIX game was to the Gameboy Color. The entire format of the game, including perspective was altered to a top-down tactical shooter with 14 missions.This port was developed by Crawfish Interactive and released in April of 2000. The reviews were very "meh", often placing 5/10, and it was considered tough by some gaming magazines and players. This seemed an odd choice for a port and it was unloved and quickly disappeared.
The RAINBOW SIX: Eagle Watch Expansion Pack
In late 1999, Red Storm would release an expansion to the original game called
Eagle Watch. Five more missions were included with three new weapons (H&K G36K, Desert Eagle .50 AE, and the H&K G3KA4), and several new characters; all set in real-world locations. This includes an mission to liberate the Russian Space Shuttle launching facility from terrorists. Yes, the Russian Space Shuttle. More multiplayer options, and improvement to the overall
R6 game.
Eagle Watch was ported to several home consoles, but did not get the "Playstation treatment" as the original did. This expansion pace was well received and was faithful to the original game.
Why is RAINBOW SIX Important?
Prior to the release of
RAINBOW SIX, there had never been a game quite like it, especially in the shooter market. This 1998 video game was designed around anti-terrorism and hostage rescue scenarios with accurate weapons used by real-world CT units for the time, and since realism was the goal, players could design the operation from enter-to-exit, allowing them more control and mission planning than any military shooter for the time. Considerations had to be made about strength of the enemy, what kind of weapons, equipment, camo, operator's skills and abilities. Planning, at first, could take longer than the gameplay. Also, unlike
DOOM or
Quake,
RAINBOW SIX was not purely a shooter with a heavy metal soundtrack, instead, it was marketed in the same manner as the
SWAT video games, a "tactical simulator".
What Happened to RAINBOW SIX?
Upon its release, the 1998 game was praised and sold over half a million copies, warranting the PC game to be ported to the home console market. It was followed up by an expansion pack and online play. After 1998, the core concept of the
R6 games would continue all the way up to games like
RAINBOW SIX 3 Raven Shield. However, slowly over the evolution of the
R6 games, the more hard-edged tactical simulation angle was lessened in favor of a more military shooter angle, as the marketplace dictating. By the time of the release of
R6: Vegas on every home console and computer,
the intense hard-core realistic military tactical-simulator angle of the 1998 original
RAINBOW SIX was completely abandoned.
While some of the original games were closer in spirit to the 1998 game, today's
R6 games are more of a hybrid between the modern military shooter and the core concept of
RAINBOW SIX that separate it from other shooter games, such as "you can really die fucking quick" and "you are not a big-dick pipe-layer tactical bearded operator". The last big release was
RAINBOW SIX: Vega series of games (which 2 was better than 1) in 2006 and 2007. The next release for
RAINBOW SIX was to be
Patriots,but it
was canceled, and
Siege was developed instead.
Siege is laser-focus on teamplay and realism, where one group fortifies a structure and the other team, the assaulters, attempts to clear the structure of hostiles. Some mission types require the rescue of hostages. It is scheduled for release in October 2015 and could be quite good if the gameplay trailers are accurate, giving us a quality CQC force-on-force game.
1998's RAINBOW SIX Today
It seems that the nostalgia applies to some games and some era of gaming, because for some reason, the original
RAINBOW SIX is not endured in the same manner as even older games. While
RAINBOW SIX was popular game back when it was released over 15 years ago, it has been largely forgotten by most current military shooter players. Older gamers, like myself, that were fans of the game around the time of its release, still recall the uniqueness of the game, and use it as a frame-of-reference for their own creations. The sad thing is that even UBISOFT has forgotten the
R6 franchise original roots, and keeps turning
COD knockoffs. That could be changing with the release of
R6: Siege and the focus back on more realistic situations and damage. While the original 1998 game and its 1999 expansion pack are still available for download, there has been no real attempts at an remastered game or reissue. In 2006, UBISOFT would release
R6: Critical Hour only on the original Xbox. This game was a sample of fan favorite maps from the original
RAINBOW SIX maps and missions, but used the
R6: Lockdown engine. It is believed that this game was an response to disappointment of
R6: Lockdown, which was deeply flawed. While better than
R6: Lockdown,
R6: Critical Hour was still a disappointment, leading to aborted ports to the Playstation 2 and the European gaming market.This was the last gasp for the original games. While the original game has been largely forgotten, there are still videos made on the 1998 classic and some of the ports, various internet articles (like this one) that still celebrate the uniqueness of this founder of the tactical shooter genre.
The Other RAINBOW SIX Game: The Sum of All Fears
During the research phase of this blogpost, I learned that there was another Tom Clancy game developed around the tactical shooter CT scenario. This was the video game to the 2002 military thriller
Sum of All Fears, and is often regarded as game similar in spirit and setting to the original
RAINBOW SIX games. While it was more simplified than the
RAINBOW SIX games of the time, it did feature primitive voice commands (like
SOCOM). Some have compared this to the Playstation
R6 port, being that it was less complex, more devoted to shooting and CQC. This was released on PC. Gameboy Advanced, and the Gamecube in the US market, and the PS2 in Europe. The studio that did the port of
R6 to the Gameboy Color, Crawfish Interactive, also did this port to the Nintendo systems. The game only scored average to poor with critics. The game is largely forgotten today.
Who is that Masked Man in the Cover-Art?
One of the most arresting images used for the game was the cover-art of an SWAT/Special Operator with a large pistol drawn, fully kitted out in ninja gear and face obscured by those goggles. So, what is the story behind the image? It turns out more than you might think. When I bought the Playstation game back in 2002 for my PS2 ( I was a little late to the
R6 party), I searched for the origin of the photo and came across a story on
www.hkpro.com on the true being the goggles. The man behind the goggles was John T. Meyer, the former VP of Sales and Training fro H&K USA, and the photo was taken in 1992, as the new USP pistol was being rolled out for the American market. The image was part of the overall H&K ITD "SWAT Team", that was part of the German companies overall marketing strategy. Employees of H&K, whom most were military vets, donned the latest in tactical fashion and weaponry, and placed into scenarios. Photos and art were based on the photoshoots that advised H&K products to all manner of companies and business. These were a fixture in gun stores during the 1990's, and these helped establish the connect between special units and H&K. Red Storm was given permission to use the image by H&K, given the working relationship between the two companies. By the way, the pistol in his hand is the USP .40.
Next Time on FWS...
Chow time in the military is one of the most important moments of a soldier's life. It is the time when they can take a moment to refuel and recollect. Sometimes, that chow can come in a dining hall behind the wire, and other times, they have to eat in the field with field rations. The types of rations available to troops are very different that what my grandfather ate in World War II and Korea. Along with the discussion of field rations, we will be discussing space food as well.
While I would still play the other systems, I was not thrilled by the console game selection in the 1990's, and became bored with video gaming by 1991. I hated jumping, side-scrollers, and the limited exploration of most console games. Arcades were still part of my social life, and it often you could find me and my friends at some Tulsa mall pumping quarters. But, I was hungry for something different. Then in summer of 1991, my father would buy an greybox Hewlett-Packard home PC running MS-DOS and Windows 3.1. This was a revolution for me and my relationship with home gaming. Given the power of the PC, I was able to run games like LucasArts Battle of Britain, Loom, War in Middle Earth. Instead of investing in another console during the Bit Wars, my (and parents) money was funneled into the greybox. Games like X-Wing, Terminator: 2029, Wolfenstein, DOOM, and Wing Commander filled my high school years. It was not until the original PlayStation came out that I switched teams back to a home console system.
HALO is one of those gaming franchise that transcended beyond the console to be a multi-media empire. But, it all started on a new home video game console, and the success of the original 2001 HALO: Combat Evolved for the original Xbox gave birth to one of the greatest military sci-fi series of all time. When I bought my Xbox in 2005, I bought HALO: CE, and it was a damn nearly religious experience. I knew within a few hours, that HALO was going to be my game and that this game would be forever something special. Even to this very day, I play HALO: CE once a year, and I do not need to make nostalgia excuses for it, especially with the anniversary edition. It is a rock solid game that took the tropes and made them their prison bitch. This game carried a dynasty that expanded throughout all types of media and culture, and if it is ever made, the HALO movie could be the best video game film of all time...which is not a high bar. To me, HALO: Combat Evolved one of the best games I ever played, and we are still very much in love.
I played the original Half-Life on the PS2 conversion, and it was okay...but it wasn't until HL2 that the everyone, including me, woke up to this masterpiece of gaming. In some ways, HL2 pulled an Road Warrior on the audience, taking the world of Gordon Freeman, and altering it in a post-apocalyptic, post-alien invasion controlled Earth. The human races is one their collective knees, and they need a hero. I still play this game once-a-year, and enjoy it on the many levels that it exists. This game would also give us Portal and the machinima series Civil Protection starring Dave and Mike.
Ah, the 1980's! I spent many years in the arcade, and it was in 1987 that I met that one arcade game that made me fall in love: Xenophobe. Let's face the facts, there has not been a "good" ALIENS video game until ALIEN Isolation, but Xenophobe came close to giving us ALIENS fans something enjoyable to play that was similar to that dark world that we loved. Xenophobe was a unique fusion of humor, dark sci-fi, and classic arcade gaming that made an impression on gamers at the time. So successful was the arcade cabinet, that the game was ported to every major home console and computer gaming system from 1987 through 2004. That says something about the longevity of Xenophobe. I really wish there had been a sequel...maybe one day. If and when FWS ever gets an official office, Xenophobe will be in the office for stress relief.
I've never been much for classic fantasy RPGs, either paper-and-pen or video games. Sure, I played D&D and Dark Tower back in the 1980's..but it wasn't until 2007 that concept of Mass Effect got me thinking that this game could a space-based RPG that I could get behind. When I finally played it as FemShep (of course), I was shocked how engrossing, beautiful, and complex the original Mass Effect game was. Even today, I love the first and third game...not a fan of Mass Effect 2. During a recent playthrough of all three games back-to-back, I continually impressed with the epic nature of the original Mass Effect, and I firmly believe that it is one of the finest science fiction games of all time. Oh, FemShep is the real Commander Shepard!
At times, video games allow new types of stories to be told in a new medium, and that was the case with 1990's military sci-fi flight sim Wing Commander. This game takes concepts from The Man-Kzin Wars, Enemy Mine, Star Wars, and BSG to from a tale of Terran space jocks onboard a space carrier in the Vega Sector battling Killer Space Tigers. I played this a few years after its original release, but it was of the best games I played in the 1990's, and the second and third games were also good, but the first game will always have a special place in my heart. 
Flight simulators have always been one of the most popular computer games, due to the technologically ability and advantages of PCs over consoles to simulate flight conditions with a joystick...not some damned controller! Not all flight simulators were devoted to dogfights or simple simulation, there was an healthy market for space combat sims, and one of the best of all time was X-Wing by LucasArts. X-Wing would allow the player to take control of the iconic space fighters of the Rebel Alliance in historical simulations and live missions. This game was packed with insight to the world of Star Wars, and unlike the most Star Wars games, there was no fucking Jedi! X-Wing tells the story of the Rebel Alliance guerrilla campaign against the Empire via a military sci-fi setting, and not lightsaber duels. I loved this game back-in-the-day and its expansions, and it is still a game that I think holds up. This is the best Star Wars game there is.
