Common Sense Note
Parents need to know this game -- created for players over 17 -- is a military shooter with realistic and gratuitous violence, played from a first-person perspective. As with many games of this kind, you can aim and shoot all kinds of weapons at terrorists, splattering their blood on the walls as they drop to the floor. In one memorable level, which takes place in Dante's Hotel and Casino under construction, numerous unsuspecting enemies are "diffused" by a tossed grenade in a crowded lobby. Also be aware that this graphic game seems even more so thanks to its photorealistic look.
Families can talk about how this game lets players live vicariously through a skilled operative trained to keep our nation safe. This is not unlike Tom Clancy's best-selling fiction, but here you get to actually press the trigger instead of reading about it. How does that enhance the experience? Does it make you want to know more about the books or would you rather give the characters your own spin now that you're in control? Does this game make you want to become a government operative or does it make the job seem even less appealing?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Marc Saltzman
In this fifth game in the Rainbow Six series based on the Tom Clancy novels, players must protect Sin City from terrorists determined to strike renowned casinos and hotels before they move on to bigger targets worldwide. This tactical shooter is one of the best in the series and is easily the most gorgeous, with near photorealistic graphics depicting the flashy Las Vegas strip and surrounding areas.
You play as Logan Keller, leader of Team Rainbow, an elite group of highly trained operatives out to stop the elusive international terrorist, Irena Morales. Your fellow fighters include experts such as Gabriel Nowak (electronics and reconnaissance specialist) from the Alpha Team, and Michael Walter (heavy weapons and demolition expert) from the Bravo Team. As you play from a first-person perspective, you must initially assess the situation and move your team to the indicated location. Then you perform moves such as rappelling down buildings or climbing up ladders, hacking computers, or using night-vision goggles, and of course, taking down enemies using sophisticated weapons and gadgets.
Along with the single-player campaign, three multiplayer modes are available, including split-screen play on the same television or over the Internet via Xbox Live (subscriptions cost $50 a year). Online gamers can use the new Xbox 360 camera, called Xbox Live Vision, and take a photo of their face to place on the body of the main character.
The PC version costs less: $49.99 instead of $59.99 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 games.
Other mature action games include Microsoft Game Studios' Gears of War, Ubisoft's Splinter Cell: Double Agent and Activison's Call of Duty 3.
Families looking for more teen appropriate material should check out Okami or Guitar Hero II.
Platform Notes
PlayStation 3
This version for the PS3 contains 10 new multi-player maps and 2 game modes not found in the other versions.
Reviewed: 01/02/2007
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Sexual ContentSome suggestive scenes. Characters can go to a brothel. |
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ViolenceNot for the faint of heart, this tactical shooter uses many weapons to take out the terrorists and blood looks realistic splattered on walls. Grenades can take out whole groups of people. |
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LanguageSwearing is occasional but harsh. |
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Social BehaviorPlayers act as the good guy trying to stop terriorists by many extreme means. |
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CommercialismUnilever Corp's Axe shower get featured in 60-second video if you shoot a jar of body wash. Billboard advertisements found within game. Many gamers have also complained about multiplayer matches with "dynamic" in-game ads that change over time. |
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