Darwin...RS3...To buy or not to buy?

[Tappy_Tibbons]

I don't think I've ever seen a game occupy that much of your time besides Moto GP....so how is it?

Since CS turned out to be exactly what is has been on the pc for years, I am thinking about either jumping into RS3 or just waiting for Halo 2. I saw a commercial for RS3 and it looked kinda choppy to me. My lame Blockbuster doesn't have it yet so I can't rent and try for myself.

I am still hooked like a fish on RTCW and and not really getting bored of it. I know RS3 is more realistic and less arcadey but I still think it would be interesting.

[Darwin]

<div class=\"smallfont\">I don't think I've ever seen a game occupy that much of your time besides Moto GP....so how is it?

Since CS turned out to be exactly what is has been on the pc for years, I am thinking about either jumping into RS3 or just waiting for Halo 2. I saw a commercial for RS3 and it looked kinda choppy to me. My lame Blockbuster doesn't have it yet so I can't rent and try for myself.

I am still hooked like a fish on RTCW and and not really getting bored of it. I know RS3 is more realistic and less arcadey but I still think it would be interesting.</div>

I am very impressed with Rainbow Six 3, both the single and multiplayer. The single players lasts a good 10 - 12 hours through one time, depending on difficulty. The AI of your teamates is quite good, although not as good as one would like. They hold their own and save your ass some times. They also do a real good job of staying out of your line of site. They do get wounded occasionally, but that is realistic. Occasionally they'll not see a terrorist or put their body out in the open, but this is rare.

The online play is great. You can play all the single player missions online with 3 other guys, which is even better than the single player. Also, each mission can be played in "terrorist hunt" mode where hostages and bombs have been removed and it's just you and up to 3 teamates verses the enemy AI. In terrorist hunt mode, the game will randomly move the terrorists around a bit, so it's not as predictable as you think. Also, the terrorists act differently depending on the difficulty level. Terrorists will respond to sound, run when they are scared or outnumbered, take cover, panick fire (by sticking their hand and gun around the corner and blindly firing if they are cornered), toss grenades at you, get help from their buddes, etc. So playing the missions and terrorist hunt modes are great ways to play cooperatively. Terrorist hunt is my preferred mode.

In addition, you also have the human verses human modes. Individual survival and team survival have no repawn. Or, go to Sharp shooter which is every man for himself and you respawn after a kill.

The weapons are very plentiful and are different in their recoil, damage, rate of fire, scope, targetting reticule size, etc. Also, in certain maps, using a silenced weapon prevents the other terrorists from hearing you and coming after you. The grenades have a relatively smaller blast radius which makes the game better ballanced (uber-powerful grenades take away from the strategy of online gaming ... Solider of Fortune 2's grenades/rockets are a bit too powerful, for example, and undermine some of the SOF2's ballance.)

The heat vision is actually implemented in many areas... not just some aesthetic gimmick. It's saved my hide several times.

In the various modes, the host can turn on or off friendly fire. When I'm in terrorist hunt, I turn it off since I don't want to sit out the rest of the mission because someone got trigger happy (or I don't want to accidently punish a teamate). But, there is another option that allows you to punish team killers by making a team killer sit out the next round. Also, the host can opt to allow or not allow grenade launchers and heat vision.

The game runs at a consistent framerate. It's faster than 30 fps, but not 60 fps. The framerate can suffer the same types of problems you see in Wolfenstien if you have too many people or the host's connection is not fast enough. Every player has a speed rating that you can see in the lobby. However, even with the slower connectors, I've still had smooth games hosting terrorist hunt modes. The commercials for the game and the game's demo are choppier than the game itself. The final game has an overall consistent framerate. Never once in single player, terrorist hunt have I had a choppy game. The game has only gotten choppy when I was in a 10 person room with a moderate-speed host.

You can adjust the look sensitivity which is always a plus.

[E.T.]

Another very good mini review.
Ive been reading "full reviews" w/less content/value than what you offer here.
Consider writing full review for Rainbow Six 3 Darwin?