Its cold dark ,very damp and there is a foul stench in the air that fills your nostrils with distaste. The lack of any bright lighting creates a somewhat eerie atmosphere as a solitary ray of Light streams through a small grate in the ceiling, cascading through to the floor and slightly illuminating the surroundings. You are in a small underground confined area that seems to lead to a myriad of tight, dark winding tunnels. The distant sound of pressurised steam can be heard hissing through a hole in one of the many pipes that run along the entire length of this tunnel. A narrow pathway of murky water flows through the centre of the tunnel but is only a few inches deep on either side of this is solid stone. The sound of trickling water is most prominent here yet still very quiet. You make a mental note that treading in the liquid will not only be slightly slippery but will also make unnecessary noise possibly blowing your cover as even footsteps seem to reverberate in the confines of the tunnel. A slight breeze blows across your face evaporating the moisture on your skin but adding to the sense of disgust at the horrid vapours in the air. You are in a sewer system. You are not alone.
In your firm grip is a reasonably light MP5SD5 9mm automatic. You have it trained directly in front of you but aimed slightly downwards. The weight of your secondary gear weighs heavy on your body although you have worked hard to operate effectively with the extra baggage. Your head feels slightly heavier too as the weight of the combined night vision and thermal goggles rests uncomfortably above your brow. A bead of sweat forms and runs down your left cheek, although you ignore it as you remain focused on what lies ahead in the depths, shrouded by the darkness.
Without any pause your headset bursts into frantic action as a German accent speaks , "were right with you sir. Waiting for orders". Without the need to look behind you, three of your colleges have taken up defensive positioning around the entrance to the tunnel. Eyes are covering the rear, the left and the right as your team, crouched and as alert as a predator hunting at night remain stationary. You speak in a firm but soft tone "hold positions".
Staying low and positioning yourself behind what look like two rusty oil drums, you survey what lies ahead by instantly switching to night vision. Like a camera flash bulb warming up, the high pitch squeal rings momentarily in your ears. Your view is clearer now although the tint of green has become prominent to your eyes, requiring a few seconds for your pupils to adjust. The heavy steam from the burst pipe 10 meters away somewhat obscures your view as the heat dances and warps your vision. Moving slowly and being aware of the noise from your shuffling, you proceed further into the depths of the sewer. Feeling assured that your rear is covered you almost strain your eyes as you move further into the tunnel, searching. The hissing sound of the steam gets louder as you draw nearer to it. However it transpires that the steam is not the only movement detected. You freeze. Barely visible, even with the night vision, there is a heavily armed terrorist standing at the far end of the tunnel oblivious to your team’s presence. In almost a whisper you announce, "contact". As with the nature of the steam things are about to get hot.
Aware that your view is somewhat restricted and unsure of what lies either side of the tunnel at the end, you remain aware that the breeze must be coming from somewhere deeper within. Assuming on either side of the tunnel there must be one or two entrances, therefore possibly more terrorists. They should have anticipated a likely infiltration here and would have placed more sentries in this area. Again talking into your microphone almost whispering, you point to an area a few meters ahead behind some vertical pipes and give the order for your team to move. Once again your earpiece bursts into action " Roger, moving now". Your team swiftly moves to the pipes, again taking a defensive stance. " Holding, waiting for orders". With the precision of a cobra you train your sights to the terrorists head then squeeze the trigger. A small clicking sound can be heard as you open fire on the distant terrorist. A loud cry of pain echoes throughout the tunnel followed by a loud thud as his dead body slumps to the solid cold wet floor. Within seconds more terrorists have seemingly appeared from the shadows as automatic fire rings through the confines of the tunnel. A fire fight ensues. Your team acting independently from behind the pipes open fire and down three more targets. "Tango down, Threat neutralised". Your mission has just begun.
What I have described here is one of the early stages of a mission from the eagerly anticipated Rainbow Six 3 from Ubi Soft. This squad based 1st person shooter is set to take Xbox owners by storm as they embark on many counter terrorist missions around the globe. You the player take command of Ding Chavez, the commander. It is you and a small unit of 3 others whose job it is to infiltrate, neutralize and rescue. Using an easy to navigate menu system or if you have a headset, voice commands. It is your job to actively control the actions of your squad. The way the game layout is designed allows for a number of different approaches to tackle the various situations. As commander you could take the role of point man (lead) or sit back and order your team to recon or assault ahead. This approach surely lends itself to a lot of fore thought and tactics required of the player on the fly as opposed to the pre planning as seen in most Rainbow Six titles. There are a number of different weapons and grenades that can be used, often changing the entire way in which you will tackle the missions depending on what types have been selected prior to the mission.
Graphically Rainbow Six 3 could be described as a first person Splinter Cell, as the Unreal engine is used here in full effect as well. Ultimately this game looks and sounds great and will have the armchair counter terrorists across the globe behaving as if they have trained for this moment all their lives. Winning many awards at the various trade shows, Rainbow Six 3 on Xbox is going to be huge. An entirely new game compared to the similar named PC version. Released sometime in November this year and also featuring extensive Xbox live multi player modes. Ubi are again onto a winner with yet another Clancy endorsed game. If you have never been bitten by the Clancy bug before well now might just be the time, with this far more accessible title.
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