Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown is a 2005 tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Red Storm Entertainment and published by Ubisoft for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Microsoft Windows. It is the fourth game in the Rainbow Six series. The game's plot follows Rainbow, an international counterterrorist organization, as they battle a terrorist organization that has stolen a deadly bioweapon.
The initial design and PlayStation 2 version were developed by Red Storm Entertainment and the Xbox version was developed by Ubisoft Montreal.
Lockdown was first released on August 3, 2005 for mobile phones, with console versions being released in September of the same year and the PC version being released in February 2006. The game received average reviews mostly due to its departure from traditional Rainbow Six gameplay.
A sequel, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Critical Hour, was released on March 17, 2006.
Gameplay
The player controls the main character, Rainbow team commander Domingo "Ding" Chavez, and leads a single squad in real-time through each level. The player can issue orders to team members, such as to breach a door or toss a grenade into a room. Missions are broken up into linear levels, instead of each mission taking place on a single non-linear map. Lockdown also gives players the ability to save their in-game progress at any time during a level, in contrast to some previous games' lack of an in-game save feature.
Console versions
The console versions of Lockdown features several "shooting gallery"-style sniper missions, in which players take control of Rainbow sniper Dieter Weber, and snipe terrorists from a position such as a small room or a helicopter while covering the entry of an AI-controlled squad into an area. The console versions also feature cutscenes that flesh out the personality and background of each Rainbow member, as well as collectible suitcases hidden throughout each level that can be collected for bonus material.
Windows
The Windows version of Lockdown removed the sniper segments and storyline-related cutscenes, and also included redesigned levels to match the less linear gameplay of previous entries in the series. Several other longstanding elements of the series that were removed from the console versions were added back into the PC version, including helmets on the character models. Lockdown is the first game in the series to remove the planning phase.
Multiplayer
The Xbox version of Lockdown features an exclusive gameplay mode for Microsoft's Xbox Live service called "Persistent Elite Creation" (PEC). This mode allows the player to have a persistent character while playing in online multiplayer games, who can gain levels. There are four "careers" to choose from: Commando, Medic, Engineer, and Spec-Op. Each class features different abilities and strengths: Commandos are able to use heavy weaponry and armor, Medics can use items to heal teammates during battle, Engineers can set up gun turrets, and Spec-Ops are stealthy and can use surveillance equipment. As incentive to continue leveling up, bonuses can be unlocked by achieving certain goals, such as new weapons and items. Light role-playing video game-like elements exist, such as stat points that can be distributed across various skills.
The PlayStation 2 version, while lacking the Xbox version's PEC mode, has its own online mode. Called "Rivalry", this mode pits teams of terrorists against teams of counterterrorist operatives.
The GameCube version of the game does not take advantage of the system's optional broadband or modem adapters, meaning there is no online mode. However, the GameCube version does include an exclusive two-player co-op mode.
Plot
In 2009, Rainbow, led by John Clark, deploys their Alpha team, commanded by Domingo Chavez, to rescue the South African President from a rebel army surrounding Pretoria. Elsewhere in the city, the Global Liberation Front, an anti-Western left-wing terrorist organization led by Bastian Vanderwaal, steals "Legion", a nanite aerosol bioweapon that causes massive hemorrhaging and has a 100% fatality rate.
Later, the GLF attacks the Scottish Parliament Building. Alpha saves the hostages and captures some of the terrorists, who reveal a GLF cell's training facility under a distillery in Olivet. Alpha raids it to capture cell leader Derek Mergen; however, Mergen is shot by his own men in an attempt to silence him, but he survives and is hospitalized. After Alpha defends the hospital from a GLF onslaught, Mergen tells Clark the GLF is planning something, though he does not explain what.