Rainbow Six
Red October, where for-art thou?
This Tom Clancey book is about John Clark and Ding (from Clear and Present Danger) setting up an new international task force. Concerned mainly with anti-terrorism. Various scenarios ensue, building up their image of competence, and gradually introducing the main plot elements. It starts pretty well, but the last 200-odd pages, out of 897 in my softback, start to drag and annoy. I am not sure if he decided he had to wrap things up, or got sick etc, but the effort just doesn't seem the same.
I like Clancey, really I do. But Rainbow Six suffers in too many departments. I can accept the plot, it might be _possible_ for a private corp to develop a virus secretly. I can accept the formation of a NATO anti-terrorist group. But what really bugs me is the way the "bad-guys", who are obviously smart from their setup plans, loose their brains once the ball gets rolling.
1/ Not watching Popov (unknown loyalties) when transferred to Kansas.
2/ Deus Ex Machina - Hunnicutt not only knows EVERYTHING, but he spills
it ALL to this KGB officer, then hands him his gun and all but says "shoot me".
Hunnicutt is meant to be in charge of security?!
3/ Carol Brightling should have stayed till after the closing ceremonies,
I'm sure she had the B-vaccine, and surely you need your mole to see what the governments
response would be.
4/ One guy, and one plan for implementation! After spending 1000's of
millions you think there would be a backup distribution. Maybe even in a different
country. The Olympics is described as the best place, not the only one.
5/ Popov was only told the release system was in the air-conditioning
somewhere, but Ding goes straight to the fogging system - oooo psychic powers.
6/ Attacking the Rainbow Team - I could plan that better since it's not
hard to figure out how they transport. Stage a hostage situation somewhere overseas; shoot
multiple stinger missiles at 747 landing at this known destination; clap hands happily
Hmmm, that's about all I remember. But what about the "good guys" you ask?
1/ G.I. Joe - Your All American Hero(s)! BARF... please, do we need more
of this?
2/ Not one "good guy" has any idea about the environment. It is
_illogical_ to them to even care! Surely most rational people can concede that the Earth
is being screwed up, at least a little?!
3/ Luck and psychic powers too prevalent.
This book was an ok read, but not up with Clancey's best (read: earlier) works. Maybe he is suffering from Robert Jordan disease, too much mundane detail. The characters are ok, if a little 2D. I liked Clark from his spook days, but he ain't ageing too well, and I ended up empathising more with the Horizon people than with the Rainbow team. In the context of the book, they did not deserve to win! Other people have mentioned inconsistencies, Clancey's right-wing views, and technical faults. This I can accept, but not the unreasonable reasoning of supposedly smart characters.
Buy the computer game instead, it's a little old now, but is a brutal and more entertaining education on anti-terrorist units.
I have an Imac DV SE and this runs very well. Only a couple of memory lockups, no jerking on max options.
The plot is as above: from a pool of elite special force people, take a team of up to 8, make a plan based on blueprints and observation of the site, and take out the terrorists. You get realistic combat - head shots kill, body armour stops light rounds. Modern weapons M16-A2, MP-5, etc. and a few bonus toys to play with, like grenades, night vision goggles, flashbangs (to stun people), and a device from the book for detecting heartbeats.
The game does look a little dated (compared to Q3, or Unreal
Tournament), but it's the only game of it's type for the Mac. You _must_ be cunning, plan
well, and have ultra quick head-shots! Yes the AI is pretty average. The Terrorists defend
very well, whereas your elite special force dudes get stuck on doors, jam themselves in
hallways and fail to check side-rooms that 4 of their buddies just died walking
past... Well, it's not too bad, but does annoy at times.
I must admit I love to make plans work that need
no intervention from me. Just dump one reserve guy in a team by himself, and watch the
others from the map (or using overlook in Eagle Watch). Sometimes it works, sometimes it
don't. On Easy, or maybe Veteran. But on Elite difficulty they will just die
like dogs, expect to do a lot more more yourself, and handhold your other teams.
Some levels you can almost play like a typical FPS, but mostly you end up sneaking about
carefully, while always having one team covering you as you slowly check areas for
hostiles.
Great game, suspenseful, and more intellectually challenging than Quake any day. Can't wait for Rogue Spear to appear on the Mac, hopefully the bots will be smarter...