Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown (Xbox)

As someone who pre-ordered 12 copies in total (for friends and family inc. myself) I feel a bit gutted to be honest. There's no doubts that it's a cracking game but I think too much has changed.

What really spoils it for me:

* The different uniforms which force us to have the marker above your team-mates head so you know he/she is on your team.

* The fact I don't know which player is speaking in-game.

* The poor radar/map - now I can't tell where people were killed or if they are on another level.

* The ability to talk to people on your team even when they're dead.

* The prevention of selecting different angles when viewing your team-mates (when you're dead).

* Not being able to boot people from the server while in-game.

* The poor sound effects for grenades.

* The removal of remote charges.

* Claymore Mines appear much weaker and less effective.

* Proximity Mines and proximity flashes are a waste of time.

* The disk errors that many people are experiencing e.g. game freezes when loading every so often.

* The removal of the clan features (although you can still have the clan tag like in Black Arrow).

* A poor and limited selection of maps.

* The screaming 'Rainbow' voice which cannot be turned off or down (although a patch is going to be released to lower this).

There's more complaints but these are the things that spoil my experience of the game for me personally.

The PEC mode is great and if it wasn't for this feature I wouldn't entertain the game at all. Had this been added to Black Arrow with a selection of new maps then I would have been very, very happy.

Graphics in the game are sweet. Very nice; a big improvement without a doubt.

Personally if you like off-line play then this game is great. If like me you're more into online gaming then yes, it will keep you entertained for a long, long time, especially when the bugs are fixed. However if you're a die-hard Rainbow fan then you'll probably enjoy R63 and Black Arrow more even though they are basic in comparison.

On paper Lockdown sounds great. I have followed the developers diaries and videos for months. They really excited me yet how they failed to see so many errors and problems is beyond me. The Rainbow games have such a following it would have made common sense to get in half a dozen serious clans/gamers to play this game first. Not only would they have spotted the bugs but they would have pointed out the basic downfalls, some of which I have listed above.

It was a great idea to develop this game but whoever is responsible at the top for giving the green light should be outed from their position because they obviously do not know what the Rainbow fans want. For me progression is fine and yes some sacrifices may have to be made for new features and ideas but what idiot thinks it's right for the dead to be able to talk to the living for example?

The developers behind the game were obviously very excited but they failed to deliver a masterpiece which is a real shame because had they not made so many silly mistakes, this game would have been amazing.

Now don't get me wrong, it's still a good game. If you have never played the previous titles then you'll probably wonder what I'm talking about as you won't know any different. Newbies should buy it, die-hards should (and will out of loyalty) too. But UBI, take note... when making the next game, if you decide to go down that road, take on board the opinions of the gamers, especially the die-hards and not just the casual Rainbow fans.

Ok just because I class myself as a die-hard doesn't make me right but I do feel that there are too many fundamental cock-ups in this game.

I want this game to be the best and that's why I'm so passionate about how I see it.

Fix these problems, admit you cocked it up and produced a game that is no more unique than the others already out there. For me R63 and Black Arrow may be simple but they do the business. Tweaking them rather than starting from scratch would have been much better.

I'll keep playing Lockdown and I'll urge others to buy it but if I'm honest, I expect the PEC feature to become boring in time and then I see people defecting back to the earlier versions.

This game does not live up to the reputation of its predecessors. Having played both the previous games to death (& then some...) I can sadly say that this falls seriously short of the mark for the following reasons:

1. The movements of your team members in the missions are jumpy, occasionally erratic & about as lifelike as a glovepuppet.

2. The missions, even on elite, are as hard as butter left out in the sun.

3. Worst of all - the gameplay where you take on the role of dieter Weber (Sniper) is dreadful! Having fired a few rifles in my time I expected there to be some kind of kick back recoil after each shot but no - you can almost do rapid fire without loosing your aim! & as for when the helicopter changes position - don't start me off... its worse than the old arcade games of the '80s...!

4. The removal of some of the weapons was a dire move & the charts for comparison are now over-simplified.

There are some areas where I can see an attempt at improvement - The weapons in zoom mode actually fire at the point where they are aimed so you need to be good (I never play with aim enhamcements on so this made for more realisim) & there is recoil etc with these guns. The explosions are muted but you'd expect that as Rainbow would wear earplugs. Also, its a nice touch to be able to blast doors open with the shotguns (A++ for that...!)

Sorry Ubisoft - whoever signed this off deserves a slap from Mr Clancy as this is not worthy of his name.

I'll think twice before buying another Rainbow game.

This isn't a Rainbow - its an overcast, wet Monday morning...!