Rainbow Six 3 (Console) Diaries Part One

After having played Rainbow Six 3 on PC, I was surprised to find out that the console version of Rainbow Six 3 had a different story. This, of course, means that I have to give it a go. With it being on the GameCube I have no mods to make things look pretty, so enjoy the drop in graphical quality of these screenshots.

This is my ongoing exploration of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six series, played in release order, where I will chronicle my playthrough like a text-based Let’s Play. This time I begin Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 on the GameCube.

Having gathered up the kidnapped nuclear scientists and put an end to the ex-Spetsnaz terrorists, RAINBOW was taking a break - but in an alternate reality to the one we knew…

It was 10th of January 2007, and we were carrying out training in Hereford. John Clark wanted me - Ding Chavez - to go through a training sequence before we were allowed to be redeployed.

Clark went through the basics - sending the team through a door, throwing a flashbang inside, breaching doors with charges, handcuffing hostages, go-codes… Wait, we had to handcuff hostages to “secure” them?! It seemed obvious that this took place in the Mirror Universe, then. I also had to deploy as a single squad with no planning…

YES I CAN SEE, JOHN CLARK

We were cleared for missions, but had to wait until 15th October 2007 to be deployed on one. A news broadcast about Venezuela deciding to no longer supply oil to other countries explained what was up, just before a G8 summit (convened to convince them to share) was stormed by terrorists. However, only the Venezuelan delegates were being held hostage, the others had been allowed to leave…

We deployed to Alpine Village in Switzerland and made our way through the very linear level. We shot some men, we entered a house to shoot some more, and handcuffed two terrorists before heading back outside. We came under fire from someone in the belltower of the church across the way, and my men seemed unable to shoot him before I did it. After shooting another one to the far left, I tried to send my men into the church, but they seemed unable to. Suspecting that the area wasn’t quite as small as it was, I sent my men over to open a door - which only made them close it - and shot another terrorist.

Also, nobody was dead yet

With Clark’s words of “there’s a hostage in the church” resonating in my head, I headed back over to the church. Then hit a loading screen, telling me “First Part of the Mission Completed”. We deployed into the next part of the mission, now inside the church, complete with organ music playing.

Having the squad open the door and throw a flashbang inside, they began a firefight with the terrorists inside. After joining them and helping out, the area was clear and we went over to the hostage at the pulpit and handcuffed her. One of my squadmates claimed that it was because she would be safe here…

Maybe God would keep her safe?

We headed out into the hallway when Clark said that the final hostage (yes, the second) was in the basement. After shooting the terrorist at the end of the hall, I sent my men down to check that it was safe. Someone outside began firing at them, so I shot him and joined them in a breach of the doorway to the right. Inside was a library with a lone terrorist, so we killed him and went into the room on the left, and downstairs.

Things got dark, so I broke out the night vision goggles and we carefully made our way down. We shot one terrorist, then went out into the next section where I shot at another terrorist and alerted him and his mate. After a bit of a firefight the coast was clear, and I cuffed the second hostage personally.

This screen is unclear how the mission went

The mission was a success, though it didn’t tell me how long it took. I think we killed 25 terrorists, but the debriefing screen was unclear. We didn’t have much time to rest, however, as some of the terrorists had escaped. They hadn’t gotten very far, as they had caused a bit of a pile up 70 klicks north-east. They had taken hostages, and were threatening to blow up a fuel tanker.

We deployed and carefully went forth, coming under fire by a lone terrorist who was hiding behind a van. Having taken several hits, my health bar was a worrying shade of red, but we went forth and shot another terrorist, before I told my men to disarm the bomb that was there. We came under fire again, and shot the terrorist before soldiering onwards inside the nearby door. It was a storeroom with a few terrorists inside, but they were quickly shot, and we went through a couple more doors and up some stairs.

Things were going well?

There were two terrorists up there, and they soon died, but I wasn’t the only one with a red health bar by this point… Another two doors, and they shot the terrorist in the hallway, before the second door on the right opened and another terrorist came out to a hail of gunfire. Sending my men ahead, I opened the first door and was gunned down.

Mission failure - but thanks to the game quicksaving, we could instantly redeploy to the doorway before we came upstairs. Of course, this meant that our health meters were a bit unhealthy. One of the terrorists upstairs surrendered, so I told my men to handcuff him while I shot the second one, then opened the doors. Ordering them to breach the next door, they did so - and then opened the unopened door, coming under fire from the terrorist inside. They shot him, and I sent them on ahead - but Eddie Price was incapacitated. Opening the door from before, I was gunned down by two terrorists, instead of one…

Damn it

I decided to redeploy from the start of the mission, deciding to go in with more health than before, and not get horrendously injured early on. And things did go well, the first handful of terrorists dying almost painlessly. Which was a surprise, as two of them threw grenades at us.

We disarmed the bomb and went into the store room, my squad shooting one of the men, and myself having the honour of shooting the second - who was about to throw a grenade at us! This was setting a terrifying precedent, as I did not want to be blown to chunky salsa.

Deciding to personally open the door into the hallway, I shot the lone guy inside with one to the head, and waited. The other terrorists came looking, and I shot one as he went to throw a grenade - which exploded and killed the other terrorist in the hallway. I sent the squad into the room that kept killing me, because I had taken a few hits and was running lower on health, and they cleared it. Sending them on ahead, I took the second door to the same room and shot a man behind a console of some kind. Then, together, we headed to the next part of the mission.

This was the console I mentioned

Heading through a door and along a walkway, we came under fire. One of my men shot the guy somewhere below us, and I shot the one coming through a doorway ahead. Going through the door to a stairwell, I shot another terrorist coming up the stairs, who hadn’t seen us. Ordering the men ahead, there were shots and a shout of “contact!” before the telltale sound of a grenade having been thrown. When it exploded and didn’t injure my men, I went through the doorway and shot a terrorist in the back.

Through a doorway and a hallway, I opened a door and came under fire. My men shot the guy, and I went through managing to shoot two more terrorists - one stood on the back of a truck - before a third above us shot me a couple of times. We killed him and another man up there, but I was in pretty bad shape. We secured the hostage in this area, before being told by Clark to keep going through the maintenance tunnels. The second hostage was somewhere on the other side of the wreck in the main tunnel, which could only be accessed this way.

I felt sorry for the hostages to be honest

We went through some tunnels, and my men were shot at from above by a terrorist, who I killed. As I could hear a police radio, I told my men to flashbang the door ahead, which they did and there was some shooting. Following them out into the tunnel, I popped my head up to look over some of the wreckage and shot three terrorists.

Sending them on ahead bit by bit, we cleared a few more terrorists, and secured the hostage. Mission success with, as far as I can tell, 36 terrorists dead. If I was indeed reading the debriefing screen correctly, this had been a band of over 60 terrorists with - quote - homemade bombs. I was doubtful that things would improve from here…