It is an Ubisoft trend to release expansion packs for the Xbox shortly after the main game was released, as you can see in recent titles such as [i]Ghost Recon 2: Summit Strike[/i], [i]Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow[/i], [i]Farcry: Instincts: Evolution[/i], and now [i]Rainbow Six: Critical Hour[/i]. Although the last [i]Rainbow Six[/i] game that was released was Lockdown (underrated by critics and disliked by fans alike), [i]Critical Hour[/i] isn’t exactly an expansion to it.
[i]Rainbow Six: Critical Hour[/i] is a “Best of” the [i]Rainbow Six[/i] games, selected by the developers at Ubisoft and fans as well. There isn’t really a story, other than John Clark retiring, and placing Ding Chavez in charge. John Clark presents future recruits to Rainbow, seven of the most intense missions that Team Rainbow has been through. These missions are taken from the first [i]Rainbow Six[/i] game, and [i]Rogue Spear[/i]. For those that never played these, this collection will be brand new, full of surprises and excitement.
Of course, all of this has been redone in today’s technology. The graphics were fixed up in every aspect. They aren’t as impressive, or jaw-dropping as in Farcry: Instincts, however, they still look better than the majority of Xbox games currently out there.
The sound is pretty good. Music is tense when it needs to be, dramatic when it needs to be so, and triumphant when you completed your mission. Weapons sound quite good, pretty realistic as far as I could tell. Voice acting, when there is any, is typical, mainly from John Clark. Of course, people from various countries (say Weber, who is from Germany), have their own accents, which adds to the uniqueness.
[i]Critical Hour[/i] is a return to more slow paced, tactical oriented game play that [i]Rainbow Six[/i] games have been known for. You can set up what you want your team to do in a very user friendly format. Just click A for your team to perform the action, or hold down A for more advanced selections.
The game features a save option that let’s you save anywhere, which is incredibly useful, since you never know when and where you will be ambushed.
The game isn’t very long, but considering this isn’t really a new game, but a stand alone “best of”, it is acceptable. You will probably spend about half and hour or so on every mission, because of messing up or dying. To increase replay value, you can always jump on Xbox live for a game.
An online portion is presented in the game, but I have not been able to try that out, due to the lack of Xbox Live.
If you like tactical shooters, like the [i]Rainbow Six[/i] series, and you have thirty dollars, then I can safely recommend this game for you. Even if you aren’t terribly into tactical shooters, or [i]Rainbow Six[/i], [i]Critical Hour[/i] will definitely provide you with a few hours of entertainment. Your thirty dollars will be well spent.
