''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield'' is a 2003

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed and published by

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...

. Released on March 18, 2003, the ''

Rainbow Six Rainbow Six may refer to: * ''Rainbow Six'' (novel), a 1998 novel by Tom Clancy *''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six'', a video game franchise published by Ubisoft ** ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six'' (video game), a tactical shooter video game *"Rainbow Six", a ...

'' video game series is based on

Tom Clancy Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science, military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of ...

's novel of the same name. The game's plot follows Rainbow, a secret international

counterterrorist Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or el ...

organization, as they respond to a wave of

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

attacks threatening

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. Based on the Unreal Engine 2.0, ''Raven Shield'' is a

tactical shooter A tactical shooter is a video game genre, subgenre of shooter games that cover both the first-person shooter and third-person shooter genres. These games aim to simulate realistic combat through slower-paced and punishing gameplay. This makes t ...

with realistic properties. ''Raven Shield'' moved toward mainstream

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...

s like ''

Counter-Strike ''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games in which teams of terrorists battle to perpetrate an act of terror (bombing, hostage-taking, assassination) while counter-terrorists try to preven ...

'', adapting various features absent in previous versions. These included the ability to see one's weapon while in the first-person view, many new weapons and upgrades (including larger magazines and

sights A sight is an aiming device used to assist in visually aligning ranged weapons, surveying instruments or optical illumination equipments with the intended target. Sights can be a simple set or system of physical markers that have to be aligne ...

), and a redesigned multiplayer. A

console Console may refer to: Computing and video games * System console, a physical device to operate a computer ** Virtual console, a user interface for multiple computer consoles on one device ** Command-line interface, a method of interacting with ...

version, entitled ''Rainbow Six 3'', was developed for the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

, and

Nintendo GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

. This iteration of the game features the same basic engine, models, textures, and artwork, but with significantly different game mechanics, gameplay, and storyline. A port was also released on

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...

on December 19, 2003. Due to the console version's success on the Xbox and the popularity of its subscription-based online multiplayer service,

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an Internet, online multiplayer video game, multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox ...

, an Xbox-exclusive semi-sequel was released in 2004 titled '' Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow''. The next full game in the ''Rainbow Six'' series, '' Rainbow Six: Lockdown'', was released in 2005.

Plot

In 1945, two

Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...

members escape the

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...

with vast amounts of Croatian

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

loot, leaving documents relating to it in a Croatian bank. Sixty years later, in 2005

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, a group of assailants enter the bank overnight, kill its occupants, and destroy the documents before leaving empty-handed. Meanwhile, Rainbow, an elite top secret international counterterrorist organization led by John Clark and advised by Kevin Sweeney, responds to a series of

neo-fascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration sent ...

terrorist attacks targeting South American oil interests and European financial institutions. Their attention is soon drawn to a series of shootouts in the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

between

drug smugglers The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs throug ...

and the Cayman Islands Police Force, including one at the mansion of Croatian billionaire Nikola Gospić, who claims the smugglers broke in. Rainbow's suspicions arise after a series of raids and terrorist attacks on locations across South America connected to Gospić and the smugglers, including an unusually violent attack on a

meat-packing The meat-packing industry (also spelled meatpacking industry or meat packing industry) handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of meat from animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Poultry is generally ...

facility in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

which Gospić owns a minority stake in, and a raid on an import-export company in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

storing

chemical weapons A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized Ammunition, munition that uses chemicals chemical engineering, formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be an ...

components. Rainbow finds a link between Gospić and

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

Argentine presidential candidate Alvaro Gutierrez, who is himself tied to an earlier attack on a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

bank. After killing a British

Neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

with ties to Gospić and Gutierrez during a hostage situation, and stopping the contamination of meat at the meat-packing facility with VX, Rainbow deduces Gospić is stockpiling chemical weapons and raids the meat-packing facility and his mansion. Rainbow learns that Gospić is an escaped Ustaše official, one of the two men in the opening cutscene. Dying of

liver cancer Liver cancer (also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy) is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary (starts in liver) or secondary (meaning cancer which has spread from elsewhere to th ...

, Gospić intends to use his vast wealth to resurrect global

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

before he dies: by buying South American oil fields and killing swaths of people across the continent, he would spark an economic crisis, then use his oil profits to raise an international fascist movement and form

Greater Croatia Greater Croatia ( hr, Velika Hrvatska) is a term applied to certain currents within Croatian nationalism. In one sense, it refers to the territorial scope of the Croatian people, emphasising the ethnicity of those Croats living outside Croatia. I ...

under fascist rule. To bring about the crisis, he plans to attack

Festa Junina ''Festas Juninas'' (, ''June Festivals'', "festivities that occur in the month of June"), also known as ''festas de São João'' for their part in celebrating the nativity of St. John the Baptist (June 24), are the annual Brazilian celebrations ...

celebrations in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

with blister gas. Rainbow assaults a garage where Gospić is preparing a

parade float A float is a decorated platform, either built on a vehicle like a truck or towed behind one, which is a component of many festive parades, such as those of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, the Carnival in São Paulo, the Carnival of Viareggio, the Ma ...

filled with blister gas, killing Gospić and preventing the attack. Gutierrez is promptly arrested, and he admits everything to Clark in interrogation.

Expansions

''Athena Sword'' (2004)

''Athena Sword'' is the first expansion for the PC version of ''Raven Shield''. ''Athena Sword'' builds upon the original by adding eight new missions, five new

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

maps, three new multiplayer game modes, and seven new weapons. ''Athena Sword'' was developed by

Ubisoft Milan Ubisoft is a French video game publisher headquartered in Montreuil, founded in March 1986 by the Guillemot brothers. Since its establishment, Ubisoft has become one of the largest video game publishers, and it has the largest in-house developme ...

and released on March 9, 2004. A Mac port was released on November 23, 2004. ''Athena Sword'' was packaged with the original game as ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 Gold Edition'' in 2004.

Plot

In 2007, a few months after defeating Gospić and imprisoning Gutierrez, Rainbow responds to a series of consecutive terrorist attacks in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. Rainbow learns they possess chemical weapons and that they are followers of Gutierrez; when questioned, Gutierrez promises a "surprise", suggesting his complicity. Rainbow finds an informant in arms dealer Giovanni Bagattini, and rescues him from several attempts on his life. The terrorists raid a warehouse where the

Polizia di Stato The ''Polizia di Stato'' (State Police or P.S.) is one of the national police forces of Italy. Alongside the Carabinieri, it is the main police force for providing police duties, primarily to cities and large towns, and with its child agencies ...

have stored their confiscated chemical gas; Rainbow repels them, but finds the terrorists have stolen a barrel, which they intend to use for Gutierrez's "surprise". Rainbow tracks the terrorists to

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, and prevents them from releasing the gas in an

agora The agora (; grc, ἀγορά, romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order of t ...

. In the aftermath, Gutierrez is delivered a newspaper reporting the terrorists' defeat, and he finds a message signed by Clark: "It's over". Two days later, Gutierrez hangs himself in his cell.

''Iron Wrath'' (2005)

''Iron Wrath'' is the second expansion for the PC version of ''Raven Shield''. It was in production for almost 2 years before

decided to release it as a free download for

FilePlanet GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...

subscribers on June 9, 2005. Developed by Ubisoft Casablanca, this expansion features a 7-mission campaign in which Rainbow neutralizes a terrorist nuclear bomb threat, 3 classic missions, 8 new multiplayer maps, 6 new weapons, as well as 5 new multiplayer game modes. In October 2008, the CD-key activation server was taken offline, suspending the multiplayer features of ''Iron Wrath''. This free expansion remains available on the web site

ModDB Mod DB is a website that focuses on general video game modding. It was founded in 2002 by Scott "INtense!" Reismanis. As of September 2015, the Mod DB site has received over 604 million views, has more than 12,500 modifications registered, and ...

(see

External links An internal link is a type of hyperlink on a web page to another page or resource, such as an image or document, on the same website or domain. Hyperlinks are considered either "external" or "internal" depending on their target or destination ...

''Gold Edition'' and ''Complete''

''Rainbow Six 3: Gold Edition'' and ''Rainbow Six 3: Complete'' are compilation sets that both consist of ''Raven Shield'' and ''Athena Sword'', with ''Complete'' also including ''Iron Wrath''.

Console versions

''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3''

''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3'' was initially ported to

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

console to take advantage of the

online functionality. The Xbox version was developed by

Ubisoft Montreal Ubisoft Divertissements Inc., doing business as Ubisoft Montreal, is a Canadian video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Montreal. The studio was founded in April 1997 as part of Ubisoft's growth into worldwide markets, with sub ...

. The game was later ported to the

and

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

in early 2004 by developer

Ubisoft Shanghai Ubisoft is a French video game publisher headquartered in Montreuil, founded in March 1986 by the Guillemot brothers. Since its establishment, Ubisoft has become one of the largest video game publishers, and it has the largest in-house developme ...

. The Nintendo GameCube version does not take advantage of the GameCube's online capabilities and is therefore limited to two players for local multiplayer. Although both games are titled ''Rainbow Six 3'', this version is not subtitled ''Raven Shield'' and contains somewhat different content. For instance, the multiplayer maps in the console and PC versions are different, with some appearing only in the console versions, others in the PC version. The Xbox version of the game features downloadable content in the form of additional levels for users with access to the Xbox Live service. All of the expansion levels are intended for use in the online multiplayer mode.

Gameplay

The gameplay in the console version of ''Rainbow Six 3'' deviates from its PC counterpart in a number of important areas, notably the exclusion of a mission planning stage and the inability to control multiple characters. Instead, players take the role of Rainbow field commander Ding Chavez and lead a single fireteam consisting of Eddie Price, Louis Loiselle, and Dieter Weber through each of the game's missions. Orders can be issued to the teammates using either an in-game menu or through voice-commands via the Xbox Live headset. This, however, suffered from slight misunderstandings between similar phrases such as "Open frag and clear" and "open flash and clear", and vice versa. To compensate for the decreased control players have over their squad, the squad AI has been improved, with squadmates being able to automatically duck behind objects or assume covering positions within an area. Each teammate has their own unique voice as opposed to generic voices in the PC version. The action is also slightly more forgiving in the console version. Chavez and his teammates each have a life bar consisting of four units of health, which must be depleted before that Rainbow operative is incapacitated. In the console versions, it is possible for the player to sustain several bullet hits before dying.

Plot

In 2007, a Rainbow team commanded by Domingo Chavez responds to a series of terrorist attacks with the same demands: an end to

Venezuelan Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

oil exports to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Though they initially target the

oil industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The larges ...

and

PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA, ) (English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as exploration and production ...

, the attacks soon begin to target Venezuelan presidential candidate Juan Crespo. Meanwhile, suspicions mount that

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

is responsible for the attacks, which Clark fears could escalate into conflict. Chavez's team extracts Nusrat Ahmad, an

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...

who infiltrated multiple terrorist networks; Ahmad informs Clark that Emilio Vargas, Crespo's right-hand man, played a role in an earlier break-in in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

where financial records relating to the terrorist attacks were stolen from a vault. After Chavez's team rescues Crespo from an attack while touring

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island, also known simply as Alcatraz (, ''"the gannet"'') or The Rock was a maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, off the coast of San Francisco, California, United States, the site of a for ...

, Rainbow learns Vargas is connected to Middle Eastern terrorists. Chavez's team raids an import-export firm owned by Vargas, while Chavez himself sneaks into Vargas'

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

penthouse Penthouse most often refers to: *Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building *Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine *Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...

to gather intel, from which they learn Vargas possesses VX. Rainbow manages to seize VX from a meat-packing facility, and tracks down additional VX—along with Vargas himself—to a garage in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. Clark interrogates Vargas, who reveals that Crespo is ordering the attacks to rally support for his campaign; upon being elected

President of Venezuela The president of Venezuela ( es, Presidente de Venezuela), officially known as the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, Presidente de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is the head of state and head of government in Ven ...

, Crespo would engineer an oil crisis to sell oil on the

black market A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the se ...

at high prices for his own gain. Rainbow also learns that Crespo plans to orchestrate terrorist attacks against the U.S. with a Saudi dissident, allowing the dissident to take control of Saudi Arabia after American intervention. With an impending attack targeting Mardi Gras celebrations, Chavez's team deploys to New Orleans, locating and defusing a VX-loaded bomb. With the attack prevented and his plans foiled, Crespo attempts to flee Venezuela with his remaining VX canisters. Rainbow intercepts Crespo at Simón Bolívar International Airport and Chavez assassinates him before he can escape. With the threat subsided, Clark congratulates Chavez and his team, and Rainbow frames the terrorists for the assassination.

Development

The Xbox version of ''Rainbow Six 3'' was exhibited at

Games Convention The Games Convention (GC), sometimes called the Leipzig Games Convention, was an annual video game event held in Leipzig, Germany, first held in 2002. Besides video games, the event also covers Infotainment, Hardware, and Edutainment. Its concep ...

2003 and E3 2003. A poster in a level of the game contained a link to an unowned website; subsequently, the website was registered and filled with

pornography Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

by a man who noticed that the URL was unregistered. Ubisoft released a statement saying that they refuse to buy the domain, stating that "Ubisoft has a clear policy that under any circumstances it will not pay blackmail money to anyone. It was an honest oversight on our part not to register the 'made up' URL."

''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow''

Developed by

, ''Black Arrow'' is a semi-sequel to the console version of ''Rainbow Six 3''. Still titled ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3'', ''Black Arrow'' was developed and published by Ubisoft and released for the Xbox on August 5, 2004. Like ''Rainbow Six 3'', ''Black Arrow'' was created to take advantage of Microsoft's popular

online service. Along with two new online game modes; Total Conquest, Retrieval and a new offline mode Lone Rush, changes were also implemented into ''Black Arrow'' from the original ''Rainbow Six 3''. A noticeable change was made to combat the unfair advantages of "lean walking". This change still allows the player to lean but is unable to move until they return to the original standing straight posture.

Reception

By the end of 2003, sales of ''Rainbow Six 3'' had reached 1.3 million copies. The game sold 2.2 million copies by the end March 2004. Reception of the game ranged from positive to mixed.

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

and

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave it a score of 88.06% and 86 out of 100 for the Xbox version; 85.64% and 83 out of 100 for the PC version; 76.33% for the first Mobile version of the game and 84.50% for the second one; 72.71% and 70 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version; and 68.35% and 68 out of 100 for the GameCube version.

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

gave the PC version an 8.6 out of 10, saying, "Not only does it continue the series' tradition of intense realism and the unforgiving consequences of close-quarters combat, it does it better than any of the previous titles in the series."

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

said: "Despite its minor flaws, Raven Shield is still a very impressive addition to the series and a very worthy heir to the Rainbow Six name," and gave the same version an 8.7 out of 10. The publication later named it the best computer game of March 2003. ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' gave the Xbox version a score of 8, 7, 8, and 7, combined for a score of 30 out of 40; ''

Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

'' gave the same version a score of six out of ten and called it "a stupefyingly linear experience. While the individual stand-offs and shoot-outs are exhilarating, the removal of any sense of choice or any requirement of tactical thought makes this more of a theme park ride than a military operation." ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

'' nominated ''Raven Shield'' for their 2003 "Shooter of the Year" award, which ultimately went to ''

Call of Duty ''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter video game Media franchise, franchise published by Activision. Starting out in 2003, it first focused on games set in World War II. Over time, the series has seen games set in the midst of the Cold W ...

''. ''GameSpot'' named its mobile version the best mobile game of July 2004.

''Athena Sword''

The expansion pack ''Athena Sword'' was met with average reception, as GameRankings gave it a score of 71.09%, while Metacritic gave it 72 out of 100. It was nominated for ''GameSpot''s 2004 "Best Expansion Pack" award, which went to '' Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots''.

''Black Arrow''

The Xbox-exclusive ''Black Arrow'' was met with positive reception; GameRankings gave it a score of 84.69%, while Metacritic gave it 84 out of 100.

References

Notes

External links

* (archived) * ''Iron Wrath'' free expansion, by Ubisoft (2005)
UK version

US version
at