When players think of Rainbox Six, they automatically think of Siege. So much so that the franchise's name 'Rainbow Six' is immediately attributed to the competitive tactical FPS game. When 'R6' is mentioned, automatically, Siege is the game being referred to.
There are a plethora of other games in the Rainbow Six franchise that aren't Siege; such as Rogue Spear, Vegas, and Lockdown. The franchise goes way back with the earliest Rainbow Six game being released in 1998. Some of these games share the same gameplay mechanics with Siege, while others are their own unique game. Here are 10 Rainbow Six games that aren't Siege.
10 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six isn't only the first Rainbow Six game, but it is also the first Tom Clancy game. Released in 1998, the original Rainbow Six has significantly different gameplay to today's Siege. The players take control of a whole squadron infiltrating a compound for certain objectives such as extracting a hostage.
However, all the units in the squad are not individually controlled. Players give the AI units orders and paths to take, and players can alternate controls between units. Casualties in missions carry over to the succeeding missions. This integration of RTS mechanics along with tactical gameplay would soon be implemented into earlier Ghost Recon games. On top of all this, Rainbow Six also has multiplayer modes.Â
9 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear
Rogue Spear released in 1999. A year after Rainbow Six. The game improves graphically from the previous game but has the same mechanics and gameplay. The game's singleplayer takes place after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Counterterrorist organization, Rainbow, fends of terrorist attacks across Russia. Like the previous game, it also has multiplayer modes where players can play cooperatively, or against each other.
In cooperative mode, players team up and take on the computer AI similar to how the singleplayer story missions play out. In the adversarial mode, players compete in various game modes such as terrorist hunt, a game mode that will soon be a staple of Siege, assassination, deathmatch, and much more.
8 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Takedown -- Missions In Korea
Released in 2001, Takedown--Missions in Korea's events take place in the said country. Players engage in missions within South Korea, and the maps depict the environment really well too.
Gameplay is similar to Rainbow Six wherein one bullet has enough lethality, and rushing into rooms is highly discouraged. The players are pitted against the notorious Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia, in these missions. Takedown--Missions In Korea was only released for South Korea, and wasn't made available anywhere else.
7 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lone Wolf
Released in 2002, Lone Wolf is developed exclusively for the PlayStation 1. As opposed to Rainbow Six, all the missions in Lone Wolf are played without a squad to command, hence the name of the game.
This leaves a solo undercover operator named Ding Chavez to infiltrate and eliminate the terrorists. It is a much simpler game with lesser complexities, and much more basic graphics. The game is also relatively short compared to the other Rainbow Six games having only five missions in the main campaign.
6 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield
Raven Shield had significant graphical leaps from previous installments. Released in 2003, it still had the core mechanics of previous games, but unlike the earlier installments, players can now see their weapon's viewmodel in first person. Multiplayer for this game has been overhauled.
In co-op mode, each participating player is given AI teammates to command. All the campaign missions can be played in singleplayer, or multiplayer co-op. As for competitive multiplayer, teams of eight are pitted against each other in various stipulations such as deathmatch, bomb, hostage, etc.
5 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown
Lockdown takes a more arcade approach than a methodical tactical one. The game was released in 2005. Instead of cautiously opening rooms, players can now barge in without much worry.
Released in 2005, Lockdown's AI teammates are more independent of orders, which allows the players to focus more on fighting than commanding. The plot takes place in 2009 where Rainbow is tasked to neutralize the impending threat of a weaponized virus. These campaign missions can be played either singleplayer or co-op.
4 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Critical Hour
After Lockdown's action shooter elements, Critical Hour brought the franchise back to its tactical roots. Thus again, accuracy is affected by movement and injury, and bullets do massive amounts of damage.
The events take place in the flashback of former Rainbow lead, John Clark. As he retires and passes on the torch to Ding Chavez, the protagonist of Lone Wolf and Rainbow's best operative, he reminisces of past missions he and his team took part in. Players are encouraged to approach missions methodically. However, with a Metascore of 54, the game had mixed reviews and wasn't accepted too well.
3 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas
If there's a Rainbow Six game that Siege players would love, it's Rainbow Six: Vegas. The game is a huge graphical leap from the previous installment, Critical Hour. Released in 2007, it's not just the graphics that have been overhauled but also the gameplay mechanics. For one, players regenerate health when not taking damage. Another is that the players' vision is impaired when under fire.
On top of that, AI for both enemies and teammates have been improved. There is no pre-mission planning phase in Vegas, but there are checkpoints throughout the missions. Vegas is when the Rainbow Six franchise has found the perfect balance of arcade and tactical gameplay, earning the franchise's highest Metascore ever of 88.
2 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
Vegas 2 is the closest game to Siege gameplay and mechanics-wise. Major additions from the previous Vegas game include the ability to sprint, the environment being destructible, and cover being penetrable, allowing players to shoot through walls; similar to how some Siege players raid a room.
Another thing is that the multiplayer mode has an added attack/defend mode which will soon be the core system of Siege. There's also the revamped awarding system that awards players with certain weapons based on how they play and how they perform. The awarded weapons tailor to how the game categorizes the players' approach (assault, CQB, marksman).
1 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard
Shadow Vanguard is a Rainbow Six game developed exclusively for iOS and Android. Released in 2011, the interesting thing about the integration of the game into mobile platforms is that phones of this age could very well handle the graphical demands of games from 1998-2005.
The game features three modes: a singleplayer campaign, online co-op, and online deathmatch. Unlike today's FPS mobile games, Shadow Vanguard takes a tactical approach to missions with mechanics such as cover-to-cover, and enemy tagging. That being said, it's really interesting to see a fully functioning Rainbow Six game on a mobile phone.