With missions in places as diverse as the Cayman Islands, Trieste and Rio de Janeiro, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3 offers a new perspective on the old adage: join the Army, travel the world, kill people. This is a team-based first-person shooter in which you play as the wonderfully named Ding Chavez, the leader of the counterterrorist group Rainbow Six. With a huge arsenal of weapons you travel to the various locations to rescue hostages, kill terrorists and make the world a better place.

There is a nice mixture of action and stealth here, the short bursts of button-beating shoot-out scenes breaking up the periods in which you get your team in position using the list of commands. Get your orders wrong and you discover that rather than Rainbow’s counterterrorist squad you should be in charge of Rainbow’s George, Bungle and Zippy. Impressive graphics and sound effects add to the challenging gameplay to make this a fine addition to the Clancy stable, and one that is particularly suited to online gaming.

John McNamara