Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Athena Sword Critic Reviews

I still highly recommend this expansion to current owners of Raven Shield, but for the rest of you, you may want to save a few bucks and wait until the “Deluxe Edition” comes out.

While not the most ambitious add-on we've ever played, Athena Sword packs enough solid, challenging content to appease "Raven Shield" vets.

A solid follow-up to "Raven Shield" and not only raises the bar on difficulty and mission design, but does so while adding some really great weapons and some creative new multiplayer modes.

While I think that the weapons and levels and missions are as fun as those in the core game, the adversarial terrorist hunt mode is the only thing that makes this game seem at all <I>different</I> from the last.

The expansion to last year's excellent shooter differs very little from its predecessor, in terms of plot, and heaps on more of the same tense tactical combat we've come to expect from the franchise.

Even with this variety, Rainbow Six is starting to feel decidedly over-familiar and all its flaws, from the flat combat to the flat graphics and utterly unconvincing AI, are very much in evidence.

It's arguable that Capture the Enemy is worth the price of admission, being one of the brightest additions to the series in a long time. But considering the ratio of great to mediocre content, you should think twice before parting with the $30.

If you still find yourself playing "Raven Shield" instead of the newer FPSs though, Athena Sword will only make you fall in love with it all over again.

It's entertaining in all the right ways, but just like Gates and Price, it's all a bit too predictable.

Although the brain-dead enemy AI remains unchanged, Athena Sword is a worthy expansion.

The multiplayer maps and modes in Athena Sword are arguably worth the price; the single-player missions are just icing on the tasty tactical cake.

Doesn't justify the relatively hefty price tag. Owners of the original game who are not fanatical about "Raven Shield" are better off downloading the patches and sticking to the original multiplayer.

Me, I'll dish out a just 6.5 and demand that the next time a scant offering of maps and modes are going to be released, they'd better cost exactly $5 or exactly nothing.

A marginalized blockbuster.

A decent enough expansion pack but I can't help but feel that it's taking advantage of its fans. At $30 U.S., the game only offers the bare minimum of new gameplay features.

The question instead should be, "Is the price tag worth the day or two of campaigning I will get out of the moderately small amount of new action?" That will be left up to the individual soldier to answer.