Software:Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Critical Hour

From HandWiki
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six:
Critical Hour
Developer(s)Ubisoft Quebec
Publisher(s)Ubisoft
Composer(s)Bill Brown
SeriesTom Clancy's Rainbow Six
Platform(s)Xbox
Release
Genre(s)Tactical shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Critical Hour is a 2006 tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Quebec and published by Ubisoft exclusively for the Xbox. It is the fifth game in the Rainbow Six series. The game's plot, set during John Clark's retirement as leader of international counterterrorist organization Rainbow, recaps several past missions Clark handled during his time commanding Rainbow.

Critical Hour primarily consists of remastered levels from Rainbow Six, Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear, and Rogue Spear Mission Pack: Urban Operations. Fitting with the game's theme, gameplay is reminiscent of these titles, contrasting with the gameplay changes introduced in Rainbow Six: Lockdown.

Critical Hour was released on March 14, 2006. The game received mixed reception due to its small amount of content, though it was praised for following the roots of the first two Rainbow Six games. A PlayStation 2 port was planned, but never released.

A sequel, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, was released in November 2006.

Gameplay

Critical Hour returns to the more realistic tactical formula seen in previous Rainbow Six games. The game returns to the classic gameplay from the original Rainbow Six and Rogue Spear, removing the "run and gun" element seen in Lockdown. Classic weapons and the tactical map return to Critical Hour from the previous games. Weapon accuracy is affected by injuries and running. The game features nonlinear levels.[2]

Multiplayer

There are eight new multiplayer maps for Critical Hour, with 18 maps in all. The game modes include the standard Rainbow Six game modes, an assassin mode, sharpshooter, and last man standing. There is also a new skill for every PEC character type, and players can now have up to four PEC characters stored on one gamertag.

Plot

In Critical Hour, John Clark is retiring and passing the leadership of Rainbow on to Domingo Chavez. While cleaning out his office, he reminisces on seven missions from his years as the head of Rainbow. He leaves these missions for future members of Rainbow to study and use for training.

Development

A PlayStation 2 port was planned, but never released.[3]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankings56.58%[4]
Metacritic54/100[5]
Review scores
PublicationScore
GameSpot4.7/10[2]
GameZone6/10[6]
IGN6/10[7]
OXM (US)4.5/10[8]
TeamXbox6.5/10[9]

Critical Hour was met with very mixed reception. Video game review aggregator GameRankings displays a score of 56.58%,[4] while Metacritic displays a score of 54 out of 100.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Adams, David (2006-03-17). "Rainbow Six Critical Hour Deployed" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/2006/03/17/rainbow-six-critical-hour-deployed. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Colayco, Bob (March 27, 2006). "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Critical Hour Review". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/tom-clancys-rainbow-six-critical-hour-review/1900-6146702/. Retrieved July 26, 2014. 
  3. ↑ Hatfield, Daemon (January 31, 2007). "Missing in Action: The Lost Games of PS2". p. 3. http://ps2.ign.com/articles/760/760314p3.html. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Critical Hour for Xbox". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox/931345-tom-clancys-rainbow-six-critical-hour/index.html. Retrieved July 26, 2014. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Critical Hour for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. https://www.metacritic.com/game/tom-clancys-rainbow-six-critical-hour/critic-reviews/?platform=xbox. Retrieved July 26, 2014. 
  6. ↑ Zacarias, Eduardo (March 28, 2006). "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Critical Hour - XB - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081006223429/http://xbox.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r28530.htm. Retrieved July 26, 2014. 
  7. ↑ Miller, Jonathan (April 10, 2006). "Rainbow Six: Critical Hour". IGN. http://www.ign.com/articles/2006/04/11/rainbow-six-critical-hour. Retrieved July 26, 2014. 
  8. ↑ "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Critical Hour". Official Xbox Magazine: 85. June 2006. 
  9. ↑ Fisher, Matthew (March 17, 2006). "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Critical Hour Review (Xbox)". TeamXbox. Archived from the original on March 6, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120306015921/http://reviews.teamxbox.com/xbox/1138/Tom-Clancys-Rainbow-Six-Critical-Hour/p1/. Retrieved July 26, 2014. 
  • Official Rainbow Six website
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.[18]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
  18. ↑ "An update on MobyGames leadership". 2025-02-13. https://www.mobygames.com/forum/3/thread/269628/an-update-on-mobygames-leadership/#post-269628. 
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