Rainbow Six is series of first and third-person shooter computer games developed by Red Storm Entertainment. The original idea was developed in part by Tom Clancy, who soon began writing a book of the same name. The game's development team coordinated their efforts with Tom Clancy and much of the game corresponds to the book and vice versa, however, the endings differ because the game had to be completed first. The game is a tactical shooter, which focuses more on stealth and tactics than on sheer firepower. Terrorists (or "Tangos") can be dispatched with 1 or 2 shots, as can the player, or any of his/her teammates.

Before each mission is a planning stage, where the player is given a briefing. and then chooses the operatives to be involved in the mission, their weapons, equipment and uniform. Then, the player gives orders that each team will follow during the mission.

In the mission itself, the player takes control of one team leader, and can see their plan of action on their Head-Up Display. The teams not under player control follow the orders given to them in the planning stage. The player can take control of any living team leader.

The game forms a campaign, that is a series of scenarios, with the plot being advanced in the mission briefing of each scenario. Any casualties that occur during a mission are permanent, so the deceased cannot be used in future missions. However, the player has the ability to "rewind" to retry a successful but disastrous mission.

List of games in the series

PC games

• Rainbow Six — (PC 1998)
  • Rainbow Six: Eagle Watch — (PC expansion 1999)
• Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear — (PC 1999)
  • Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear: Urban Operations — (PC expansion 2000)
  • Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear: Black Thorn — (PC expansion 2001)
• Rainbow Six: Covert Operations Essentials — (PC 2000)
• Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield — (PC 2003)
  • Rainbow Six 3: Athena Sword — (PC expansion 2004)
• Rainbow Six 4: Lockdown — (PC 2005)

Console games

• Rainbow Six — (N64, PlayStation 1999), (Dreamcast 2000)
• Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear — (Dreamcast 2000), (PlayStation 2001)
• Rainbow Six 3 — (Xbox 2003), (PlayStation 2, GameCube 2004)
• Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow — (Xbox 2004)
• Rainbow Six 4: Lockdown — (PS2, Xbox, GC)

Handheld

• Rainbow Six — (Game Boy Color 2000)
• Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear — (Game Boy Advance 2002)