Athena Sword goes gold!
Which must make covert actions a bit trickier.
Despite a number of irritating delays, Raven Shield expansion Athena Sword has officially gone gold this past Friday, and is on track for a March 19th showdown with, er, Unreal Tournament 2004 and Battlefield Vietnam. Wow, Ubi really knows how to pick a release date!
Developed by Ubi's Milan studio, Athena Sword comprises a new eight-mission campaign, five new multiplayer levels, three new multiplayer game modes, seven new weapons (with sound effects from the team that worked on The Matrix movies, apparently), and three bonus missions from the original Rainbow Six and Rogue Spear brought up to date as a special treat for fans - all of which sounds like a healthy mix for an expansion pack.
Athena Sword also introduces civilian characters that have to be rescued, and a new single-player mode called 'countdown' in which the Rainbow team plays against the clock. We're also particularly interested in one of the new multiplayer modes - kamikaze - in which one member of the green team is given a pistol and a heartbeat sensor and strapped with explosives, the idea being that the green team has to find a defuse kit located at the red base, while the read team either has to kill the bomber or find the detonator at the green team base.
Expect more on Athena Sword closer to its release date. (And, er, given its history, we'll advise you if that changes.)