Forget about last year's console versions; Rainbow Six: Lockdown for the PC appears to be a completely different game, indeed. Though it started out on the PC, the Rainbow Six series has become especially popular on the consoles. This has become a point of concern for PC gamers who fear that the series, known for its ruthlessly brutal and realistic tactical combat, will mutate into just another console shooter. Last year's Rainbow Six: Lockdown for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube did nothing to alleviate those fears, as we were introduced to a "hip" new generation of Rainbow commandos who were too cool to even bother with wearing helmets in combat. After all, helmets would just cover up their cool cornrows (PC fans everywhere wailed in anguish over that detail). So you could imagine our complete surprise when we recently loaded up an early PC version of Lockdown and discovered that this isn't a mere port. Red Storm is giving us a new version of Lockdown built directly for the PC, while also getting rid of all the silly elements found in the console versions. Throw in the spiffy new graphics engine, and suddenly we're looking at a potential faithful heir to the PC franchise. Like the previous games in the series, Lockdown puts you in charge of the elite Rainbow counterterrorist team, a NATO unit tasked with stopping the bad guys and rescuing hostages in high-risk missions. Lockdown will feature 16 missions set in exotic locales around the world, from the Dutch parliament to the South African capitol, and you'll slowly uncover yet another nefarious conspiracy to unleash global havoc. Thankfully, you've got a lot of firepower at your disposal, as you have a huge arsenal of weapons and equipment to choose from, as well as a team of elite commandos to lead into battle. More info from gamespot The following presents a brief Q/A with Producer Stuart White, who shares some key details regarding the PC release. 1. Is the storyline of PC version the same as Lockdown on console? We have modified the storyline to enhance the PC players overall experience. The essence of which includes independent terrorist threats, tied together by one common element, the Legion virus. Rainbow must determine the connection between the terrorist threats and the virus and stop the virus from causing massive destruction. 2. Is the Lockdown PC version a port from Lockdown console? No, Lockdown PC is not a port from the console version. We have been hard at work creating PC specific features, modified mission structure, with enhanced graphics, improved AI behaviors, and new combat model to give the player more flexibility in approaching challenges. We have done everything we can to ensure that this PC title is a unique and engaging game all its own. 3. How many missions will it contain? There will be a total of 16 single player missions and all of which can be played in Co-op as well. There will also be 9 maps that are set aside specifically for intense multiplayer action. These 9 maps include 3 classic maps that have been visually redone for Lockdown. 4. What specific features will be especially appealing to the PC community? Lockdown's controls and interface have been tailored for the PC player. We've added 20 new weapons, including 2 new classes of weapons (machine pistols and secondary shotguns). Weapon attachments add more flexibility to how the weapons perform and allow PC users to customize weapons to suit their style of play. The AI has been significantly upgraded; both your teammates and your enemies are smarter and more lethal. And hostages are now active parts of the mission, once discovered, they must be protected and guided toward safe extraction points. In multi-player we have both refined the Rivalry game mode as well as added the classic Free-For-All. 5. Why did the PC version ship later than the console ones? We wanted to invest extra time and resources to ensure that this game will satisfy the PC players. This extra time enabled the Lockdown PC development team to polish the game and develop specific PC features such as the ones described above.