Anybody who has read my review of the Xbox version of the original Rainbow Six 3 knows I'm a huge fan; in fact, I consider it the best game and now the best series on Xbox Live. Black Arrow is not a sequel really, more an update to RS3, featuring many new modes, Xbox Live 3.0 clan and messaging support and more, all for a discounted price.

Immediately you'll notice a new intro movie, improved loading screens and an all around better presentation, with easier to navigate and read menus that look much better than last year's version. Inside the Xbox Live menu you'll see two new options - Competition and Community. Inside Competition is where you'll find clan matches and in Community is a great deal of Xbox Live options and features. The expected friends and players lists reside here, as well as your clan stats, members, options and anything else clan related (including setting up your own clans logo, motto, tag and web address). Finally, this section holds one of the best new features: your inbox.

Players can now send each other voice-based or text-based messages that stay in your inbox for a little over a week; these messages are also not attached to game invites like they are in the dashboard (though you can still send a voice message with an invite if you'd like).

Ten extra single player missions have been added, as well as a new single player only mode called Lone Rush. I won't go into details about the gameplay, as it is essentially the same as the previous Rainbow Six 3 (and you can read about it in the RS3 review). Ubisoft also decided to throw in a mode that is becoming an endangered species; split-screen. You and a friend can team up on the same Xbox to take down terrorists in a co-op mode, or do the same via system link.

The enemy AI has been greatly improved this time around; enemies will run away more and some actually chase you down. Using suppressed weapons is much more handy now as well; if the terrorists later in a level don't hear you coming then they won't be prepared for you, however if you use a very loud assault rifle throughout the whole level they'll be ready for you when you come through a door. Enemies now utilise more of the game's weapons as well; for instance, in a mission based in a nuclear reactor, the terrorists throw a large amount of tear gas instead of explosive grenades, as there may be a lot of explosive barrels lying around. Speaking of weapons, there is only one new one and that's the Dragunov Rifle, which replaces the infamous (and often called cheap) 50. Cal Sniper Rifle from the original title, however don't rule out the possibility of any downloadable weapons in the future.

Other new additions include a large number of multiplayer maps for all the new and old adversarial game modes, as well as four returning (but modified) maps from the original title (Garage, Airport 1, Presidio and Peaks). However, other than full clan support, the biggest additions have to be the two brand new online game modes: Retrieval and Total Conquest. Retrieval is a capture the flag of sorts, except instead of a flag it's a canister that you have to get hold of and there's only one placed somewhere on the map. Each team has a drop off station (which is closer to the enemy spawn than your own) and must retrieve the glowing canister and take it to their depot before the other team does. Total Conquest is a bit different and more like holding games found in other more arcade style first person shooters like Unreal and Tribes. Three satellites are placed on a map and each team battles to take control of them. When a team controls all three at once, a 20 second timer initiates and when it reaches zero, the game is won.

Both new modes are tremendous fun and require a great deal of teamwork, more so than ever before, adding a lot of extra replay to the game. Unfortunately there is an issue of spawn camping in these game modes, however many players will have the culprits kicked out of a server for it, so it isn't too much of a problem.

Black Arrow seems to improve on the original's graphics slightly and the game seems to run smoother at times as well. Despite the original Rainbow scoring a ten from me in the graphics department, this one will have to settle with a nine. After all, The Chronicles of Riddick didn't exist when RS3 was released last year but now it most certainly does and it also blows every other Xbox game out of the water in the graphics department.

The sound remains relatively the same, the only possible addition being more intense gun effects and the new voices for terrorists. Oh how I will miss that dear old terrorist who screamed his head off while running around on fire from before... that's okay though, because now even after the terrorist appears to be dead he will still lay on the ground screaming off and on as the fire slowly dwindles away [Ah, I love the smell of burning terrorist in the morning! Ed].

Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow is a great expansion to the original and well worth the price if you have Xbox Live, however single player buffs may want to just rent this one unless they are huge fans of Rainbow's campaign mode. The new multiplayer modes are extremely good fun and highly addictive, the maps are much bigger and Xbox Live 3.0 is in full force with clan matches, voice and text messaging and even team lobbies with level maps to plan attacks. If you enjoyed the original and even still played it up to the release of this one like I did, then you'll surely love Black Arrow; it couldn't have come at a more perfect time.

Reviewed by Christopher Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).