More rainbow 6 goodness at last... but is it worth the money?

I've always loved the Rainbow 6 franchise. From the day it came out, many many moons ago, I've been an avid fan, and even when I stray from the path of Tom Clancy's love I always end up coming back, eventually. Naturally when a new mission pack came out, I just had to snag it. Even with the release of Ghost Recon just a few short weeks away, I couldn't resist. (Damn you Clancy. Damn you to hell!)

So... What do you get for your $50? Well... A new multiplayer mode, (Lone Wolf, which was seen in Urban Ops as a single player mode.) a pile of new guns, including some of my real world favs, 9 new single player missions and some very sweet new multiplayer maps. Let's go over the new toys....

New Single Player Campaign

As usual, the Red Storm team has added an excellent and fairly deep story to their single player campaign, as well as detailed and interesting settings, ranging from a Japanese Embassy, to a Cruise Liner, a border town and a Jungle Encampment. Mostly it's the usual, break in, kill all the T's and rescue the hostages but there are some other interesting mission types, such as one where you have to stop a hijacked bus from crossing a border. (Naturally you do this by killing alot of Ts. :) Highly enjoyable single player action, kept me busy for a few days......but naturally what we're all looking for is the multi....

New Maps

The high point of the Black Thorn pack, as far as I'm concerned is the 6 new maps for multiplay. Some of them, especially Hidden Base and Chop Shop are positively outstanding. Big enough that your team can maneuver and flank, but small enough that there's almost constant action and contact with the enemy. I was starting to get a little tired of the same old maps, and it's been a bit since Urban Ops, so the change is refreshing. (And no, I don't really play many user made maps.... Too many of them suck ass.)

New Multiplayer Mode

Woohoo! I LOVE this new Lone Wolf mode. Basically it's one player vs. everyone else. The player who kills the wolf, becomes the wolf. Very cool, and hard as hell. Better hope that the wolf isn't the host though, as in this game, the host has a major ping advantage.