The Rogue Spear Platinum Pack Review

Rogue Spear is the award winning, highly successful sequel to Rainbow Six (R6). We had an in depth review of R6 in our last issue and as both games are based on the same engine and have similar game play, I will be concentrating mainly on the improvements in this version of Red Storm’s tactical shooter. For those who do not have access to last month’s issue, you can either buy one NOW or mail me and I’ll send you a copy of the review. I’ll take a look at the new features, gameplay and playability enhancements.

The Rogue Spear: Platinum Pack contains the full version of Rogue Spear and its Mission Pack: Urban Operations. First let us examine Rogue Spear which blends “spine-tingling tactics and explosive action into counter-terrorist warfare.” This is a game without health packs and futuristic weapons and furthermore, a single shot to the head will kill you. Since you are invariably up against a greater number of enemies, silence and strategy is preferable to run and gun. The designers have managed to keep the story gritty and realistic while still providing heart-thumping action. It has kept all the good aspects of R6 and fixed several of its drawbacks. Everything is better in this sequel. The graphics have been upgraded and the sound effects are phenomenal especially with a four speaker setup. The sheer tension of clearing rooms and hallways of terrorists is still there as is the deep storyline and multiple plots that finally converge into one coherent whole. This is meaningful gameplay in which the story actually drives the game forward and is not just there as a backdrop. Think Half Life, multiply the tension by a factor of ten and you have Rogue Spear. The Planning stage and Action stage are almost identical to those in R6. As in the original the Planning stage is a little boring at first and most gamers would be tempted to just breeze through this section to the actual Action phase where you can shoot and be shot at. This is not a good idea because if you do not plan properly you WILL die a lot. Your team will be wiped out, and the bad guys will rule the world. So take your time, pay attention and plan your moves and the moves of your teams. When you finally wipe out the last terrorist it will all have been worth it. Trust me. The different screens in the Planning phase have already been covered in the R6 review so I will move on to how the Action phase plays out.

Once you start the action stage, things really start to heat up. You are given control of the leader of a unit consisting of four members (up to 4 units). As in R6 if you die, then you gain control of the next living member of your team and so on till every last terrorist or team member is dead. Losing any team members is a bad thing as most of them are specialists at their job and cannot be easily replaced. There is no respawing here; a dead team member remains dead. Period. So be careful how you control and use them. Thankfully, killing terrorists is a whole lot more varied due to the huge number of weapons now at your command. These range from quiet but deadly assault and sniper rifles to flash-bang grenades that stun but do not kill. These grenades are extremely useful as they allow you to stun the terrorists without killing any innocent hostages by mistake. All of these are accurately modelled on real life weapons and to add to the realism all weapons have to be reloaded manually. This takes about 4-6 seconds during which time you are literally defenceless. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had a terrorist in my sights and pressed the trigger only to realise I had no bullets in the chamber. I always ended up getting shot three seconds later but hey…life’s like that.

There are several aspects of the game that makes it rise above being a mere shooter. You actually feel like a member of an elite anti-terrorist unit. Your characters can walk, run, strafe, crouch, lean around corners and climb. The designers added the ability to peek around corners and run while crouching, little touches that hugely add to the gameplay. The improved AI in this game ensures that you have to be really, really good in order to complete some of the later levels. Terrorists react very quickly to being shot at and do not hesitate to kill their hostages, which means you have to try all over again. Your enemies also hide behind obstacles, take cover when you throw a grenade and even react intelligently to gunshots and footsteps. Your team members are not blessed with the same amount of brains but give them the proper commands and they will perform adequately. Also, they no longer trap you into corners nor do they get stuck between maps. Which is a good thing. As is the improved sound and graphics. Little touches abound like the sound of boots on gravel, guards conversing in Russian, and even your breath turning to steam in the colder areas. However, the best aspect of the single player game has GOT to be the choice of missions.

You will begin in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and move on to places like Kosovo and even to an airplane hijacking that is similar to Kandahar, where you have to place snipers around the plane and sneak in to save the passengers. In this game you get to save hostages, disarm bombs and even plant bugs. In the final mission, your team has to kill everything in sight. Variety in gameplay is what this title does and does well. Even the multiplayer aspect of Rogue Spear is excellent. The online code is flawless with almost no lag even on slow connections. You can play solo, team vs. team or even co-operative missions. In this mode you get to pick all the single player missions only this time around the levels are populated with operatives controlled by other human players. This is really exciting, and it plays more realistically too, with your team mates constantly talking to you and advising the best course of action. Rogue Spear has also added several new multiplayer modes like lone wolf, terrorist hunt, assault, hostage rescue, and recon. All in all, this multiplayer mode is as good as it gets.

Expansion Packs are add-ons that expand the scope of the original game by improving the gameplay, upgrading the graphics and adding new levels. Besides making Rogue Spear more stable by patching it to version 2.5, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Rogue Spear Mission Pack: Urban Operations (which is too long for me to repeat again so let’s just call it UO!) also gives players a huge variety of new play options, new content, new multiplayer modes and even new weapons including the AW Covert sniper rifle with an internal silencer making it the quietest, and deadliest weapon in the game.

In Urban Operations, Team Rainbow takes on terrorists in five different cities around the world - Hong Kong, Mexico City, Istanbul, Venice, and London. The UO maps are all extremely large, extremely detailed in every case. This pack also includes five classic levels from R6. It not only provides new maps, it includes a lot of different ways to play them. The newest game mode is called Defend, where you must prevent terrorists from activating a switch. This mode is extremely hard as you have to deal with terrorists charging at you from multiple sides, not to mention the grenades that they keep tossing at you. In multiplayer this mode is a blast. Further adding depth and replay value is the custom mission option. This new feature allows players to access all the missions in the game, which include all the Rogue Spear missions, the new Urban Ops scenarios, eight new multiplayer maps and the five missions from R6. There is also a custom mission builder and the ‘Urban Operations Editor’, which was used by Red Storm to create the maps. This allows you to create your own mods or download new ones from the net. Installing these mods in the game is a breeze thanks to the updated interface which lets you switch between mods at the click of a button.

The single player experience consists of two campaigns: The first, dubbed Urban Operations includes the five new maps mentioned above which feature urban settings, pedestrian traffic, real-world locations in real-world settings with real-world bystanders. This involves rescuing hostages stuck in a London subway, disarming bombs and saving hostages while fighting against Kurdish extremists, radical Irish Loyalists, Chinese gangsters and even Marxist revolutionaries!! The second campaign consists of the five classic missions from R6. Sound is phenomenal in every map. Walking through the open air market in Turkey you hear wind chimes blowing in the breeze, doors opening and closing, and merchants Talking Turk. You feel completely immersed in the scene, an important aspect of good gaming.

Rogue Spear is a very challenging game, even for regular gamers. Urban Ops is even more difficult with spot on AI. Dying at regular intervals can be frustrating at first but once you get the hang of this game, you just won’t stop. Small things like food, sleep or a social life will be forgotten as you desperately try to down that last terrorist, save that last hostage. Trust me, I haven’t eaten for a day, haven’t slept for two and my girlfriend wants to leave me. This game is THAT addictive. And once you start playing online, the single player mode will pale in comparison. Online is where this game is meant to be played. Amazing single player, Awesome Multiplayer. Rogue Spear. Enough said.

HIGHS: Unbeatable Multiplayer Mode, Immersive Gameplay, Crisp Sound, Great Story.
LOW: Dated Graphics, Difficult To Beat, Near Impossible To Master.
NUTSHELL: Give Me My Life Back!!
Rating: 89