Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Rogue Spear Mission Pack: Urban Operations

"Time to get your hands dirty..."

‘Urban Operations’ is the first of two expansion packs for the counter-terrorist hit, ‘Rogue Spear’ which incidentally is the sequel to ‘Rainbow 6.’ Those who have played either of the latter games will know the deal here, strategic planning and counter-terrorist hunting. So does ‘Urban Operations’ bring anything new to the table? Well, yes and no. While we have more maps, more weapons more and missions the focus on this expansion pack is clearly on the multiplayer aspect of the game. Personally, I don’t play games online often, so my review will reflect the single-player aspect of the expansion.

‘Urban Operations’ doesn’t feature a story line, and simply consists of five new levels set in urban areas, which include; a train station, Turkish Bazaar, the Canals of Venice, a street and Restaurant in Hong Kong, and finally a warehouse district. Each mission simply involves killing every terrorist or rescuing hostages. There are still the mission briefings, however none of the missions are related to each other. There is a little information on the area you are about to enter in the briefing, so at least you get to understand the terrorists’ motives.
The lack of a story line is a shame as after all, Tom Clancy is renowned for having great stories in his novels.
Story: 1

Being an expansion pack, ‘Urban Operations’ uses the same graphics engine as ‘Rogue Spear’ so there are very few changes to the graphics.
There are a few new character models, all of which look fairly detailed.
The new maps on offer are even more detailed than those found in ‘Rogue Spear’ and feature great design. The new single player maps, which can also be played in Lone Wolf, Terrorist hunt etc, all look excellent especially the map set in the Venice Canals, and the map in the train station.
Strangely the M14 has changed colour on the planning screen, from white to brown. Why? No idea…
‘Rogue Spear’ featured a solid, if somewhat outdated graphics engine, and here we can see the engine pushed to the limit. The maps arguably surpass those found in ‘Rogue Spear’ which is a true achievement.
Graphics: 7

Again, ‘Urban Operations’ features the same set of sounds as featured in ‘Rogue Spear.’ The new missions have voiced briefings, and just like ‘Rogue Spear’ they are all top notch. There are three new weapons available in single-player, and they all sound great, especially the two new light machine guns, with a nice low rumble to each. There isn’t much else to comment on, as if you have played ‘Rogue Spear’ which I assume most people reading this review have; then you know what to expect.
Sound: 8

So what new features does ‘Urban Operations’ boast? Well for starters we have three new weapons.
First up we have the M249 SAW, a light machine gun with a 200 round clip, but exceptionally high recoil. Don’t even bother trying to fire this thing while moving, you’ll be lucky to hit someone even just a few feet in front of you. However, it is a great support weapon, and works well for those times when you don’t have time to reload often. Next there is the HK 21E3, which is much like the M249. It has a 100 round clip, but slightly more bearable recoil. Finally there is the AW Covert, a silenced sniper rifle that is fairly accurate, although I prefer the PSG-1. The weapon line-up is fairly disappointing as it would have been nice to see some more new guns on offer. And why are the Uzi and AK-47 still multiplayer exclusive weapons?
A total of ten new single-player maps are available, although sadly only five of these are original. Let me explain; ‘Urban Operations’ has five maps, which are called ‘Classic.’ These maps are simply just some recycled ‘Rainbow 6’ levels, which you can play over using the ‘Rogue Spear’ arsenal. Strangely the story element is still present in the mission briefings, and as many of the maps from ‘Rainbow 6’ are missing the story makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
As for the five all-new levels, they are all great. We have a train station in London, a restaurant in Hong Kong, a Canal and Library in Venice, Warehouse district in Mexico City and finally a Turkish Bazaar.
The Turkish Bazaar is probably the best level, as it introduces the concept of guerrilla warfare to ‘Rogue Spear.’ As the name suggest, it is a bustling market place in Istanbul where the terrorists are mixed in with innocent civilians. You constantly have to check your fire to be sure you aren’t shooting a civilian, and a moments hesitation can get you a bullet in the head for your troubles. Getting a clean shot into a terrorist through a crowd is an extremely rewarding feeling, and I only wish that there had been more of these such levels throughout the rest of the expansion pack.
The train station is another excellent level, and features a well thought out floor plan that is both realistic and fun to play.
Honestly, the levels on offer here are of the highest quality, and in many ways much better than those seen in ‘Rogue Spear.’
The interface has been changed slightly in ‘Urban Operations,’ with a new introduction movie played at start-up. It’s a well thought out piece of cinema, and gives you a good idea of what you are going to be up against, plus it gets the adrenaline flowing and sends shivers of anticipation down your spine. You can still view the original ‘Rogue Spear’ introduction by running the ‘Rogue Spear’ executable though.
Another change to the interface is the way that the custom missions can be selected. You can now play a new mode; ‘Defend’ (more on that later) and you can now select how many terrorists are in each map. The maximum number is 50, so try playing with 50 terrorists on Lone Wolf mode for a real challenge! There are a heap of new multi-player maps that can be played as custom missions, but the quality of these vary significantly. These new maps are usually very small and restrictive, and while some are great, there are others that are just terrible. The underwater base for example, sees you getting shot at from all angles the moment you spawn in, and you can get shot by terrorists way outside your view, hidden in the far distance. Most of these maps are good though; so don’t let me discourage you.
The new mode; ‘Defend’ challenges you to defend a certain spot on the map against waves of terrorists. This mode can be great fun, although rather difficult.
For some reason the developers chose to take out pre-planned paths for the custom missions, a disappointment for those people, such as myself; who turned to this mode for a bit of instant action.
Another problem is the short length of the game. These new missions will take only a few hours to beat on every mode, and while they are great fun to play over, it is a pity that there is not more on offer, especially for the price of the expansion. In some ways you feel rather cheated.
Game Play: 9
Life Span: 4

Pros
+ Excellent maps
+ New weapons
+ New levels
+ More Custom missions
+ Guerrilla warfare
+ More of the same

Cons
- Too short
- Not enough single-player missions
- Only three new weapons

‘Urban Operations’ is a great mission pack for those who are fanatic about ‘Rainbow 6,’ however there isn’t a huge amount of new-stuff on offer here, and perhaps not worth the full asking price. If you see this game in the bargain bins and you own ‘Rogue Spear’ then snap this up, you won’t regret it. Just don’t expect the same amount of play time as seen in the original. In short, ‘Urban Operations’ can be summed up in three simple words; short but sweet.
Overall: 8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/04/03, Updated 04/04/03