"A great game, but worth the wait?"

I am lucky in that having just recently bought my Dreamcast, I missed out on the 8 month wait for this game. I have heard a lot of people complain about the graphics, control, and the lack of multi-player, but they never really comment on the most important part of the game. Fun. Because quite frankly, this game is fun. I've played FPS games before, but never were they this intense. One bullet, dead, novel concept I know but you'll get used to it. The planning that you do to keep your guys alive, coordinating an attack and watching terrorists fall before your well timed and executed attack.... I love it when a plan comes together!
GAMEPLAY:9
This is perhaps the most in-depth and ''real'' shooter out there. Choose the wrong weapons, outfits, or even people and you're going to have a hard time. Trust me, you do not want someone with no leadership or self-control leading your squad. But the actual game mechanics are great too. I know a lot of people gripe about the control, but deal with it. They managed to get a lot of controls usable on the dreamcast pad, and once you play it for an hour or two they become very intuative. The lack of multi-player shocked a lot of people(me included), but overall it's great just as it is. Maybe multiplayer/internet play will be in Rogue Spear?
STORY:10
Well I know that it's based on a Tom Clancy novel but that's not why I gave it such a high score. The scenarios are just basically reasons to kill people, but the depth that they allow you access to about each mission is awesome. People's bios, descriptions of organizations, and (my favorite) the newswire describing what you did on your last mission. They do a great job of letting you know what you're going into.
AUDIO/VIDEO:7(fogging on)9(fogging off)
It may sound funny but the game actually does look a lot better if you turn fogging off. I recommend everyone who plays the game do that.
This has been another area of concern for some people. Keep in mind that it's a port of a game that is 2-3 years old. But it still looks good to me. I've never played the computer version but these graphics look quite acceptable to me. The graphics aren't the latest thing, but they definitely don't hinder the game. Sound? Nothing to say, man. Sound is tight on this game.
REPLAYABILITY:10
You're kidding right? Gobs and gobs of playing potential here. You can go back a try any of the missions that you've beaten. You can alter your plan of attack, you can try to blast your way through it with only Ding(for those of you who don't know, Ding is about the Rainbow Six equivilent of John Rambo), want to take down terrorists with only grenades? Go for it! There are literally a ton of things you can do with this game, it's great!
BUY/RENT:
Hhhhhmmmmm... if you like action games and are at all cerebral, or just always wanted to lead a CT(counter-terrorist) strike force then this is the game for you. No other shooter out there for the dreamcast compares with it. If you think that the control will be too difficult then rent it. But before you judge it give it some time, there are a lot of commands and you'll need to know most of them to do well. So keep the book out for the first hour or so and don't get discouraged.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/19/00, Updated 05/19/00