Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear is a 1999 tactical first-person shooter video game developed and published by Red Storm Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, with later ports for the Dreamcast, Mac OS, PlayStation, and Game Boy Advance. The sequel to 1998's Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, it is the second installment in the Rainbow Six series and the last to be published by Red Storm before its acquisition by Ubi Soft in 2000. The game's plot follows the secret international counterterrorist organization Rainbow as they investigate nuclear terrorism in Eastern Europe.

Rogue Spear was released on September 22, 1999 to generally positive reviews on PC, but mixed reviews for all other platforms. Critics praised its significant improvements on the original Rainbow Six<nowiki/>'s formula but criticized the AI behavior which, while improved, acted inconsistently, and the cluttered planning stage that was more burdensome with Rogue Spear's larger and more complex levels. The game sold over 200,000 copies in its first year of release, with almost 500,000 copies sold by 2006. It was nominated for numerous accolades and has been considered one of the best action games of 1999.

A PlayStation 2 port was announced, but was ultimately canceled. Three expansion packs for the game were released between 2000 and 2001, adding new missions, weapons, characters, and assorted materials. Two spin-off games—Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Take-Down – Missions in Korea, using Rogue Spear<nowiki/>'s engine and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lone Wolf, a PlayStation exclusive—were released in 2001 and 2002 respectively. A sequel, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield, was released in 2003. In 2006, the United States Department of Defense licensed Rogue Spear<nowiki/>'s engine for use in training simulation programs.

Gameplay

Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear is a tactical shooter, in which characters are affected by realistic factors and can be killed with a single bullet, thus promoting planning and tactics over force and firepower. Rogue Spear is very similar to its predecessor, Rainbow Six, and uses the same engine and gameplay, albeit greatly modified to feature improved graphics and animations, improved artificial intelligence, and new mechanics such as camouflage selection and the return of the hands-off "watch" mode from Rainbow Six: Eagle Watch. The campaign features a total of 18 missions from locations around the world, while the multiplayer portion features 20 different maps.

Rogue Spear<nowiki/>'s basic gameplay remains mostly unchanged from Rainbow Six, with the exception of the addition of a 'lean' mechanic, allowing players to peek around corners. The game follows a campaign of several missions, with objectives ranging from rescuing hostages and defusing bombs to gathering intelligence and planting surveillance devices; there are various approaches the player can take to complete said objectives, but Rogue Spear takes an approach that promotes stealth, as enemies can now react to the player's presence if they are heard or seen, such as investigating the area, fleeing, or attacking hostages.<br />(GBA) 75.77%<br />(DC) 72.62%<br />(PS) 60.07%

| MC = (GBA) 76/100<br />(DC) 75/100

| Allgame = 4/5<br />(PS) 2.5/5

| CVG = (PC) 4/5

| EuroG = 8/10

| GI = (GBA) 7.75/10<br />(DC) 7/10

| GamePro = (PC) 4.5/5<br />(GBA) 3.5/5

| GameRev = (PC) A−<br />(DC) C−

| GSpot = (PC) 8/10<br />(GBA) 7/10<br />(PS) 6.4/10

| GSpy = (PC) 96%<br />(DC) 7.5/10

| GameZone = (DC) 9.5/10<br />(PC) 7.4/10

| IGN = (PC) 9.2/10<br />(DC) 7.8/10<br />(PS) 4.5/10

| NGen = (PC) 4/5

| OPM = 2.5/5

| PCGUS = 90%

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear was met with positive to mixed reception upon release. Review aggregator Metacritic displays a score of 85.97% for the PC version, Greg Orlando reviewed the Dreamcast version of the game for Next Generation and also rated it four stars out of five, saying "A title that works on many different levels, Rogue Spear is a must-have for the Dreamcast-owning shooter fan."

Reviewers found notable issues with the game's AI. Blevins noted that while Rogue Spear<nowiki/>'s AI was considerably improved compared to the original Rainbow Six<nowiki/>'s AI, they acted inconsistently and often failed to react to obvious threats.

| MC = 67/100

| EuroG = 7/10

| GSpot = 6.9/10

| GSpy = 68%

| IGN = 7/10

| PCGUS = 73%

Expansion packs of the PC version received lower scores than the original release. The most recent was Black Thorn, which currently has a score of 71.92% on GameRankings, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Rogue Spear for "PC Action Game of the Year" at its 3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, but ultimately lost to Half-Life: Opposing Force.

Sales

In the United States, Rogue Spears sales reached 240,503 copies by April 2000. In the same country, the game's Platinum re-release sold another 240,000 copies and earned $7.7 million by August 2006, after its launch in October 2001. It was the U.S.'s 85th best-selling computer game between January 2000 and August 2006.

Notes

References

  • Rainbow Six official website