Rainbow Six Rogue Spear Diaries Part One

Having just completed Rainbow Six, I’m jumping into the sequel: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear! Of course, it’s not available digitally anywhere, and required a heck of a lot of messing around to get it working. I can’t detail it all here, because I had it working and broken again so many times early on, that it would take five parts of this series to chronicle it… Rest assured, one of the solutions on the PC Gaming Wiki should help.

Having read the manual, it sounds pretty much exactly the same as the original, but now with snipers. There are a couple of additional Special Actions, such as ordering teams to take cover, and defend rooms. Also, the controls have changed so that WASD moves you instead of the arrows, and you can just watch if you’re confident your plans will work. I will probably not be using that option…

Rogue Spear came out in 1999, a year after the original game, again based on the same novel. It was released on Windows, Mac, Dreamcast, PlayStation and Game Boy Advance. The PC version was well received, the others less so. In 2000 it received an expansion called Urban Operations, and another one in 2001 called Black Thorn, which I will also be playing and writing about.

So, let’s get into it!

This is my ongoing exploration of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six series, played in release order, where I will chronicle my playthrough like a text-based Let’s Play. This time I begin Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Rogue Spear.

After foiling John Brightling’s plot to commit global genocide with the Phoenix Group, it was time to get back to what we did best. Shoot terrorists in their stupid faces. It’s now 2001, and wars rage around the former-Soviet Union countries. From the ashes, a threat bigger than any RAINBOW has ever encountered has risen…

I was brought in by John Clark for Operation: Pandora Trigger, in April 2001. The Islamic Vanguard, Egyptian terrorists, had taken control of New York’s Museum of Art. We were being sent in to retake the building with minimal loss of life. For the plan, I accepted the default offered to me, which saw Blue squad head in, sweep the ground floor and exit with the hostages, while Red squad entered the back door and headed upstairs, before mirroring our route out.

I can't say as I'd have planned it any differently

As things began, a hostage had escaped and was running towards us, so we escorted him a few feet over to the extraction point. We went inside, shooting a terrorist on the upper balcony, and heading towards the hostages. My waypoints were all over the place, but I ignored them.

Approaching the room with the hostages, there was a gunshot and one of them ran towards us. I assumed Red squad had cleared the room, and had released the rest of the hostages, so we escorted her out. Then I realised that wasn’t the only hostage left, so headed back inside. Somehow, the terrorist in the room with her, and one on the nearby staircase both ignored us, so I shot them and we escorted the hostage to extraction. Red squad still hadn’t exited the building, so I’ve actually no idea what happened to them. The mission was a success in 3:37, with seven terrorists dead, and all specialists alive.

I apologise for the slight pixelisation - the game screenshots in BMP and I had to convert

So, we headed straight into Operation: Arctic Flare. An oil tanker off the coast of Japan had been seized by Japanese terrorists, and rigged to blow. With the leader on the bridge, and the hostages at the stern, I was annoyed to learn that we were being inserted near the bow. That meant we would have to sneak past the one holding the trigger on our way to get the hostages…

Deciding to give the default plan a whirl once more, Blue squad were to proceed along starboard, and Red squad were to move on a parallel path port, while Gold squad kept overwatch with sniper rifles. Deploying, we began moving as Gold squad got into position. They were soon calling how they had shots, but then lost them, and as I was looking at the bridge of the ship I was shot and killed by a terrorist. My men gunned him down before I took over, and continued along the plotted route.

Shooting a couple more terrorists, I climbed the outer stairs, up to where the first two hostages were. I shot the man in there with him, and accidentally told everyone to hold position. I quickly told them to continue, only to hear Red squad get gunned down. Opening the door into the bridge, I shot the leader and headed towards the next area, shooting another man who was crouched in the doorway. I shot another terrorist, completing the mission.

On the plus side, this game gives you all of the information a lot clearer

It had taken exactly three minutes, but I had lost five men in the process. Gold squad had killed none of the 10 terrorists, and I had shot seven myself. For a second mission, this was unacceptable, so I headed back in.

The man who had shot me the first time, was killed been someone on Red squad before I could get in range, and things went pretty smoothly. I shot one terrorist at the bottom of the stairs and led my men up, where I shot the man guarding the hostages. I then shot the leader, and went for the other hostages. Unfortunately, I entered the room too cautiously, and the guard shot one of the hostages before I shot him.

Failure in 2:18, with 10 terrorists killed, Gold squad had done literally nothing once again. Also, two members of Red squad had been injured somewhere along the way. Surely this wouldn’t be the default plan if it sucked?

Can you tell that I upped the resolution for this mission?

Redeploying into the action, Red squad shot the same guy, and we entered the ship. I shot a terrorist in front of us, and opened the door to the stairs, being shot the instant the door opened. I took control, and headed upstairs. I heard Gold squad say that they had someone in their sights. I assumed it was the leader, but they weren’t firing, so as I opened the door I hammered my go-code keys. There was a shattering of glass from the bridge, which alerted the guard, and he shot a hostage just before I could shoot him.

I was sensing a pattern forming, where Red squad were being massacred, so I decided to have a try as Red squad, and see what happened. Because if it wasn’t something good, I’d have to remake the plan. Unfortunately, that would be the case. See, it turned out that Red squad was being funneled into several killzones, which was where two members of the team were wounded and one was killed. Then, Blue squad were completely useless and got the hostage killed on their side, failing in 1:40, with six terrorists dead.

With some slight changes, the next mission went well - until Blue squad got the hostages shot again. Despite no deaths on the team, and eight terrorists dead, we lost a hostage and failed. I would have to beat Blue squad to their hostages…

Back in the action, I raced ahead shooting one terrorist before entering the ship. Up some stairs, a man asked who was there before I turned a corner and shot him - I was running after all. Quickly shooting the man outside the port hostage room, I ran inside and was worried that, because he was hidden behind a support, that I couldn’t get him in time. Luckily, I managed to shoot him before he turned on the hostages.

Spoilers for the next paragraph

Ordering Gold squad to fire, I heard the glass shatter as they reported the shot taken. I rushed up a small staircase and into the bridge, opening the door at the far end and shooting the guard, finishing the mission successfully. It had taken 1:48, and all 10 terrorists were killed.

Which began Operation: Sand Hammer. A seawater treatment plant in Oman had been overrun, with the gunmen threatening to put a neural toxin in the local water supply…