Rogue Spear First Impressions

I've had Rogue Spear for about three weeks now, but I have to admit that I have not got very far into the campaign. I'm still struggling with Crystal Arc (mission 6 of 18), and it's driving me nuts. The funny thing is that I keep coming back to it. That, I think, says something about the game. Come to think of it, it was the same with the original Rainbow Six. You get to the point where you start cursing the computer, but after cooling down for a few hours you can't help but try again. :-)

I have noticed a few differences between Rogue Spear and its predecessors. Besides it being absolutey gorgeous with fog, rain and snow, the AI has got a huge facelift since Eagle Watch. The computer characters act a lot more realistic, although they still do get themselves in trouble from time to time. The enemies are more unpredictable too; they run away, come after you, or just run about yelling at the top of their lungs. They are also easier to sneak up on, and they no longer have those super-human reflexes we know from Rainbow Six and Eagle Watch. Character animation has improved too. We are treated with Hollywood-style death scenes, enemy sentries leaning against the wall smoking, and wounded team members dragging a bleeding leg behind them.

The maps are terrific. Both for single and multiplayer games. Some are close-in, and others are just huge. Most of them are great fun in adversarial multiplayer, with good sniper perches and lots of other hiding places. They also feel natural in their layout, and not a bunch of artificial corridors with no real purpose.

The character control has some new features; we have a new peek-function, allowing you to peek around corners while exposing as little as possible of yourself. You can move while crouched (which is now a toggle function). You can set teams to snipe and cover in certain directions, making it easier to play with several teams and no pre-defined plan.

We have new equipment; more submachineguns, sniper rifles, heartbeat jammers, smoke grenades, C4 explosives, and more uniforms to mention some of it.

Ok, that's all the time I have right now. Gotta run.

/Andreas