Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear

About Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear (1999) is Red Storm's tactical shooter sequel in which the counterterrorist unit Rainbow investigates nuclear terrorism in Eastern Europe, one bullet at a time.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear in Depth

The secret international counterterrorist organisation Rainbow investigates nuclear terrorism in Eastern Europe. As in the original, characters are affected by realistic factors and can die from a single bullet, so planning and tactics matter more than force and firepower. It uses the same engine and play as Rainbow Six, heavily modified with better graphics and animation and improved AI, and adds new mechanics such as choosing camouflage and the return of Eagle Watch's hands-off "watch" mode. The campaign has 18 missions around the world, and multiplayer offers 20 maps.

Critics praised its significant improvements on the original formula but criticised AI that, while better, behaved inconsistently, and a cluttered planning stage made more burdensome by larger, more complex levels. It received generally positive reviews on PC, scoring 85.97 per cent on Metacritic, but mixed reviews on other platforms, from 75.77 per cent on Game Boy Advance to 60.07 per cent on PlayStation. It was nominated for numerous awards and is considered one of the best action games of 1999.

Making Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear

Red Storm Entertainment developed and published it for Windows on 22 September 1999, with later ports for Dreamcast, Mac OS, PlayStation and Game Boy Advance. It sold over 200,000 copies in its first year and almost 500,000 by 2006, and was followed by Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield in 2003.