Page 2

The subway features all the common elements of the subway system, from the colors to the "Way Out" signs to the "Remember Your Passport" notices. Having visited London and its tube system, I was exceptionally impressed with these details. One of the new related functions in Urban Operations are the custom mission modes of play. Already Rogue Spear comes with modes such as terrorist hunt and lone wolf, but Urban Operations adds one particularly unique mode, called defend. In this scenario, the player is assigned the task of protecting either a hostage or other valuable from attacking terrorists.

The terrorists come from all directions and I found this to be one of the most challenging aspects to the game. But the added kicker is the ability of terrorists to toss frags! When I first saw this, I stopped playing, stared at the frag, and watched my screen, as it turned black. The next time, I returned the favor, of course. For me, it's the little things that make a game worthwhile.

Fig. 3. New skins for players

To add to the CQB environment, Redstorm also opted to engineer light machine guns (LMGs) into Urban Operations. Three new LMGs are available for Urban Operations, each carrying huge magazines and highly inaccurate: the H & K 21E3, the M249 SAW, and the Russian-made RPD. These guns are very different from the guns normally found in the Rainbow Six line, but still fit in quite nicely. Although they are probably the worst guns to shoot while on the run, they do perform quite nicely in CQB environments and supportive fire situations. The decision by Redstorm to develop these guns seems to speak to the tremendous mod community in the Rogue Spear world. Super guns and other LMGs have long been a favorite of mod makers.

Perhaps one of the best features Redstorm was able to develop for Urban Operations was the in-game mod support. Although Rogue Spear claimed to have mod support, its mod support was simply not up to par. However, Redstorm did right by introducing a new mod control center from within the options screens.

Fig. 4. All original maps are improved

With this new option screen, users can easily add and remove mods with simple clicks of the mouse. No longer do users need to move folders, delete contents, or reinstall to get a mod working properly. I was able to test out this mod control center with the new release, NATO 3. Thanks to this new feature, I was able to quickly and effortlessly turn on and off the mod. Users will find this especially handy for multiplayer gaming situations, where some servers run without mods and others do.