Rogue Spear Gives a Realistic Soldier's View on Combat

While I was playing Duke Nukem 3D on a hot summer day, I began to realize something. I needed a game where I could play against real people, not just the computer. So I contacted a "game-oriented" friend and he told me of the perfect game. And so the addiction began...

During one of my infrequent food breaks I decided to plot down exactly what makes this game superior to other games. Here is that very list of points that are make the game good and not so good.

Basic Facts
Rogue Spear is a simulation of a swat team in action. It is a first-person shooter. Rogue Spear is made by Red Storm Entertainment. It is multi-player as well as single player. System Requirements are listed at the bottom. Basic objectives are to guide your team to rescue hostages, install spy equipment, take out enemy strongholds, or run recon missions in singleplayer mode. Multi-player mode provides a variety of options from free-for-all, team vs. team, cooperation against computer AI, assassination and varieties of these main concepts. Maximum terrorists in a given level is 30, maximum human players in multi-player game is 16. Multi-player available at Zone.com.

Good Points
Graphics
Are graphics important to a game? The answer to that is yes, any game that comes out must have graphics that are state-of-the-art. This game is no exception with a power 3D engine that provides realistic character movements and sizes. Red Storm spent a lot of time refining the character movements in the game and it was well worth it. Every movement is displayed from the blinking of the eye to hand gestures and body movements.

Multi-player
The multi-player feature in Rogue Spear is possibly the best first-person shooter multi-player ever created. It resembles the game Halflife and Quake except it is based on the special forces of today instead of fantasy. If you want to justify buying this game, do so by saying that the multi-player is the most addictive, fun, and exciting things out there. I have spent 1000's of hours playing it and I do not regret a single second. The zone.com is a popular place to play Rogue Spear because you can play it for FREE. Up to 16 people can play in a game and the games end once everyone on a team is dead. Games last anywhere between 30 seconds and 5 minutes and go back to a main menu where the host has the option of starting again. People who play multi-player are very respectful of each other. If you are good enough there is the opportunity to join a clan which will have clan battles. However, cheating is rampant in Rogue Spear. It is not as bad as it was a year ago but the measures that zone.com have taken are not adequate.

Realism
This game is a bit scary if you are not used to death because when you shoot people, it feels very real. The noises and lighting effects really place create an ambiance that is shocking. You hear footsteps, birds chirping, bullets firing in the distance and shouting between the terrorists are only a few of the things that Red Storm Entertainment put in to create a fascinatingly real atmosphere. Another thing they also added is being wounded, if you are shot in the arm your aim is worse, in the leg you limp, in the head your dead. It can be a little unsettling for a first timer. But it is fun, and you'll get the hang of it in no time.

Levels
I'm not quite sure why I'm putting this down, but the variety of levels is shocking. You can go from a trenches like situation in bunker, to the Metropolitan museum in New York. There is a level at an ancient Crusader Castle and others in chop shops. Most importantly, however, is that most levels are actually modeled after real places to add more realism. Overall it is fascinating to see exactly what they have created to give the game a truly genuine feel of what soldiers go through.

Thoroughness
I think the thing that struck me the most was how thorough the game was in everything. If you are playing single player, there are detailed mission statements with connecting voice messages, everything is linked intricately. If you are playing multiplayer, the recoil from the gun, the types of guns, and everything in your kit is very researched and real. This game was meant to give you the real feel of combat.

Not-So-Good Things
Artificial Intelligence
Sometimes you wonder if your partners have had a full frontal lobotomy, because they can get pretty stupid. Walking right into enemy fire and shooting at the most insane spots. Even enemy AI isn't that good. If you run up close and keep running into them they don't fire. The real problem is line of sight for this guys, they only have it set a certain place, and that is not real enough. A real downside to this otherwise great game.

System Requirements
OS: PC Only, Windows 95 or 98
CPU: With hardware acceleration, 233 MHz Pentium with MMX or better, Direct 3D compatible video card required. Without hardware acceleration 266 MHz recommended, 2D 16-bit SVGA 4MB video card required.
RAM: 32 MB minimum, 64 MB recommended
Hard Drive: 200MB uncompressed space free required
CD-ROM: 4x speed or faster
Display: 640x480x16 or better
3-D Acceleration: Supported chipsets include 3Dfx Voodoo, Nvidia Riva, Matrox G200. For a full list of supported cards visit www.redstorm.com
Audio: DirectX compatible sound card required
Network Play: Properly configured TCP/IP connection at 28.8 kbps or faster

Overall
Overall this game is excellent. It provides a new look at what a first-person shooter really can be. Games that have spawned from its success are Medal of Honor and Counterstrike. The realism provided is impressive enough to make me glad I am not a soldier.