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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tango in sight, 12 Dec 2000
This is one of the better add-on packs out there. Whilst it only adds four new weapons and five new maps, it gives the existing game elements a thorough going-over, and is an essential purchase if you enjoy playing the game in 'Lone Wolf' mode. Which is good, as the central concept - five new maps set in claustraphobic urban environments, with civilians - doesn't really work. The new maps are fine, especially a carefully-crafted London Underground station, but the urban environments aren't all that different from the embassies, skyscrapers and chemical plants of the first two games, and the wandering civilians are essentially hostages, but out in the open. They either stand still and avoid getting in the way, or the run around madly, getting shot. The overall experience is generally quite frustrating - adding to the chaotic nature of the strategy, you can play the same mission several times and fail purely because the terrorists, hostages and civilians were placed inopportunely.That said, it's still worth buying. Only three of the extra weapons are available in single-player mode (although the game is extremely easy to 'mod', as the weapon damage tables and so forth are stored as text files), and two of those are light machine-guns - not very useful for a covert operations unit. The silenced sniper rifle is intriguing, but not very well silenced, and in any case the terrorists have an implausible habit of shouting 'Intruders!' in a comical Scottish accent as your bullets shread their soft, yielding lungs. If you're at all interested in guns, death and killing (and who isn't?), 'UO' is fantastic - the existing arsenal of death-dealing hardware is fetishistically complete. A clutch of the old 'Rainbow Six' missions have been updated and are available to play as a mini-campaign - in general they remain as they were, but with graphical improvements, although a couple have subtly-altered maps, too. Best of all, the various non-campaign play modes have been souped-up. You can now choose how many terrorists to scatter around the various maps, which now include the multiplayer scenarios (some of which are unplayable with more than a few terrorists, however, as you find yourself starting in rooms with dozens of tightly-packed baddies). Oh, and Kevin Sweeney, the British recon specialist, has been promoted to advisor status. And the foxy mission control woman has been reinstated from her 'Rogue Spear'-era anonymity. Note that you need 'Rogue Spear' to play it, not 'Rainbow Six', although you know that already. In general then, it's 'Rogue Spear', but with extra bits. Fab!
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