Just like the real life US Army Ranger units they are depicting, Zombie assaults us head on with their latest, Spec Ops: Ranger Team Bravo. Fans of the popular game will be happy to see 9 new missions filled with plenty of action, and to top it all off full multiplayer support is included.

Zombie’s been hard at work since the release of Spec Ops and with the addition of the Ex-Pack they’ve given us some 25 missions in all from which to play multiplayer matches, both co-op and standard deathmatch.

One of the first things I noticed when playing the RTB expansion was the difference in enemy AI even on the Private level. They seem more lethal, making for some challenging gameplay, and to help balance this your friendly buddy Rangers AI has been improved as well.

RTB puts you and your Ranger buddy to the test again, from the snow covered mountains of Bosnia, the fetid jungle of Vietnam (circa 1968) to the arid Iraqi desert there’s plenty of action to be had.

When I got hold of this one I was real excited about the multiplayer functionality, as well as the new scenarios to be played. The single player end of things is very nicely done the same as its parent product but there are a couple of minor problems with existing features I will cover later on. Don’t get me wrong, Spec Ops and the Ex-Pack are both very enjoyable and playable games, but there are a couple of issues that I feel need to be addressed by Zombie.

Graphics

Graphically this one is as sweet as its parent and it now looks to be friendly to every sort of accelerator. More than that, it also sports software rendering for those less fortunate souls who haven’t embraced 3D support as of yet.

During the install process you are asked what API you’d like to install, be it Glide for both Voodoo 1 or Voodoo 2, OpenGL, or software only. This is a very nice way to include everyone and not have people clamoring for graphics patches and wondering which one they may need.

As I said the graphics are just sweet, from the snow covered forests and mountains of Bosnia, down to the tiger striped camo’s and camo face paint of your Rangers in the Vietnam jungles this one’s a beaut. I vividly remember my first experiences in the Vietnam missions. I was patrolling the jungle and was caught unawares by a lightning and thunder followed by a downpouring of heavy rain- nice touch. Along with the great environmental touches like this we’re still treated to authentic sounding voices in the enemies we’ll face.

Speaking of graphical touches I have to say I still get a tremendous kick out of the poor hapless Ranger (and you’ll see this happen in multiplayer often) who happens to run through the after effects of a grenade. Once through the patch of flames you’re liable to catch fire yourself and do the Ally McBeal ‘Baby Dance’. Only thing missing in this situation is the ‘uga chaka’ music! (would make for a nice easter egg in the game, if anyone had the desire to throw it in in later incarnations…. Possibly Spec Ops 2?!)

Not only is this one graphically appealing but the missions are a varied assortment of challenge, such as intel gathering, war criminal apprehension, B-52 pilot rescues and dealing with chemical weapons sites. You’ll have a definite change of pace with each mission, and to deal with the differences in missions you’ll need a wide assortment of tools and weapons.

In a nutshell you get: M-16, M-16/M203, MP5, HK G11, SSG, BMP 50, M-60, M-249, Ithica Shotgun, M4, NVG’s and an IR scope to choose from as well. A pretty decent armory to draw upon, with something for just about any situation, so you shouldn’t be caught with your pants down often.

One of the real neat things about RTB is the way Zombie listened to the fans of Spec Ops and their desire to have more control over the loadouts their Rangers carried. In RTB you are not only given several loadout choices, but you can fully customize each to your personal liking. We have the standard machine gunner, rifleman and grenadier here but also have the options of sniper, recon, CQB or a custom loadout you can create from scratch. Good on ya Zombie for not only listening but for following through on gamers submissions to you!

With the addition of the Ex-Pack (RTB) you can now play through every mission in the original Spec Ops not only in single player but in multiplayer as well. So if there’s a mission or two you didn’t get through before you can go back through and tackle it now, or practice up for multiplayer and get the lay of the land.

I’m very excited about the addition of multiplayer in Spec Ops as there are plenty of very cool environments and missions I’ve been happy to play through again. Multiplayer comes in both co-op and deathmatch modes, with a front end to get you hooked up to a server and playing in no time, Zombie even has their own dedicated server to host up to 49 game channels!

Co-op is truly a blast in RTB. Just last week I was playing the first Vietnam mission with another gamer--it was awesome. I’d never played with him before but from the first minute we worked well together, moving in leaps and bounds, clearing the jungle paths of AI enemy. I was ecstatic how smooth this plays over the internet, really sweet.

Co-op has been my preferred mode of play since and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it, co-op is too often overlooked when it comes to multiplayer by most gamers. When playing co-op you’re in control of yourself and your Ranger buddy as are the other gamers in the game. So if you have a game with 6 people you have yourself your own little squad, nothing more impressive looking than 12 Rangers prowling and growling through the jungle.

As much fun as co-op is, the deathmatch portion of RTB leaves me less than thrilled. Some fixes are needed for deathmatch to be more playable.

For starters, in some maps the drop in points are extremely close to one another and there’s little or no randomization as in most deathmatch setups. I was playing one of the Honduras missions and was utterly amazed at how close together we were to one another- there was almost no room to move with 6 players playing. We all seemed to regen right where we died and the whole time we were in a rough circular formation just spraying and praying, not really taking time to aim nor having the room to attempt more than feeble tactics.

To give you an idea of the situation we found ourselves in on this map, just think of the gunfight at the OK Corral scene in the movie Tombstone. Not every deathmatch map is like this though, so it doesn’t kill deathmatch play all the time, just on certain maps. For example the Bosnia maps have great start points that are well spread out from one another usually and allow for some nice movement and tactics.

The most useful tactic I found in the Honduras map was to hit the dirt, and if you’re clear enough use sniper mode (X key). Pick your target, drop him, and wait for him to regen and drop him again. I did this 11 times to one player alone!

While this may make some gamers who lust after high body counts happy, it dwindles the enthusiasm of the gamer getting hosed. As soon as you are regenerated you’re not only getting shot at but hit, so you have little to no reaction time to fight back. Add to this the still existing problem of close up shooting and the auto aim feature and it can get downright frustrating at times. These points seriously need fixing.

As gamers noted in Spec Ops there is a problem with firing on an enemy up close and it still exists in RTB as well. The problem is that when you run up on an enemy, be it a suicidal charge or a sudden encouter while cresting a hill, you can’t hit him from as close as 1 foot! This is due to a combination of factors, I feel: the lack of first person control and the auto-aiming feature.

The auto-aiming feature is one of my least favorite aspects in this game due to a feeling of limited or no control, since your Ranger picks his own targets. For some reason this gives you no opportunity to choose another, possibly more threatening, target. You can use the ‘first person’ perspective in Spec Ops but I feel it’s too limiting so we’re pretty much forced to use the third person perspective. In most cases the third person views serve well by helping you know where enemies are that you would otherwise not notice, so it’s a tradeoff.

Many of our readers have raised this issue: some love the third person perspective and others don’t. In playing a third person style game you relinquish the utter control you have in a game like Rainbow Six, but there are also advantages like better situational awareness.

So, would it be better to forgo the situational awareness in place of complete control? For a game like Rainbow Six you NEED the control, with a dash of situational awareness thrown in. In that game situational awareness is supplied by being able to switch to the third person perspective.

In Spec Ops you’re facing much greater numbers of enemies and you have the allowance of taking several shots before dying. With the emphasis placed firmly on action, I feel it is better to have situational awareness first. However, that doesn’t mean we should surrender total control; we need more control over picking our targets in order to be successful. I hope this gets addressed in a patch soon, as this is my biggest sticking point with this game.

Another minor issue I have with RTB is also a hold over from the first Spec Ops. If your Ranger takes a tumble he automatically falls to the prone position and you are forced to make him stand, something that takes time and can get you killed in multiplay.

I didn’t pay it much mind in single player before but have noticed in multi that it not only slows you down, but can make you an easier target. To switch modes (crouched, prone, standing) you must be standing still, a big no no in deathmatch. Delta Force allows you to switch modes on the fly literally and so should Spec Ops. These are all minor issues that can be fixed and I hope will be as they are not game killers but instead annoyances that can frustrate a gamer while playing.

Overall RTB is a great addition to the Spec Ops game for the fans of the original; if you have it go grab the Ex-Pack. Those who haven’t picked it up might now be more inclined to do so with the addition of multiplayer support.

One little pointer: while playing the single player missions use the IR scope whenever possible, it makes a huge difference. The IR scope allows you to see all enemy targets as white silhouettes on a red background, making your pickings that much easier. Try this one in multiplayer, if you find yourself in a nice sniper spot you can wreak some havoc.

If Zombie addresses the issues I mentioned above, I think we’ll have us a really addicting and fun game. True, its not heavily realistic as is Rainbow Six, but it's nevertheless a highly enjoyable action shooter in its own right.

Ratings:
Core Rating : 25 (Action Oriented)
Gameplay : 80* (see below)
Graphics : 95
Sound : 85 ** (see below)
AI : 83
User Interface : 80
Fun Factor : 90
Learning Curve : 1-2 Hours
Overall Rating : 85

*- In my original Spec Ops review I gave the game a score of 90 on the gameplay. The reason I've dropped that score to 80 in the RTB pack is due to the close-in and auto-aiming issues I mentioned in this review. If these get fixed this then I would rate RTB a 90 as well.

** - In my original Spec Ops review I scored the sound at 95. While the sound was very good in both games there's nothing new to warrant as high a score again. Especially since we're seeing games like Delta Force using directional sound in a great way.