Rainbow Six Lone Wolf Diaries

I’m making a slight detour from the multiplatform games, to hit on this PlayStation-exclusive released in 2002. Developed by Rebellion, and published by Ubi Soft, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Lone Wolf is actually the shortest title in the franchise, barring the expansions.

Lone Wolf takes a step away from the tactics and planning of the other games, and goes for more of a first person shooter. Apparently, it’s also incredibly difficult. I’ll be emulating the game, so that I can grab screenshots, but also so that I can use cheats if required. After the trouble that I had with Black Thorn, I’m not going to stress myself out with this one.

Now, let’s find out what happened in Rainbow Six Lone Wolf…

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This is my ongoing exploration of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six series, played in release order, where I will chronicle my playthrough like a text-based Let’s Play. This time I play Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Lone Wolf.

RAINBOW had just killed The CopyCat - AKA David Newcastle - and decided to reminisce, back to that time in 2001 where a single RAINBOW made all the difference…

At least nobody (Sweeny) speaks in this game

Kicking off with Operation: Arctic Phoenix, RAINBOW had been contacted by the convicted terrorist Xander Thiessan, who claimed to have info on some weapons shipments heading into Russia. The only problem was, that I, Ding Chavez, was being sent in to get him, at his remote cabin in Solhiea, Norway. I was to go in solo, to avoid detection by people who may be in the area, going after Xander.

There were three insertion points, so I chose the one that placed me closest to Xander. I crouched and edged forwards, coming to the corner of a building - where someone asked who was there. I moved around the corner and was shot. Mission failure. Huh…

Such detail

Redeploying in the southeast corner, I spotted a terrorist right away and shot him, then banked left up some stairs. Someone asked who was there and shot me. What made these failures worse, was the fact that I had no idea how long each deployment was taking me.

So, I redeployed in the south point again, and activated the infinite health cheat. I located and shot the one who had first killed me, then made my way along the south of the area to try and locate the building which Xander was holed up in. I encountered a few more terrorists, some of whom noticed and shot me, before finding the gate into the hidden path. I went inside and shot a terrorist in the back, and exited into the main courtyard where two more terrorists awaited me, one of whom shot me. Moving towards the building which I believed Xander was inside, I shot another man before opening the door and succeeding in my mission.

If it sounds like I’m glossing over story points or cutscenes, rest assured that I am not. Operation: Silent Shelter began with Control confirming intel that Xander had given them. My next mission was to rendezvous with Xander and escort him into RAINBOW protection. Evidently, I hadn’t stayed the night in his place, but the insertion point was right next to it. We didn’t have time to wait until nightfall, as terrorists were likely already on their way to silence him.

Deploying, I cautiously made my way into the house, trying to find Xander. Upon entering the bedroom, a bunch of laser tripwires activated, and I heard voices outside. It was a big, old trap.

The old "Sneak in behind the guy and plant explosives while his back is turned" gambit

I exited the house only to be instantly shot at by two terrorists. I killed them, then went around the building to make my way to the extraction point. I came across five or six more terrorists, including one at the gate that I needed to exit, and went out, completing the mission. Which led us to Operation: Rapid Fox.

Xander and his captors were being tracked to a cave system north of where I was, and I was to get in there and rescue him. It was potentially the place where they were smuggling weapons through, so I was to keep an eye out, and not to fall for any “obvious distractions”.

The many varied distractions available in a linear cave system

Deploying to the only insertion point, I activated my night vision and headed down into the cave - or mine, I’m not entirely sure. They said it was a mine, but I didn’t see any mining equipment. Thanks to my night vision, I was able to see terrorists before they spotted me, and I shot them as soon as they were in range of the auto-aim.

Eventually, I came across a choice of direction - left or right. I went right, which seemed like the good choice, as I spotted an opening high up in the wall where I would probably have had to drop down from. I shot one terrorist who managed to spot me, and continued onwards, only to spot a second terrorist with him who seemed nonplussed that his mate was now dead. I shot him and continued.

At the next choice of left or right, I once again went right. Soon enough, I spotted a couple of terrorists and shot one. The other opened fire, and a third came down some stairs to my right, so I shot that one before standing from my crouch and shooting the other. He had stopped shooting at me, since I was behind a box, but we could clearly see each other. Xander was off to the left, so I went over and freed him.

This is the first time you actually see Xander

Operation Stone Feather, the penultimate mission, had Xander refusing to disclose any more information until his brother was safe. So, I was heading west to ascertain the nameless Thiessan brother’s safety, and if required rescue him. I chose the easternmost insertion point - which was next to the extraction point - and deployed.

Immediately, I was shot by a terrorist right in front of me. I gunned him down, then activated my night vision, spotting a second terrorist who hadn’t seen me. I shot him, and moments later a third appeared, only for me to shoot him. I carefully went through the streets, killing one more terrorist before I was near the target chalet.

I'd moved literally two meters, just past the first terrorist's body

The guy stood outside saw me from further away than the second and third men I had killed, so I shot him. The door opened and I was unable to shoot in time before the terrorist went around behind the door that he had just opened, so I waited for it to close and we exchanged fire. I went inside and untied Mr Thiessan, who then legged it for the extraction point. He looked like a terrorist, so I didn’t blame him, I just followed. The mission was a success.

Finally, we were at Operation: Cold Talon. Xander had revealed the location of the terrorists’ base. I was heading east of Solhiea now, to seize the weapons cache. Which I assumed meant that I was to murder everyone.

I couldn't help but wonder how many terrorists would be looking at me as soon as I appeared

Deploying to the southeast, I was surprised to see that the weather had made it dark. I was hitting them in the daytime, hence my surprise. I carefully made my way around a wall, and came face-to-face with a terrorist. I shot him, and another terrorist behind him opened fire. I shot him just as a third off to the right of him came from around a wall.

There was another in front of the house, and two off to my left. I finally reached the farmhouse and went inside, finding a terrorist inside the room where I expected the cache to be. There was another in the back room, and two upstairs - but the mission wasn’t over. So, I went back outside to find more terrorists, finding one more near the doghouse. And nobody else - after four complete circuits of the entire map.

Yes, I checked the bedroom all four times

So, that was technically a failure, and I had to restart. I went for the northeast insertion point, and the fun found me right away, with half of the terrorists on the map coming right for me. I disposed of them before killing the couple who had somehow missed all of the gunfire, and went inside - this time through the backdoor, where I found a man that hadn’t been there before.

Shooting him, I headed into the cache room and living room to kill those two terrorists, then headed upstairs where I shot the two from the other end of the hallway. And with that, John Clark thanked me, and told me that after a few days of debriefing, I’d be back with the rest of the team.

Final Thoughts

What a mess Lone Wolf was. It’s far too hard, it’s clumsy and the AI is somehow both terrible at spotting you and yet uncannily capable. Also, the volume is set to 127, which is inexplicably the maximum setting. Interestingly, it slots into the series timeline two months after Rainbow Six, and four months before Rogue Spear.

I wasn’t expecting a great game, I’ll be honest. The PlayStation had some decent FPS games, but I was barely aware of this game after reading a list of Rainbow Six games, there’s nobody putting this on their list of favourite games from this generation. And deservedly so, it’s not fun to play, the levels are small and basic, and besides people asking who’s there, nobody says anything. The use of sound effects is decent, but other than that?

I was so happy to reach this screen...

Look, I can’t stop you from playing Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Lone Wolf, but I would highly suggest that you avoid wasting your time. I should have spent an hour watching a Let’s Play of it, rather than over two hours playing and then writing about it.

Join me next time, when I check out Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield.