Spec Ops : Covert Assault

This HTML version of the FAQ/Walkthrough is for display on Jamie's website. A text only version is available from the GameFAQs Website. If anyone else would like to display this guide on a web page or magazine, please get permission by emailing to gunbladelad@yahoo.co.uk using the subject "Spec ops Walkthrough". The main changes in this update were some spelling corrections and a few minor changes. I've also added a "Nitpicking" section, to confront a few of the game's flaws. Finally, thanks for the positive feedback I've been getting for the Spec Ops guides. Some have gone to my private Email. Please use the Hotmail address for this, as I probably won't reply otherwise.

I will take you through the full missions as I have completed them, as it is possible in some levels to finish in a different way. The selection of troops I picked for almost every level was the Sniper and the Machine Gunner.

I rarely mention enemy troops unless they are mentioned in the objectives, or can be fairly troublesome. So do take care as you move. I will also occasionally make references to "clock directions". This, if you are not familiar with it, is a technique the UK military (and probably most others) use to point out "targets". The technique is basically this. Imagine you are standing in the centre of an analogue clock face, 12 o'clock is directly in front of you, 3 o'clock's at your right hand side, 10 o'clock is in front to the left, etc. It's one of the most reliable ways of pointing out the correct directions that I have found.

Finally, if any extra help is needed, post to the GameFAQs message board, and I will give extra help there. If people require more help on specific problems, then I may post an update, giving a little more clarification on those topics. Do have patience as I'm not online much. If you don't get a reply in 2 weeks from either me or someone else on the boards, email me with the heading, "Spec Ops Help". Please note that I will check the noticeboards first and will normally answer through them rather than by email.

This is just a run-down on each gun, magazine capacity, maximum magazines available on loadout screen (complete with total max bullets), and what sort of range it's best in. I haven't worked out the damage ratings yet, so that will be in a future update if requested. For now I'll say if it's an instant kill but leave the space blank if it's not. Information on grenades, ememy pickups, and other items is below the table.

Name	Type	M/B/T	Range	Damage
ITHACA37	Shotgun	12/008/0096	Close	Kill
M249	Machine Gun	05/200/1000	Middle
M203 (gl)	Assault Rifle	08/030/0240	Middle
SSG (s)	Sniper rifle	10/005/0050	Long	Kill
M60	Machine Gun	08/090/0720	Middle
M16 (s)	Assault Rifle	12/030/0360	Middle-Long
AK74	Assault Rifle	10/030/0300	Middle
RPK	Machine Gun	10/045/0450	Close-Middle
M4	Assault Rifle	10/030/0300	Middle
BARRET M82A1 (s)	Sniper Rifle	08/010/0080	Long	Kill
H&K MP5 (sd)	Assault Rifle	12/030/0360	Middle
H&K G11 (s)	Asault Rifle	10/045/0450	Middle-Long
M203 GRENADE	Rifle Grenade	Max = 20	Close, 1m Blast Radius.	Kill

HE Grenade - Powerful grenades, use these instead as they have a 7 metre kill radius on all enemies

Smoke Grenades - Obscures enemy's view of your location. Rarely useful in the game itself, as it also blocks your view of the enemy.

WP Grenade - White Phosphorous grenade. Not quite as powerful as the HE grenades (in my experience), but occasionally looked nice in Stealth Patrol when thrown at night. The manual suggests that these are the most powerful grenades, so do try to keep your distance.

Claymore Mine - Remote Controlled Mine. Set, move away and use Clacker to detonate. These have a large blast radius against enemy soldiers, but I have yet to find a good use for them. (Note: Clacker has a limited range)

Med Kit - Health Boost. Can only be used once. Use only if you are about to die, as many have been needlessly wasted for minor wounds. Enemies sometimes drop them.

Flak Vest - Only dropped by enemies. Acts like an instant med kit. The character will not pick it up if his health is full.

Ammo Box - Only dropped by enemies. Increases the Ammo that you're carrying. Sometimes includes extra explosives like grenades.

Mines - Small circular booby traps. Usually hard to see. Grenades can destroy them safely from a distance.

Although the game manual suggests that each Ranger has different skills, the differences seem to be very minor, mainly in gun accuracy, & carrying ability. It's all down to personal preference which rangers you choose. Here's the in-game info on each ranger, followed by my own observations from just playing the game.

This just means that he's used to firing LOADS of bullets from one of a couple of fast & powerful guns, which, unfortunately have no scopes. His accuracy is not too good from scopes. He really comes into his own as a CPU buddy because he'll normally kill any enemies who get close enough to shoot at him (or you), when given the "Fire 'em up" command.

Close Quarter - Expert with the shotgun (Ithaca 37) in Close Quarter Battle (CQB) situations.

This guy, I never use, because there's not really in CQB areas, except the Kraplakistan areas, and the sniper's a better choice in those! He's apparantly best up close, so he's probably inaccurate using scopes.

Recon/Sniper - Expert with rifles (SSG & M82A1), and silenced weapons (H&K MP5, and H&K G11)

A really good all-rounder. High carrying capability, highly accurate with not only rifles, but also grenades (I find he's actually better at throwing them than the grenadier). Definitely the man of choice for missions with lots of space to wander, but good for just about any mission.

Grenadier - Expert with the M203 Grenade launcher and is deadly accurate when throwing grenades by hand.

I find he's nothing special with grenades and his M203 grenades are a joke. You're best using him in missions with lots of explosive work, by using an M16 & equipping satchel charges to take up the space previously wasted by M203 grenades. As I already mentioned, the sniper is actually more accurate for grenade throwing. He actually worked out as being a lot stronger in Stealth Patrol, apart from the sniper being more accurate with grenades.

Another good all-rounder. His carrying ability is less than the sniper's, and he's also slightly less accurate over long distance, as he needs to be 10-20 steps closer than the sniper for a definite hit with the same weapon as the sniper (H&K G11 tested). Good with most weapons, and doesn't seem to suffer too much with short range guns (i.e. no scopes)

At the start, turn right and head up the hill, keeping as low as possible. Once you get to the top, you'll see the helicopter nearby Approach it to complete objective 1. Now, from in front of the cockpit, turn to 10 o'clock (from the direction the helicopter is facing), and head down the hill to complete objective two. It's a body in a green uniform. Lastly, go back to the start, and follow the road, going over the bridge. Make your way through the village, wiping out all the troops you find. I find it best to use the CPU buddy to scout ahead and kill enemy troops here. The phase ends when you reach the opposite end of the village. Look for the Jeep there. Going past this ends the level once you have killed all the village guards.

Only the second phase & it's a tough one. Get past this without cheating and the rest of the game will seem easy. Go through the valley at 2 o'clock from the start, and make your way up the hill on the other side. Kill the guards as you go, making sure your buddy helps out. Beware as you come up the hill, because two snipers will try to shoot you from on top pf the chateau itself. Kill them before they get a chance (if you can). Going through the front gate is VERY dangerous because of some enemys in the compuund. An HE grenade can occasionally destroy the gate and kill the worst enemies. You could also follow the wall right to find a small blue gate that can be blasted open by a grenade. You may notice guards running up the next hill, ignore them for now, because you'll kill them shortly. The odds are heavily stacked to you failing if you go this way though. Go into the compound and kill any guards left in the grounds. Leave by the front gate, go down the valley to 2 o'clock and follow the road until you reach the bridge. This is the extraction point, remember it. Advance towards the ruins up the hill, in the direction that some guards were shooting at you from. (virtually above the bridge). You'll see a blue helicopter here, with only a couple of guards, if you're lucky. If a man in green is here, you may as well restart, because you'll have virtually no chance to kill all the guards you need to. Now go down the hill a little (10 o'clock from the Helicopter's nose), and you'll see a bunch of guards running up. kill all of them EXCEPT the man in green. He's the man you've to rescue. Once he starts to follow you, head over the bridge to finish the mission.

Use your scope to snipe at the guards past the wrecked bus, including a sniper up to the left which you'll only see when you're close to the bus. Plant a Satchel charge (or a claymore) at the bus to blow it up. Now make your way forward slowly taking out all the guards you can see. You should be able to get most of them through the fence around the hospital. There's a sniper behind you to the right as you approach the first junction (luckily, he seems to be blind). having cleared the fenced compound, drop some explosives at the field gun, and run into the compound. Be ready for any guards you may have missed, which is easy to do here. Phase 1 completed.

Go along the street around the corner from the back of the attilery gun, and clear the area around the last right turn of guards. Destroy the armoured car in front of you before entering the compound. Kill the 3 guards in here, and walk within a few inches of each of the 4 hostages. Go back to the Armoured car, and follow the road to the left of it. Turn right at the end, and kill the guard in the corner. Run to the corner to finish Phase 2.

Go back past the embassy, and take out any guards close enough. Don't worry about the explosions. The tank on the bridge is just firing at thin air. Disarm the bombs by walking over them, then place a satchel charge beside the tank. (this part made no sense to me, disarm the bombs, then use one on the tank parked ON the bridge? Sounds a bit stupid to me!). You'll see an armoured car along the river to the left, blow this up too, as well as the Attillery Gun inside the compound beside the bridge, to finish phase 3.

Leave the compound, going left. Soon you'll reach a road to the left. Destroy the armoured car here, then go through the hole in the fence here, keeping left. Rescue the hostages, and then just go back the way you came, back to the bridge. The mission is now complete.

Go through the hole in the fence straight ahead, and destroy the APC which is just to 1 o'clock of you as you go through the hole. Watch out for mines as you go. A grenade can destroy them. (Be careful, as the explosion is really big!). Now go to the fenced-off area nearby (10 o'clock from the hole in the fence, facing in) with 2 buildings inside. This is the barracks. Plant a satchel charge between the buildings, and get out. Now, facing out the barracks gate, the munitions dump is at approximately 5 o'clock. Go here, and place a satchel charge in the underground storage area. You may have to mop up 1 or 2 survivors if you did not kill all the enemies in the basement. Phase 1 is over.

The map's the best help here. Press "Select" to view it. This will show the locations of the M-9 launchers you need to destroy. They're all in alcoves similar to the one the APC from the last phase was in. The eastern dot on the map actually represents 2 launchers. Look behind the third launcher you see to spot it. Simply use satchel charges on all of them (2 a character if you want to share the load) Now just head around behind the fourth, and final launcher to finish phase 2.

You'll need a lot of satchel charges for this mission. The sniper is highly recommended here because of his high carrying capacity. Remove ALL unneccesary equipment, keeping your first aid & full rifle ammo. Use a buddy like the machine gunner to cover your back. Start at the first alcove, and destroy the F-11 in each alcove. There's five or six in total. Go past the building (destroying the vehicle on the way past), and destroy the rest of the F-11s nearby. Destroy the final AA vehicle, and head for the runway just past it to finish the mission.

Move along the track slowly, clearing guards until you can see the bridge. Just before the bridge, there's a small hill. Shoot from here to clear most of the fortified position, and finish off any guards you couldn't see after crossing the bridge. The only tricky bit is just after the bridge when a few guards try to storm you at once.

Advance through the base slowly, guards are in high positions as well as hiding behind buildings. Cross the stream at the back of the base, and turn left. The Ammo dump is the area covered with camoflage nets. A satchel charge between the two nets should do the job, but leave one at each to make sure. Now go back towards the place where you crossed the stream. Go past here, and kill the guards who rush out the last hut. This is the barracks. Blow it up to finish phase 2.

Go past the main camp, and keep to the left as you go along, watching out for guards in the towers, as well as in the base. Follow the path to the left, past the small group of huts - guards come out of them when you're a set distance away -, and keep going left. You'll now find about 4 entrances to the woods. Take the path on the far left (you may not see it at first, because the entrance doesn't face you.), and go on through. It is very easy to get lost in this section, so keep going left at every junction, and you'll eventually reach the drug stores. It's basically 2 walls, with a net covering the ground between them. Place a satchel charge in the middle to finish the mission, and the game. Prepare to watch an end sequence identical to Ranger Elite's in it's shortness and disappointment. Hopefully Talonsoft will put in a decent ending for the next release.

Enter "BANGBANG" as a name to get access to any level. Press left or right on the mission/phase screens. Invincibility can be switched on/off in the pause menu.

As I mentioned at the start, I used the Sniper & Machine Gunner in most of the levels. To avoid the problem of the stamina running low after any phase, start the level you want with 2 soldiers you DON'T want to use, and then abort the mission from the pause screen. Now the pair you want should have recharged their stamina back to maximum during their brief rest. NOTE: This works on ALL the PSX Spec Ops Games. It has not been tested on other versions, but should hopefully work on them.

Why on earth is the sniper better at chucking grenades than the grenadier? He's supposed to stay hidden, not chuck bombs all over the place! Also, why are the M203 Grenades so utterly, weak! They should be more powerful. It's nearly impossible to destroy ANYTHING with them as they are. Look at Delta Force on the PC to see how they should be! Nice & satifyingly powerful there.

Why can many of the enemy soldiers fire THROUGH cliffs and the side of concrete buildings. Are they all equipped with armour peircing Ammo. I suppose it could be even banana shaped rifles, like the sort designed in the last world war for trench warfare. In those, the barrel was, as unlikely as it sounds, bent at an angle of about 20-30 degrees, and were successfully tested. The sights were similar to Periscopes. I don't think they ever got used in actual combat though. Mind you, even those rifles can't explain the strange combat abilities of the enemy soldiers in this game.

Well, that's the HTML versions done. Time for a break. I'll go play Perfect Dark on the N64 for a while, then go on holiday. Expect a guide on the PSX version of Novalogic's Delta Force shortly after the UK release (assuming it's as good as the PC versions!)

Code	Meaning
(s)	Scope attached to weapon. Either 4X or 6X Magnification
(gl)	Grenade Launcher on weapon as standard
(sd)	Silenced Weapon
M/B/T	Magazines / Bullets per Magazine / Total Bullets