Richard Marcinko, also known as Rogue Warrior, is a former member of the US Navy SEALs who became most famous for supposedly unveiling the so-called "Red Cell" operations which he and his team claim to have been covert missions against real-world terrorists. The game, however, takes place in North Korea and the UdSSR in 1986. In the role of Marcinko, the player has to retrieve intelligence on ballistic missile launchers. And although his squad-members get killed right after entering the mission area, Marcinko continues alone with the mission, eventually uncovering and eliminating a larger threat against the US.

The game is a first-person-shooter with a bit of stealth thrown into the mix. Looking through the eyes of Marcinko, the player can either sneak through the levels, using brutal kill moves or a silenced pistol to take out his enemies. Or he can run in guns blazing with the vast array of real-world-weaponry like the SPAS-12 shotgun or the AK-47 assault rifle although only two weapons can be carried at the same time. But since even Marcinko isn't invulnerable, simply storming in isn't always a good idea. To help the player from being hit, Marcinko can take cover behind objects. The camera then switches to a 3rd-person-shoulde-rview and allows the player to either blind fire or duck out of cover to shoot the targets.

The game also features a multiplayer-mode for up to eight players in either Deathmatch or Team-Deathmatch on maps inspired but not directly copied from the single-player-campaign.