Rainbow six vegas 2 review

March 18, 2008 - November
of 2006 was a great month for Xbox 360 gamers. Two of the system's
finest titles to date hit the streets right before the holidays and
players were beside themselves with how to budget their time in between
the two. Should I spend time leveling up my character in the
multiplayer of Rainbow Six Vegas or should I bring the fight to the
Locusts as Marcus Fenix in Gears of War? For most the longstanding
answer was the neon colored world of Vegas rather than the destroyed
beauty of the other Unreal Engine 3 powered gem.

Eighteen months have gone by since the original Vegas and the world of
geeks and nerds has been waiting with baited breath wondering whether
or not Ubisoft Montreal would give them the sequel that they so
desperately wanted. To be a true success in the eyes of many faithful
fans, Vegas 2 must offer a fitting conclusion to the cliffhanger
storyline, revamped gameplay and the most fleshed out multiplayer mode
the world has ever seen. Rainbow Six Vegas 2, while a worthy follow-up,
doesn't meet such lofty expectations.




Let's start with the good. There's an all-new perpetual character
system that allows for experience points as well as the new ACES
(Advanced Combat Enhancement and Specialization) points to be carried
over across all of the modes in Vegas 2. That means that if you kill a
baddy and earn three points to your Assault category in single-player,
those points will then make their way over to your next multiplayer or
co-op game as well. Each of the ACES categories has 20 levels that can
be unlocked, and each level has different rewards such as weapons or a
big XP bonus. None of the rewards are as gratifying – neither in their
graphical display or in the reward itself – as in Call of Duty 4, but
the fact that you can carry them through to different modes is a
definite plus.

The next addition to the Vegas family is the ability to run. The left
shoulder button now governs sprinting and it's extremely useful for
getting between points of cover or to escape the blast radius of a
grenade. Being able to run might sound a bit odd for a Rainbow Six game
and diehards might not be able to accept its existence, but once you
see it in use it all makes sense. Throw in the fact that this game has
a higher difficulty level and is actually more grounded in tactical
gameplay than the first and running will feel natural when used
properly.


In cover.


Vegas 2 is designed to be more tactical, but no one told your two AI
teammates. Too often that you'll be skillfully maneuvering through
pieces of cover, picking off hapless enemies, only to have these two
nimrods wander out into the open and get gunned down. Granted sometimes
they're actual assets in battle, but the AI is usually more of a
headache than a help. The same goes for enemy intelligence which, for
whatever reason, can't recognize when my character is sitting four feet
to the left with my crosshairs placed squarely on his noggin. Oh, and
for those that are wondering, the same tactical map exploit of being
able to scan deeper into the environment than should be possible is
still in the game.

As anyone who played through the first Vegas knows, the storyline left
a bit to be desired. Ubisoft spun a fairly interesting tale but then
left players hanging in a mean way at the end with one of the worst
cliffhanger endings we've seen in some time. Luckily Vegas 2 ties up
all of the loose ends from the first and even fleshes out a few of the
characters by providing motivations for their actions. You won't be
confusing Vegas 2 with an actual Tom Clancy theatrical release, but the
story does enough to keep things interesting.


Having said all that, the single-player campaign was never the star of
Vegas. Multiplayer and co-op are where the fun really lies and the same
is true in the sequel. Multiplayer is once again the real Belle of the
ball with 12 maps and two new adversarial modes. Several of the maps
were ripped from Raven Shield on PC and retooled to fit Vegas 2's play
style. Each of the maps performs well. Maps are well balanced and
feature the requisite number of alternate paths to keep things fresh.
My only real gripes with the multiplayer are that you can't set up your
own 16-player game without being relegated to using your console as a
dedicated server. It's also a bit disconcerting that the game doesn't
hand out a few experience points for capturing points in Total Conquest
or when your team rescues a hostage. Where's my experience or ACES
point incentive?


Owned.


Co-op, on the other hand, is another ball of wax. Ubisoft Montreal did
some good. It put in the cutscenes, mission briefings, and tutorials
that were missing in the first game. It's all downhill from there. The
changes made to the co-op gameplay were poorly implemented. Campaign
co-op was shrunk from four players down to two. But you are still
joined by two AI teammates. Only the host player is able to issue
commands, leaving the second player as nothing more than a hired gun.
Player two is instead forced to sit idly by as the first player orders
teammates around and completes objectives in the level. And if the host
goes down, your AI teammates have no one to tell them what to do until
he respawns. Why in the hell can't the second player feel like more of
a part of the storyline? And why only two players for campaign when you
can still have four-player co-op in Terrorist Hunt?

The gameplay in Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is awesome; it just isn't as
awesome as it was 18 months ago. The main complaint that most gamers
are sure to have with RSV2 is that it's simply too similar to the game
that we played late in 2006. The ability to sprint is the only change
to the core gameplay with the rest feeling like minor tweaks. The core
is still great and will be a blast for anyone who hasn't played through
the original (though the lack of synopsis of the events in Vegas 1
makes it a bit tough), but those who have been down the strip before
might be less enthused.


Getting the drop.


Aesthetically Vegas 2 is similar to its gameplay in that not a whole
lot has changed. Unreal Engine 3 still shines through in the detailed
character models but the environments are less flashy overall, mainly
because you spend the majority of your time away from the bright lights
of Las Vegas. There also seem to be more instances of the framerate
slowing down, sometimes to a crawl. A symptom that is exacerbated on
the PS3 where textures and effects are already not up to the 360's
standard. One feather that can be placed in the hat of Vegas 2 is that
the environments are more interactive than they were before. Glass can
be blown out of entire floors of buildings and certain environment set
pieces can be impressively blown to bits.
Closing Comments
As I said
previously, the biggest problem that most will have with Vegas 2 is
that it doesn’t differentiate itself enough from the first. It doesn’t
feel like an expansion pack exactly–-it’s more than that--but it
doesn’t feel like a full-fledged sequel either. For those who haven’t
taken a stroll down the streets of Sin City than you needn’t look any
further than Rainbow Six Vegas 2, but those looking for a sequel that
surpasses the original in everyway imaginable will be disappointed.
IGN Ratings for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (X360)



RatingDescription

out of 10
9.0	Presentation Menu systems are the same as before but everything moves a bit better than before, especially online.
8.0	Graphics A lot of slowdown, some of it is understandable, other times it’s not. It doesn't run as well as the first Vegas.
8.0	Sound Identical to what was in the first game in terms of music. Voice acting is definitely improved, especially on the enemies.
8.5	Gameplay Same mechanics as in the first, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing when they’re this good. Sprinting is a plus; the co-op is not.
8.5	Lasting Appeal Plenty of maps and modes will keep players busy, just so long as they realize that they’ve already been playing this game for awhile.
8.4 Impressive	OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average)