Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 (Xbox 360)
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
By: D_Litch
When
Rainbow Six:Vegas was released in November of 2006, it was met with high marks from critics and series fans alike. It was not only the series' first game of the 7th generation of consoles, but was the first retail game to feature the Unreal Engine 3 technology. With the arrival of its sequel, naturally named
Rainbow Six:Vegas 2, expectations were high. While it lives up to these expectations, it also contains a lot of old and new flaws.
The story takes place before and after the events in
Rainbow Six:Vegas, and the situation is very similar. Vegas has issues. While underlings Michael and Jung return as your A.I. controlled teammates, you no longer play as Logan Keller. Ubisoft ditched the idea of a set protagonist and decided to allow the player to create their own character to play the story with. Known only as "Bishop", your custom character (which is used in both single player and multiplayer) will traverse some very familiar terrain, facing some very familiar problems.
Let's break it down.
General Gameplay
While it looks and feels very similar to its predecessor, there are some nuances that differentiate it from the first
Vegas. The HUD has been revamped by removing the on-screen GPS map and changing the buttons and gauges, it still feels very intuitive and looks very clean. The control scheme is basically the same, with the exception of the new sprint feature being mapped to the Left Bumper. The speed in which you preform actions (Rappel, Climb) is just as slow as ever, and all of the returning weaponry is identical to the first
Vegas. The tightness of aiming is really the only gameplay change that you'll notice outright. It feels a lot looser than it did last time around, and close quarters combat is made extremely difficult due to the sporadic nature of reticle blast range.
Hit detection is also a big problem this time around. Two games using the Unreal Engine 3 have been released so far this year (EA's
Army of Two, and this title), and they both feature a terrible amount of hit detection problems. When an enemy is standing still, there are no problems. But when an enemy is moving, it almost seems as if his hit detection windows shrink, making him incredibly difficult to kill. Couple this with the unforgiving, quick drawing enemies, and you have a hot cup of Game Rage.
Tech Specs
Being the fact that
Rainbow Six:Vegas looked and sounded great, you'd think its sequel would be equally as good or better in this department. But alas, that is not the case. In most instances,
Vegas 2 looks exactly like its predecessor. There are times when some textures look noticeably better, but there are also times when some textures look a lot worse. The visual effects are also marred by a unbelievable amount of pop-in. At the beginning of each level, it will take anywhere from 5 seconds to 45 seconds for all of the textures and shaders to load. This is ridiculous. It's one thing to have a small amount of pop-in while playing online, but even when playing by yourself, you'll find yourself starring at flat gray walls and no light waiting for the effects to load. While the game looks decent, the graphical glitches seriously ruin the overall look and experience of the visuals.
Audio wise, you're listening to
Rainbow Six:Vegas. All of the gun noises, explosive effects, and in-game dialog is recycled from the first game. The only original recordings in the game are found in the cut-scenes and story related sequences. Even the terrorist banter, one of the most original and entertaining parts of the first
Vegas, remains completely rehashed.
Game Rage
A lot of
Rainbow Six:Vegas 2's gameplay is trial-and-error focused, this in itself is frustrating. Not to mention the absurd amount of "cheap kills" the terrorists will get on you. Shooting you through concrete and steel, throwing grenades 100 yards, and killing you from a good 75 feet away while sprinting directly past your A.I teammates are common means of death in this title. The overall cheesiness of shooting a terrorist in the face with a shotgun, seeing blood and brain matter fly out, and then him kill you with one shot from a pistol will bring out the anger in everyone.
Bedtime Rating
I'm beginning to believe that when training terrorists, they only teach them how to shoot guns and use curse words. The amount of F-Bombs dropped in Terrorist Hunt and Story mode is enough to make you think you are playing online. I mean, every single terrorist that sees you screams out the "MF" word and then runs away cursing. The blood splatter, or explosion as it should be called, has been upped from the original
Vegas. When you shoot a guy in the shoulder, a spray of about 20-feet goes all over that wall behind him. I'm not sure, but I believe David Cronenberg was used as a reference for the blood amount. You definitely want the kids out out of the room when playing this title.
Butt Groove
The revamped XP system, which now has a
Call of Duty 4 looking meter at the bottom of your screen, is just as addicting as ever. The new A.C.E.S system(also known as the Advanced Combat Enhancement and Specialization system) is beyond addictive. The gist is you get points for getting specific types of kills, and the different types are divided into 3 different categories. Marksman, C.Q.B, and Assault. You get a varying amount of points for getting headshots, getting kills while using blind fire, and getting kills using explosives. The A.C.E.S will lead to a lot more "No, let my grenade kill them" and "Let me kill the first couple of guy from long range" comments in Terrorist Hunt and Co-op Story. With the A.C.E.S, the co-op, and the multiplayer, this game will keep your couch warm for a while.
Multiplayer
Rainbow Six:Vegas 2 contains 3 different types of multiplayer:Co-op Story(for up to 2 players), Co-op Terrorist Hunt(for up to 4 players), and Versus(for up to 16 players). The two Cooperative variants are just as fun as in the last
Vegas, even with only 2 players allowed to play the Campaign. The space where your 3rd and 4th human players would usually be is taken by your 2 A.I buddies from the single player, Michael and Jung. The party leader gives the orders, and they do a decent job of laying down cover fire so you and your human partner can get a flank maneuver executed.
The Versus is basically recycled from the first
Vegas, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It contains only two new modes; Demolition, which is basically Sabotage from
Call of Duty 4 and Team Leader, which is basically VIP from
Halo 3. While
Vegas 2 doesn't blow the doors off with new and inventive game modes, it really doesn't need to. If you like the first
Vegas, you will like this one too. They are almost the same.
Achievements
Unoriginal and Uninspired. With the exception of the Splinter Cell referenced "I Am Sam" achievement(which requires 5 consecutive headshots with silenced weapons), all of the achievements are bland. Your run of the mill "Get X amount of kills with this weapon" and "Complete this level" achievements make up the bulk of the list. They could have done something creative with the achievements, but they didn't.
Category Rankings
General Gameplay
Tech Specs
Game Rage
Bedtime Rating
Butt Groove
Multiplayer
Achievements
Overall Couch Count: 3.5 out of 5
Linear Mode
