Rainbow Six Vegas 2

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is a squad based tactical first person shooter… most of the time.

It’s brought to us by Ubisoft, specifically the Montreal division. I don’t know where Red Storm Entertainment has gone but I guess it matters little.

As I said before RSV 2 is squad based, you’ll usually have another two guys with you at all times. Many people are probably groaning at the moment as they imagine how horrible the A.I is going to be but I was pleasantly surprised at how fluidly it comes together.

Team mates are handy for a number of things. The first is using them to leap frog down a corridor or through a large room; they move forward, you move forward, etc. It’s an effective way to maintain covering fire or draw out enemy fire, both which are needed in various levels. Secondly, team mates can be ordered to move up to a doorway and then enter it in a variety of ways; breach charge, flashbang or sweep and clear. All very fun and all working pretty well together. Trust me, it’s the levels  without team mates you’ll be frustrated at.

Graphically RSV 2 isn’t really up to scratch with the current line-up of FPS’s; Killzone 2, Bad Company 2 and Modern Warfare 2. It was a little reminiscent of the older Rainbow Six games but it really didn’t matter to me in the end. The graphics are good enough to enjoy the game; I find with a good FPS you should be drawn into the intensity of the action so the graphics to not become overly apparent in any deficiencies.   

Gameplay is also pretty good. I’ve already mentioned the squad based stuff which is a nice and integral element to any Rainbow Six game. You can follow this up with a little customization. At the beginning of each level you can usually change your weapon loadout and there’s plenty to choose from too; sub machine guns, assault rifles, light machine guns and sniper rifles are available. Each weapon can be customized with different attachments as well. Furthermore you can choose your armor loadout. You’ll get to choose between light, medium and heavy; each one modifies your mobility offset to the protection it offers. I have to admit though despite wearing the heaviest armor I didn’t see any noticeable drop in mobility and it’s not like you’ll be running around anyway.

All in all it is sounding pretty good so far, right? I’d have to agree but what really makes a Rainbow Six game is the storyline. So how does this one pan out? I was disappointed to be honest. There’s a major story element at the start of the game that in my opinion happened far to fast, this coupled with the often low sound of characters taking through mics meant that I wasn’t entirely aware of what was going on.

This could very well come back to bite you in ass later on in the game in terms of understanding the storyline. Fact of the matter is I was never entirely sure how one of the main characters, Alvarez, came into the game in the first place. It just wasn’t made that clear. However, I played along with the storyline and I was having a good time. There were a few frustrations here and there; unexpectedly being shot in the head and going down as I turned a corner for example. Nothing major though… until I came to the end of the game that is.

I don’t want to go into too much detail and ruin the ending for anyone but it has to be said this is one of the worst endings I’ve seen in a game. It completely ripped apart the flow of the game for me. I’ve played many Rainbow Six games from the very first ones on the PC and even on a Gameboy. I have certain realistic expectations from a Rainbow Six game and the ending to this one clearly didn’t meet expectations. I wonder if Red Storm Entertainment had been involved would the ending have been any different?

Well time to wrap this up I guess. In conclusion Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is a decent FPS, perhaps not as good as more recent ones but still entertaining. If you can get past the ridiculous end game scenario then you’ll probably enjoy the game but loyal fans to the Rainbow Six series might be a little disappointed.