Enter Rainbow Six Vegas, the latest installment to the Rainbow Six collection which takes you to, you guessed it, Las Vegas. After a not-so-brief “training” mission in Mexico, your character, Logan Keller, must fight terrorists trying to ruin the fun. Your mission is to stop the terrorists and rescue the city from mortal destruction.Sounds simple enough? It’s three Rainbow operatives against thousands of terrorists, all of which are packing serious firepower, and won’t line up to get shot. They’ll outthink you if you aren’t careful, so watch your back.
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| It's almost a shame how much is destructible, especially when the casino looks so nice | Shoot first, ask questions later. Unless they're unarmed, in which case get ready to start over |
Vegas is really one of the greatest tactical shooters around. Its realism is astounding. From the weapons selection to targeting to AI, it’s safe to say that this is a great push towards realism in games. Save for the new health system and the painful checkpoint saving feature.
Of course, this also means that Vegas is hard as hell, regardless of difficulty setting. The enemy is too smart for you to just run and gun, let alone being slow and tactical. If there’s a hostage, being too loud will trigger them to shoot the hostage. If you shoot one guy, the other will alert the room of our presence. They’ll converge on your position and that’s it. Nighty night.
There are a few issues with the AI though. If you try to run away, they’ll never find you, which brings into question their intelligence. Occasionally, closing the door on several terrorists, waiting, then re-opening it will show them dancing in place. They weren’t actually dancing, just stuck. Though it’s good for a laugh or during a terrorist hunt (especially being the only one left), it isn’t right.
Multiplayer isn’t as streamlined as Gears of War, but it works nonetheless. But if you want to play through and see the storyline, you’ll have to do it with your AI buddies. Thankfully, the command system is pretty easy to learn and it’s very accommodating Options include using the D-pad, A button when looking at the action, or voice command (which has improved since Rainbow Six 3).
The real clincher is going up against of team of your fellow human beings. Obviously the ultimate opponent, victory will almost always require teamwork, strategy, and of course, a quick trigger finger. Rambo wouldn’t have survived in this world.
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| Don't do this. Spread out but keep tabs on all your teammates. Dominate the opposition | Positioning yourself correctly at a room full of baddies can make or break the game |
But before starting a match, you’ll have the chance to customize your character. Whether its armaments, clothes, armor or looks, no two customized characters are the same. (You can also use the Vision camera to use your own face as well.) Picking how heavy your armor is and the color of your clothes can change how gameplay works for you, so be careful. The heavier the armor, the slower you move. And if you’re wearing pink…
Unlike previous Rainbow Six games, Vegas requires you to gain experience points to get a hold of the finer weapons and armor, as well as more ‘colorful’ articles of clothing. Don’t worry, powerful weapons are already available, so going up against a higher ranked player won’t be any harder than playing against an equally ranked player. On the same note, no more experience points are earned from playing against higher ranked opponents either.
The most notable feature is the use of cover. Like Gears, cover is crucial, but not in the same way. Many people complained about getting stuck on cover in Gears, but that doesn’t happen in Vegas. Fluid and intuitive, cover takes the place of leaning from Rainbow Six 3.
The similarities between RSV and Gears seem great. Both use the Unreal graphics engine and the cover system, but the gameplay is excruciatingly different. Best said by Paul Curthoys of OXM: “Think British accent for Rainbow, and Brooklyn for Gears.”
Some of the changes were big letdowns though. Not being able to use IR (infra-red) to see an enemy standing next to a door was exchanged with the snake cam. The regular four man team is down to three. Opening doors slightly doesn’t work anymore, only opening and closing them completely.
Another issue was how weapons didn’t aim well on their first shot. Guns are fine tuned for precision, regardless of how accurate the weapon may be. The first shot depends on the user, not the gun. In the hand of a trained professional, there should be no issue. So why does the sniper rifle miss when using a 12X scope on a non-moving target?
The only thing worse than missing that no-brainer shot is having the game freeze on you. As the 360 is technically a computer (with a Microsoft operating system, no less) freezing is expected. People have complained about it, though the problem occurs mainly due to overheating. However, if I had a quarter every time Vegas froze, I’d be able to use parking meters for the rest of my life without getting change.
A cool but almost useless feature was using the fast rope to rappel into a building. The AI is just too smart to fall for those silly Rainbow antics. But in multiplayer, it works wonders, especially in the attack & defend game type. Whether you’re hiding or need a quick getaway up or down some stairs, use the rope.
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| Helicopter rides seem to be the fancy of Ubisoft developers. So is looking over the city | Make sure to hold onto the fast rope, otherwise you'll become good friends with a Dodge of some kind |
Practically the opposite of a run-and-gun game, Ubisoft delivers another hit with Rainbow Six Vegas. Though not the strongest in the series, it definitely fits. Suit up and take Sin City for a spin.
Top Game Moment:
TOP GAME MOMENT
Being the last surviving rainbow in a terrorist hunt and successfully taking out 5 terrorists with one grenade, and winning the match.
