Rainbow 6 Vegas 2
Severe tests of agility both mental and physical in this wholesome follow-up to one of last year’s finest. Toughen up, and you’re gonna love it.
Army blokes running around carrying lotsa guns, shooting their enemies in the head, chucking grenades, occasionally driving a jeep if the FPS in question allows; it has been done to death we know. But by design, and not at all accident, the Rainbow Six series has remained a cut above the rest since its PC debut in 1998.
Before you click away thinking ‘Not for me, not on your Nelly’, hold that trigger finger over the mouse a second. Long enough for us to blurt that, okay Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is the original school of hard knocks, but given time – unless you’re strongly anti videogame-shooting of any kind – this game will blow your damn socks off.
Approaching this preview, we feared that R6V2 would be not much more than Rainbow Six Vegas with a few more bells and whistles. They could’ve delivered this and the hardcore fans would’ve been happy enough. But far from it, and as truthfully promised, R6V2 has received a complete system overhaul to make you feel more connected to the action – both the drama, and your role within it.
It’s a stiff challenge right from the first mission, we won’t kid you otherwise, but the do or die nature of R6V2 is worth taking on the chin for the reward of an uncanny sense of participation. Realising that clumsy mistakes will seldom be tolerated, especially ignoring that you are part of a crack team, each situation feels like a situation and you’ll find yourself taking stock of every detail within view to pull through.
Body armour will absorb a few obvious mistakes, and you’ll ‘magically’ recover health after taking a taking a small battering, but progress is made in R6V2 literally steps at a time. This is true of the R6 series as a whole, but in this latest mission your every move is rated according to a new ratings system. In addition to the excellent military ranking theme from previous games, the debut of the ACES (Advanced Combat Enhancement and Specialization) system really deepens the experience as Commander Bishop, heading up Team Rainbow going after the terrorist Alvarez Cabrero and his improbable, though spectacular, lock down of Sin City.
The ACES system tracks gameplay style according to Assault, Marksmanship and Close Quarters Battle tactics. Successfully storm a room after chucking in a flash-bang grenade and you’ll add to your Assault experience. Take out several enemies from distance and / or with head shots and Marksmanship is acknowledged. Close-range take downs, you guessed it, bolster your QCB rating. Each area can be maxed out at a rating of 20, and you’re rewarded at each stage with a new weapon or piece of armour appropriate to your preferred style – sniper rifles for Marksmen, silly-power pistols for CQB, and so on.
We’ve survived as far as a night club and its underground car park for the purposes of this preview. We’re on the brink of Mission Three, from a possible Five. Without doubt there has not been a lazy moment; the game has terrific pacing which suggests that the creative team have been testing this thoroughly for pain / boredom thresholds. We’re not especially hardcore into our first-person shooters here at Yahoo!, though we play them all. The one-player Story Mode easily beats Halo 3 for keeping you held within a vice-like grip that encourages skill over chance. You only get to enjoy the fireworks if you learn when to keep your head down.
We’ll talk more about multiplayer in our review. But for now, we have to say that joining Rainbow Six in Vegas is a trip worth considering.
