If there’s one thing that the later levels of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 do well, it’s demonstrate just how hard it’s becoming to delineate between the three Tom Clancy franchises (those being Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell). The moment that this becomes clear is, ironically enough, whilst you are on a solo mission co-operating with a Splinter Cell. Whilst an interesting idea in cross promotion (especially to Clancy aficionados), without your teammates to back you up, it plays like a terrible homage to both franchises. The gameplay devolves into bad parody of Sam Fischer’s escapades, only without the crazy monkey moves.
To be fair, this level is the stand out case, and the rest of the game is typical Rainbow Six. In fact, it’s probably a little too typical, and if you’ve played the original Vegas, then there is nothing that stands out as being particularly new or groundbreaking. The gameplay mechanics are still rock solid, rappelling and fast roping in particular continuing to be a blast. Taking a leaf out of Call of Duty 4’s book, you also have the ability to shoot through thin objects (seriously, if OJs defense strategy was in here it would look like Swiss Cheese), giving you and your two comrades a small advantage over the tangos.
It’s certainly enjoyable to order your teammates around (Napoleonic complex ahoy!), and it feels like they’re smarter this time around, following your orders with a degree of aptitude usually reserved for the smartest of primary school children.
Sadly though, most of other new additions to the game make it worse. The most baffling change is the addition of a new unlockable weapon scheme, which usually makes the terrorists better equipped than you, even though you’re a member of the most important anti-terror force in the world. For example; You want an awesome bulletproof shield like the terrorists parade around the levels with? Well bad luck, you have to unlock it, and even then you probably won’t get it on your first playthrough. You also have customizable clothing options now, so if you spent the better part of the first Vegas wondering why your character wasn’t wearing a garishly colored bandana, then salvation may be at hand.
In Vegas 2, the protagonist charged with wearing your dubious choice in headgear is a Rainbow veteran named Bishop. You control a team of two other operatives, charged with taking back control of the less neon soaked parts of Las Vegas from terrorists(couldn’t we just have let them keep them?). Once the baddies get control of a couple of chemical weapons the stakes are understandably raised (as if there already aren’t enough toxins in Vegas that’ll kill you).
To be honest, it would benefit Vegas 2 if the story was ignored for the duration of this review, as I’m assuming that the script writers did the same throughout the writing process. When the story does makes sense, it’s too clichéd to be significant, and when it doesn’t it’s easier to just laugh than bother to decipher it. The characters motivations feel like they would be more at home on an episode of Gossip Girl;. Who knew that hardened anti-terrorists would be so whiny? And whose idea was it to inject a pseudo boss fight into the ending?
Set at exactly the same time as the first Vegas (circa 2010), perhaps the one that can be gleamed is that it’s interesting to see the same story from a different angle.
Although the game itself is set in the future, many of the design decisions seem entrenched in standards that where deserted years ago. Levels are but a shade of the first Vegas, CASINO GAG HERE. Oh, and special mention for the convention center level; it seems little more than a shameless chance for Ubisoft to bombard the player with non stop ads.
Worse, the levels often descend into little more than trial and error. This is exacerbated by the fact that you are still unable to save anywhere in a level, with the location of checkpoints being dictated by the developers. Seriously folks, it’s 2008, why can’t we save whenever we want to yet?
The saddest part of this is not that it frequently makes for frustrating gameplay, but it ruins the flow and immersion of the game. Instead of focusing of getting to a ticking bomb, you’re praying to make it safely to the next checkpoint.
If you enjoyed- or at least tolerated the pitfalls of- the first Vegas, then there’s nothing inherently wrong with its sequel. Although graphically the game suffers from being away from the neon lit casinos, it’s still good looking (although suffering from game killing slowdown in the some larger areas), and the merits of the multiplayer portion of the game remain largely intact. Although strangely enough, the four player Co-op has been omitted, instead the limit has been downsized to two.
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