Developer - Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher - Ubisoft
Available on - PS3, 360, PC

The non-stop party culture portrayed by Las Vegas is one to tempt most, an all-night city of glitz, glamour, and… guns. Set against the lush vibrancy of Vegas’ party life, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 again strikes chaos upon Vegas, ushering in our Rainbow team once more to assess and eliminate the terrorist threat.

If that sounded cliché, that’s because it damn well is. Considering the quantity of Rainbow Six games so far it’s not surprising to find another realistically convincing, yet technically limited espionage based shooter. While I state this with such whimsical air, I should also point out I never played the first Rainbow Six Vegas, or most the 346907234069 other Rainbow Six games, so I had a little to learn here.

And learn I did. As I rapidly ran guns blazing into the first room of the game to receive a barrage of life ending bullets, memories of the very first Rainbow Six game (the last one I played) came back to me and how often I died back then. RSV 2 takes itself quite seriously, a little too seriously in fact with the stock selection of hardened motto-sprouting American’s flaunting their urbane gun use.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is a first person shooter that places large emphasis on situational evaluation and team command management. The story this time is played out through the eyes of Bishop, our customizable player character and his ebony & ivory partners. It’s these guys job to enact any command uttered by Bishop, yet do absolutely nothing unless.

The AI is a pretty mixed bag in RSV2 mainly due to the fact that it plays such a significant role in the game. Every situation should be assessed in mind of your two comrades who are quite competent in advancing, covering and clearing out entire rooms of terrorists. What they are incapable of though, is any essence of individual thought, most often when not instructed, these team mates will simply do nothing at all, standing beside a door watching you take fire until you specifically tell them to move out and attack. They’re quite lucky then that when I do give commands, they perform them well. The enemy AI have obviously quite similar performance patterns, advancing and approaching rooms in a similar manner to that of your team mates.

So while our comrades are quite capable of clearing a room of tangos blind-folded, their distinct lack of any brain leaves it up to us to do the thinking, a surprisingly fun change from pointless gun-toting.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 loves to set up scenarios. Often you’ll approach a room to find multiple entrances, emphasizing appropriate team positioning when advancing and appropriate choices on whether to flash, clear, or frag grenade your way through. With such an emphasis on evaluating your approach, I wish RSV 2 got a bit more technical in environment interaction. A set variety of commands are available at hand allowing several methods of approaching a room, but this also emphasizes all the other ways you COULD enter the room, but simply can’t.

A few obvious approaches will spring to mind as you issue your teammate to frag and clear the 402nd room. Why can I only issue both my team mates to the one door, not one on each? In fact, every command is always for both team mates, you can’t give individual orders. Why do I have heat sensing goggles when I can’t even flick or shoot out a light? Smoke grenades are supposed to create the appropriately impeding veil for the heat seeking goggles, but this is really the ONLY way they’ll ever be used (apart from naturally dark environments) limiting this items use to the one pre-meditated situation, as opposed to manipulating your approach based on the environment.This is just one example of what you’ll notice missing from RSV 2. With such a realistic approach, the technical limitations of the game design can show through.

At the same time, RSV 2 incorporates a lot of features to seriously add to the realism of the adventure and it’s done well, with the sound and Vegas backdrops creating an authentic experience. Authenticity may pinnacle when Bishop has to shoot his way through the site of the Major League Gaming tournament but so will your tolerance for in-game advertising. Perhaps some slack is in order, as the original RSV was the first XBOX 360 game to enter the Major League Gaming Tournament. Also remember to watch your ammunition clips, each reload uses a clip in it’s entirety, as opposed to merely depleting the ammo required to fill your existing clip so don’t be too hasty with the reload button.

Realistic damage meters are misplaced against wavering difficulty, with Bishop being brought to a stop by one shot alone far too many times. You’ll have enough checkpoints and autosaves to save a lot of backtracking, as many situations in RSV 2 can only realistically be approached with some trial-and-error. Continual objective markers ensure progress is never off track, it’s like walking down a clear path on a bright day, until you walk into a bear trap still fully loaded with a live-and-kicking Grizzly Bear.

The experience earning system in RSV2 ties your profile between single player and multi, with progress in either adding equally to the same bar. Leveling up opens new weapons and armor to use in either game mode. Multiplayer is an enjoyable affair, with a focus on stealth and quick-paced shooting as player kills are achieved quickly with minimal bullets. You’ll want a natural fondness for the realistic and difficult mechanics of the single player campaign to survive in multiplayer and be a serious contender, but a few matches here and there can be some quick fun.If you’re into realism, stopping and thinking for a bit, then wiping out a room of terrorists, then I can’t see why Rainbow Six Vegas 2 wouldn’t be a blast. Although limited to it’s prescribed abilities, what is on offer serves well enough at creating a convincingly realistic squad based experience with tight difficulty keeping you on the edge of your seat. Don’t expect much of a story besides the usual bomb-terrorist-bomb situation, but a solid engine with enjoyable multiplayer makes RSV 2 a lengthy and convincing experience.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2

77%

The Good -

* Realistic action for a convincing experience.
* Competent engine sporting some great graphics.
* Multiplayer and Terrorist Hunt add longevity.

The Bad –

* Difficulty can get way out of line.
* Stock standard characters, story and dialogue.
* Somewhat limited and repetitive.