Another Tom Clancy game and I'm having difficulty remember which games this is. Let me check the box again. Oh yes: Rainbow Six Vegas 2.

Terrorists are on the loose, and there's a bad cliffhanger waiting to be resolved. For those few who care-yes, it is. The story isn't interwoven throughout the action very well, but it is resolved. A bunch of levels flash by you like a repetitive background from a car-driving scene in an old movie, followed by a few lines of barely audible dialogue. This happens quite a few times until "Ta-da!" A resolution. The simple, chalky buildings and environments aren't immersive. Even with the Unreal 3 engine, the models, walls, floors, windows, and even vehicles look tired, exhausted, and dated.

The gameplay in all modes is a little more tactical, but the differences are minimal-Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 allowed for a lot more variety. The maps are not cleverly designed, especially considering that Ubisoft has made better. The few times where a choice was available, a support specialist in the background usually speaks for the only time in over an hour of playing and says "Hey, it looks like there are two doors to this room, but there is really a third, barely different way that leads to these guys from behind! You can shoot from the window." This is supposed to represent the team's technology, but to the player it represents poor level design.

If RSV2's rehashing isn't bad enough to make the game a disappointment, the unoriginal attempts at improvement by emulating Call of Duty 4 certainly are. Most apparent is the leveling system. In story mode, you design your character from a 8 set faces and facial-hair styles and then use this character in both story and multiplayer modes. A nice plus is that you gain experience during single player, even after death, which won't make you regret not jumping straight into online play. The leveling system does little for the game, though, as the weapons, armor, and camouflage gained mean little difference in strategy. Also from Call of Duty 4 (and, to be fair, from other games) is the ability to sprint. This is supposed to make RSV2 an entirely different experience, but it doesn't. For one thing, you can't sprint without strafing. Secondly, the speed isn't that high, especially if you're wearing heavier armor; you're still slow. Unlike Call of Duty 4, going out into the open still means certain doom, and sprinting does little to prevent easily being killed by the enemy unless it's from one stack of boxes to another-provided its 10 feet away.

Little else has changed for multiplayer. The online community is thriving-if you're wondering if all the people from the first Vegas or from GRAW 2 have migrated here, the answer seems to be definitely.

Despite sprinting, a leveling system, and other attempts to emulate Call of Duty 4, Vegas 2 not only fails to measure up to its biggest competitor, it barely measures up to its predecessor. This game has been 18 months in the making and there's little to show for it. Is the multiplayer good? Yes. Is it very different? No. Is the plot resolved? Yes. Are the enemies and teammates still pretty stupid? Yes. Do your teammates have more grenades than you, even though they usually won't throw them except for when it's a flash in the door? Yeah.

What reason is there to get this game? Not much. It doesn't feel like Ubisoft released Rainbow Six Vegas 2; it feels more like they released Rainbow Six Vegas 2009.

May 28, 2008 | 0 comments
Michael Walbridge