Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Preview
The best one yet
by Liquid306
previewed on X360
Back to Vegas
Rainbow Six Vegas was released a year ago and tried to capture the feel of the fan favorite Rainbow Six 3 for the original Xbox. This time around the team at Ubisoft Montreal is trying to make Rainbow Six Vegas 2 the best one yet. It will complete the story arc set up in the first Vegas title and has an extensive stat tracking and rewards system that intertwine through single and multiplayer mode.
Single Player
You are no longer in the shoes of Logan Keller; instead you’re tasked with creating your own character who will assume the role of Bishop, a new member of the Rainbow Six squad who is flying through the ranks. Vegas 2 introduces a totally new Persistent Elite Creation system that allows you to create your character with much more depth than last year’s online character system.
The game wraps up the story set up by its predecessor and also explain the origin of it all. There will most likely be more Mexico missions to help explain things. All the terrorists aren’t dead yet so it is up to you to clean up the city. Killing all those terrorists isn’t easy so your squad is back and better than ever. The team AI is much improved; they will now take cover and advance to targets strategically. The original Vegas had some quirky AI moments where your team would run straight into gun fights but Ubisoft hopes to correct that this time around.
In Rainbow Six Vegas 2 you get to play in the deeper, grittier and older parts of the city. Fights will take place on the heavily guarded roof tops, dangerous back alleys, strips clubs and scaled residential areas. You’ll also explore the outskirts of Vegas including the convention centre, the recreational centre and a key section of the Nevada Desert.
The main theme of the series has never changed; it has always been about strategic tactical action. This experience is refined by new features such as the sprint button. Much like the recent Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, this will be mostly used to run away from a grenade’s blasting radius or moving from cover to cover. Sprinting only lasts for a small amount of time so choosing when to use it wisely is the key.
Multiplayer
The best part of last year’s Rainbow Six was by far the multiplayer. The huge draw of this mode was the ACES system that tracked everything you did and gave you points that unlocked different weapons and armor. More on that later, first I want to talk about game types.
