Viva Las Vegas Baby!!!!
Rainbow Six Vegas is the newest installment in the long running Rainbow Six franchise; it also reinvents the series for the new age. It has reinvigorated the series by including the most intense combat sequences ever seen in a tactical shooter, whilst pitting you up against some of the smartest AI seen in any game. Add in an enthralling multiplayer experience and you have one of the most complete tactical shooter packages available to date.
The Single Player campaign will have you play as Logan Keller, leader of a Rainbow counter-terrorist team who has been called to investigate a terrorist cell lurking in Mexico. Things go bad for Logan in his first assignment and what follows is the multiple and coordinated attacks on various fictional casinos in non-other than Viva Las Vegas. Your aim is to stop the terrorist from killing millions whilst discovering how they managed to coordinated these various attacks without any cause for alarm or suspicion. The plot includes the same structure and plot twists found in any recent Tom Clancy game, unfortunately it is short and it lacks any real conclusion. The short coming of its story is easy to look past, as Rainbow Six includes some fantastic combat sequencesthat will engage as you progress through the single player campaign.
In previous games in the franchise, your strategy has normally been a steady as she goes approach. Rainbow Six Vegas turns this philosophy completely upside down, by adapting a more forgiving health system seen in games such as Call of Duty 2 and Gears of War. It also contains a cover system similar to Gears of War and uses a third person camera angle to present this. These mechanics work well together as you can storm into a room take out a couple of enemies, take a few hits, find cover and prepare yourself for the remainder of the battle. But don’t think that you can enter each room blindly, as your fellow team members will rely on you to gather the appropriate intelligence, by using the snake cam to pinpoint enemy locations beyond each door.
The AI does a fantastic job at controlling your team mates, very rarely is there any navigating problems and they are always smart enough to find the nearest cover if you accidently place them out in the open. The command interface is identical to the one used in the more recent Ghost Recon games, but there is also a variety of context sensitive actions that are used such as “stacking up” against doors, rappelling down buildings and “fast roping” from an overhead rail or rooftop. These actions really do give you a sense that you are an elite and agile counter terrorist soldier and these simple mechanics set Rainbow Six Vegas apart from the standard tactical shooters found in the marketplace today.
On top of its intense tactical combat sequences, Rainbow Six Vegas also showcases the most incredible and photo-realistic visuals seen on the 360. Each casino is unique in its layout but features all the bright lights and noises you would expect to hear and see. The Rainbow units and terrorist character models look, move and interact with the environment with excellent realism. Selected objects within the game are destructible and use every bit of detail to show it. Blowing up slot machines has never been as satisfying, as you may think you have hit the jackpot with the amount of coins flying out of the machine when presenting it with some form of explosive.
The sound quality of the weapons and explosives are incredible realistic, but they don’t break any boundaries when it comes to realistic shooters. The voice acting, however, doesn't come close to the quality level seen in other aspects of the game. It has a real hoo-ha-ya, I’m in love with my own voice feel, with lots of unnecessary shouting from both the Rainbow units and the terrorists. There are moments when the voice acting does take itself seriously, as you will get some helpful communication by your team mates as to where they are, when they are reloading and when they ready to enter a room. But for the most part of the game you will probably pay more attention or laugh at how they say their words rather than what they say.
Whilst it won’t take you that long to play through the single-player mode, there is plenty of replay value when you add in two difficulty levels, the ability to play the campaign cooperatively offline and online and other online components. These components include your standard deathmatch, team deathmatch, elimination modes, retrieval mode which is the Rainbow Six Vegas take on capture-the-flag and there is also the Terrorist Hunt mode which places terrorists around the level randomly and your aim is to eliminate all terrorists in the level.
One of the most interesting features of the multiplayer aspect in Rainbow Six Vegas, is the Persistent Elite Creation tool. The P.E.C enables the user to create a character that will represent them in the multiplayer modes. Whilst this may be nothing new, one of the interesting features of the P.E.C is if you have an Xbox Live Vision Camera, you can scan your face and put it in the game. Whilst it may not do your good looks the justice they deserve, it doesn’t make you look like a monster either. Your P.E.C will also keep track of all the matches you play and as you progress, you will gain experience and increase in rank over time. You will also unlock new weapons armor and clothes to customize you character with as you progress in rank. And with most of the achievements focused around the multiplayer portion of the game, there is an incredible depth here that will keep you entertained well past completing the single player portion of the game.
Rainbow Six Vegas is an immersive tactical shooter that will attract fans and newcomers alike. Its intense combat sequences coupled with the enjoyable, deep and highly customizable multiplayer modes, makes Rainbow Six Vegas one the most complete shooter packages available on the market.
The Single Player campaign will have you play as Logan Keller, leader of a Rainbow counter-terrorist team who has been called to investigate a terrorist cell lurking in Mexico. Things go bad for Logan in his first assignment and what follows is the multiple and coordinated attacks on various fictional casinos in non-other than Viva Las Vegas. Your aim is to stop the terrorist from killing millions whilst discovering how they managed to coordinated these various attacks without any cause for alarm or suspicion. The plot includes the same structure and plot twists found in any recent Tom Clancy game, unfortunately it is short and it lacks any real conclusion. The short coming of its story is easy to look past, as Rainbow Six includes some fantastic combat sequencesthat will engage as you progress through the single player campaign.
In previous games in the franchise, your strategy has normally been a steady as she goes approach. Rainbow Six Vegas turns this philosophy completely upside down, by adapting a more forgiving health system seen in games such as Call of Duty 2 and Gears of War. It also contains a cover system similar to Gears of War and uses a third person camera angle to present this. These mechanics work well together as you can storm into a room take out a couple of enemies, take a few hits, find cover and prepare yourself for the remainder of the battle. But don’t think that you can enter each room blindly, as your fellow team members will rely on you to gather the appropriate intelligence, by using the snake cam to pinpoint enemy locations beyond each door.
The AI does a fantastic job at controlling your team mates, very rarely is there any navigating problems and they are always smart enough to find the nearest cover if you accidently place them out in the open. The command interface is identical to the one used in the more recent Ghost Recon games, but there is also a variety of context sensitive actions that are used such as “stacking up” against doors, rappelling down buildings and “fast roping” from an overhead rail or rooftop. These actions really do give you a sense that you are an elite and agile counter terrorist soldier and these simple mechanics set Rainbow Six Vegas apart from the standard tactical shooters found in the marketplace today.
On top of its intense tactical combat sequences, Rainbow Six Vegas also showcases the most incredible and photo-realistic visuals seen on the 360. Each casino is unique in its layout but features all the bright lights and noises you would expect to hear and see. The Rainbow units and terrorist character models look, move and interact with the environment with excellent realism. Selected objects within the game are destructible and use every bit of detail to show it. Blowing up slot machines has never been as satisfying, as you may think you have hit the jackpot with the amount of coins flying out of the machine when presenting it with some form of explosive.
The sound quality of the weapons and explosives are incredible realistic, but they don’t break any boundaries when it comes to realistic shooters. The voice acting, however, doesn't come close to the quality level seen in other aspects of the game. It has a real hoo-ha-ya, I’m in love with my own voice feel, with lots of unnecessary shouting from both the Rainbow units and the terrorists. There are moments when the voice acting does take itself seriously, as you will get some helpful communication by your team mates as to where they are, when they are reloading and when they ready to enter a room. But for the most part of the game you will probably pay more attention or laugh at how they say their words rather than what they say.
Whilst it won’t take you that long to play through the single-player mode, there is plenty of replay value when you add in two difficulty levels, the ability to play the campaign cooperatively offline and online and other online components. These components include your standard deathmatch, team deathmatch, elimination modes, retrieval mode which is the Rainbow Six Vegas take on capture-the-flag and there is also the Terrorist Hunt mode which places terrorists around the level randomly and your aim is to eliminate all terrorists in the level.
One of the most interesting features of the multiplayer aspect in Rainbow Six Vegas, is the Persistent Elite Creation tool. The P.E.C enables the user to create a character that will represent them in the multiplayer modes. Whilst this may be nothing new, one of the interesting features of the P.E.C is if you have an Xbox Live Vision Camera, you can scan your face and put it in the game. Whilst it may not do your good looks the justice they deserve, it doesn’t make you look like a monster either. Your P.E.C will also keep track of all the matches you play and as you progress, you will gain experience and increase in rank over time. You will also unlock new weapons armor and clothes to customize you character with as you progress in rank. And with most of the achievements focused around the multiplayer portion of the game, there is an incredible depth here that will keep you entertained well past completing the single player portion of the game.
Rainbow Six Vegas is an immersive tactical shooter that will attract fans and newcomers alike. Its intense combat sequences coupled with the enjoyable, deep and highly customizable multiplayer modes, makes Rainbow Six Vegas one the most complete shooter packages available on the market.
