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A couple of years ago, Ubisoft brought the seedy world of covert ops and anti-terrorist training into the bright and glitzy world of Las Vegas. The original Rainbow 6 Vegas opened a world of stealth and steady hands to a larger audience through the introduction of a cover system. Having just come out on the heels of Gears of War, the cover system in Vegas opened up a whole new world of ducking behind assorted barriers while still being able to assess the situation. It was a brilliant move for the Rainbow 6 team to introduce a new system into an aging franchise. I only wish time had been as kind for this go around.

Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 brings back the solid tactical action that personifies the series. Instead of the flashing lights of bustling casinos, players look for the nefarious element in the dank corners of Las Vegas’ back streets. Even with An improved reward system in place and more customization as ever, Vegas 2 still feels as though it fell short of hitting the jackpot.

Shuffle and Cut

With the rouge member, Gabriel, missing and Logan, the main character from the first game, preparing to track down the traitor to settle the score; you would think that Vegas 2 would pick up from the “To be continued…” sign with guns blazing. This is not the case. With a new face and a smarter team, you work your way through the back story of the original game and then finally to that fated climatic showdown. The decision makes sense from a design point of view to give you a new character that you can mold and shape into your own fighting machine. Vegas 2 is more about developing your character and not your plot points.

From the very beginning, you start making your character your own creation by choosing face, outfit, and even gender to take into the blazing Las Vegas heat. Armor means protection as well as restriction. The more you pad out your parts; the less you’ll be able to run for cover. While choosing to wear a tank top and leather pants to take out villainy is bold fashion choice, not all choices matter the same way. Knowing that I just unlocked a new cameo design is fine, but knowing that putting it on will actually do something would be better. Beyond the characters esthetics, Vegas 2 expanded their experience system to include the single player campaign and introduced a new way to unlock weapons with the A.C.E.S. system. 

Pocket ACES

Advanced combat enhancement specialization (A.C.E.S.) smoothes out the rough edges between single and multiplayer campaigns. Players earn points in one of three areas (marksman, close quarters, or assault) by completing specific tasks that targeting these aspects of combat. Sniping from a distance will earn you a couple of marksmen points. Taking down an opponent while his back is turned gives you a couple of points for close combat. These points can accumulate in any mode in the game, single or multiplayer. Items become unlocked by earning points in any one of the areas such as a better sniper rifle for marksmen.

After awhile, you’ll find your marksmen points racking up while the other two attributes lag behind. It’s the nature of the game, really. Rainbow 6 has never been about close combat or blasting your way through any situation. Slow and steady wins this race, but a good scope doesn’t hurt either. The ACES system was built on good intentions but reaping the returns from close quarters or assault can feel more like work than reward.

Betting on the Flop

The new content for Vegas 2 such as the ability to tag enemies through the snake cam makes busting down doors a tactical art form of efficiency and deadly precision. The high polished shine of solid mechanics often reflects the flaws within the design. Enemy AI fluctuates from mid-air spawning meat shields to hypersensitive commandos willing to throw a grenade as soon as their terrorist’s senses start tingling. Worse yet, the awkward pacing of the game isolate the attacks into small pockets of action. By the last levels of the game, you’ll be able to pick out every enemy trigger before they go off.

One can only suspend that disbelief so high while walking through some of these campaign maps. I am supposed to be a part of an elite squad trained to do anything to accomplish my mission, yet a bench can stop me in my tracks. Too many times through the game a small fence or waist high debris blocked a perfectly viable path in order to funnel my team through a set path, and more than likely, directly into danger. When you’re in the middle of a firefight and you have enough space to move, the action works. It’s the feeling that you’re walking between set pieces that really pulls you out of the game.

Playing with a Full House

Let’s face it, the real threat to Western Civilization aren’t terrorists waiting for the metro outside of Circus Circus. The worse of the vile cretin jabber on headsets. Vegas 2’s multiplayer takes your well-worn trooper and throws him into your standard fare of multiplayer matches.  New this time around is the VIP mode that allows one member of the team to be what else, the VIP.  With a slight twist, the VIP acts as the spawn point for your team. Lose him and you’re out of lives. Anyone the VIP takes out stays out for the rest of the game. Multiplayer is solid, and with a couple of new additions, will keep players in sin city for some time to come.

Having a friend join you in the story campaign is quick and easy; both online and on the couch. Unlike the four-player teamwork of the first game, Vegas 2 only allows for one other friend to help you through the campaign, but you get to keep your two-man computer controlled squad. This might not be a bad deal since the friendly AI knows how to cover each other and clear a room effectively… which is more than I can say about my online teammate. There’s a drop-in/drop-out system that allows a friend to play with you any time without affecting the game. Going in with a buddy, however, has its problems. Mainly, towards the end of the campaign, co-op split screen turns this action title into a slideshow. We eagerly await a patch to fix this problem, but until then, I’m going in alone.

Beating the Spread

Times have changed since the last time we went terrorist hunting in this desert city. The first-person shooter genre has made leaps and bounds in both gameplay and graphics. While Vegas 2 shows definite improvements over it predecessor, one cannot help but feel as though the title could have used another couple of months to get that Caesar Palace showgirl shine instead of coming out like a Caesar Palace cocktail waitress. It’s the little things like calling my female officer “sir” to some of the bigger issues such as single-player level design that could have been fixed with a little more tweaking. Still, Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 presents a solid shooter with enough new tricks to keep the fans of the series betting on it for some time to come.

Review by: Jess Reed