Feature: Staging Part One

Alright, so this is what we've been up to outside our reviewing games/playing games/going to school life. We've basically been turning Tom's garage into an office, or as I like to call it... a fort. So this is part one, expect part two to be uploaded tommorow, and then maybe part three... then four... and you get the point. Here is the link.

P.S. - Sorry I had to put a link here instead of the video, the blogger.com sucks and YouTube seems to throw a tantrum at videos over 10 minutes. I hate YouTube... *starts mumbling insults whilst walking away from computer*.

*Edit: I have posted the video here so you guys CAN watch it here ;)*

--360Stage--

Review: Rainbow Six: Vegas 2

Gameplay: 8
Sound: 8
Graphics:8
Value:9
Overall: 8.7

The Good:
· Confusing controls of the first Vegas game have been refined
· Drop-in co-op system makes ‘Realistic’ difficulty a little easier to manage
· Still totally brutal online
· Levelling system allows you to collect Exp in Online, Offline and co-op

The Bad:
· Texture pop-ins are still frequent
· Frame rate drops are abysmal in the last mission

The infamous name of Tom Clancy. It seems as though every game with his name on it sells like hot cakes. In terms of the Xbox 360, we’ve have G.R.A.W. Double Agent, Rainbow Six, and a sequel for one of those already. Now it’s time for the sequel of Rainbow Six Vegas, with the aptly named Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Obvious, I know, but the Rainbow games aren’t really known for their imaginative titles. In fact, they’re not known for being imaginative at all. Instead, they provide a realistic, militaristic experience and for anyone who enjoys that sort of shebang, Vegas 2 will provide the satisfying next instalment which adds nothing major to the series, but instead, a bunch of little nuance gameplay mechanics and online tweaks which help to streamline the experience in both offline and online areas.

After the cliff-hanger ending of the first Vegas, a lot of people were left feeling unsatisfied about where the story was going, and so Vegas 2 attempts successfully to wrap up the loose ends left in the first game, which ended with renegade soldier Gabe making a dramatic exit in his helicopter, leaving you, Logan, far behind. In Vegas 2, you play as a retired Rainbow officer called Bishop who is brought back into action after claims of terrorist attacks on Vegas. The story in Vegas 2 is actually pretty good, for a military shooter, and as it turns out, the bomb isn’t the main focus of the game, which is refreshing to see. As we all know though, the narratives are never the selling point of these games, although the conclusion to Vegas 2 is pretty awesome.

So as the title of the game suggests, Vegas 2 is set in Vegas. Mostly. The beginning of the game sees you five years in the past floundering about in the snow in France. This serves as a really nice opener allowing you to get a hang of the controls, which are pretty complicated, although far less so than in the previous game. It also serves as a nice little story opener and explains a whole tonne of stuff which players of Vegas will find useful. After that you’re shoved into the present over guess? That’s right, terrorists and another bomb scare. Over the course of the 10 hour campaign you’ll travel through the seedier areas of Vegas, including a Strip club and a Penthouse apartment, which is a good change in direction over the glitz of the previous game. Some of the more interesting environments you’ll get to fight through include a monorail station, and a convention centre, which is plastered with MLG and Far Cry 2 advertisements. Thankfully, it’s not too invasive, because it’s in a convention centre; it would be a different story if they were plastered all out in the countryside somewhere.

Lets get down to what really matters about Vegas though, the gameplay. Vegas 2 sees some small, but much needed changes to the button configuration on the 360 pad which makes the game a little easier to get a hang of if you want to just pick it up and play. The largest difference is on the Left Bumper, which used to be the button you used to change the way your AI teammates play, which has been moved to the back button and has been replaced by the all new sprint function, which really changes the pace of the game. Quite a few people’s main complaint with the Rainbow games of the past was that they were too slow. People like to shoot dudes in the face, and the older games didn’t let you. Now, you can play the game how you want to play it. If you like to run and gun, you might not be able to go in as crazy as you’d like, but by sprinting around, you’ll at least be able to speed up the pace of the game. If you’re a diehard tactics guy, you’ll be able to play as an orthodox Rainbow player. It’s weird isn’t it? Adding one little thing into the game mixes it up so much that it will probably attract a whole bunch of other players who would never normally play anything that comes near to being a tactical shooter.

In terms of what you’ll be spending your time doing in the single player, expect much of the same from previous games in the series. If disarming bombs, rescuing hostages and repelling down the side of buildings aren’t your idea of fun then you’re not going to have a good time in Vegas 2, which tends to stick close to the trodden path provided by every other Tom Clancy game. That said, as I mentioned earlier, the ending of the game reminds me of nothing that I’ve seen in any other military shooter, but instead something more like that of Far Cry.

There is one cool thing about the campaign that separates it from other Rainbow games of the past and that’s that you can play it through co-operatively for the first time in Rainbow history. Previous to this you were limited to Co-operative Terrorist hunt online (more on that later) and so to be able to get a friend to play along with you as one of Bishop’s teammates Knight is a neat addition and makes Realistic difficulty (if you dare try it,) a tonne easier, which is good, because there’s a whole 75 Achievement Points for completing it.

An integral part of the Rainbow Six package is the multiplayer. Vegas 2 is no slouch in this department, adding two new adversarial modes, ten new maps and an all new XP system. The XP stuff doesn’t seem like it would fit into a game like this, but I guess a game like Call of Duty 4 proved that experience fits into even the most unlikely places. Anyway, it fits surprisingly well, allowing the player to gain XP by getting plain old kills, or by getting bonuses from the A.C.E.S. combat system.

A.C.E.S. stands for Advanced Combat Enhancement and Specialisation which basically means that you get an XP bonus for fulfilling certain criteria. These are split into three categories: Marksmanship, Assault and Close-Quarter Battle. Doing well in these specific areas will get you huge XP bonuses which unlock new weapons, armour and clothing. Along with all of this, there’s the ability to make a custom character using the 360 Vision Camera, just like in the original Vegas, except this time, you’ll be able to play as them in the Campaign as well as in the multiplayer portion of the game, which is pretty neat.


I think you’re beginning to see that Rainbow Six Vegas 2 doesn’t do anything revolutionary, but it does make a couple of really cool changes which bring the title in line with its competition. What’s nice to see though, is that the series isn’t afraid to adapt to enhance the overall experience, and I think that with the option to play the game a little faster, Vegas 2 will appeal to a whole new audience.

--Tom Rhodes, 360Stage Editor--