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The Rainbow Six games have enjoyed a long and fruitful time on PC and the various home consoles over the years, and it's probably safe to say that if you are looking for a tactical shooter, then the Rainbow games should be your first and last port of call (beyond the other Ubisoft tactical games such as Ghost Recon and more recently the GRAW games). The Rainbow games have offered gamers a heady mix of tight close quarters combat, fused with a realistic element, yet remaining fun all the same. Early iterations of the game have provided gamers with lots of depth, which for many is perhaps a little too complicated, such as the mission planning and detailed outfitting. For purists, these features are probably what engages players the most, but it seems the developers have opted to cater for the masses, whilst trying to appease the hardcore few.
Whether you are on the hardcore side or not, Rainbow Six was enjoyed immensely on last generation platforms such as Xbox and PS2 and with comprehensive single player campaigns with team AI to order about, and an influx of modes for the online adversarial modes, Rainbow Six 3 and Rainbow Six Black arrow were probably the two games to bring the series to the masses; a perfect match up for the Xbox Live service, and enjoyed by many.
We'll skip forward a little here, as subsequent releases failed to capture the spirit of the previous games, to the extent where they came under a lot of criticisms to the point of being rejected by the hardcore and to a degree the mass market. All eyes were on the developers coming into this generation of consoles, and with GRAW being a showcase tactical game for the system, fans of the Rainbow Six games, were left wondering how the then next generation version of the series would pan out.
In November 2006 our questions were answered as Red Storm unleashed what could be described as one of the best Rainbow Six experiences to date. For the purists, the tactical planning elements had been stripped and looked like they weren't going to come back; however in Rainbow Six Vegas we we're introduced to new character Gabriel Logan, as opposed to Ding Chavez who had headed several of the previous games in the series. With two team mates to work with, the trip through Mexico, the Las Vegas strip and many other locales in SIn City offered a highly engaging and entertaining shooting experience. I for one was saddened by the non returning planning and team outfitting, but on the other hand was suitably impressed with the game that I didn't care any more; and I think most people would agree, that in 2006 Rainbow Six Vegas was one of the best shooters around.
Sadly, the end game finished on a cliff hanger, with the main villain getting away by helicopter and leaving you and the team to eat dust and humble pie. This approach annoys gamers, simply because with no closure, you feel like you've not had the complete experience. Luckily the cliff hanger ending also meant that a sequel was on its way, and when last year it was announced there was a proverbial sigh of relief, despite some tentative remarks about the length of the development time being rather short.
Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is due out in March 2008, which isn't long at all, and so many are correct in asking whether the game is going to offer a complete experience with enough new features to make it stand out from its predecessor. As informed by Ubisoft Montreal's Phillipe Therien (Game Designer), the team felt that they had made a great engine with the first game and that all what was needed were some new additional features to the package to make it an improvement, rather than having the desire to rewrite the whole game. I think you can probably agree, that this is acceptable considering the high standard set by the first game.
The single player game will weave in and out of the first story line and will mean that once again well start out in Mexico (as new guy Bishop), and work our way through some new areas of Vegas itself beyond the glitzy casino areas. We're told, we'll get to experience the gritter side of Vegas this time round, and we'll also have a better explanation of the scenarios we'll be thrust into. There will be more interaction with NPCs such as cops and other units and for the investigative players, you'll be able to see visual cues to what happened in an area prior to your arrival on the scene. The developers are hoping this provides a more rounded cohesive story telling element, where the gamer feels more a part of goings on rather than just the go guy!
For the single player, there's some improvements made in that this time your team mates will act more intelligently to the environment. In the first game, they tended to act like lap dogs and do exactly what you would tell them to, even if this meant an untimely death as they moved into a hot zone. This time, the team AI will use leapfrog techniques, whereby one teammate will move to the nearest point of cover whilst the other provides suppressive fire, then the other will move to the next point of cover whilst the other teammate provides support, and so on. This is a far more realistic approach, and should mean the team will not walk into incoming fire without a care in the world. What is more, you'll will be able to order the team AI to throw grenades and such like outside of stacking up at doorways - obviously some care is going to be needed here as bad planning will no doubt result in a team KO.
The single player enemy AI has had some tweaks too, and most noticeably will be with things like leaving parts of the body exposed whilst ducking behind cover. In the first game, this meant that crack-shots could easily shoot an exposed limb for an easy kill, well not in Vegas 2. The AI might still leave a toe poking out, but if shot at, will immediately move to rectify the problem.
The enemy AI will also have more of a hierarchy and some sort of differing personalties, distinguished by their audio cues. On one hand you will have the Rambo no nonsense types who will try and overpower you by rushing and flanking. On the other, you'll have guys who sit back and hide, then catch you out when you think the area is all clear. Then there will be others that will bark orders and organize the team more effectively against you. Obviously taking these guys out will give you a tactical advantage. On another note, the enemies will be better equipped than before, packing more firepower and using more grenades and things like night vision goggles, so that team Rainbow loses a little of its advantage.
One major overhaul of the single player experience is in the cover system, which has been revised so that most objects (bar concrete and brick) can now be penetrated with gun fire. This plays an important role in the game, as it means the team and enemy AI will take the security of cover into consideration in any standoffs. This also has a bearing on how the player navigates the levels, as choosing the wrong cover will mean a gruesome death for the team lead.
Another aspect of the single player game is the fact that this time the whole campaign is playable in co-op (the 2nd player takes on the character Knight), which means you and a friend can drop in and out of each other's games at will. This is an excellent feature and means that the PEC (Persistent Elite Creation) can also be used in the single player campaign. The host will be able to control the two AI teammates in co-op games so it's not just going to be the two players.
The PEC mode added much personality to proceedings in Rainbow Six Vegas, but was strictly limited to the online portion of the game. The PEC mode is now effective in all areas of the game and has been tweaked so that you are rewarded with the items you need depending on how you play the game. The system uses ACES ( Advanced Combat Enhancement Specialization) which rewards you on your tactical actions. There are 3 areas in which you can be rewarded CQC (Close Quarters Combat), Marksmanship and Assault. If you are an assault player, then you'll get rewarded with assault type weapons, if you are a little more ranged then you'll get new sniper rifles and such like. For those who like it up close and personal with things like flash-bangs and shotguns then you'll get this type equipment. It's more balanced and means you can focus on what's important for your play style. What is more the scoring is on the fly which means you can rack up points during missions rather than having to complete them first.
The online adversarial modes are most certainly back in full effect and this time features the usual Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and domination modes, but also some new modes such as Demolition which is the same as counterstrike with some slight adjustments. Yes, you can set it so that respawns are on or off, and when the bomb carrier is killed means that the opposing team can then defend the area where the bomb is dropped to prevent its recapture. This makes for some tense shootout moments. If the bomb team are able to get the bomb to the clearly marked areas (A or B) then they have 60 seconds to defend that area before the bomb detonates for a victory.
The other mode is a variation of the VIP game where one person on each team is selected at random to be the VIP and the objective is to get the VIP to the extraction point. However, unlike other VIP game types, if the VIP is killed it's not game over for the team, but simply means you have a lesser chance for winning, as the only route to victory is to wipe out the entire opposing team. There's certainly some tactical play to be had here, as when I was VIP I tended to hang back and try and sneak towards the extraction, away from the main hot spots - using the new sprint feature to make dash to the extraction point.. This worked well, but obviously players over Xbox Live will wizen up to these tactics and leave defenders in this zone.
The maps themselves are just as you would expect with one being a villa and the other a rather cool expo centre with lots of points to climb for tactical advantages. The element of penetrable cover makes its way into the online mode as well, and means players who don't remain aware of where they are hiding are going to get shot through the walls!
The gear that you can equip seems to use the same formula as before with things like caps, masks, jackets,armour and other upgrades for your weapons. Theres a lot of new stuff here to mess around with and it should help make the experience more personal. As far as gear is concerned there is also the option to select which load-out you will use which includes, Sniper, Assault, Demo and Recon. These can be selected at any time during rounds and means you'll be able to change your style on the fly without too much fuss.
After playing the multiplayer portion of the game, it feels very familiar and in a sense it feels a lot like Rainbow Six Vegas 1.5. However, as mentioned earlier, the game needed some tweaks rather than an overhaul, and from what I can see, the developers have done just that. The graphics in multiplayer are still not as good as the single player, but that's to be expected here anyways. I think once the game launches this March, most Rainbow Six fans are going to be very happy indeed as the game is most certainly an improvement in so many ways.
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