Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas

"(Single Player Review) The tense firefights and solid squad AI make Vegas one of the best tactical shooters ever."

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas must be the first game in the series to ever mix action and realism in such an expert way. The excellent battles you'll get into, and the way you can go about ending them, is a lot of fun, due largely to your squad's ability to stay alive and pick off targets faster than you can react.

Graphics: - 9

Ok, so you'll be surprised by the first level in the game. It takes place in one of the dusty brown slums in Mexico. Now those of you who have played Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter will be treated to a deja vu, cause you'll be inserted into the battlefield by helicopter, in almost exactly the same way as in that game.

You'll also be able to view the impressive landscape before you while in the chopper, and comparisons here with Ghost Recon end in favour of Vegas. The pop up here is almost non-visible, and the only problem that concerned textures coming into sight out of thin air was in the first Vegas levels, where the cars and buses lined up in the streets just popped into view about 30 metres away. The irritatingly bright sunshine that restricted the view in Ghost Recon is also absent, and so is the blurry night vision. Here, the greens are much sharper, and you can see stuff much more clearly.

The game will take you through neon lit Vegas streets, dark casinos, and a dam as well. The levels show a great amount of detail, and slot machines and other casino contraptions spew, when shot up, start spitting out coins at an alarming rate. Red dominates Vegas, and this can make objects look dark even with the night vision goggles equipped. The stages are large enough for the gunfights you'll get into.

However, during scenes of heavy action, the frame rate can go down from being smooth to rather choppy. Its rare, but noticeable. There was this one occasion where one of my Rainbow operatives was able to shoot a terrorist through a wall. It never happened again, but I was astonished such a thing could still happen. Also, NPCs look horrible, and are covered in really strange skin textures.

The same cannot be said of your teammates, however. Their cool black armor and weaponry are displayed in amazing detail, and their animations are excellent (check out the way they move when you order them to clear a room). Also, unlike in Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, your squad is solid, that is, you won't clip through them when you bump into them or such. The revival animation is a little odd, as the syringe doesn't move after you plunge it into the guy's body, even though he's constantly shifting his limps.

Audio: - 9

Well, all the sound effects you'd expect from a shooter are here, with realistic booms and blasts from the various guns and grenades all present here. The character you play, Logan, doesn't quite express his emotions naturally, and they sound forced, and rather lame.

The squad is voiced nicely enough, with shouts coming from your teammates informing you of them reloading their weapons, while thuds of metal on concrete add to the mess of sounds. The music, while fitting, is forgettable, but is usually lost in the shots and bangs.

Gameplay: - 9

As leader of the Elite counter-terrorist squad, you'll be commanding two other team members. I'd like to say here that adding one more member would've made the game even more playable (albeit a little easier), as I find flanking alone to be pretty difficult, cause there's no one to cover your back. Frequently, I've been blasted from the sides or the rear while turning through an intersection. With the Rainbow AI being so good, another ally would have greatly helped in more efficient enemy takedown.

What is so good about this AI? Simply, its their extremely good marksmanship. In almost every room clearing situation, I've had to take advantage of my allies's greater reaction speeds, cause the terrorists come attacking from many angles, making it very difficult for me to shoot them all down. Your team mates will storm in, fill a tango with just the required amount of lead, then go on to the next target, all in a swift procedure. They'll also spot enemies quicker than you, prompting you to take cover. If commanded to a good spot, they'll become near invincible, as they can take cover behind objects very well.

That's not to say that they are perfect. They'll have a hard time trying to shoot people in strange positions (such as people who are right at the edge of their cover spot, or those that are at point blank range). Sometimes, they'll screw up, and be eliminated in the most unsatisfying manner (I had them killed by a single shotgun wielding guy, who had been hiding in the distant corner of a room I had them try to clear. My men apparently missed him, and ran and stood right in front of the guy, while he pumped their ass with pellets).

Situations like these become more prevalent in the later levels, where cover points are placed in weird locations, with the terrorists having the advantage of better positioning. However, overall, they still get their job well done, and its your job to get them in the right place, at the right time, so that they get to mow down terrorizing fools with ease.

This isn't your regular shooter, as in, you won't be peaking around corners in sniper-mode, trying to find your targets. Ubisoft implemented a nice cover system, which allows you to stick yourself with some piece of the environment. From here, the view changes to third person, and you are able to see what's around the corner, without having to expose yourself to unnecessary enemy fire. If you spot any tangos, you can pop out and drop them with minimal exposure, and then go back behind cover again.

The system, while executed with style and precision, has a few flaws. Firstly, blindfiring is extremely inaccurate, and even getting the bullets to hit a target a couple of feet away is a chore. You'll have to empty your whole magazine out if you are to kill him. This has resulted in many game-overs, when I was not able to quickly finish off the guy rushing me.

Also, at times, while you are behind cover, you may find yourself flanked. Now, logically, to kill this guy, you can shoot him from behind cover, without having to show yourself to the terrorists in front of you. However, when you point the gun at him, you are still exposed to those at the front side. A disappointing death, to be sure.

Commanding your squad is easy, as you only have to point your crosshair at the destination you want them to go to. Turn it on a door, and you can have them stack up, ready for a normal clearing (or those that have a breaching charge or frag grenade precede the clearing). Highlight a corner, and they'll take cover behind it. This simplicity is really helpful during the hectic battles you'll fight in, as you can proceed with a hassle free execution of tactical combat.

The missions are pretty linear, and you'll be rarely confused as to where to go next (a handy realtime map also shows the location of visible enemies). Sometimes, the regular 'reach location A' objectives are replaced with the 'escorting a VIP' guidelines, which aren't as fun, mainly as you have to take care of a guy without a gun.

Being a more 'realistic' shooter, the game doesn't not encourage run-and-gun tactics, as you will get flattened if you run across an open area. On the normal difficulty, you can survive a few bullets, but on the realistic difficulty, taking cover will be of utmost importance, as, quite often, one shot will take you back to the game-over screen.

However, the frustration is much lower than in Ubisoft's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, where you had a life bar to look after. Here, taking damage makes your screen go fuzzy, and if it goes black too, you are dead. Life can be regained by avoiding enemy fire for a few seconds. This way, the game can be made much more difficult, and this method is much more preferable than the health pack system.

You'll also be able to do some Sam Fisher techniques, like rappelling off roofs while still being able to shoot and using a snake cam (which allows you to see what's ahead of a door).

Other than that, the game plays like any respectable FPS, with all the guns packing a wallop, and appropriate grenades (with the surprising exclusion of the tear gas from the list of weaponary). Gameplay wise, this title rocks.

Value: - 9

Great value, as the levels have multiple points of entry, and you can vary your cover points to see how the firefights play out. Enemy locations also change, if they feel like flanking or such.

Overall: - 9

Get this game if you are a fan of tactical combat, or just a Rainbow fan. I've read many of Lockdown's reviews, so this game will be a breath of fresh air, I suppose. If only the team AI was a bit more polished, I'd have given it a 10 in the gameplay department.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/07