Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2

"Not exactly the Ace of Spades."

Vegas veterans return after over a year of waiting for another romp through Sin City. This game falls short of surpassing the first Rainbow Six: Vegas; but does well as a sequel.

Audio/Sound: 7/10

The sounds are almost exactly the same as in the first Vegas. With the addition of new weaponry, you'd expect new audio right? Wrong, there are very few new sounds that come with the new shiny death dealing devices. The music direction is top notch however. The same grandeur that came with the first Vegas returns. There's nothing like storming a theater and fighting off waves of enemies to intense opera!

Graphics: 8/10

The graphics seem to be a step down from he first Vegas, but it's not that noticeable. Some of the effects seem to be toned down a bit (Tear gas and Incendiaries), however the near death "black out" does give your ultimate doom a sense of...urgency.

Controls: 6/10

The lowest score of the game. These controls are clunky and at times, delayed. The "a" button seems to do everything, and it becomes a real hassle in Single Player. Wanna open a door? Oops, Jung and Michael are now ready for entry. Want to jump a pipe? Oops, Jung and Michael are now taking cover behind said pipe.

Gameplay: 7/10

Now we're at the "meat and potatoes" of the game. This game plays exactly like the first one. It doesn't add much to the original so it seems more like an Expansion rather than a sequel.

New to the game is the "A.C.E.S." mode (challenges ala Call of Duty 4), that allow you to rack up points that are used to unlock weapons in the respective categories. Marksman for long range/expert aiming, Assault for explosives and heavy weapons, and CQB for . . . Close Quarters. This is a nice change from the original Vegas where 90% of the weapons were unlocked from he star.

Another addition is the fact that now you can gain XP in single player/co-op story modes. Now you get something other a little badge for clearing through the story on Realistic.

Other than those two major additions, the game is mostly the same with a few tweaks. Terrorist hunt is a lot more fun, you can now tell your AI team-mates to through grenades whilst not stacked up, and some of the monotonous "defend Jung/Michael while he hacks/disarms the bomb" segments are not nearly as irritating as the first one. While the game adds new features, and tweaks the faults with the first Vegas, it actually steps backwards in the AI department. Your allies are even more useless than in the first Vegas. The enemies will still run at you blindly if you're taking over, and the AI is just lacking. After playing a game like F.E.A.R. (October 2006), seeing the same AI as I saw in Socom II and Halo 2 is just upsetting.

Story: 8/10

It's Tom Clancy, the story has to be good right? Correct...to a point. After the cliffhanger ending of the first Vegas, you'd expect to continue as Logan looking for the "villain" who escaped you previously, right? Wrong. You now play as Bishop, Logan's "teacher", in a pseudo side story. Most of the game takes place during the first Vegas' opening level. You get to see how Vegas became overrun by these gun toting terrorists; which would be fine if it wasn't a sequel. It isn't until the second to last level that you actually see the "villain" and begin pursuing him. The story is told in a great way, despite the flaws timelines.

Multiplayer: 9/10

Did you adore 20 minute Attack and Defends on Calypso Casino? if you did, you're going to be disappointed at first glance. Calypso unfortunately does not make a return, nor do most of the Vegas 1 maps (Kill House Redux, Streets and Presido do return). They added two new game modes: Total conquest (a game mode similar to Call of Duty 4's Domination or Battlefield 2's Conquest mode), and Team Leader (similar to Halo 3's VIP mode). They removed a few game modes as well: Survival, Team Survival, and Retrieval. Attack and Defend was tweaked around as well, there is now a maximum of 3 respawns per game, and package extraction isn't nearly as common as in the original. After playing a while, these changes do not seem as bad as the first did. The new maps are actually pretty fun, the 4 lives in A&D force a certain amount of...strategy now. The multiplayer is where the game really shines.

Longevity: 9/10 if you have Xbox Live, 5/10 if you don't.

The multiplayer is just as addictive as the original; but the single player mode seems very short, about 6 hour to beat it on Realistic on Co-op.

Try it or Buy it?

If you loved the original, buy this game now. If you didn't like the original, give it a rent. If you haven't played the original; go buy it you cheap bastard, it's one of the best games the Xbox 360 has to date.

Final Score: 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/31/08

Game Release: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (US, 03/18/08)