Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2

"Versus mode rips this "tactical" game to shreds."

In this review I'm just gonna talk about the gameplay aspect of R6V2, talking about graphics is irrelevant really, they're good and it's pretty easy just to look at a screenshot on this very website. As for sounds there really isn't much notable to talk about, you know, there's the usual gun-fire sounds, accompanied by the explosions of grenades. Both sections don't really deserve an entire paragraph when anyone who has played a 360 game or shooter should know what both sections were gonna say by now. Anyway, onto the review of R6V2's gameplay:

Single Player
This is the main mode of the game, and the mode you're mostly likely to play when starting up the game. The story isn't much to talk about really, and to be completely honest; there isn't one. It's the same as any modern-day shooter out there; some terrorists have gotten ahold of a bomb and you have so many hours to stop them, same old, in other words.

This is the only mode in the game where the Terrorists are scripted, meaning they don't randomly respawn and don't just appear when they feel like it. This in term means that this mode is, by definition, the most tactical. You can plan out every movement before you take it, because the enemies are always in the exact same places.

The big thing with this game is clearing rooms, which is where the tactical aspect of the game comes into play. Before entering a room you can select the options of "Open & Clear", "Breach & Clear", "Frag & Clear", etc. So you can choose whether you simply open the door and blast everything in sight, breach the door to kill any terrorist literally right behind the door or open the door and toss a frag in there before immediately slicing and dicing those terrorists with bullets. Obviously, you'd think; "well, wouldn't frag&clear always be the best option", well, yes, but there are times when a group of terrorists are holding hostages, and the killing of ANY of those hostages means instant failure of the mission, and back to the last checkpoint for you.

There's also the implementation of a "Snake Cam" in the game, so you can peek under a door and "tag" enemies so that Mike and Jung go for those particular enemies first.

Speaking of Mike and Jung; they are your "team-mates", who are nearly always with you except for a few parts towards the end of the story. You completely order them around, you can set commands for them such as Follow, Hold, Move to selected position, etc. You can also set them to "Infiltrate" or "Assault" modes, Infiltrate will mean they will only return fire, and Assault means they'll blast any available terrorists on screen at the time.

That about raps up the story mode, it's probably the best mode of the game. It's the only mode where the whole idea of "tactical" actually comes in to play, which I'll explain in the next sections.

Terrorist Hunt
Ah, Terrorist Hunt, where would this game be without it? Well, being handed back into stores for a refund, well, for people without LIVE that is. Terrorist Hunt is the reason this game is replayable to be honest. The idea of it is that you're placed in a dubbed down version of a map and are given a set amount of terrorists to kill, and this is where the problems with R6V2 begin to shine.

The main problem with this mode is that it isn't tactical. At all. The terrorists this time around are not scripted and can pretty much appear whenever the hell they feel like it, whether it be in front of you, or behind you. They also have the accuracy of a hawk here, just imagine you are a mouse and each of those terrorists is a hawk, and you'll see what I mean. Not to mention the Snake cam isn't even in T-Hunt... way to make it even LESS tactical UBI... well done.

Essentially, they barely ever miss, if a terrorist starts shooting you then had better kill him quick, because you just never know when one of those stray bullets is gonna go into your head and put all your efforts to waste. Not to mention the terrorists can literally shoot you before they have even pointed their gun at you, although this only happens when said terrorist is using a SPAS 12 shotgun. This is the largest problem with R6V2.

For the offline T-Hunt Mike and Jung from single player are with you, and you can order them around as usual, essentially they are just there so you don't get massacred by all the Terrorists. Or, you can play it online with upto 4 friends, although Mike and Jung are not in the online T-Hunt. So that makes the online T-Hunt much more tactical than playing it offline, because you are actually relying on each other.

That about raps up T-Hunt. It's just a little pass time, to be honest. If you're wanting tactical then avoid this mode as much as possible, but if you're wanting a mode that keeps you on your toes, and a mode where you can be pretty much killed at any time then play T-Hunt.

Versus
Versus, the mode where the tactical aspect of R6V2 is completely ripped to shreds. My experience of Versus is this; a bunch of people running around, blasting the hell out of each other hoping for a lucky kill. There is absolutely NO tactics used in Versus. None. Using cover occasionally is not tactical, and anyone who thinks it is need to get a better definition of a tactical shooter.

There is a slight way to make Versus just that little bit more tactical; have a small amount of players in a match. I've found the limit of players before it gets stupid is around 6, any more and it starts to become a game where you just spray bullets at each other.

The bugs in this game don't help either, there's bullet lag, bad hit detection and the like. Bullet lag is the ability to successfully hit someone in the head with a bullet and it NOT kill them, how AWESOME is that? Not very. It gives you away, and pretty much means they are invincible as they are coming at you spraying bullets in your general direction. I've found the only way to kill when you're a victim of bullet lag is to either get lucky, empty an entire clip into their back by sneaking up behind them, or blasting them with a shotgun round. The shotgun round is the best way, as any hit from about 1-5 metres away with a shotgun is pretty much a 1-hit kill, and it has a wide range.

The other problem with this mode is lag. The animations don't match up to what you're seeing on screen, basically, you're seeing is what they were doing 2-3 seconds ago, but they're still seeing you as they should be. Essentially means they've killed you before you know it, which is why sometimes you will die without hearing any bullets being fired towards you. The only way to get out of this is; find another match, get lucky, or, like before, use a shotgun.

The lag problems wouldn't be a problem if the PING icons weren't so crap. Rather than having a PING icon why not just have something which tells you how laggy that game will be for you if you enter? Many a time I've entered a green pinged match, have it turn to red ping as soon as I enter and find I have to lose XP to leave the match simply because the PING icons are not bloody accurate enough, or don't refresh enough.

That about raps up all those modes. Bottom line is:

Most Tactical: Story mode
2nd Most Tactical: T-Hunt
Least Tactical: Versus

If you're buying the game for Versus then expect a very, very different game from what you were expecting. Only buy this game for Versus if you wish to blast some other people up with bullets while dashing around and NOT being tactical.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/12/08

Game Release: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (EU, 03/20/08)