Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas

"Arguably the best game in the series yet"

After the disappointment that was Critical Hour, it appeared that the series had been progressively going downhill since the release of the generic Lockdown, and it seemed likely it wouldn't be long before Ubisoft decided to can it. Luckily the latest instalment Rainbow Six Vegas saves it from this sad fate and is arguably, the best game in the series yet. How so? Read more to find out…

Story

Story wise the game is a definite big step-up from the franchises previous outings. Gone are the bland and boring text-driven mission briefing scenes from some of the previous games, and have now been replaced with a far more dynamic system. Now, you'll be flown towards your next mission via helicopter which serves as the game's mission briefing, before your given the option to fast-rope down leaping into action. During the game you'll be fed Intel from your command contact through your radio, this keeps the story going at a nice pace.

As for the actual storyline, the story uses every Hollywood action cliche you can think of, yet, still manages to be somewhat acceptable, and while not particularly interesting the plot still manages to meet my standard… but only barely. The plot is fairly average and typical for a shooter of it's type. In Rainbow Six Vegas you'll step into the shoes of newly appointed Rainbow Squad Leader ‘Logan Keller', with the previous Rainbow Six Protagonist ‘Domingo Chavez' now appointed as the organization's director.

At first the story seams quite promising throwing you into Mexico with two squad mates as you blast your way through the terrorist-infested streets of Mexico, when predictably you and your team mates are cornered stripped of your weapons and locked up, but you however manage to escape and rendezvous with your helicopter. The story gets a little bit more involved once you arrive in Vegas, but eventually it pretty much all comes down to “There's a bomb hidden somewhere in Vegas and it's up to you and you squad to disarm to it!”. Not exactly triple A materiel.
5/10

Graphics/Visuals

Visually the game is very good, despite a few flaws. The lighting is excellent and environments are nice and varied and look very nice at a distance although, here we come to my first gripe with the games visuals. The textures. Most unfortunately, RSV, is really lacking in terms of textures and be honest, the textures really do look painfully average in most situations. My second gripe is with the games character models. While at a distance the models do look particularly nice, but as you come in close the textures tend to break up and look to be brutally honest average at best. Cutscenes are particularly hilarious as half the time characters don't even appear to make eye-contact with your character.

Even more unfortunately as an attempt to prevent slow-down or a significant lack in frame-rate, the games graphics have been slightly toned down during the games multiplayer modes, but in the single player campaign, the game is visually very impressive. Now that I've got down my few gripes with the games visuals, I can still definitely say that for the most part Rainbow Six Vegas does look exceptionally good.
7/10

Sound/Audio

In terms of sound the game excels particularly well. From the sounds of bullet fire to the large extravagant explosions, Rainbow Six Vegas's sound quality is well above average. The voice-acting though is unfortunately quite a mixed-bag though. Some roles have been executed quite well others though… definitely could have used a bit more time. The soundtrack is fitting, although there's hardly anything memorable.

Sound: 7/10
Music: 6/10

Gameplay

Thankfully the game's excellent gameplay definitely makes up for all of it's flaws in other categories, and by golly, is it good. While it might appear there isn't a big change in design from some of the previous titles, there's actually a significant change in gameplay from the previous titles. Like the other games in the series, Rainbow Six Vegas is a tactical FPS relying heavily on team work, strategy and in this latest instalment, cover. The game now has a cover system that's actually quite simular to the likes of Gears of War. When in cover the games camera zooms out into an over-the-shoulder third person view allowing you to lean in and out of cover delivering fatal headshots with ease or also like Epic's futuristic shooter you can also use blind fire, but with an unfortunate great loss in accuracy.

The squad-based commands in single-player are also implemented perfectly. You can easily command your squad members by pointing your aiming crosshair over your desired location and tapping the A button. The game also uses a very simplistic but innovative tagging system that allows you to look under doors using a ‘Snake Cam', selecting targets and the order you want your squad mates to take them out, before giving them the command to barge in and execute.

Probably one of the coolest and most original features how rappelling has been implemented. You now have ability to rappel down the side of building, tagging enemies, before dramatically swinging breaking through the windows for a surprise attack. Or you can hang upside-down, pistol in hand and stealthy take out your enemys unnoticed.

The game‘s campaign, while fairly linear, is still quite a fun, especially your playing co-op. The AI is a mixed bag though, as I did experience a few moments when I stood in front of an enemy gun in hand, while he stood with a blank expression completely oblivious to my existence. But for the most part though, yes, the AI is decent. Multiplayer is definitely the games main selling point and even now while the game's community isn't nearly as active as it was a few years ago, should still be able to find games without a lot of difficulty. The multiplayer modes are fantastic, although don‘t expect to many new things on offer. There's the standard teams death match and free-for-all modes as well as capture the flag modes and a variation of the Terrorist Hunt mode from the previous games.

The amount of weapons Ubisoft have crammed into the game is staggering, from Submachine Guns to Assault Rifles and Shotguns to Sniper Rifles, all of which are customisable with Scopes and Silencers to improve accuracy and range.
9/10

Controls

The control scheme has changed rapidly from the previous games, granted the new changes in gameplay. It's simple to move your Rainbow Six operative with the Left Stick, aiming with the right. Shooting as you would expect is handled with the right trigger while moving into cover is mapped to the left trigger. You can reload with X while holding it brings up your weapons options, you can also use gadgets (eg: Frag Grenades, Smoke Grenades), by tapping the B button. A is used to control your team in the single player campaign and the Left button or D-pad, can give you additional team orders. The Y button will allow for the switching of your main weapons and holding it allows you to select your weapon while on the go. The Right button is used to switch vision and the back button is used to tag enemies.

The game's controls feel very tight and responsive, although they may take a bit of time to get used to by long-time fans of the series.
9/10

Now for a quick revision…

Story: 5/10
Graphics/Visuals: 7/10
Sound: 7/10
Music: 6/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Controls: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

Pros

+ Excellent Multiplayer.
+ Campaign; good fun, especially when playing in Co-op.
+ Great tactical gameplay; cover system rivals the likes of Gears of War.
+ Tight Control System.
+ Environments & Lighting effects are nice…

Cons

- …it's just a shame most textures are awful.
- Story, very cliched, and thus fairly average.
- Voice acting; could have been a lot better.
- Soundtrack is fitting, but hardly memorable

In Conclusion

Rainbow Six Vegas has by far the most solid gaming experiences in the series so far and definitely makes up for the disappointing last few games in the series. While it's more than a little flawed in some areas, Rainbow Six Vegas makes up in it's excellent design choices and tactical FPS gameplay. An excellent buy if you're craving a new tactical shooter or a fan of the series.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/10/09

Game Release: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (US, 11/20/06)