Return to Sin City

Published March 19, 2008

When last we left the Rainbow team in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® Vegas, we learned the nefarious Irena Morales wasn't working alone, and indeed, former teammate Gabriel Nowak was operating as a mole inside the Rainbow team.

Cover is your friend. Find some!

Where fans found dismay in the "To Be Continued" that closed out the first game, they can now find cause for celebration as Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 continues the hunt for Morales's terrorist partners, and we can only hope, the pursuit and eventual capture of the treasonous Gabriel Nowak.

Tactical Foundation

For those unfamiliar with the series, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 follows the exploits of the international Rainbow Six counter-terrorist team. You'll find no super high-tech gear or unrealistic weaponry here as the Tom Clancy series is grounded firmly in reality as a first-person tactical-shooter.

The Thermal Scan operates on a timer, so you'll need to be strategic in determining when to use it.

While Vegas 2 operates much as you would expect a first-person shooter would, the bulk of your success is centered not just on your twitch reflexes and precision aiming, but also on your use of group tactics.

For example, clearing a room filled with terrorists holding hostages requires a great deal more thought than simply busting down the door and opening fire. Rather, you may need to:

• Order your teammates to take up position outside a door.
• Use your snake cam to recon the interior, using thermal or night vision to get a clear look at enemy and hostage positions.
• Use LB to "tag" enemies in order so your teammates know which targets to prioritize.
• Order your team to flash and clear while you breach through a nearby window from a rappelling rope.

Luckily, all these various mechanics are tied entirely to context-sensitive A button commands and the D-pad. Want your teammate to disarm a bomb, use a rappelling rope, unlock a door or use a ladder? Just point at the item in question and press A. Likewise, when your teammates are prepped for action, it's the D-pad that will order them to flash and clear a room, breach a door, rappel downward, climb upwards, etc.

Go go go!

Vegas Refined

While the core gameplay remains largely similar to what brought legions of fans to the Rainbow Six series in the first place, there are a few new features and mechanics Ubisoft Montreal has brought to the Vegas party.

• Persistent offline and online: Where Rainbow Six Vegas rewarded players with experience points for every kill in multiplayer Adversarial modes, Vegas 2 takes the Persistent Elite Creation feature a step further. Now, no matter what game mode you're playing offline or online, you'll earn experience points to unlock ranks, and more importantly, new gear and weaponry with which to outfit your custom character.
• Run soldier, run!: Though it may seem a small feature, you can hold down LB while moving to sprint forward for a brief period. Few features have ever offered such instant gratification as you can now rush forth to new cover a great deal more secure in your relative safety. Likewise, avoiding a grenade's explosive radius, catching up with enemies, and retreating are all a great deal more feasible.
• What cover?: No longer is all cover created equally in the world of Rainbow Six Vegas. If your enemy is hiding behind plywood, sheet metal or any other similarly flimsy item, you can be sure that your bullets will pierce through to deliver their load.
• Hot swap co-op: The newly polished cooperative mode in Vegas 2 allows friends to jump in and out of your game seamlessly. Better yet, the co-op experience includes all the story elements and cut scenes found in the offline single-player mode, so you won't miss a thing.
• Thermal Scan available: The new Thermal Scan ability introduces a short-term minimap to the screen, highlighting nearby enemy locations, and even tracks their movements during the scan's duration. While absolutely essential during the game's tenser moments, the Thermal Scan operates on a timer, so you'll need to be strategic in determining when to use it.

Just another day at the office.

For many Rainbow Six fans, it's the multiplayer adversarial matches that make the game, and with new game modes, twelve maps, improved matchmaking and a good deal more, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is set to deliver everything Rainbow fans could ask for. Look for our multiplayer blowout feature soon to break down all of the game's online features.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 stays true to the realistic, heart-pounding gameplay that earned the series its popularity in the first place, while introducing a few exciting new features that fit seamlessly with the game's tactical foundation. Enjoy your time in Sin City!

Article by Ryan Treit