Philippe Therien on Rainbow Six Vegas 2: A “thank you” to the fans of Rainbow Six Vegas

Many, many gamers have been eagerly awaiting the release of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2, sequel to the hit 2006 “shooter of the year” title, Rainbow Six Vegas. I got a chance to chat with the wonderful Philippe Therien, game designer with UbiSoft Montreal all about Rainbow Six Vegas 2, what’s new in this addition to the Rainbow Six franchise, the 10^th anniversary of the series, and much more.

Jade: Philippe! I’m super grateful that you’re taking the time to fill us all in about Rainbow Six Vegas 2. So, what’s the game about?

Philippe Therien, UbiSoft Montreal: Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is a true sequel to Rainbow Six Vegas. And the reason that it’s a sequel and not an expansion is because the game is packed with new features. It’s actually a bigger game than Rainbow Six Vegas. It’s longer, it has more levels, it’s got better AI, better graphics, a fully new co-op mode, and a whole new A.C.E.S. system. So this game is drastically different from the first one, while still being familiar.

Jade: Being a sequel to a very popular title, was it difficult to decide what to modify from the original game and what to leave as-is?

Philippe: When we looked at making Vegas 2, we really had to sit down and decide what we were going to work on. A lot of the things we decided to work on were what our fans wanted us to work on. We looked online, we spoke with some people, spoke to gamers. We actually went on Xbox LIVE playing and speaking to people – what do you want? What would make the game better? And that’s what the A-list features were for Vegas 2 ... it’s what people want.

Weapons were requested, maps were requested, game modes, improvements ... that’s all been done for our fans. If we could sum up Vegas 2 basically we’d say that the game is a thank you to the fans of Vegas 1.

Jade: You just mentioned that one way that you gather feedback is by playing online with fans. If people have feedback, what’s the best way to get it in front of the developers?

Philippe: We check the forums and we go online a lot, but the best way for people to be heard is really just to make intelligent posts. If people go online and they have something smart to say, go for it. Beause we do look. Even though we don’t personally respond everywhere, because that would take way too much time, we do a lot of reading. So, when we come across these forum posts that are really well thought out and give us good feedback, then it usually ends up as a feature in the game. Some of the new feedback that we had for Vegas 2 was just so interesting and unique, some people might directly recognize their suggestions in the game. Literally!

Jade: That is really, really cool. I hear that more and more developers are taking fan suggestions on board.

Philippe: The way we look at it is that when you make a game, the community is really the developers and the fans. We want to make the game with them. We’re the ones that have the tools, we’re the ones who have the production capacity to do the game, but we’re making it for them. So, why not just work together ... to a point. Obviously, we can’t have fans involved in every aspect of production, but as far as what goes in the game, then yes, absolutely, we go in there, we see what people are looking for and we take that feedback to heart, a lot.

Jade: When was the decision made to make an RSV sequel?

Philippe: Very shortly after production on Vegas 1 ended, we decided to make a sequel. We knew there were a lot of things that we could have done after we finished the game, we had more things to say about the Vegas story, so we really wanted to push this even further. If you’ve played Vegas 1, you’ll know the story ended on a bit of an odd end. Vegas 2’s ending is a lot more satisfying. You go, catch up to Gabe, and it’s satisfying.

Jade: How does this sequel build on the original storyline? How does it differ?

Philippe: Well, the way the story works in Vegas 2 is you’ll get to see before Vegas. So you understand why it all happens. And then after that, you’re going to see what happened while the team was in Mexico. So, it gives you a sort of parallel.

Jade: Four player co-op in the original RSV was amazing – what’s going to be different with co-op this time around?

Philippe: The co-op was interesting, but we felt we could do a lot better in Vegas 2. So we revamped everything.

First of all, the entire single-player story mode is playable in co-op. So you’re not missing out on any scripted events, anything. Everything is there. The only difference is that we’re only allowing two human players for co-op this time around. The reason for that is, in the first one, it was more “terrorist hunt” with the story tacked on to it, rather than real co-op. The real co-op is dual entries, it’s action made for four people, so, because you have a player with two teammates and you’re playing co-op second player, you have your four people there. So, for us, it was just better to have the action controlled in that way.

Jade: So you will still have a party of four? Two human-controlled characters and two NPCs?

Philippe: Two humans, and two NPCs. The first player controlling the AI. If you do want to play co-op with four people, you can try Terrorist Hunt, that’s got four people, if you just want to go hunting, you still have that, and it’s lots of fun. But the co-op mode is completely integrated in the single-player. It’s really important to mention that, because we’ve never done it before.

Not only that, the entire levelling system that we had in Vegas? It’s present in co-op and single player as well now. So no matter if you’re playing online or offline, you’ll always level up your character.

Jade: What’s new with the versus multiplayer? Anything unique that RSV2 will be bringing to Xbox LIVE?

Philippe: Multiplayer had to get some love, obviously. So, we added a game mode called Team Leader. Team Leader is a lot of fun. One player on each team becomes the leader, and how you win the game mode is either by reaching the extraction point with the leader, or killing the enemy leader and wiping out the entire team. The thing that happens with that is ... as long as the leader is alive you get respawns. So, that’s really tricky for the game mode. Also, the two leaders see each other on the HUD, so communication is really important. This game mode changes all the time. You could sacrifice your leader to use them as bait, while you flank the other team. You could have the entire team following the leader. So when you see the leader come round you never know where the rest of the team is. So it’s a lot of fun, and it’s always changing.

The other game mode we added is called Demolition. It’s kind of Bomb from Counter-Strike, but we added a lot of stuff to it. The way the game starts is attackers have a bomb in their room, they pick it up. Whoever picks it up has to go place it. Once they place the bomb, the location is going to light up on the HUD. So the defenders know exactly where the bomb is. So the defence part is really important. We really wanted to focus the action. It’s a 60 second timer before the bomb blows up, defenders have to defend, and attackers have to attack, obviously. Another trick that happens though, is if the attackers get shot and the bomb falls on the ground, the defenders will see where it is on their HUD, so at that point, when you lose the bomb once, then the game can really change, because the defenders will try to go and camp the bomb to prevent the other side from taking it. And it can be really tricky.

Jade: That brings up a good point ... how big are these maps?

We’ve got anything from the small maps we had back in Vegas to some really large ones again. We tried to have a good variety. A lot of the maps are good for playing four on four, and some of them are really good for eight on eight.

Oh, one other really cool thing about the maps. Because it’s our 10^th anniversary, and we’ve got such dedicated fans, we added some maps from all the way back from Raven Shield in multiplayer.

Jade: The 10^th anniversary is a HUGE deal. Is there anything else you’re doing to mark the 10^th anniversary of the franchise?

Well, we had a big party. *laughs* It’s really cool for us, because, with Vegas, we’ve really come around with Rainbow as a franchise. It’s really come around on it’s 10^th anniversary. It’s reached a lot more people, and we’re really happy. The community is so much bigger, there are so many new fans, that we’re really happy about coming out with a game that is going to make people happy. As much as I can’t say there’s a specific feature that’s for the 10^th anniversary, it’s the entire game. It’s a party for us and for the fans.

Jade: I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with me – is there anything else that you’d like to share with the Xbox community?

There is one new thing about the game that’s really cool, it’s called the A.C.E.S. system. The A.C.E.S. system does two things. It’s how you unlock the weapons in the game, and it lets you level up faster.

When you play the game, depending on how you shoot the bad guys, it’s going to give you points in either one of three categories: close-quarters, marksmanship or assault. So, depending on how you play, you get points.

And it’s really simple. For example, if you’re the type of person that always plays close-quarters with a shotgun, the game is going to see that and reward you with a weapon that you can use. It’s not the kind of game where, if you play a lot with your shotgun, for example, you get rewarded with a sniper rifle, which you don’t care about, toss it away, and never use it again. The game doesn’t do that. So the whole A.C.E.S. system rewards you that way; gives you a weapon you can actually use because that’s how you’ve been playing for a while.

So, if you’re a really good gamer, you know what you’re looking for, you say “I want this weapon specifically,” then you know what to do to get it. If you’re a little more of a casual person, you’re not too sure what you want, then you just play, and the game will just give you a weapon that feels good for you.

Thank you so much, Philippe, for taking the time to speak with Xbox.ca and sharing your insider scoop on Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2!