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I love Rainbow Six: Vegas. It doesn’t share the same tactical and strategic depth as the first three Rainbow Six titles but it’s a fun and accessible cover shooter that lets you run around Las Vegas and shoot terrorists. It offers flashy action in a cool setting. By today’s standards, Rainbow Six: Vegas may seem like a standard cover shooter with a simple command system but the mechanics are solid, the gameplay is fun, and you get to shoot up luxurious casinos, hotels, and restaurants, and that’s awesome. It also spawned a sequel. Developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in March, 2008 and PC in April of that same year. For this review, I played the PC version. I did download and install the WFVM Mod which supports both Vegas and Vegas 2. It fixes issues with viewmodels and adjusts the field of view for widescreen presentations.
Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 acts as both a prequel and sequel because events in the story take place before and concurrently to the events in Rainbow Six: Vegas as well as continue where things in that story left off. The player is put in the shoes of Rainbow operative, Bishop. The story opens with Bishop leading a hostage rescue operation in France and then the plot fast forwards to modern day where Bishop’s team is deployed to Las Vegas to investigate the smuggling of chemical weapons into the city. They run around Vegas killing terrorists and defusing bombs and as the story progresses, the connections to the events of the first game become more clear. You will get more out of the plot if you’ve played the previous game and the story isn’t bad. It’s not amazing but I was interested to see how things played out. Overall, it’s a decent action tale. Much like its predecessor, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 strays far from the series roots, taking a Hollywood-style approach to the action with Vegas as the primary backdrop.
Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 is a cover shooter and all the mechanics from the previous game are present here along with some additions and refinements. You can sprint now, command your teammates to throw grenades, and activate a thermal scan of the area to see where the bad guys are. The player gets to decide on Bishop’s gender and appearance and outfitting has been expanded. There are more weapons to choose from and you can change Bishop’s clothes and armor, and the armor will affect protection and mobility. Vegas 2’s story can be played cooperatively and the game does come with a multiplayer component but I didn’t get to try either of these so this review will focus on the single player.
One big new thing here is the Advancement system. Bishop can earn experience and get promoted to higher ranks. The game also features a separate advancement system where Bishop earns experience in different categories based on the methods used to kill enemies. Promotions and leveling up categories both result in unlocks including new armor, camo, and weapons. Furthermore, your character’s progress and unlocks carry over to the other game modes. Basically, it’s the kind of game where you earn experience by simply playing and will unlock things as a result. It’s somewhat addictive and a nice way to keep players coming back.
Once again, you are accompanied by two AI-controlled teammates throughout most of the story and Vegas 2 features more of the same satisfying action and gunplay. Weapons have good audiovisual feedback, muzzle flashes are bright, and firefights typically result in things breaking and exploding, enemies shouting, blood will splatter, and bodies ragdoll. Some enemies carry shields and bullets can penetrate thin materials so you can shoot enemies through cover. It’s all good stuff. Weapons can be equipped with attachments like different optics, laser sights, and suppressors if you want to take a quieter approach. The AI of your teammates has been slightly improved, they can cover each other as they advance to locations, and I enjoyed using them to suppress or distract enemies as I would flank them. The game also gives you plenty of opportunities to clear rooms from multiple locations and even elevations. For example, you can command your teammates to clear a lower floor, while you clear the upper floor or simply cover them from above.
While I think the gameplay is an improvement over that of its predecessor, I can’t say the same for the locations. Don’t get me wrong, Vegas 2 features great level design with multiple ways through areas and rooms and you’re typically given multiple options in terms of how you want to deal with threats. That’s all great and makes for fun and exciting action. However, many of the actual locations the game takes you to are not quite as exciting as those in the previous game. When I think of Vegas, I think of casinos, hotels, restaurants, bright lights, glitz and glamor, the chance to win big – a city that can wipe a person out financially in a single night. I don’t get any sense of that in Vegas 2 because it doesn’t take you to many luxurious and flashy locations.
Yes, there’s more to Vegas and Nevada than just a bunch of casinos in a desert. But in an action game like this, I want the full tourist experience. I want to shoot my way down the strip, be surrounded by bright lights and the rings and dings of slot machines as I engage terrorists in firefights, and I want to paint the walls of luxurious hotels with the blood of my enemies. Most of the story is set in Vegas but you’ll also shoot your way through areas in France and Costa Rica. Now to be clear, many of the locations the game takes you to aren’t bad by any means but they just don’t offer the glitz and glamor Vegas is known for. You’ll navigate around an oil refinery, recreational facility, convention center, junkyard, and my favorites include a restaurant, casino, penthouse, and an estate which isn’t even in Vegas. Nevertheless, the environments still offer a good time and plenty of baddies to shoot.
As expected, Vegas 2 comes with a Terrorist Hunt mode. The objective; eliminate all the terrorists in the map. And this time, you can bring teammates with you in single player. You can also choose to tackle maps alone. For the most part, it’s set up the same as that of the last game. You choose your map or mission, equipment, set the difficulty and enemy density, and decide if you want to go alone or not. There are many maps to choose from including some from the previous game and they are nonlinear so you need to be aware of your surroundings because enemies can flank you and appear behind you and drop you quickly if you’re not careful. I’ve always enjoyed this mode in these games and Vegas 2 is no exception. It’s extremely fun and replayable.
Visually, I do think Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 looks better than its predecessor and features a much more appealing color palette. Some aspects of the presentation look dated today but it still holds up pretty well. I like the weapon models, visual and gore effects, and detailed environments. The action is accompanied by a good soundtrack with tunes that perfectly fit the action and help elevate tension while also giving it a cinematic vibe. Much like its predecessor, I think some weapons could sound louder or more powerful but the overall sound work gets the job done. On the technical side, the game ran fine and I encountered no major issues.
I love Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. This and its predecessor are two of my favorite cover shooters from the seventh generation era. I think the tweaks and additions to Vegas 2 make it the better game, overall. By today’s standards, it could be viewed as a standard cover shooter with a simple command system just like its predecessor. But the mechanics work well, the action is fun and satisfying, and the Advancement system and unlocks are a wonderful addition to keep players coming back. My only real issue with the game is the locations. I think not capitalizing on the glitz and glamor of Vegas is a big missed opportunity. Not that all the locations in the previous game were fancy hotels, casinos, and restaurants but I think it did a better job with the use of its setting and showcasing that kind of stuff. To be clear, this is subjective and only a negative for me, personally, because in the end, I think Vegas 2 is a great game. The level design is excellent for the style of gameplay on offer and it’s fun trying different approaches as is experimenting with different weapons and customizing Bishop.
I absolutely recommend Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. It’s a good time and wonderful sequel. It strays far from the series roots but is accessible and provides plenty of action-packed fun. As of this review, it is the last Vegas entry in the series and I am disappointed because I would love to go back and blast away more terrorists in luxurious hotels and casinos. Regardless, Rainbow Six: Vegas and its sequel still hold up as fun action titles and cover shooters that any fan of the genre should check out.