Tom
Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas is an intense tactical shooter with amazing
graphics, deep gameplay and brilliant level design. You command an elite
anti-terror squad and must use your wits to outsmart terrorist forces
before they can inflict major damage on Las Vegas. As in previous Rainbow
titles, you need to think ahead and scout the surrounding area before you
rush into combat. An improved cover system and health regeneration adds to
the game's intensity and realism. Its outstanding visual design makes this
a completely immersive and exciting combat experience. Look inside to
discover why Rainbow Six Vegas' superlative production values, intuitive
controls and engaging online modes make it the best installment in the
series to date.
Set during a nightmare scenario of a
near-future where terrorist forces have unleashed a series of devastating
attacks on Las Vegas casinos, Rainbow Six Vegas is another superb
installment in the tactical combat franchise. Once again, players take the
role of Ding Chavez, an elite commander of the Black Ops Rainbow Team.
This elite infiltration force is charged with the task of killing and
stopping terrorists in their tracks. A long prelude begins in a South
American city where a small group of insurgents has taken hostages and is
threatening to destabilize the government. Things move quickly and the
Rainbow forces quickly find themselves battle these same terror forces
right in the heart of Glitter Gulch. As in previous games, your main
objective this time around is to command a three-man force through a
variety of levels. Your mission is to clear out any terrorists and reach
objective points without losing your fellow soldiers or causing damage to
any innocent bystanders. The game's overall structure and look is fairly
consistent with the previous games and allows you to issue commands,
change weapons and tactics fairly easily. When you enter into
confrontations with the terrorists, you'll need to take cover behind an
object to prevent them from hurting you. If they are able to hit you, the
screen will blur and turn darker as you take damage. Instead of looking
for health capsules as in many other games, you can find cover, rest for
awhile and your health will gradually increase. A similar approach applies
to your other soldiers, since you can help them recover or make the other
Rainbow soldier help them with a quick injection. It's not the most
realistic approach to combat ever seen, and does make the game feel easier
than it should, this approach helps keep the gameplay moving along at a
good pace.
Rainbow
Six Vegas gives players an impressive arsenal of weapons and tactical
maneuvers to choose from. As usual, all of the guns are based on
real-world weaponry and include an array of sniper rifles, machine guns
and pistols. Each weapon allows for both standard and secondary fire which
makes targeting enemies easier. When you reach the side of a wall, you can
lean against it and aim the gun independently as well, which reduces your
exposure to enemy fire as well. You can also call up a variety of
infra-red and night-vision goggles to spot hidden foes and use snake
cameras to look behind doors. Rainbow Six Vegas also allows you to use
your Rainbow forces as scouts to move ahead and clear out any enemies,
with either an offensive or defensive posture. You can command your team
to fire at will or go in carefully to avoid detection. The player can use
the onscreen pointer to direct the movements of the Rainbow team and use
them as scouts to weed out any terrorists. When the Rainbows reach a
locked door, they can use several different tactics, trying to breach the
wall with a grenade, go in silenty or go in firing. Depending on what
waits on the other side, this can wipe out an unsuspecting terrorist or
alert others nearby to your presence if you're unlucky. Unlike many other
FPS titles on the market, the enemy NPC's are surprisingly intelligent and
can anticipate and react to your movements. They'll change tactics and
flank or surround your team if they're alerted to your presence. They
won't always be in the same locations either, so you need to be on your
guard constantly. Rainbow Six Vegas' controls are fairly intuitive, with
movement controlled by the left analog stick, while other actions such as
crouching, crawling and running are mapped to the shift buttons. Changing
weapons and reloading requires you to hold down one of the face buttons
while other tactics can be changed on the fly, which makes the missions
feel more elastic. The game unfolds at an excellent pace, and the
realistic maps and levels are large and expansive, reflecting the layout
and organization of the locations where they're set. The casino floors
feel like a real casino, the rooftops are appropriately chaotic, giving
the game an intensity and realism that helps to immerse you into the
action. Each area of the game offers opportunities for cover to hide
behind as well as open areas where you can spot terrorists. As always in
Rainbow Six games, patience and intelligence are rewarded, while
recklessness only leads to an early exit and frustration.
This is probably the most elaborate and
engaging single-player shooter to carry the Tom Clancy brand to date. Its
ripped from the headlines plot and storyline are engaging and believable
which adds to the sense of urgency that makes the game so immersive. The
constant chatter between you and the other soldiers, along with frequent
updates you receive in your HUD drives you forward into battle. Everything
about the play mechanics has been implemented intelligently and the game
strikes an effective balance between stealthy strategy and intense combat
sequences. The game expertly creates a palpable sense of anticipation as
you wait behind a door, not knowing what's on the other side. This
approach makes it all the more satisfying to explode a grenade on the
other side and wipe out enemies. Its realistic tactics and maneuvers are
taken from actual combat techniques and this approach has become a
hallmark of all the Clancy games. While it's been seen before, Rainbow Six
Vegas' increased graphical realism makes this even more effective and
polishes the formula to a high gloss. R6's missions unfold like a movie
and come at you at an excellent pace that creates an ever increasing sense
of danger. You're aware that the stakes are high and getting higher. As
you go deeper into your missions, you'll face smarter and more lethal
opponents that shrink your margin for error, making it imperative that you
use different approaches to keep your opponents off guard. The game's use
of health regeneration and cover becomes increasingly critical later on,
and this strategy makes for an even more challenging title. This superb
solo campaign is complimented by some impressive multiplayer modes with
online, split-screen and system link modes. There are many different modes
of play ranging from team co-op missions, hunting terrorists and all out
dogfights, which gives things plenty of variety and depth. Many of the
maps in Rainbow Six Vegas have been retrofitted from previous titles,
which makes this portion of the game both familiar and immediately
playable for series veterans.
Ubisoft's
previous Rainbow Six titles have set a high standard of visual excellence,
and this installment doesn't disappoint. Some of the cinematic sequences,
like crashing through windows in a sudden assault are absolutely stunning.
The game's richly detailed environments are saturated with color,
elaborate light sourcing to create believable levels that feel incredibly
realistic on a standard screen and seem to almost pop out of High
Definition sets. Every element of the levels from slot machines to
doorways and lamps has been rendered beautifully which adds to the sense
of realism. The levels themselves offer plenty of variety and use
expansive maps and layouts that make you feel like you're actually where
you say you are. The use of light and shadow in the earlier stages is
impressive, but the Vegas areas with their neon saturated hallways and
floors are truly astonishing and create one of the best looking shooters
to date. Rainbow Six Vegas' impressive motion capture and movements are
evident in the believable character animation and movement is impressive
as well and makes every character in the game feel very much alive. Your
HUD is slick and streamlined and gives things an appropriately high tech
appearance with the elaborate cut scenes and extensive voice acting adding
to the sense of immersion. The game unfolds at a consistent 60 FPS rate,
which makes things seem smooth and effortless throughout. As you'd expect,
the rich production values and attention to detail that players have
experienced in previous titles is amped up here, making for a dizzying
sense of realism that creates some of the best production values in any
Xbox 360 shooter to date.
Between the outstanding graphics,
stunning cinematic presentation and immersive attention to detail, Rainbow
Six Vegas truly stands out as a next-generation masterpiece. The game
itself is superb as well, mixing stealth action and combat with a
realistic plot that keeps you immersed in the game throughout. You
literally feel like you're in command of the action with an intuitive
interface and HUD that's transparent and allows you to focus on the task
at hand. The challenging approach to combat makes you think ahead, look
for cover and try to avoid battles. This makes for a more interesting and
realistic feel that results in a deeper, more satisfying experience that
feels grounded in reality, making for an authentic tactical combat shooter
with a surprising amount of depth and nuance. You can't help but be
impressed by this game on many different levels. Everything comes together
cohesively to make Rainbow Six Vegas an absolutely stellar title that that
delivers the most realistic tactical action in the series to date.
- Michael Palisano
Grade: A-
