I guess I was one of the few who wasn't all that impressed with the original Vegas title. I'm actually not too fond of the Rainbow Six series in general. It all falls back on the piss poor Dreamcast version which haunts me to this day.
I rented Vegas 2 because it was the "IN" thing to do. Yeah, I'm all about playing the popular stuff even if it isn't my cup of tea. Let me say though that I had some highs and lows with this game and I'm going to bring them all to light.
If you've played any game that deals with you being a government operative and needing to take down some terrorists then you know the plot of this game. It's finale is almost worth while though but don't expect a refreshing take on a tired genre like Call of Duty 4 gave us last fall.
The game runs on the Unreal Engine which is rather pretty. The levels themselves feel a bit fake early on but once you hit Old Casino and on the textures and everything spice up. I love how so many things are destructible and how certain items can be shot through.
Character models are less than exciting and I do wish you had more facial and body type options for your character but I was able to create a half way decent character. The game also supports the Vision Camera but I don't have it so I can't tell you how well it works.
I'm normally not impressed with the music in a shooting title and this one did nothing for me. There was an instance or two that I enjoyed the music but most of the time it was just background noise. Voice work is the same ole fair. I wonder if they have a team of guys who do the voice work for these games as it's so run the mill.
My first problem with the game was that as I neared the end of the first mission my 360 gave me a disc read error and stopped working. It's done it before but whatever. Then for the next 10 tries when i tried to load the game up my 360 was telling me I needed to insert a 360 disc... A quick internet search lead me to a number of topics and complaints about the same thing. Thanks Ubisoft!
Now that that's out of my system lets tackle the game play shall we. We have three types of modes of play. Single player, Terrorist Hunter and Live matches. Single player can be done solo or in co-op. I found single player to be a total bore while co-op was a lot more fun. Here's problem number 2. The host would often quit as the level was finishing up which caused me to lose my Knight hit and the fact that I had finished a level. Thanks guys!
Yes I am bitter but whatever. The locations are fairly tame and not all that interesting. We get parking garages, casinos and penthouses. What I did like is that the game gives you some actual choices with doors and pathways for going through a number of different situations. One is in the penthouse level. You can rappel down the side of the building, jump through the window and pray you don't die. Or you can go down the broke elevator shaft and snipe them... Ah choices.
The enemy A.I. ran the fine line of brain dead and overly aggressive. it was always one or the other. Your team AI is mentally challenged and they tend to stand and cover even when no enemies are around and this is after I have told them to move on.
So to sum up this section I'll just say that single player is boring when done alone as it's too stale. On the other hand it's rather entertaining in co-op but here's a wish I had. If the host quits you should be able to finish the level.
There was also a few times where the levels in co-op play stuttered into life, enemies magically appeared and once I was re-spawned in the floor and ended up falling to my death finally only for the game to say I had created a crater in the Earth... Did we forget to beta test this game?
The next mode is Terrorist Mode. You have access to all of the Live multi-player maps (about 14 I believe).. Each stage has a set number of terrorists for you to take out. it's actually pretty fun and a good time waster. I actually had more fun with this than I did doing the single player by myself. It's also playable on-line.
The on-line play is rather annoying. If you play a ranked match it will boot you out after each match because it's ranked but this requires a few loading screens that are just too long and just shouldn't be that long to load a menu.
I did like the game play options, which are your typical fair and the menus and everything were nicely done. Just not a fan of all of the loading just so you can hunt for a new match.
The game also features a level up system. You gain experience for doing all kinds of different things. Not sure what really does it but I got a lot of points when I leveled up certain skills like close range kills. These level ups net you new equipment that let you take more damage or move faster or whatever. It's a nice system but the game never takes the time to explain it to you. I'm not sure if it's in the solo single player mode but it was in everything else, including co-op so I'm guessing it's there as well.
I part of me wants to recommend Vegas 2. Another part of me is pissed about the lack of quality testing that went into the products final stages. The on-line community isn't overly friendly either as in the matches I played, no one ever talked and if this is a team based system then people should chat... So I'll say it's worth a rental, maybe a purchase when it's cheaper and for those who have Xbox Live. Otherwise it really isn't worth it if you can't do co-op or the on-line stuff.
Story - 6/10
Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 7/10
Control - 9/10
Game Play - 8/10
Replay Value - 7/10
Final Score - 7/10
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