Rappel feet first into Ubisoft and Ubisoft Montreal’s tactical shooter of 2008, “Tom Clancy’s: Rainbow Six Vegas 2.” The 7th instalment of the Rainbow Six franchise and prequel/sequel to “Tom Clancy’s: Rainbow Six Vegas.” Take part in Story-lined operations, fan-favourite game modes such as “Terrorist Hunt,” Co-op, and Multiplayer in the confines of terror-ridden Sin City, Las Vegas and select locations across the globe such as France and Costa Rica.
Story Mode & Environment
Tom Clancy’s: Rainbow Six Vegas 2’s story mode offers 8 hours of content just from the main story alone including 8 different missions to play through. For the overachievers, there resides over 27 hours of content available for the dedicated completionist. There are a total of three different countries in which Tom Clancy’s: Rainbow Six Vegas 2 takes place. These include France, Nevada, and Costa Rica. Fight in multiple different settings scattered through Las Vegas, the main setting in which the game takes place. Libraries, night clubs, garages, casinos, hotel lobbies, even penthouses. There’s a plethora of different locations and settings, most of which will require the player to adapt to and adopt different combat strategies through settings such as mid-range to long-range battles. Even some that some would consider point-blank range.
Gameplay
The gameplay for Rainbow Six Vegas 2 shows a vast improvement from its predecessor with the rework of the hostile NPC behaviours. They prove to be much more aggressive and larger in numbers, bringing to the table many more intensive and chaotic gunfights that aim to keep the player’s senses sharp and attentive. With the introduction of a ranking system that allows the player to unlock new weapons, armour, clothing, and gear to use through the completion of ranking and achievements. The inclusion of AI teammates is a returning feature, bringing forth the abilities to manually move them to tactical and strategic locations in order to provide fire support, breach and clear a door, or even attack on their own accord.
But, it should be noted that the AI teammates prove to be problematic with how they perform. These problematic moments can sometimes hinder the player’s progress by blocking doorways, taking longer times to perform actions, even going as far as to neglect the use of cover if not manually ordered to do so by the player.
Visuals & Graphics
Utilising the revered Unreal Engine 3 developed by Epic Games, Tom Clancy’s: Rainbow Six Vegas 2’s visuals and graphics are crisp and bring much more clarity to gameplay in drastic improvement from its predecessor. Unreal Engine 3 powers many more fan-favourite titles such as Gears of War and Mass Effect.
Even with the use of Unreal Engine 3 on a newer title, many players’ opinions remain divided in whether or not the game was a visual improvement from Rainbow Six Vegas 1.
Summary
Tom Clancy’s: Rainbow Six Vegas 2 sits as a staple title within the Rainbow Six franchise. Even as it nears its 2nd decade anniversary, the title boasts a memorable and nostalgic experience for those who grew up on tactical shooter video games. While the multiplayer community is all but lost, the impact that Rainbow Six Vegas 2 had on gamers will forever remain an experience to remember.
Pros
Multiple choices within the customization menu offers many ways to play
8-27 hours of gameplay
Vast improvements to gameplay from Rainbow Six Vegas 1
Cons
Multiplayer servers no longer active as of 2021
AI teammates can prove to be problematic in multiple ways
Players will most likely be forced to grind game modes such as terrorist hunt or replay story mode in order to unlock all unlockables
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