Reviews// Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Xbox 360)

When Ubisoft decided to go to Vegas with the Rainbow Six franchise I have to believe that one of the reasons was to avoid the sort of samey-sameyness that pervades so-called “corridor” shooters. R6V2 has certainly evolved beyond the more primitive species of this genus and the explosions of light and sound and riot of colours, which are native to that area of the Nevada desert provided a challenging opportunity for their art and level designers.

However, I think the previous instalment was actually more “Vegas” than this one, which visits less neon-infested regions of Sin City and its environs… some of which are predictably of the ubiquitous bunkeresque, industrial-concrete corridors with the requisite exposed piping and conduits.

The game sounds fantastic, although I did have problems hearing some speech at times, even with the music turned down and voice all the way up. I also noticed a few glitches in the “hit detection” beyond the guy walking though the closed door and one very disturbing case where when I tried to chuck a grenade over the railing I was taking cover behind and it bounced back into my lap, which seemed extremely counter-intuitive…

The hero, or "that bastard Bishop" as I call him, is a bloody instructor of THE international anti-terrorist force for chrissakes. If he can’t manage to lob a grenade over the low wall he’s sheltering behind, well… we’re all in trouble. In the inexcusable (yet nit-picky) category, I saw a couple of cases of enemies spawning where I could see them. I think the 21st century can do a little better than that.

In another new feature, your P.E.C. (Persistent Elite Creation) character customization applies, so you’re free to play Military Fashion Plate, even in the single player campaign. This feature means that, depending upon the players choice, Bishop could be the first female lead character in a Rainbow Six game, and indeed in any Tom Clancy game.

Most of the time I went for a TIE Fighter Pilot look, in all black and the Flight Helmet and Ballistic Mask, later I switched it up to Imperial Guard mode after I unlocked crimson camo. I've already seen guys in Iron Man and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle outfits, I think I might have seen a Samus, but forgot to ask if that's what they were going for...

The story is a parallel to the original Vegas, with you as 'that bastard Bishop'. He is a high-ranking veteran and an instructor at Rainbow’s training facility in charge of another team involved in events which took place in the background or off-camera in the previous game. These included some events prior to and, of course, after. If your profile has a Rainbow Six Vegas (original recipe) gamesave you will receive some bonus XP, as well as some nifty bits of kit.

Unfortunately, this also causes you to 'miss' the Private First Class Achievement. Personally I see it as proof I played the original, but many Achievement whores and completionists are upset and a fix has been mooted.

Without giving too much away - while assuming you’re familiar with the events in Vegas - Bishop was Gabriel’s patron at Rainbow. Once the latter's treachery is revealed, the bastard Bishop takes a personal interest in stopping him. For no apparent reason I can see, I found the story un-engaging and felt very distant from the characters and action taking place.

The action, though, was compelling and kept me in the game to the end. Under the 'Realistic' difficulty setting, the enemies seem to communicate and coordinate their tactics and behaviours better than in many shooters. Although there are still remnants of “stupid guard” syndrome, they don’t just come running into your ambush when you shoot at the wall. In fact, at the Realistic difficulty setting on Terrorist Hunt the AI is as good as any I’ve see; once you get down to the last 10 or so tangos they get super crafty, without it seeming like the computer is “cheating", much.