| Author | Review |
|---|
|
This review has 29 positive votes and 4 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
Mini Details:
Made by the folks at Ubisoft.
First Rainbow Six game on next generation consoles.
Supports Xbox Live
Hey there guys and welcome to another review by myself. Today we shall be taking a look at Rainbow Six Vegas which is a first person shooter but a focus on realism. Tactics are crucial in this game, similar to many Tom Clancy games. Now, I'll get started. This review was done by Mark of http://hireem.net/ and http://360-now.com, it was done on the Xbox 360 version of the game so achievements will be mentioned. In fact, the PS3 wasn't even out when it arrived in stores so it may not be on a Sony console. This game can be picked up pretty cheap now, I got it for ten beans.
Gameplay:
Well the most important part of the game is the gameplay itself. The story is rather simple in this, terrorists have attacked Vegas, have a bomb ready to detonate, you know the story yourself. Basically the missions are similar to many past Rainbow Six games e.g save the hostages, hack the data or disarm the bomb. This is quite an old series and I have always been a fan, it's good to see it keeping to it's routes.
The game is a first person shooter at heart, but with third person elements. Whenever you lean against cover the game goes into the third person view so you can get a better sight at the room you are about to attack and get a better idea of the enemies around you. Your radar also helps, it's a handy map/radar. It shows alerted enemies and different routes so you can flank your enemies which is an important part of the game. The AI are quite smart, like most games you will slaughter hundreds of them but they throw flashbangs, grenades and know when to take cover.
Because the enemies are so smart, how you use your squad will make a big impact on your success/failure. You have plenty of commands that you can use. Your squad can of course follow simple things like attack, hold or follow but a few other commands are available in special situations. You can get your guys to hold up the enemy while you flank around, you can get them to throw a grenade into the room or rush and clear. However you and your squad are not invincible. A few shots will have you on your knees so the use of cover is essential. You only get 2 squad members so make sure that you use them wisely but if they get shot down or killed you fail the mission which is a real bummer.
The game has plenty of weapons and gadgets that are available for use. There is also a great feature that lets you customize your gun by adding attachments to it. Why not add laser sight to your pistol? Or even a sniper scope to your shotgun? In this game weapon choice is crucial, usually the fast rate weapons are your best bet. My personal favourite would be the Commando gun which has a great rate of fire. Your soldier also comes equipped with gadgets and add ons. Like all TC games you have night/thermal vision which comes in handy when the enemies throw a smoke grenade. You also have the ability to carry standard C4, grenades and a wide variety of other items which you can explore yourself.
The online mode of Rainbow Six Vegas is stacked with games modes for you to play, a real great variety of modes in there. You do of course have your team deathmatch, free for all etc and some extra modes which include saving hostages, recovering data etc. You can be a terrorist or an agent online and the customisable character really adds to the experience as a whole. Of course you can also play the story in Co-op over live or even do some terrorist hunt missions with your friend so if you get fed up with one game mode you can switch. Another great feature online is the ability to have a dedicated server for matches which allows for almost lag free gaming. You can have up to 16 people playing at the same time. Pretty impressive since it came out around the same time as gears of war which can only hold between 6-8 people at most. You advance up the ranks as you improve online. Benefits include new weapons, add ons, armour and gear for your soldier to wear. This also adds some variety to your customizable character so you always have something to aim for. The players online of course are very skilled at this game, your best to play a few player matches and learn then maps before moving into ranked games. The maps are quite big and also well detailed for an oldish game. It's important to know good spots to snipe from etc so the online play in this is a real plus overall.
Graphics/Sound:
The game came out in 2006 and at sections it does show it's age. There are no proper cutscenes and some of the dialogue and characters seem a little bit choppy or thrown together. One thing I found cool though is that when you talk into the microphone online, your character also moves his mouth. But we will go into that in more detail later. All of the guns are well modelled, as you would expect from Ubisoft and the series. The guns all sound fairly realistic but I did notice that the pistol has quite a slow rate of fire and a slow sound, if you understand what I am saying, Grenades and explosions all sound great. They could look a bit better, at times this game shows it's age and this is evident in many parts ot the game.
The level detail is quite good, there are some small pop up issues that I noticed in the first level but apart from that I have no complaints. There is a wide variety of levels you will take part in and some of the locations are fantastic. My personal favourite level is probably the second level in the casino. It is just such a cool place for a level, taking cover behind the slot machines or poker machines is definitely the main attraction of this game. The enemies are fairly well designed, you will come accross a few doubles I guess (this is not GTA IV as it came out 18 months before it). There is a lot of blood in this game, looks realistic. Only complaint is that when a terrorist is getting shot in the head he can still bark out orders, can't imagine that happening in real life but yeah, that's just a little complaint that I have. Overall I was very impressed with the level design and structures. The characters voices are well done, if a little monotonous and repititive. You will hear the same voice on many terrorists and your squad members aren't exactly Mr and Mr Charismatic. In fact they don't say much at all, just respond to your commands but in fairness the AI of your squad is decent and they aren't idiots. They know when to shoot and when to stay in cover so they aren't useless and don't get in your way.
Achievements:
The achievements in this game are pretty fair but at the same time will keep you hunting for more and give you a reason to play the game. For each mission you complete on your own in campaign you get 30 G's so that's not to bad for roughly 45 minutes work. Then there is an achievement worth 50G for completing the game in co-op, I did this with two friends in about two days. There are several terrorist missions as well. Online and offline achievements for both, you can check them out yourself. A possible glitched achievement is completing the game mode on realistic difficulty. From my understanding, if you die then the game changes to normal difficulty when you reload it so be careful. Check around http://xbox360achievements.org for more information on this achievement. It's worth around 100G I think, one of the harder achievements going in any game. Another few glitched achievements are the get 150 pistol kills achievement and kill 300 terrorists online/offline. I only had around 75 kills when I got the pistol one and around 200 for the terrorists one so watch out for potential glitches.
You do of course have some achievements which can only be accumulated in online matches. You have your standard spree achievements (kill 5, 10 people in a row without dying). Then there is a pretty random one which is getting 10 kills with a sniper in a match. These three achievements are worth a good bit and are not to hard to get. You have several attack and defend achievements including recovering the data in under 2 minutes, disarming the bomb in under 2 minutes and saving the hostages in under 2 minutes. These are pretty hard to get in a ranked game so good luck with them. They can be quite easily boosted with a friend though and are worth 15 G's each so you can easily get 100G in under an hour if you have got a friend to boost with. Online achievements in games are rounded off by 50 kills with explosives and 100 kills total.
Ranking up your character also gets you some achievements as well. There are at least 3-4 achievements going for this. Best way to get experience to rank up is by playing terrorist hunt on realistic difficulty. Getting to the rank of elite will take you a LONG time though. Overall I think that the achievements are quite fair, if a little hard. I would rate them medium/hard.
*The survival game mode achievement is glitched and won't unlock*
*Hosting a game with 16 players is nearly impossible these days for the achievement, your best bet is to organise something with people on X360A forums*
*Single player campaign achievements CANNOT be gotten in co-op.
*For the splitscreen terrorist achievements, the word "splitscreen" should not have been in the achievement description. Instead to get the achievement you do it in single player, on your own.*
Hopefully that clarifies all the slightly glitchy achievements. If you have anymore questions about them then just ask me here. The campaign will take you several hours to complete so don't expect them achievements to come soon. If you really want some gamerscore fast then just go for a few of the easy online ones with a friend.
Finally, there is an achievement for playing every game mode on every map. If you boost this takes just under 2 hours doing three minute games. You don't have to win the games but you must finish them and not quit out. This achievement is worth a total of 50G's. There are 37 achievements in the game worth 1,000 Gamerscore.
Final Thoughts:
Still being played by people online, and for a reason. This is another fantastic addition to the series of video games which just gets better and better. You can pick this up for a reasonable price in stores and it is well worth your hard earned cash. The difficulty level may frustrate some of you but just stick with it and you will get there.
Gameplay = 23/25
Graphics = 21/25
Sound = 20/25
Achievements = 20/25
Overall = 84/100
8/10
A tactical shooter well worth a purchase, thanks for reading. |
Psycho Joe 1
45,748
TA Score for this game: 353
Posted on 19 April 09 at 19:12 |
This review has 20 positive votes and 1 negative vote. Please log in to vote. |
The original Vegas, still as good today as it was when first released.
Are you one of those gamers who, in a shooter-based game, prefer to run around in the open like crazy, only to have your virtual head blown off by a sniper, therefore causing you to embark upon foul-mouthed tirades?
You are?
Put this game down. Now.
In Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas, you play as one third of an elite operations team. Along the course of the campaign, you and your two team-mates visit six different locations, eliminating terrorists, disarming bombs, rescuing hostages. I personally did not find the storyline too enthralling, but the gameplay makes up for that. You have a variety of guns to choose from, and also a variety of gadgets (night and heat vision, for example). But the best part is ordering your team where to take cover, to stack up outside doors before opening and clearing the terrorists.
The one drawback of the campaign is its difficulty. Even on Normal, you could be killed in a matter of three or four bullets. The only way to avoid this is to devise tactical strategies for your team to get around the casinos and towns and dams you visit along the course of the story.
Online play has admittedly deteriorated since the release date, but you can always find an Attack & Defend game on Calypso Casino or a few Team Sharpshooters on Streets, Casino Vault or Border Town. However, if you do not have a headset or high rank, you find yourself at risk of being kicked from some games.
The achievements appear difficult to get, but with enough effort and dedication (for the Elite achievement), you could get an easy 700 or 800. An Xbox Vision Cam is require for the full 1000.
Overall score = 8/10.
 |
|
This review has 17 positive votes and 5 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Summary
The stakes are high when the world's most elite counter-terrorism unit enters Las Vegas, where over 36.7 million men, women and children visit each year. "Sin City," the home of the famous Las Vegas Strip, flashy hotels, high-rolling casinos and world-famous celebrities, becomes the setting for a terrorist threat of global proportions. What happens when one of the world's most famous cities is held hostage by terrorists? [Ubisoft]
This is one of my first Xbox 360 games I bought. And one of my most favorite games ever.
Rainbow Six Vegas is absolutely jam-packed with gameplay variety. There are many different real-time tactics and commands to implement. Expect lots of shooting with the use of other weapons such as grenades. Gadgets come in handy for situations which require recon and stealth. You will drop from choppers, repel down walls, use zip lines and employ obstacles in the environments to take cover behind. While hiding behind various surfaces such as concrete, wood and metal, you can also shoot your weapon from around them so as to minimize damage to your character. There are no health potions or med kits but if you do take some damage all you have to do is take cover for a short period and you will begin to regain your health. There are two other members of your elite squad who can be revived by an injection if you can get to them in time after they’ve been hit.
Your teammates are AI controlled. As Logan, you are the team leader. For the most part your teammates will be able to take care of themselves and you as well. Issuing commands is straightforward thanks to a context-sensitive menu system that gives you only the most obvious of choices. You’re not there to get tickets to Cirque de Solei, you are fighting terrorists that have taken their war from Mexico to Sin City where they threaten to unleash a deadly force that will kill millions. If anyone gets in your way, kill them.
A two-player co-op mode can be accessed offline but oddly enough there is a four-player online co-op mode that features one more person on your team than in the single-player mode. These are excellent modes, unhampered by any slowdown or latency. The 16-player online mode features variations of the standard Deathmatch and Capture the Flag. You can customize some options such as respawning to get back in the game or no respawning to show that tough love and #*&!-you attitude. For added depth there are RPG elements in which you can acquire new weapons and armor upgrades which you can keep and continue to upgrade as long as you play the game. With various scopes, sights and other features you can customize weapons to suit your playing style. You can even scanning your face and have it placed on your character for the ultimate in customizing options.
The musical score is perfect as it toggles between suspense and full-out action with some military-themed interludes to drive home the importance of your duties. You’ll occasionally hear some ambient music from the casinos which includes pop, rock and cheesy lounge tunes. The voiceacting can get a little ham-fisted which is partly due to the script which is filled with cliché characters and sayings. The weapons are about as realistic sounding as they can get.
Gameplay = 100/100
Graphics = 95/100
Sound =91/100
Achievements = Not too difficult
5 out of 5 stars |