In Rainbow Six Vegas, players assume the roles of Brian Armstrong, a Rainbow field operate, and Shawn Rivers, a sniper. As the backup team, players are tasked with supporting the operations of the main Rainbow squad in quelling the same terrorist uprising featured in the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game – you guessed it – in and around the city of Las Vegas. For people familiar with the Rainbow Six franchise, Vegas on PSP closely resembles the experience of Rainbow Six Lockdown on Xbox and PS2. Alternating between the roles of field operative and sniper, as was the case in Lockdown, you are tasked with infiltrating various terrorist hot spots. In between dispatching any tangos you may venture across objectives include defusing bombs and locating kidnapped team-mates.
Vegas plays from a first-person perspective and incorporates the same third-person cover system used in the console versions of the game. However, unlike the 360 and PS3 games, cover is entered simply by walking up to a flat surface – such as a wall – and pressing against it. This system worked well in Syphon Filter Dark Mirror, but because of the shift from first to third person view in Vegas taking cover isn't always as smooth an experience as it could be. That said, after assuming cover a few times the system is quite easily adapted to. Indeed, most of Vegas is played from behind cover as doing so allows you to peek and shoot at enemies around corners, thereby preserving health.
Like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, you take cover in third-person mode.
Some reviewers have commented that because of the limited control scheme shooters cannot be successfully adapted to the PlayStation Portable. However, Vegas uses the same intuitive control scheme and lock-on system that worked satisfactorily in Syphon Filter. Using the face buttons to aim, and the left trigger to lock on to targets, the game compensates adequately for the PSP's lack of a second analogue stick. Moreover, this combination allows terrorists to be dispatched with a minimum of frustration. The remainder of the game's control scheme may seem a little overloaded, but by relying on a context-sensitive system for tasks such as opening and doors and using gadgets, Vegas makes for a quite playable experience.
Another nifty addition is the ability to lock onto enemies' heads by holding down the triangle button when already locked onto a terrorist. By allowing for the ability to make head-shots, the game actually instills the feeling of being a Special Forces commando. This feature is nonetheless balanced against making the game too easy, as only half of the time can you actually pull off a successful head-shot.
Vegas also allows tangos to be detected and tagged from behind doors by using the snake camera. This feature is useful for tracking enemies, especially during prolonged shootouts, when they may attempt to flank you. Indeed, the AI is actually somewhat resilient, though uncoordinated. Enemies will take cover and retreat when injured, but will seldom work as a team. This is not really a concern though, as taking on a room of terrorists will still provide for a challenging experience.
Squad-based tactics are absent from the game; missions essentially require getting from one point to another and dispatching all enemies along the way. While playing as sniper you are tasked with clearing areas for your assault-based team-mate or flipping switches for him when he is trapped. However, the role of sniper only grants a pistol, in addition to the sniper rifle, for room-clearing tasks. When playing as field operative on the other hand, there is a limited but varied assortment of weapons to choose from for undertaking this task. The sniper rifle is practically useless for room-clearing because, as was the case with Syphon Filter, it cannot be used to lock onto targets and taking time to aim it manually leaves you exposed to enemy fire. This prospect may be daunting for some, but only having a pistol for combating terrorists – in between completing sniper-based objectives – injects a level of realism into the game, making it a challenge (though far be it from an impossible one).
Meet one of the fellows you'll be downing during the course of the game.
The PSP version of Vegas does not inspire the same level of grandeur that the console versions of the same game do, as most levels take place in ordinary, confined environments. Nonetheless, the visuals are well rendered and add a certain level of depth to the gameplay. Unfortunately though, the graphics are not quite as detailed as in games such as Syphon Filter Dark Mirror and Killzone: Liberation, and could be best described as being on par with previous last-generation Rainbow Six titles such as Rainbow Six 3. The game comes with what can be best described as the requisite audio. Nonetheless, the sound effects for weapons and explosions are fairly effective and voice-over acting is mostly believable.
Like most games these days, Vegas is not without technical hiccups. When enemies advance around corners to face you directly, the lock-on system does not seem to work on them. Further, when a terrorist is downed, the frame-rate will suddenly drop for a second. While these problems are annoying, they are not enough to detract from what is generally a solid game. Load times in are serviceable, and checkpoints are conservatively littered throughout levels to ensure that you do not have to replay large areas in the event that you die. Still, save points could have been better placed in some levels, as when you fail sequences where your character has to rush to save the other team member it is frustrating having to replay an entire prior area just get to that point.
Another issue is the lack of ammunition and health resupply points. While this is not really a problem with ammo, as primary weapons generally include enough cartridges for an entire level and secondaries have unlimited reloads, it is very annoying trying to complete a level with hardly any health left.
One of the many short levels you'll play through.
Possibly the biggest problem with the game though is that there are only five levels, all of which only take about an hour to complete. Even though each level is divided into a number of smaller sublevels, this only hastens the length of time required to finish the game. Once the single-player campaign has been completed any mission may be replayed or completed separately in terrorist hunt mode. In terms of multiplayer support, Vegas includes both ad hoc and online play. The six included maps support four players, and each can be played in either survival or team survival. The main problem with the multiplayer is that some may find the maps and teams too small to provide any real substance.
Rainbow Six Vegas on the PlayStation Portable does a good job of recreating the action-orientated experience of the 360 and PS3 versions of the game, but lacks the tactical element and spectacle of its larger cousins. However, this is to be expected due to the portable nature of the game, and for the most part, Vegas is a fun anti-terrorist shooter with solid gameplay.
Loading...
