If we were to take the game on the story alone, then GoW already has the upper hand. The story revolves around Logan Keller, as he chases down a wanted terrorist. The first portion has you chasing the terrorist through a city in Mexcio, which happens to be incredibly reminiscent of the beginning stages of GRAW. Continuing, the terrorist captures two of your team mates and flees to Las Vegas, of all places. From there, the story is pretty much an excuse to raid a bunch of casinos and cause hell. It’s a fun ride, but the story itself is rather transparent and is unlikely to stick out for anyone, especially with an ending that doesn't really resolve much.
In previous Rainbow Six outings you had the task of carefully planning your assault through a series of menus before you entered the level. In Vegas there is no need for that much planning, as you do it on the go. At the beginning of each level, you’ll be briefed in a chopper that gives you spectacular views and various choices to customise your arsenal. There are a lot of different weapons to choose, ranging from assault rifles to shotguns, as well as several kinds of pistols and explosives. The best part about this is that it will cater for different styles of play. At the same time, while you may lack the "correct" weapon for certain occasions, the game will still allow you to get around it, if you have the skill.
Covering your rear-end has never been so intuitive.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas relies on a couple of gameplay aspects that supercede or at least do as well as just about any other shooter on consoles. Firstly, while the game is a first person shooter, you’ll spend a considerable amount of time “in cover” while observing the action from a third person perspective. The cover system in Vegas is exceptionally robust and perfectly suited to this type of game. While very similar to GoW, it manages to set itself apart with a more strategic and slower paced style of play.
By pressing the L trigger, your view will revert to just behind the character and you will cling to virtually any and every surface in the game. You can move along that surface till you get to the edge. By pressing left or right, your character will pop out and be able to shoot at enemies, obviously by pressing the R trigger. However, you can also blind fire, which can sometimes be a good tactic but remember, it’s very inaccurate. Given that you can only take a small number of hits and will die if you leave yourself exposed for too long, it helps to no end that the cover system is nothing short of fantastic.
The only minor gripes that can be held against it is that a few surfaces are generally more sticky over others, and can be a tad difficult to maneouver - there is no quick button to say, flip from one surface to another, as in GoW. However, you’ll barely notice this as the design of the levels is excellent and complements the cover system superbly. Not only do the levels have cover in all the places that it's need, it allows and caters for players to make many different decisions on the go. You’ll come to a room with several different entrances, of which it’s up to you to decide what’s the best way to get in. It’s up to you to decide the best way to advance up an alley where you’re outnumbered three-to-one, and it's up to you to decide how to nullify the hostage threat. The casinos surprisingly make for some interesting and diverse levels as well. The only gripe is that the scenarios are heavily scripted, though they will at times have a few differences if you replay them differently.
As a squad-based shooter, Vegas provides you with a team of two other soldiers and an intuitive command system. Most of the time you’ll send them to a location by pointing with your reticule and pressing “A”. The d-pad is used to issue commands such as whether to attack or to only attack when initiated. It helps that the AI of your team is rather robust and the commands that can be issued cover most situations that you’ll come across. Among the diverse range of situations that you’ll come across, you’ll also be required to rappel down the sides of buildings. For the few times that you have to do this, you’ll have a couple of interesting tactical decisions to make.
Vegas will never be the same once you're finished with it
The single player mode will take you through six different levels and anywhere between 10 to 15 hours to play through. Despite a ho-hum story, the rollicking and diverse action doesn’t stop from start to finish, and it’s a great ride while it lasts. On top of that, you have the Terrorist Hunt mode, which places you in a level and you are required to hunt the allocated number of terrorists in that level. The game played very well throughout, though we did come across a few minor glitches. Thankfully, none ruined the experience. This is all good fun but the game really manages to shine as a multiplayer title, particularly in terms of the co-op.
Even though the design works as a single player squad-based shooter and the co-op will have obvious comparisons to GoW, it can be simply said that the story mode is superb when played in co-op as well. You can work with another player and hunt as a pack of two, flanking and taking out terrorists in the most creative way possible. You can play through the entire campaign with a friend or through portions of a level. In terms of the competitive multiplayer, the best modes are the ones that have you playing with a team and working together to oust the opponent. In these modes, the multiplayer retains its intensity and need for good strategies in order to be successful. On top of that, there are a myriad of different modes and different ways to customise your matches and your look - this includes the Live Camera support, where you can put your face in the game. It does a reasonably good job of recreating your mug but its limitations don't really let you do anything like stick out your tongue. Single player deathmatches are also fun but do tend to fall a little flat, because the levels are designed with teams in mind. This means that you’ll be aiming for one guy, and you’ll end up being killed by another from behind a few too many times.
In terms of the core FPS mechanics aside from the cover system, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas isn’t much different from other shooters. However, the cover system and the general design lift Vegas above just about every other “realistic” shooter on consoles and it happens to control as smoothly as you could possibly ask. Simply, once you’ve played this, it’s very hard to go back to those other games. They feel archaic and remnant. The game is really that good. However, it does throw down quite an unforgiving challenge, as you will die and reload a few times. It can become quite frustrating, since you'll die rather easily sometimes. However, most of the times it's because you didn't plan your assault properly.
Not where you want to be caught in multiplayer.
In terms of presentation, the game doesn’t fail to impress. The game is built off the Unreal engine, as was GRAW. Initially it appears similar to GRAW but after a while, you’ll realise how much better Vegas actually looks. In fact, there is quite a significant divide between the two, showing that the Xbox 360 is capable of quite a lot. The casinos in particular look fantastic, with a diverse and wide range of different presentations that are vividly and colourfully detailed. Not only that, they support the visceral on-screen action very well. There are no cutscenes, as everything is done in real time and it’s particularly breath taking to watch as you fly over the city of Las Vegas at night. A few minor glitches and frame rate issues get in the way in one of the later levels, but thankfully not often.
In terms of the sound, it isn’t as dynamic as the graphics - still, they do an excellent job of conveying what is happening around you. The voicing has some heart behind it but the writing makes for the same military talk that you’ve all heard before. There are a couple of characters that are voice poorly and there are a few repetitive lines. The weapons feel a bit weak and the music is not that memorable but generally gets the job done well. The general sound effects, however, is where the game shines, as it makes for an engrossingly atmospheric experience.
What makes Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas special is that most other shooters will feel old and remnant after you've played this game. The cover system and design approach is excellent and makes for a great, intense and enjoyable shooter. Not only that, but you also have an endearing single player campaign and some excellent co-operative multiplayer action that makes the package good enough to stand out from the pack and potentially go head-to-head with Gears of War. The only thing missing from the game was one extra coat of polish. Minor gripes aside, Vegas stands on its own as a different game but an excellent one at that.
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