Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Hands-on Preview

Don’t want to read our preview for Rainbow Six Vegas 2? Don’t worry. You can see four minutes of the game in action by heading over to our Rainbow Six Vegas 2 video preview.

Rainbow Six Vegas stands up there with Gears of War as a great cover-based shooter. What set it apart in 2006 was the first-person perspective and the press and hold cover system, which allowed you to have almost full situational awareness while pressed against a wall. Vegas 2 is shaping up to be very much the same, but with a handful of new features and tweaked visuals, it’s a game every FPS fan should be excited about.

The basics of the game have been carried across from the first game. You once again play as an elite member of team Rainbow and terrorists are up to no good, in Vegas no less – although the game isn’t set there for its entirety. You command a small squad of soldiers and move from room to room, fragging and clearing or throwing in a flash bang before taking down the blinded bad guys. It’s all very familiar, but no less fun and just as intense as the original game.

To keep things fresh Ubisoft Montreal has introduced a few small but key new features – most of which are revealed during the game’s opening level. As in Call of Duty 4 you can now shoot through certain objects, taking down enemies who appear to be in cover. It doesn’t work for everything, but if you happen to spot someone peaking out from behind a flimsy wall, chances are you’ll be able to wipe the smile off his face. Don’t worry if they’re hiding too well either, as a new Thermal Scan allows you to get an overview of the hostiles in the area – giving you the upper hand.

As is all the rage in action games these days, Vegas 2 introduces a sprint button, making those dashes from cover to cover every so slightly less dangerous, and a handy shield is an option if you’re really being pinned down. In tight spaces this effectively presents the enemy with a wall of steel as you and your team take them down. It’s a nice addition, although you do have to sacrifice a high-powered weapon and use a hand-gun – the choice is yours.

Another new addition is the level of depth when kitting out your character. As well as choosing your weapons and grenades you can choose the armour you wear. The more you have on the more protection you have against bullets, but to balance things out you’ll become slower, potentially causing you trouble in open areas. As with all aspects of the game, some careful thought is needed, although the game does include ammo and gear stations that let you tweak your set-up mid-mission.

Rainbow Six has always been a series where tactics play a part, but since moving to consoles there has certainly been a gradual move away from hardcore tactics. Although Vegas 2 isn’t going back to the series’ origins on PC in terms of depth, the early few levels suggest that you’ll need to do more thinking than in your average FPS.

Over and above the other new features introduced in Vegas 2 is the A.C.E.S. system – something similar to Call of Duty 4’s online ranking points system. This is split into three areas: Marksmanship, CQB and Assault. Unlike Call of Duty 4, the A.C.E.S. system in Vegas 2 is featured throughout multiplayer game modes and the campaign. These go towards each of your levels in each category and unlock new weapons and items. For example, a long range kill earns 3 Marksmanship points, while a headshot earns 1. A blind fire kill earns you 3 CQB points, as does killing a visually impaired enemy. Finally, killing with C4 or killing someone through cover will earn you 3 Assault points. These are only some of the ways you can score points, and all the time you’re working towards a new level and new items.

Built using the Unreal Engine 3 Rainbow Six Vegas 2 looks great, although not a huge leap from the previous game. The environments are detailed and feature plenty of destructible objects, character models are highly detailed and lighting effects are near the top of the class. As in the first game the audio more than matches the visuals, with some superb surround sound work and a soundtrack that could have come straight out of a Hollywood movie.

With a full compliment of multiplayer modes, including two-player co-op during the main campaign, four-player co-op during terrorist hunts, and 16 players competing head to head online, Vegas 2 is certainly no slouch in that department either. We’ll have a full review later this month, but we’re fairly certain that anyone wanting some intense, mildly tactical action will want Rainbow Six Vegas 2 in their collection.