First Impressions of Vegas 2

[Pfeil22]

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 has been out for a few days and it looks like quite a few members have had a chance to spend at least a few hours playing it, so let’s get some first impressions from everyone. You don’t have to write a full review, just share your initial likes and dislikes of new features or something else that might help us get a sense of its reception from the community. I am sure are plenty of members on the fence about picking it up, so this will also give them a better sense of what to expect from the sequel.


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I have made my way through about half of the storyline, tried a few single-player Terrorist Hunt missions, and had a chance to play approximately a quarter of the co-operative Terrorist Hunt missions with Lorax74. The storyline has been interesting and a lot of fun. Ubisoft’s decision to allow players to customize their avatars and earn achievements across all game modes was fantastic. I have noticed a few drops in my frame rate in certain areas and my AI teammates got stuck on a simple construction cone, but I haven’t encountered any major problems with bugs or glitches.

Single-player Terrorist Hunt was very similar to the original, which isn’t exactly a bad thing in my mind. However, you now have a choice to either play the map alone or with the assistance of AI teammates. Enemy AI do seem a lot more aggressive, so these maps were far from cake walks.

What has really shined for me, so far, is the co-operative Terrorist Hunt missions. Lorax74 and I had a blast working our way through a few on Wednesday and they’ve certainly improved this game mode. Players can now change weapons and gear from within the lobby and have the ability to join matches already in progress. I can see these being a real hit with our community.

I look forward to finishing up the storyline and trying its co-operative mode. Next up for me, however, is going to be a stab at adversarial gameplay. Since characters can progress in player hosted matches, I hope we can eventually start playing some of the team based modes together as a community.

Overall, I would recommend Rainbow Six Vegas 2. It’s similar to Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 in that anyone that skipped out on the first installment should probably just go ahead and buy the second. While not necessarily a new game, though it’s a bit more than an expansion, it also has some great new features and improves on gameplay enough for those of us who have played the original.

[tHa_KhAn]

So far so good. I've played through a few levels of the COOP story with a friend. I have a feeling like the original I'm missing part of the story by doing it COOP the first time around. It has been good fun though. I enjoy the fact that I'm getting points in COOP story though. The only real gripe I have is the stupid map and I keep getting marksmen points for weapons I'm not really interested in. I typically setup my assault rifles with the 6x scope and single shot and get a lot of head shots so I'm unlocking sniper rifles like no ones business, but I will never load out with them. I want to unlock the MG36 or a one of the million assault rifles.

[Lorax74]

I find the terrorist hunts, while still difficult, a bit boring. If you have a defensible position with someone to watch all avenues of approach, you can pretty much sit and wait for the AI to come to you (in droves). Maybe I haven't put enough time in yet, but that has been my first impression so far.

I haven't put any time into single player mode yet.

[Sythos]

Its been great so far, the terrorist hunts are great, bu tyou can exploit the A.C.E.S pretty easily on some maps. just a question has anyone got past Import/Export in Terrorist hunt, I have been trying for a while and cant get past the beginning.

[Magnum50]

I think we did that with a full 4 of us today, took quite a few times, completed about 4 of them.

[Sythos]

Originally Posted by Magnum50

I think we did that with a full 4 of us today, took quite a few times, completed about 4 of them.

If you did Terrorist Hunt after I left, you probably did it. But when I was there it was me you and Pfeil, and we just gave up after five trys.

[Clodhopper]

The Good;
-Grenade orders; you can order your team to toss certain types of grenades at any point, depending on the ROE you're currently on.
-Silencers MAKE THE DIFFERENCE! It's just too cool, silencers, used in the right capacity, make a LARGE difference when you want to avoid large firefights.
-Not a fan of ranking systems, as they usually dictate how people will play... but this system is pretty fun. But I've caught myself using specific tactics to level something up...
-Character creation and customization is cool
-Enemy AI is still great. They call in reinforcements, they shout out taunts... communicate with each other, its cool.
-Had no issues with Friendly AI, they did exactly what I want, when I want. Some problems with grenades, but I guess they can't toss grenades ANYWHERE, much like I can't :P
-JOINING MATCHES IN PROGRESS! YESSS! *cheers* Even a co-op campaign... and if you drop, the game doesn't drop for the host, he just continues like nothing happened. This is sheer brilliance IMO.

The Bad (well, and the ugly);
-Terrorist Hunt "spawn-in" bad guys STILL?! Not only that, but I think it's somewhat worse. I was playing a terrorist hunt on... Villa or something... buddy spawns in RIGHT ON MY NOSE!
-Framerate drops sometimes, along with missing textures as they load, a-la Mass Effect
-Sound sometimes cuts out...
-I still have poor connection for adversal games. I can play any other game on the 360, lag free, but Rainbow Six Vegas, I always had a crappy ping, and I'd warp around... (No routers. 256k DSL, I believe)

Basically the one thing that pissed me off about Vegas1 is in Vegas2, the other things can, and most likely will be patched. Overall, I'd call it an improvement, and I'm glad I got it

Based on my time on terrorist hunt though, I don't think this title will avert me from GRAW2, I still prefer an enemy that walks around, patrols and reacts, over one that magically appears, and instantly knows just where you are. Just no improvement on that front, which is a big reason Vegas1 could never topple GRAW for me.

[Pfeil22]

I just finished the storyline and absolutely loved it. My next step is to attempt it again on Realistic mode, as I wanted to get a feel for the game without having to reattempt each checkpoint a half dozen times. The end was a little wild, but a great way to finish the Vegas saga.

Without spoiling anything for those who haven't played the story out, I have to say I was impressed with the way the developers choose to expose a darker side of Rainbow Six with Bishop. They didn't pull any punches and there were quite a few times I figured my team would run in to save the day, only to fail. Instead of loading a checkpoint, however, they would throw in a cut scene and move the story along with the team's failures/choices.

[Clodhopper]

I felt the same way Pfeil

[Sythos]

I should attempt the campaign on normal first, Im doing it on realistic right now and it is tough. Im stuck on the second level act 4, I keep getting kiled by a turret gunner. Overall the game is great, only a few more terrorist hunts left to go. The online is ok the system they put in to stop boosting on ranked matches is annoying, having to leave a match every time it ends or if you run out of respawns because you got spawn killed/ teamkilled 10 seconds in. The maps are better than the first, same with graphics and guns. The AI is good but lacking at times, when they keep coming down the same line ven though they just saw their friend get shot, also the taunts seem to be the same from the first, I havent paid much attention to them though.