Review: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas

Las Vegas AKA “Sin City,” is the home of the famous Las Vegas Strip, flashy hotels, high-rolling casinos and world-famous celebrities… too bad the terrorists have taken over.

In Rainbow Six: Vegas, you play as Logan Keller, the leader of one of Rainbow’s elite three-man counterterrorist assault teams who is called into action after an operation in Mexico goes bad. You and your team are called upon to track and kill the terrorists holding the city to ransom; then disarm the bombs they have left around the city.

Described as a squad-based shooter, Rainbow Six Vegas is an action-packed game, with little or no stealth techniques used to acquire your objective. You don’t fight alone in Rainbow Six Vegas, either; you’re usually accompanied by your two teammates. By controlling your team, it’s up to the player how you approach the different combat situations. Is there plenty of cover? Could we use a smoke grenade to cover our entry? Or just use a breaching charge on a hidden door to create a new angle of attack… the choice is up to you.

Fans of the series were pretty sceptical about the previous release, Critical Hour, citing too many problems for the game to be enjoyable. But with this new version, some key features have been implemented to smooth out gameplay. For starters, you can now recover health by taking cover and not getting hit, similar to Call of Duty 3 or Gears of War. The second big addition to the gameplay is the use of cover. Your character can now duck and cover behind objects, and lean out from cover to fire. Similar to Gears of War, you can do a blind shot, which keeps you out of your enemy’s line of fire but results in a very inaccurate shot, or you can lean out far enough to get a decent shot, but this leaves yourself open for return fire. Enemy AI is also worth a mention. Flanking techniques and covering fire is used by the enemy effectively and if you’re not careful, you and your team will be leaving Vegas in a body bag.

Gears of War fans may find this game looks kind of familiar and they would be correct in their assumption – Vegas and GoW both use the same Unreal graphics engine. Graphics wise, the environments in Vegas are simply stunning. The attention to detail is astounding, the high resolution environmental textures and debris collecting on the ground give that extra realism effect. Take our word for it; nothing is more satisfying than unloading a few rounds into a poker machine.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas makes a welcomed return to the formula that fans know and love. The action, squad-based tactics and well balanced gameplay make this game challenging, yet fun to play. If you love your shooters, this game is a must buy if you own a 360.

Developer- Ubisoft Montreal

Publisher- Ubisoft

Classification- MA15+

Formats- PC, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360

URL- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas