Rainbow Six: Vegas first impressions
I was lucky enough to come home with a copy of Ubisoft’s latest Rainbow Six game yesterday, Rainbow Six: Vegas on the Xbox 360. If you are unfamiliar with the Rainbow Series you are unfamiliar with some of the best tactical shooters on the PC and Xbox. Redstorm invented tactical shooters with the original Rainbow Six on the PC and the series has gone on to be one of the best (and most popular) shooters on the market.
The original Rainbow Six 3 and it’s follow up, Rainbow Six 3:Black Arrow, where the first real examples of good tactical shooters on a console. Sadly the series really fell to pieces after that, moving to an arcadey mess to compete with shooters like Halo. The fans were (rightfully) upset and sales showed this wasn’t what people wanted.
After my first few hours of gameplay I am very pleased to report that Rainbow Six is back to being the best, most realistic tactical gaming experience available. The weapons are nothing short of astonishing, they all handle differently and have their own advantages and disadvantages. I was very happy to see the upgrade ability of weapons finally available on the console (a lå Rainbow Six 3 on the PC) you can outfit every weapon with different scopes, laser sights and extended magazines, but only if it is available as an option on the real gun. Simply amazing and a fantastic touch.
The cover system is done as well as in any other game (much improved over G.R.A.W, a great game in it’s own right). It allows for quick entry and exit of cover, something very important in the fast paced CQB (Close Quarters Battle) of the Rainbow Six series.
There is quite a learning curve, even for someone who has played every game in the series. Levels are massive, long and very challenging, even on the default difficulty. If you are new to the series, forget about the “Realistic” difficulty, it is what it claims to be. But this is what makes games like Rainbow great. One shot, one slip up and the mission can be over. It also makes for great moments when you do slip up (and you will) and quick thinking and a fast trigger finger get you out of an extremely hairy situation. It’s amazingly gratifying and a ton of fun.
I haven’t even tried the online yet, but Rainbow has always had some of the best online gameplay out there and Vegas looks to be no slouch. With create your own character modes and a slew of gameplay modes, new and old, I can’t wait to get my Terrorist Hunt action on with some friends.
My one wonder about the series is what happened to Redstorm. They invented this genre, yet seem to have little to do with it since Ubisoft purchased them. The last thing I know of that Redstorm did was the mutiplayer mode of G.R.A.W (which was quite good). Ubi has handed this Rainbow to their Montreal studios, who seem to be the new kings of all tactical gaming. They were responsible for Rainbow Six: Black Arrow (the best console Rainbow before this), Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (still the best in the Splinter Cell series), and I believe most of the single player in G.R.A.W. Don’t get me wrong, I’m loving what Montreal has done with the games, but what happened to Redstorm? Did Ubi just move most of the employees to Montreal to save on development costs? They were my favorite development studio for years and seem to have fallen off the map completely. If anyone knows, I would love to hear from you.
Thanks for checking out my little impression on Rainbow Six: Vegas and if you are a fan of the series at all, I highly recommend you check this one out. Always remember, the only good Tango is a Tango down.
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chaos theory, fell, rainbow six, splinter cell, ubisoft, vegas, xbox 360Related posts
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