Rainbow Six Vegas

Rating: R16 - Contains Violence and offensive language.
Genre: First Person Shooter.
Developer: Ubisoft.
Release Date: Available Now.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six franchise redefined first person shooters way back in the day, and now with the arrival of ‘next gen’ the Rainbow team is here to re-define your experience once again.

Anyone familiar with the franchise will know what to expect – squad based tactical realism, with real world tactics and locations.

So what’s new with Vegas besides absolutely stunning eye candy graphics?

Well, quite a lot really. First off there’s only two skill levels, and being sensible I chose the easier of the two, but in saying easier, I don’t mean easy.

Normally you’d get a real easy, build your confidence whilst getting your men killed training mission. Not here, you’re dropped in on your own, having to recon your way to your team-mates. This showcases a couple of new features.

You have to plan your route to your objective – there is always more than one way to get to where you are going, so as in Brothers In Arms, you can out flank your enemy. But be warned, if you can out flank, so can your enemy. If you stay put for two long, expect some hostile fire coming from your six.

One shot kills, or at least wounds, and there are no medical packs to pick up. That’s old school Clancy. In Vegas they’ve utilised the Gears of War type system where by there are visual clues if you’re taking too much damage and need to take cover to recover.

Which brings us to another new feature; the ability to take cover, blind fire from cover, or target fire from cover.

Cover fire is essential, ‘cause once you find them; you have to look after your team-mates. If they go down you have to get to them and give them medical aid to get back on their feet. No body but the terrorists can die in Vegas.

Another neat feature is the ability to pick up fallen weapons. Run out of ammo? Pick up a dead terrorist’s weapon and keep on killing.

Planning will get you further, especially with the increased AI of the enemy, who as I mentioned before will try and flank you, corner you, and kill you. The biggest help with planning is your snake cam, that lets you see under the doors into the room behind, allowing you to spot and target the terrorists before going in. Ordering your team-mates to breach, clear or frag will help you complete the missions, and with no manual saves, gun-ho run and shooting from the hip will only get you killed, and sent back to the start of the level.

Of course, some times you won’t use the door. You can now rappel down the side of buildings, and enter through windows, shooting the bad guys as you go.

And you’ll never be alone; you have constant updates through a HUD video feed from your angel in the sky. She’ll let you know anything and everything you need to know. Listen to her; she has a finger on the pulse.

You’re going to need all the help you can get when you finally get to Vegas after the first mission. This Rainbow Six game has some very determined terrorists, who have literally hired an army. At times you’ll be literally swarmed by the bad guys, who carry all manner of weapons, and can do as you do, and slide down ropes from the roof and come in from behind you.

Intense, face paced action, explosions, flash bangs, and plenty of hot lead overloads your visual and auditory senses. And because it’s Vegas you’ll have all the sounds that go with the city that never sleeps. Along with this assault on your senses, you’ll have to keep an ear out for voices. Hear some one talking and take note, it probably means there’s some one with a gun nearby!

In short, Rainbow Six Vegas is the most complete first person shooter available, no competition. If you want action that forces you to think on your feet and make snap calls, then Vegas is for you.

Rent or Buy?
Buy, this is more than a one night stand, and even after you finished it, you’ll be tempted to run it all over again just because.