Rainbow Six Vegas  Preview for Xbox 360

- Tim Mellish, " Cloud890 ", Senior Editor

Monday, June 19, 2006

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Title: Rainbow Six Vegas .............................................. System: Xbox 360 .............................................. Genre: Tactical Shooter .............................................. Publisher: Ubisoft .............................................. Developer: Ubisoft .............................................. Release: 11/20/2006 .............................................. Online: Yes .............................................. ESRB: Mature (M) .............................................. When it comes to squad based tactical shooters, no one knows the formula better than Ubisoft. With incredible franchises like Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six, Ubisoft has cemented itself as the company which delivers a satisfying shooter that requires planning and thinking instead of mindless shooting. Fans have eagerly been waiting for Ubisoft to make the next-gen transition with their titles and if GRAW is any indication, fans like what they are seeing. So it comes as no surprise that at this year's E3, Ubisoft had the "other" shooter franchise, Rainbow Six, up and running in video format. While Xbox Core did not get hands on time with the next installation of the Rainbow Six lineage, we did watch and experience the lengthy trailer numerous times. Without a doubt Rainbow Six's first foray into the next-gen, titled Rainbow Six: Vegas, is going to wow gamers. The E3 demo opened with the Rainbow Six team flying in a helicopter over Las Vegas at night. Immediately, it became apparent that Rainbow Six is going to look just as good as GRAW, if not better. If players thought Mexico City was impressive from the air, just wait until their eyes get a gander at the city of sin. It really should come as no surprise that Rainbow Six: Vegas is going to be a beautiful visual overload; this is the same company that brought Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter to the Xbox 360, and we all remember how great that game looked. Rainbow Six: Vegas looks even better than GRAW, if you can believe it. Thanks to the setting of Las Vegas, the guys at Ubisoft are able to play with a graphical mechanic which—for the most part—hasn't been touched on yet: unique lighting. Casinos are stuffed with complicated laser displays, neon lights, and glowing table tops. Several times throughout the E3 demo, members of the Rainbow Six team stepped into huge exotic locales and the lights beautifully played over their character models. What was even more impressive was the lack of jagged edges. Ubisoft has learned its lesson from GRAW and is making the visual department in Rainbow Six: Vegas a step above. But what are good visuals if the gameplay stinks? So far Rainbow Six: Vegas is avoiding this cliché by trying to inject some new mechanics into the formula. Giving orders to the squad is now done through context sensitive situations, or general commands depending on what the mission requires. When not clearing rooms or repelling from the sides of buildings, players can order their squad to take cover, move to a certain position, and even regroup. Like GRAW, the only way you're going to survive a mission is through a combination of positioning your squad intelligently while utilizing tactical maneuvers which maximize enemy deaths and result in zero casualties for your own team. There is no mindless shooting in Rainbow Six: Vegas; everything must be planned out and precisely executed. This type of tense gameplay was shown in action throughout the E3 footage. After making an explosive entrance through the glass side of one of the casinos, the player was presented with a big problem: some of the terrorists had holed themselves up in one of the casino's extravagant rooms and taken a hostage. In order to save the hostage the player had to use teamwork. The first order of business was to check out the room in question to see how many terrorists were inside, and find the best way to "handle" them. Using the snake cam (one of the new tools to the series) the player was able to get a head count as well as locate a second entrance into the room. Telling his team to hold, the person controlling the game moved to the other entrance and whipped out the snake cam a second time. While in snake cam mode, he prioritized which terrorists the squad should focus on, leaving only the terrorist holding the hostage as the main concern. With one press of the button the room was stormed and all three terrorists were eliminated with brutal efficiency. Even though moments like the above are necessary to complete the game, there are just some times when fighting for every inch of ground is the only way to handle a situation. Such was the case when the player guided the Rainbow Team into the large casino lobby, stuffed full of slot machines. The terrorists were numerous in this part of the casino, but with such a wide open area there were no tactical options available. The only recourse was to engage in an intense firefight. The GRAW influence was noticeable in Rainbow Six, but with a slight twist. While moving and shooting is done solely in the first person, whenever a player moves up against a wall the camera switches to a third person view very similar to GRAW's. Unlike GRAW, players don't have to expose their body when firing back at the enemy; a blind fire option is now available. While it is typically less accurate, it's still a great choice when cornered with the enemies closing in. After clearing several more rooms with the same sequence of “survey the enemies, set up appropriate strike points, and then eliminate them,” the demo ended with an explosive finale as the adjacent casino was blown to smithereens. It was a great way to end the demo and brought the idea home that there was a lot more action to be had in Las Vegas. The impression I walked away with from the Rainbow Six: Vegas demo is that so far, the game is going to bring a very satisfying experience. I wish that there were a few new ideas being injected into the Vegas formula, though. Sure, the repelling from the sides of buildings and using the snake cam are new to the series, but not to the Ubisoft name. However, it could very well be that Ubisoft is holding back on a few much more impressive features for a later date. So while Rainbow Six: Vegas looks and plays extremely well, it is lacking in innovation. Here is hoping Ubisoft has more surprises for us in the future.

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