Customer Reviews
A Disappointing Return to Sin City 
2008-05-25
When the original Rainbow Six: Vegas was released, it took the gaming world by storm, quickly gaining a large number of dedicated fans thanks to its unique blend of first-person shooter and duck-and-cover gameplay styles, its groundbreaking online multiplayer, and its compelling storyline.
A year later, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 has hit with much anticipation from fans, and the results are largely a mixed bag. We'll start with the campaign.
The game's storyline is a bit of an unusual route for Ubisoft Montreal to take with its much-hyped sequel, opening with a prologue that takes place years before the events of the first one. It serves largely to set up the characters that will impact the narrative later on. From there, the game moves to the present, specifically a matter of hours before the original. The majority of the game serves as a prequel, and then the last two levels pick up during and after the events detailed in the series' previous entry.
In the game, you play the part of a grizzled instructor for the Rainbow Counter-Terrorist Organization named Bishop, who is called back into action when Las Vegas is brutally attacked by a large terrorist cell led by Irena Morales.
The campaign, while only about seven hours long, is a blast to play through. Although the story lacks the ability to draw you in like the first one did, and only the last level of the game feels like a necessary part of the Vegas storyline, the gameplay mechanics have remained largely the same, except for the inclusion of the ability to sprint, which comes in very handy when the enemy is raining fire down on you. The squad commands and cover system are unchanged, giving players a sense of welcome familiarity.
But the majority of Rainbow Six players are in it for the multiplayer, which is where the game is lacking. All of the multiplayer modes (team deathmatch, retrieval, etc.) return and have been mostly unchanged. The first disappointment players will notice is the lack of new maps. While there are a few, the majority of these are just updates of maps from the last few Rainbow games, with slight changes that are barely noticeable.
Another problem with the online play is that in team deathmatch mode, players are now respawned at a random location rather than having a set home base, making it nearly impossible to work tactically with your teammates, which is what the original Vegas game was famous for. Now the online play feels more along the lines of a run-and-gun rather than a tactical shooter.
Besides this, the online is extremely glitchy. I can't count how many times I've seen a random object floating in midair or how many times I've been pointing my weapon straight at an opponent and unloaded only to have them survive taking thirty rounds to the chest.
There is one change to the multiplayer that was a smart move on the developers' part, though. In the previous game, a player ranked up according to how many rounds they'd played. Now the ranking system relies on individual kills, making it judge the player off of skill level more than anything else. This also gives people an incentive to play all the way through the campaign, as kills against AI enemies also gives you points with which to rank up.
Overall, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 isn't a bad game, but in the wake of the original, one can't help but be disappointed. Even though the campaign is enjoyable, the storyline is hindered by its unnecessary need to be both a prequel and a sequel, and the multiplayer is (for the most part) an unfortunate disappointment.
Storyline: 7.5/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 8/10
Multiplayer: 7/10
Overall: 7.3/10
Grade: C
Great if Flawed 
2008-05-24
The original Rainbow Six Vegas was a well constructed game, and very fun despite its few problems. So I was eagerly looking forward to the sequel. I was not disappointed.
The core of the gameplay remains the same. All the mechanics from the first game are in here as well. In fact, if you ignore the new features, it would feel as if you were playing the same game. Unfortunately, this means that you kept the downsides as well, but more on that in a minute. The added features come as a welcome addition. The ability to do a scan and see the position of bad guys occasionally is really nice. It adds another layers of strategy onto of a already strategic game. Also, the ability to throw either grenade without having to switch which is equipped is also a bonus. It allows you to think more tactically in a situation, and react with more options.
The AI is still a problem, both for you and for the bad guys. Even on the hardest difficulty, the enemy AI is both stupid and prescient. They react in the strangest ways, taking cover in areas that are completely open and acting spastic. At the same time, even if you do nothing, they know exactly where you are and their aim is unerring, which is a little annoying. And as bad as their AI is, your team AI is worse. At times it's like having to direct a band of retarded monkeys. They will often just stand getting shot at until you give them direction, not even bothering to get cover. When assaulting, they will move to their attack points, and stop. Their aim is as bad as your enemies, and you will find yourself having to do most of the heavy lifting.
The story itself is passable, and eventually picks up at the end of the first game, which is nice. It is still the standard, goofy FPS plot-line, but what can you expect.
Overall, this is a fun game to play, and worth both your money and your time.
http://www.travis-starnes.com
More fun then the Last Vegas 
2008-05-24
This game is just what I expected from the folks at Ubsoft as a sequel. All the things that I was bothered with were fixed e.g. how you could not see where your rank progress was, opening of weapons, and other equipment. Plus now your weapon settings stay the same so you dont have to keep putting on your scliencer and single shot after each time you get waxed. Plus the AI are more difficult, and realistic. Some times you will be shooting at one AI only to be flanked by his buddy. Well done and I look forward to playing any other Rainbow 6 installments.
Another really short first person shooter! 2008-05-23
I like almost every thing in this game the weapons, scenarios, controls, and the characters, the only down size is the fact that the game could be ended in 6 to 8 hours with no hurry, so for the non on line player thats a huge down size even though I'll give four stars because I really like the game play.
Great stuff 2008-05-21
This is a great game. The most amazing part of the game was definately the terrorist hunt. Playing the terrorist hunt in lone wolf mode was great especially when you play it with a friend. Great game and Ubisoft should just keep 'em coming!
:0) 2008-07-19
Gaming wasn't bad for me but i was disappointed with the online gaming. ok wasn't worth the keep after beating the game.
xbox360 rules, ps3 sux 2008-07-17
any game played on the 360 is awesome, but this game was amazing. graphics are great, gameplay is sweet only thing i wish there were more maps. and terrorist hunt needs to allow for more than 4 people while on system link. other than that a 10 for sure
Not as good as RSV1 2008-06-16
If you get this thinking it is a sequel, going to start off right where RSV1 stopped then you are not going to be happy! This is more of a paralell story than a sequel. It should not have been called Raibow Six Vegas Two. Maybe RSV1.5 but not RSV2. I really wish the very first mission would have started out exactly where RSV1 left off.
The game is short, and online offers nothing better than RSV1. Basically, it does not live up to the hipe and expectations. I gave the fun level 3 stars as I do enjoy this style of gaming but enemies span in right in your face and kill you in terrorist hunt, not all shots are equal. One shot from a shotgun might kill one bad guy but the next might take an entire magazine. The AI pulls miricle shots, shooting with thier gun facing a different direction but you die anyway. Campaign may be short but it is nice going through it with a friend.
It seems they pulled a GRAW to GRAW2, should have been downloadable content instead. At least GRAW2 added some "new" toys RSV2 only added the ability to sprint. Play Call Of Duty 4, it is better.
quite a bit rushed 
2008-05-27
having enjoyed the original RAINBOW SIX VEGAS i was really looking forward to getting this. i was looking forward to playing this online. man was i disappointed. almost to the point of being p****d off. no respawns on ranked play. as soon as you're dead that's it. and i thought SPLINTER CELL sucked. i would've given it another 6 months to fix all this crap that could've been done. if they would've waited longer fore more to be done or given us regular deathmatch as a download then i would've rated it better. Mr. Clancy we want a better installment for RAINBOW SIX VEGAS 3 this time.
Retread of good game equals junk 
2008-05-26
I just finished wasting my time on yet another video game. As you can tell by the title it was Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. And as you can also tell by the title I thought it was a total piece of crap. Now, I really liked the first one, Rainbow Six: Vegas. It was a lot of fun. The story is kind of vague but enough to pay attention to and know what was driving the story. This game, Vegas 2, is like the ultimate phoned in piece of junk I have ever played. Somehow they took a fun game and made it tedious and repetitive. Zero new in the game. Somehow the AI is dumber. Audio mix ALL over the place. half the time I had no idea what people were saying because of fire too close by, or we were in a helicopter or they appeared to be mumbling about something I assumed was plot related but usually didn't matter since you can't really get lost or proceed past your objective. I really can't say anything good about this game. When it was too hard it was like pretty insanely hard at the normal level. When it was not hard it was just repetitive and annoying.
Possibly the lamest thing was that the fact that your AI soldier guys say like 3-4 things MAX. So if you like hearing "WHO-AA!" or "Anyone keeping score?" or "Tango Down" or some variation you're in for a treat! If not it get really boring fast. Next thing about them is that they get stuck. Like in a puddle of water. Or behind a barrel about 3 feet tall. And when that happens they won't come when you call. The only way to free them is to nudge them out from what they are stuck behind. This happens when there is clear way around the objects they are caught behind. Its some weird glitch. So more than a few times the game comes to a halt and you have to go back and figure out where and what your guys are stuck behind.
Then there were audio glitches where the sound of a machine gun would go on and on and on for no reason until you paused the game. Also if you ran to fast you could see the bad guys generating. So you'd sprint ahead and look into an empty building and then pop suddenly there is a guy there and he is shooting at you.
Go back, buy the first one and then pass on this one.
