22.4.2014

Rainbow Six: Vegas is an absolutely splendid experience for any PlayStation 3 owner with a yearning for a tactical shooter.You play as Logan Keller, commander of a three-man counter-terrorist squad. Originally beginning in Mexico, Logan is called to duty in Sin City, the target of a malicious terrorist attack. Logan and his team then have to traverse a casino, a restaurant, and a construction site; before the plot climaxes at the Nevada Dam, a hydroelectric dam on the Colorado River. The story contains more depth than the average shooter, though a slightly lackluster ending disappoints. Regardless, we applaud the incredible recreation of Las Vegas. In fact,the setting itself may be the most unique location to ever grace a war title.You’re able to choose between only two difficulty settings: normal and realistic. Normal provides enough of a challenge in itself, as you’ll die after a single barrage of bullets. Gone is the standard health bar. Instead, the screen will blur as you are hit, slowly returning to normal should you escape any injury for a short period of time. On realistic, the same system holds true, though the difference is quite apparent. Even a single well-placed bullet can take you out, so you must act, well, realistically. That means small mistakes equal death. You’ll find yourself dying quite often when realistic is turned on, but each mission feels more rewarding once beaten, and through your necessary patience and conservative style you’ll become a better player.Vegas makes some extreme changes to the Rainbow Six gameplay formula, the most drastic being its fantastic cover system. You’re able to take cover behind nearly every wall, pillar, or otherwise flat-sided object in the title. While under cover, the camera departs from the standard first person view to a third person over-the-shoulder whilst aiming. In a thoughtful touch, you have to hold L1 to remain against a surface (as opposed to toggling off and on with a button press), so you never feel locked to a wall when getting shot. Even better, you’re able to aim in a full 360 degrees while against cover, so it never feels restricting and dangerous to use.The other most notable gameplay addition is the ability to rappel though differing areas. Need to head down an elevator shaft? Not a problem – just hop on a rope and rappel yourself down to the bottom. This tactic isn’t limited only to the campaign, as multiple rappelling ropes are sprawled throughout both new and old Rainbow Six maps. They can be faster than an alternative route, but are also considerably more risky. Overall, they make old maps feel fresh again while providing a useful play mechanic for newer areas.The A.I. in Rainbow Six Vegas is generally intelligent. Your opponents will take advantage of cover just as well as you. They’ll use all types of grenades in different situations, and even attempt to flank you and your teammates when they deem it necessary. Unfortunately, your enemies seem to only react well to visual cues, as they don’t hear basic sounds such as gunfire and footsteps properly. Luckily, your two counter-terrorist pals are highly useful for retribution against the otherwise quick-witted adversaries. Intelligent, skillful, and simple to control; your squad-mates are of incredible importance to turning the tide of a battle against the terrorists.If you want nothing to do with computer-controlled allies, you’re able to play through the campaign levels with up to three other friends instead. However, you’re forced to choose each level separately, making the experience feel incredibly sporadic (whereas the single player flows perfectly). In this reviewer’s opinion, it’s advisable to stick to terrorist hunts (quick matches against 30 or so computer opponents) should the urge for human companions arise. All in all however, the campaign is a worthwhile experience, especially for a Rainbow Six title which as a series has generally placed the majority of its emphasis on multiplayer. It feels just as satisfying and fun in Vegas as it was in past Rainbow Six titlesThe cover mechanic adds a whole new perspective to Rainbow Six multiplayer gameplay, so newcomers won’t necessarily be dominated by series vets right away. The ability to unlock content over time and customize your online character adds to the replay value, not that you’ll need any other incentive to keep you playing. With a plethora of maps and modes, old and new, there is very little to complain about regarding Vegas’s multiplayer. That is, unless you have a slow internet connection, as matches can lag up as a result.There were several changes between the 360 and PS3 versions; some positive, others negative. On the superior side of the spectrum, the delay provided time to fill the Blu-ray disc, as maps from the Red and Black 360 map packs (£10 each) are provided from the get-go for PS3 gamers. Also, there’s an option to control the snake-cam with the Sixaxis motion control, but that ability just feels tacked on and makes what should be an easy process difficult.On the inferior side, the graphics in several areas are slightly substandard when compared to the 360 version. Texture work can seem especially shoddy in comparison, as can the detail on characters faces (or lack thereof). A slightly spotty framerate can aggravate as well, but that mostly occurs when playing splitscreen. Besides these minor flaws the game looks excellent. It must be mentioned though that there is a strange issue with 1080i output, as the game looks far crisper and better in a 720p resolution.Audio is outstanding for nearly all aspects of the title, at least when it works properly. Gunshots sound sharp and authentic, explosions boom realistically and voice acting is top-notch. Unfortunately, audio glitches do occur, with gunshot volume improper in relation to the current area and position between Logan and the opposing terrorist. Essentially, even when they're right next to you, it can sometimes sound as if you're being shot at from over 50 feet away. It's actually quite disturbing and can mess up your sense of direction. This issue does detract from the otherwise solid audio Rainbow Six Vegas provides.Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas is a fantastic foray into the tactical shooter genre. Both series pros and newcomers can appreciate what this game has to offer. It’s solid in nearly every area, but exceeds all expectations in the category that matters most: gameplay. If you missed this title the first time around, you should buy this game. I got my copy for £4 brand new online, for that price it's an absolute steal.

4.2.2007

This offering in the RAINBOW SIX® franchise sees you playing Logan Keller (well, in the mission mode, anyway), and you are controlling one of three counter-terrorism operatives whose job in this game is to rid Las Vegas of its band of terrorists. Joanna, your information officer, usually gives you mission objectives as you go along, although if you weren't paying attention to it for whatever reason, I don't think you'd miss that much. Before each mission you can equip yourself with guns and gadgets that you think will be effective, and the guns can be customised with various scopes for improved accuracy if you so wish.The game is largely FPS, but when you enter cover or do some special action (e.g.rappel or use a fast rope) it goes into third-person, and does so seamlessly. Cover is very well done; to use it you simply go up to an obstacle that you can realistically hide behind and hold down the Left Trigger (LT); while there pressing the Left Stick (LS) (which is usually your movement stick) either left, right or up can allow you to peer around the obstacle and shoot with the Right Trigger (RT) without leaving cover. You can also blindfire by simply holding the RT without using the LS; this is less accurate, but can suppress the enemy and is often advisable when someone's up close to where you are (as a direct shot from them at close range might kill you instantly).There are usually doors that need to be opened before you can progress, and you can either open them yourself or order your team to do it (with options such as frag and clear [throw a grenade in and clear the room of terrorists] or breach and clear [place a breaching charge on the door to blow it open, as well as kill any terrorists close enough to the door when it explodes, before storming the room], or just open the door and clear). Before you open a door, you can slip a Snake Cam under the door to check the room for any foes before making a decision; if there are foes, you can nominate a primary and secondary target if you wish to prioritise who should be killed first. You can also close doors, which can be handy if you want to minimise the chances of a terrorist sneaking up behind (because you would hear the squeak of the door opening). The best way to open a door is to hide against the wall alongside it and open it while under cover; that way you're not directly in the line of fire of whoever might be just on the other side of the door.The A button is both a context-sensitive button and a means of ordering your team to go to a specific place that is currently in view (just aim to where you want them to go and press A; it's that simple). It also allows you to climb, rappel, use ladders, use fast ropes and other things.Other means of controlling your team include the D-pad and the Left Bumper (LB), the latter affecting their behaviour in combat (e.g. do you want them to take out any foes they see, and risk attracting more attention; or put silencers on their weapons and fire only if fired upon, which is safer and less conspicuous?). Some bits of some missions require a stealthier approach, so this sort of choice is often worth considering to avoid making a situation more difficult than is necessary.You can set how many bullets are used per RT pull for automatic weapons, whether you want rapid continuous fire, one bullet at a time or (in some cases) two or three bullets; ammo is limited so conserving it is advisable (although you can pick up ammo from dead terrorists, or even replace your current gun with one of theirs). Also, the less bullets you fire at once, the more accurate your shooting will be due to the reduced recoil. The Right Stick (RS) can be clicked to improve your aim. You can use the Y button to switch between the two big guns and pistol, and can also choose which of the two explosives (e.g. frag/smoke grenades, C4, Flashbang) you would use with the B button.Holding the Back button brings up a tactical map, which highlights where, you, your team-members, any terrorists that are known of, and the location of the destination (which is also on the screen and shows how far it is away and whether or not you need to go up or down).You also might be called upon to use the Right Bumper (RB) to choose to activate thermal goggles (handy for darkness or to see through smoke) or night-vision ones. Pressing RB again cancels it and returns you to normal vision.The game is involved and brilliant, even though the terrorism theme is nothing original. Graphics are very good, as is the sound, and you even hear the comments of the terrorists (be warned that the F-word is used quite a bit in this game, and the violence is fairly strong, so keep it away from the little ones). Gameplay is brilliant; everything flows beautifully and the controls are inspired. You can even choose between difficulty levels Normal and Realistic, but in the latter you have to be REALLY good at planning and taking cover; going in all guns blazing is simply suicidal! The AI of your team and the terrorists is superbly done.As well as the story mode, you can also have a go at Terrorist Hunt, where you select a battleground and try and take out all the terrorists within it. This is very tense and challenging, and it's very easy to get flanked.Multiplayer is possible either on XBox Live, System Link or (one of the best things about RSV) you can have up to simultaneous four-player action on the same console (even the story mode can be played multiplayer)! Big thumbs up for that!Quibbles? Unfortunately no game is perfect. For one thing, sometimes the LT doesn't always slam you into cover; there were occasional times when I desperately wanted to get under cover and peek around the obstacle to shoot someone and my character just stayed looking at the obstacle instead of slamming his back into it. I wouldn't so much mind, but in the middle of a desperate fight for survival the relatively rare occasions when this happened were very annoying, and the game isn't particularly easy. Even on Normal mode you can still die pretty quickly, and niggles like this really don't help. Another thing is that the Terrorist Hunt missions are a bit too hard, even if the terrorist quantity is set to Low (other than Medium or High), and if you're a newcomer to this sort of game then this might be more than you can muster without shouting profanities at the screen.All in all, this game is just top-class, and is definitely worth a look if you are a fan of this genre.

15.2.2007

This game is not what you might think - a sneaky "special forces take out a few terrorists" kind of romp. In the single player mode this is a fully fledged WAR pitting you and two AI team mates against literally hundreds of seemingly highly motivated opponents.On the whole, this game gets rave reviews and it was on the strength of that plus some exotic screenshots that I bought it. On balance I'm glad I did, and I have spent (far too) many hours blasting the enemy. Unlike some shooters, the enemy in this one are very active and are always on your case, so chances to snipe them are fairly limited because as soon as you have them in your sights they can see you and will open fire. Also,take the boasts on the box with a pinch of salt... the ability to - "manoeuvre though multiple-path Vegas environments" is fairly short lived as you still end up at the same spot after a short distance. Also the "mastering techniques such as fast-roping, rappelling, window entry, etc." usually just involves pressing the 'A' key when the on-screen prompt appears, there's little finesse involved.Pros- Nice graphics, although a lot of the action takes place out of the great Vegas vista (e.g. in Mexico or inside buildings).- Interesting choice of weaponry. No 'BFGs' here, just your regular military issue gear.- Sensible ammo limits. If you have an itchy trigger finger then you'll soon be spent, leaving you to pick up weapons from fallen opponents or search endlessly for the next equipment box. Unlike some games you won't find boxes of bullets on every turn, so running out of ammo usually means you'll die fairly soon unless your AI mates can do the business.- You can 'use' your AI team mates effectively to clear a small area and blast down doors, although be careful... (see Cons).- Satisfying groans when you lob an incendiary grenade into the midst of your enemy (be careful though, they'll still fire back at you even when their eyes are streaming).- Colourful language like "Would you like me to run into the bullets" when you are obviously wide of the mark. Yes there is some swearing but that's not going to worry you or your kids alongside the gratuitous killing that's going on!Cons- No option to save a game in progress, you have to wait until you either reach a checkpoint or the game itself decides to do a 'saving progress'. As a result you can spend half an hour carefully clearing a street of enemies, only to find you get sent right back to the start when you get killed. Also, when you 'Resume last checkpoint' you can lose saved progress. I quit for the day after one point where it said it saved my progress, only to find I had to start the whole stage again when I came back.- Sometimes it's way too easy to die. From cover I unloaded eight or nine rounds into an opponent across a room, only to find he takes me out with a single shot. Or a grenade lands at your feet out of nowhere. Also, be careful about lobbing grenades - they can bounce back at you off plants or even empty space!- Your AI team mates can sometimes be incredibly dumb, and if they die, you die.- Glitches. Several times an opponent simply vanishes, only to reappear nearby whereupon you're shot dead.- Lack of interaction with the environment. For the most part the scenery is just that... scenery. There are certain things you can shoot, like slot machines, light fittings & TV screens which is always fun.- Unpredictable movement control. Sometimes your character can climb over a low wall, other times he can't even step over a small pile of rubbish. or a plank.It was these mionor annoyances that kept me from giving the game a 5 out 5. For the most part the game is simply about shooting your way to the end of the next section, perhaps with some minor automated task at the end like getting your AI team to defuse a bomb or hack a computer. There are one or two touches like rescuing civilians or breaking into a room without getting hostages killed, but these are somewhat limited and a little bit more of this rather than who has got the superior firepower could have made the game more engaging.Am I glad I bought the game? Yes! Despite the annoyances there is something that keeps you coming back for more, even if only to prove you can beat the damn thing. Would I recommend it to a friend? Probably yes. It's set to be a classic and despite a somewhat linear plot, it's a good test of your reflexes, patience and determination - just don't get too frustrated with the quirks along the way.

31.12.2006

Story. 7.5/10There seems to be a real dirth of original storylines out there and this does nothing to improve my opinion. once agian terrorists are causing trouble and its up to you to sort em out. this time theyve taken over a large proportion of, you guessed it, Vegas! Also the chracters are made up of operatives from across the globe so at least it isnt totally 'America saves the world'. Overall the story seems a little far fetched but you really shouldnt let this dissuade you from buying the game. Its the gameplay that'll keep you coming back for more.Gameplay. 9.5Essentially this is a first person shooter but the action neccessitates you looking for cover wherever possible.hold the left shoulder button and you flatten against the nearest object or wall. This is THE essential component in staying alive since you need to do this in order to allow your health to recover Halo esque style. If you go out in the open in the middle of a gunfight you're gonna get dead real quick. get shot and your vision blurs and then blackens before you die. This is a nice touch and works really well and you get to know just how much you can take before you're dead as a dodo. The game lends itself to tactical shooting and planning and you'll find that you die a lot. trial and error is often the best bet. its pretty realistic throughout, even on the normal difficulty setting- take a shot from close range and you'll most likely be killed outright.There's also a good array of weapons as you'd expect and customisation options work well. Enemy and eammate AI are to a good standard. They'll flank, go for cover, retreat, rush you, blindfire and cover each other while the other reloads. Team commands work well and your fellows respond quickly effectively. Ultimatly the gameplay is very addictive and far easier to get to grips with than i had expected. my only gripe are some interactivity issues. there are still some low walls and barricades that you just cant jump over which slightly spoils the authenticity.Graphics. 9/10Pehaps playing Gears of War before this was a mistake. Gears really spoils you graphically and Rainbow in truth doesnt come close in my opinion. I expected to be gobsmacked because i now know whet the 360 is capable of. presumably the Rainbow production team just didnt allocate the same amount of time to this field as the Gears team. im not sure. however this is a very nice looking game all the same. smoke looks realistic and windows shatter and shoot out nicely. the blurred vision works wonderfully and the effect of a fashbang grenade was very impressive.on the bad side. sure the textures are occasionally poor in places but my main gripe is that the whole game suffers from a slight washed out look. it has the feel of a watercolour rather than being the oil painting that it should have been. theres not enough definition in the colours and more contrast should have been used. I bought the advanced AV cable to improve this but ive noticed no difference at all so i wouldnt go down that road if i were you. another concern are the environments. There are 3 main sections to the game. Mexico, Vegas and finally The Nevada Dam. The Vegas section is by far the longest section and this is where it suffers. Many of the foyers halls, rooms etc start looking the same and personally i began craving a bit of a change. just gimmie a bit of sunlight and open air every once in a while!! still the game isnt called Rainbow 6 Vegas for nothing so i shouldnt complain really.Sound. 9/10What can i say its very good.Overall. 9/10This is an extremely enjoyable game. the gameplay is extremely additive and its more than attractive enough to keep you playing into the night plus its also great value as its quite a bit longer than Gears of War and should keep you occupied for 12+ hrs. very worthwhile buying.

31.5.2007

Well i had my ps3 on launch trading in my xbox 360 for it, wich in some ways was very wise. When i had my 360 i had this game (Rainbow Six Vegas)and due to the online play i was glued on since january till march the 23rd may seem sad but it is seriously addictive.First things first, this is purely an ONLINE game so if you preffer playing on the campaign mode so be it all there is to do is walk around with a team slaughtering a mass onslaught of terrorists who are dertimined to stress you out to much you will rip of your balls!.So what can you do online? Well everything!At the main screen the P.E.C (persistant elite creation) you can equip your charactor with armor ranging from size and colour,

11.3.2007

This game was released late last year on Xbox 360 and now is coming to Playstation 3 and for some reason it seems to have been forgotten about. WHY?!?!?This game is great, the campaign lets you kick terrorist ass all over shiny Las Vegas. It has great tactical gameplay which allows the player to Observe the situation, Plan what they are going to do and then assault, just like the proffesionals do, all with the assistance of your two counter-parts who will act as you tell them to, rite down to which enemies to kill first when storming a room. The cover system rivals that of Gears of War, it switches to a third person perspective when you approach cover and press the cover button,

11.1.2007

I was really surprised by this game. I've never played any of the other Rainbow games; they never seemed to get top ratings in mags compared to games like Halo and Half-Life. This however is excellent. I enjoyed it more than Gears of War and F.E.A.R (2 great games).The first level was slightly disappointing - it felt too similar to Ghost Recon (the deserted Mexican town, the sound of a baby crying in the background etc). But the Vegas levels are great. From landing on The Strip, taking cover behind cars, to infiltrating the occupied casino, there's a constant feeling of being pinned down under enemy fire. The normal difficulty setting is pretty challenging (you will die a lot)

8.9.2007

I Have to admit this is the first rainbow six game i have played and i found it really good, now dont get me wrong but the Single player mode is good but isn't long, so the only thing propping the game up now is the online multiplayer which is awesome and i'll get back to that in a min, and of course the choice of difficulty which is Normal and realisticwhen you first play the game your not in vegas but Mexico, like the same setting in GR3, the story evolves around Irena, who is at the center of the vegas plot.the opening level feels very restriced and cramped, but once you get into Vegas, there is more fun open ended maps and more advanced AI enemy's,

3.9.2007

Duck behind cover, reload, swing out, double tap the trigger, tango down! Rainbox Six is a tactical First Person Shooter with a unique challenge. The story mode is a test in itself, but the online play is where the game puts its face on.The story mode is fairly long, with some missions lasting upto an hour. You start on the mexican side of the border; fighting through a town, trainyard and underground tunnels; before proceeding to two casinos, the vegas strip and ultimately a Dam! Fighting terrorists throughout these levels keep the game fresh, however a storyline is distinctly absent. Bossing around your teamates is fun, however the AI can be frustrating at times.

27.3.2007

This game has been labelled boring, slow and all sorts. But if you prefer counter strike, Unreal Tournament better look away now. This is a simulation game not an arcade shooter. Like all Rainbow six games you are thrown in the action as if it was real life situation. You cant just run in guns blazing. You have to strategically plan your missions and pick your weapons depending on what the mission requires. You have to survey your area as you would do in real life. Theres nothing slow about this game. When you get involved in a gun battle with a lot of enemies it gets very quick.Normally you would use stun grenades, frag grenades etc to eliminate possible campers (online) and hidden enemies.

8.7.2007

The tactics in this game are beautiful. Every enemy makes logical choices apart from the odd glitch, and those are VERY few and far between. The way you command your men is excellent because it gives you full tactical control and is SIMPLE. You are soon making tactical decisions without even realising you are making them, and isn't that the mark of a truly great tactical shooter?The graphics are some of the finest I've seen, and levels take full advantage of the colours and sounds of Las Vegas. Every gun feels real and sounds real, apart from the glaringly obvious problem with the pistols; there is always a split second delay with impact when fired at close range on Xbox Live. Oh yes,

28.5.2007

I bought my xbox 360 two weeks ago and this was one of the reasons for purchasing the console as Rainbow Six 3 was one of my favourite games (we can just pretend Lockdown did'nt happen!). When I loaded the game up it just blew me away. Everything that made RS3 great is back but know its so much better. You command two other agents and while it can be innitially tricky it won't be long until you'll be gunning down terrorists in spectacular fashion.The first thing that hits you is the graphics, which are nothing short of stunning, and I dont even have a HDTV yet. Its also probably the toughest Rainbow 6 yet. When you start playing you will no doubt rush into combat scenarios and get yourself killed (like I did)

16.12.2006

Hi!I have played through the first part of the game, the kind of training level part, and nothing even comes close to how good it is (even to the training level!)!It is immmersive, realistic and comes with a truckload of realistic (I think) features. The AI is challenging, but not oversely, frustatingly difficult; the graphics are brilliant; the sound, though repetitive, is very miltary sounding. In other games, where you can sprint around fully weighed down buy 1000s of grenades and not make a sound, you really don't care about the odd footstep your character is making. In this game, although I am unsure if the AI will 'hear' you, I have been conscious of the amount of noise Logan was making throughout.After you get hit a few times,

17.5.2008

Bad Points:1. Hard to see the enemies as they blend in with every environment so sometimes you have to wait for them to shoot you so you can see where the shots are coming from before you get them2. The first level in Mexico is really boring and open spaced which makes it difficult for a shooter in which a few shots kill you3. Online play is rubbish (stick to COD4)4. There is no sprint button so its difficult to run to cover without getting hit5. If your teammates get put out of action you can heal them but if it happens to you, you have to restart from the last checkpointGood Points:1. Its difficult so you will be forced into using the skills needed to complete the game which you will quickly learn to enjoy2.

1.7.2009

I took bad with this game having converted from COD4. It is very good but very different.A tactical FPS, you also command a small squad that you move to your commands. The controls are awkward and not intuitive but you do get used to them in time. The game is slow to play. Effectively, you need to creep about picking off the enemies using your squad as cover. There are the odd objectives like hostage rescue to undertake.My gripe is that even on normal the game is hard and missions a bit repetitive. You will replay missions over and over again until you get your strategies right. Not a problem but the distance between save points is. You can easily spend a night working through a level without getting to the save point only to repeat it again.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas - Reviews

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