I finally beat Rainbow Six Vegas.  This is one of the games that founded this site.  It’s been in my queue since its release, played sporadically in single player, coop, and multiplayer.  I’ve probably played the first level a couple dozen times in splitscreen multiplayer, or watched 2 friends play it.  And now it’s done.  As usual, most of my initial impressions hold.  But a few things did come up near the end, both good and bad.

Remember when I mentioned that when enemies repel in, it was a bit cheap and annoying?  Well, guess what happens near the end of the game.

Constantly.

In multiple waves.

From any angle or roof glass fixture.

From any door or corner.

It just isn’t fun.  Sure, it’s challenging, but Rainbow Six and Swat are always better busting down doors than hiding behind a box picking people off. Hiding.

Which brings up another point: I realized why this games cover system works so well.  As I’ve mentioned with Kane and Lynch, the Freedom Fighters guys designed abstract levels, with boxes that made no sense, but provided good cover, solid choke points, and good lines for AI pathfinding to NOT get hung up on.  And so does Rainbow Six.  It’s not noticable at first.   The rows of casino machines camouflage it perfectly.  It isn’t until some of the later construction levels and warehouses where you realize just how gameplay oriented the level layout is.

Also, I don’t like to spoil endings here, but I don’t have to worry about that with this game.  It *has* no end.  A giant “To Be Continued” sqrawls across your screen as your main character swears about what is happening around him.  You do *not* need to play this game to “figure out” or “experience” the story of R6V2.  I’m sure the entire plot can be summed up in about 2-3 sentences.  Maybe I’ll do a passworded post on it….

I’ve ranted about this before, but trilogies (or completely planned sequels) are only justifiable if each is also a self-contained story.

I began to play around with more weapons near the end.  The shotgun has a great, realistic (long) range.  The pistol has an unrealistic ability to snipe, but it’s always fun to take out terrorists with the Magnum.

Anyway, spray and pray is still fun.  I’m a little burnt out from my recent run through to jump straight into Vegas 2 (single player, anyway), but I’m definitely looking forward to it.