Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Member Review for the Xbox360

Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 is an EXPANSION PACK.

In the world of PC gaming, wherin  you might pay $50 or so for a full version of a game, you'd only expect to have to pay around $20 - $30 for an expansion pack which would offer NEW MAPS,  NEW SOUNDS, NEW SKINS for enemies, etc.

Many people will believe that Vegas 2 offers those things and more importantly, a fresh singleplayer and multiplayer experience. In a way, it does offer some of that, but the overall package feels just like the original Vegas and in many spots, is considerably more frustrating.

As the Multiplayer mode is the most important feature, I'll begin by saying, VEGAS 2's textures and resolution looks slightly brighteer and sharper than Vegas 1, but, for the most part, everything is relatively the same. The maps are horribly "boxy" unlike Call of Duty 4  and everything in the map from the shape of the map to the objects look as if they've been drawn with a ruler.  The sounds are mostly the same and the guns don't manage to have their telltale tones which helped you discern them like they did in COUNTER STRIKE.

The matchmaking is the worst I've ever seen.

You are not allowed to play ranked matches with the same people after you've just beaten them/gotten defeated  so at the end of each mission, the game brings all the players back to the lobby (where they can finish talking smack)  and then the host must QUIT THE SERVER - or the players must QUIT OUT OF THE LOBBY.    This is STUPID and  its obviously a copy of HALO 2/ 3.  But, while Halo manages to run off of DEDICATED SERVERS, Vegas 2 is stuck running on individual Xbox's. Therefore, the game does not AUTOMATICALY disconnect and reconnect you to the next match.  Its a nightmare.   Playing with groups of friends in ranked matches is a nightmare.  

Even worse - Vegas 2  is designed around respawns rather than time. Wherin a "Calypso Casino" Attack&Defend match might take 10 minutes  to play,  These  maps are so ridiculously small that an A&D  match might end in just 2 minutes (i.e.: Villa).  

Rather than have unlimited respawns and a longer, rolling battle... Vegas 2 forces you to adhere to a small number of respawns (3 is usually the max)  and you can be put completely out of the game so quickly you would be dead before you relized what happened.

Many players of VEGAS 1 complained about spawn point killing  and thus, the developers have given  the freshly spawned a 5 SECOND INVULNERABILITY.     The Whole point of the first game was to push the other team back into their spawns. Now, if you are unlucky enough to be in front of a fresh spawn when they come back to the map, you'll be shot dead and completely defenseless against this god-like entity.   Take that however you want to - many people will like it, many will not.

The only high points are that you begin the game with higher rank if you managed to become a ELITE in Vegas1 (jump to Private 1st class)  and the game uses a leveling up XP system similar to Call of Duty 4 to manage unlocking of weapons.  The weapons are fun to use but they are typically not as smooth as CoD4's shooting system.

As for the SINGLEPLAYER,  its considerably harder than the first vegas especially when playing in the highest difficulty so you can get your 360 Achievements. The A.I.  behaves like advanced SNIPERS. They can shoot you in the head with a revolver from 100 yards. Its madness. So ridiculously difficult to play, you should be given points for having the patience to sit through it.

I also like the fact you can play CoOP games in TERRORIST HUNT  or STORY MODE. Terrorist Hunt is especially interesting because their are some Achievements geared towards it but even with 4 players, thee 2 respawns you get aren't enough to keep the 40+ enemies you must kill from beating you over and over.  Its really that difficult.

In fact, the AI seems to be keyed to your controller inputs. It will wait good until you reload, or switch weapons and then rush around a corner and shoot you dead.  UNFORTUNATELY, this game has no knife/ melee weapon so if this happens (and it will) you have no recourse.

The AI also likes to spawn in on you as a pack of 5. You think you killed em all after shooting 3 of them down?  Well the last 2 WILL KILL YOU while you reload. 

OVERALL

Vegas 2 is a MESS. They added a sprint button (like CoD4)  but they made so many ridiculous changes to the core gameplay that the game feels broken. The 360 version plays pretty well and I haven't experienced major framerate issues during firefights, but, I am dissapointed in this game after playing better titles released recently.

IT IS NOT WORTH YOUR $60