Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas
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Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas is the fifth chronological game in the Rainbow Six series of video games. It was released for the Xbox 360 on November 21, 2006 and Windows on December 12, 2006. The PlayStation Portable version was released on June 12, 2007 for North America and Europe, while the PlayStation 3 version was released on June 26, 2007. The game's storyline follows a new Rainbow team that is dispatched to Las Vegas, Nevada to defeat international terrorist Irena Morales and her army of mercenaries that is repeatedly attacking key locations in the city.
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[edit] Gameplay
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This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2007) |
Rainbow Six Vegas changes the series with multiple new features, such as a new health system where the player regenerates health while not taking fire (it should be noted that the player may sometimes be killed instantly, without a chance to regenerate health; this usually happens from grenades, as well as taking close range fire from very powerful weapons, particularly to the head). However, the regeneration is slow in comparison to other games; if the player does not move to cover quickly enough, one or two more bullets will lead to death. The player's vision is also greatly impaired while damaged, similar to the health system in Gears of War. Furthermore, a third-person view has been included for moments where players can blind-fire around corners to lay down suppression or covering fire. Other changes include a larger enemy presence and much tougher artificial intelligence, a shift in focus to where kills will be much harder to obtain, a reincarnated aiming system similar to the aiming system of the old Rainbow Six games and Call of Duty, a context-sensitive D-pad based command system for the player's squad and sections of game play where the player will scale buildings and cause environmental damage. This command system was borrowed from another Ubisoft game, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. The player can also give voice commands using the Xbox 360 headset, but team-mates are no longer audible through the headset. The game has also been noted for rectifying the artificial intelligence for squad members, a problematic gameplay element that afflicted previous games in the series, alongside Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2.
The developers have also opted to not include any cutscenes, instead telling the story through video feeds played through the heads-up display, similar to Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. Most important was the developers' decision to remove the mission planning feature.
The player also has various skills, such as the ability to rappel up and down buildings while shooting and the ability to fast rope into an area.
[edit] Multiplayer
On the PC version there are no ranks or unlockables on multiplayer. Everyone starts with the same weapon choices and outfitting choices. On multiplayer there are all the same weapons from singleplayer, each of which is customizeable (laser sight, ACOG scope, 6x scope, etc...) There is also an outfitting option in which the player can choose how mobile or how well armored he/she wants to be or a balance between protection and mobility. The heavier protection the player puts on the slower he/she will run and move around corners.
On multiplayer for all consoles, (excluding the PSP version), there is also a choice when creating a server if the host wants it to be normal or realistic mode.
On the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 version there is a ranking system, in which the player starts with a certain amount of weapon and outfit choices, with each rank the player gains more weapons and outfits. There is a total of 17 ranks.
There are currently ten multi player game modes; Survival, Team Survival, Sharpshooter, Team Sharpshooter, Retrieval, Co-op Terrorist Hunt, Attack & Defend, Co-op Campaign, Assassination, and Conquest. Multiplayer mode supports up to sixteen players, when "Dedicated Server" is selected during the match creation process, the host can sacrifice his ability to play and dedicate his connection fully to the other players to improve overall connection performance and reduce lag issues. With the use of the Dedicated Server option, up to sixteen players can compete in one match, excluding the hosts presence. Hosting a match on a Dedicated Server on the Xbox 360 with all sixteen players also unlocks an achievement called "Master of Ceremonies" for the game. Each mode can also be customized on all platforms, by changing options such as the number of respawns each player gets and restricting certain equipment and weapons. There is Dynamic ingame advertising included in the online multiplayer. This is normally advertising films. Three letter prefixes are available for clans and clans can register on gamebattles for clan games.
The game has had multiple patches since its release, each addressing the many bugs and issues in the original release version.
[edit] Plot
The player begins the game as newly appointed Rainbow team leader Logan Keller, with two squad mates, Gabriel Nowak and Kan Akahashi, on a mission in a Mexican border town called San Joshua del Mosquiera in the year 2010. Joanna Torres, Rainbow's intelligence officer, briefs them on their mission; their objective is to arrest Irena Morales, a terrorist ringleader. As the team reaches its landing zone in a helicopter, Logan fast-ropes down first, but the helicopter and the rest of the team is forced to retreat as a rocket-propelled grenade barely misses them.
Separated from his squad, Logan fights his way through the terrorist-infested streets and meets up with Gabriel and Kan at an old Spanish church, their alternate landing zone. After infiltrating a train yard and freeing a group of hostages, Rainbow eventually makes their way to a mine where Irena is hiding. After eliminating Irena's guards, one of whom is the infamous Marcelo, they attempt to arrest her; however, Irena triggers a set of hidden explosives, caving in the roof and burying Logan under a pile of rubble. Gabriel and Kan are overwhelmed and captured by terrorist reinforcements.
As Logan regains consciousness, he finds most of his equipment missing (including his goggles, primary weapons, and grenades). Alone, and armed only with his handgun and snake cam at first, Logan fights his way through an abandoned factory, eventually escaping with Joanna in Rainbow's helicopter.
Domingo Chavez has a conversation with the new team leader about the incident, instructing him to handle a new crisis in Las Vegas. Logan objects, insisting that he search for his lost squad mates instead; Chavez, however, surmises that the Las Vegas incident and Irena's activity may be too closely related to be a simple coincidence.
Upon reaching Las Vegas, Logan is taken outside of the terrorist-controlled Calypso Casino where he meets with his new team: Michael Walters a British demolitions expert specializing in heavy weapons, and Jung Park, a Korean reconnaissance and electronics expert. The team infiltrates the Calypso Casino, clearing out the terrorists and rescuing a group of hostages from being executed on camera. Once they clear out the Casino, they must rescue Doctor Philip Smythe, a NATO weapons researcher. After a brief gun battle, Rainbow extracts with Doctor Smythe, who tells waiting FBI agents that another weapons researcher, Dr. Williams, has also been captured. Rainbow takes on the case.
Rainbow is taken to the Red Lotus, a Chinese restaurant, in order to rescue reporter Trish Gracy, who was held hostage after an interview went wrong. Once the team clears out the restaurant and rescues Trish, she informs them that the terrorists are using a news van as a communications hub. Rainbow makes their way down Fremont Street and eventually reaches the van. Jung hacks into the system while Logan and Michael fend off a wave of attacking terrorists. Afterwards, Michael places a demolition charge on the van, destroying the hub. The team is then extracted via helicopter and taken to rescue Dr. Williams.
Rainbow is dropped on the Vertigo Spire, a luxury hotel along the likes of the Stratosphere. The team finds and rescues Dr. Williams from the terrorists, and he informs the team of two bombs, one which destroys the top floors of a building across the way, and the other a micro-pulse bomb that was placed in the Vertigo, which Michael disarms after the team searches a few floors down from where Dr. Williams was rescued. Rainbow is then extracted to locate Gabriel and Kan.
The team is dispatched to Dante’s Casino, still under construction, and clears the roof. During this roof clearing, a bell in the tower falls, causing tremendous damage and a fire in the lower floors. In Dante's Arcade, the team finds and frees Gabriel, who is extracted despite his insistence that he fights alongside the squad. While searching the construction area, Rainbow finds Kan engaged in a firefight, who is fatally shot in an attempt to warn the team about an ambush before the team can reach him. Dying, Kan reveals that the attack in Las Vegas is a distraction, and Irena's terrorists are planning a far bigger attack.
The team proceeds to the theater to hack a terrorist server. Irena's target is revealed to be the Nevada Dam (very similar to the Hoover Dam), a hydroelectric dam on the Colorado River. Rainbow then heads to the roof and extracts.
Rainbow descends onto a bridge in front of the dam where an officer informs Logan of the terrorists' bomb on the bridge in the tourist center. The team makes their way to the second story of the bridge where Michael defuses the bomb with three seconds remaining. They then fast-rope via safety cables to the bottom of the dam and enter the dam to save a hostage who informs them that the dam will buckle under the pressure of the lake. He tells them that they can relieve the pressure by using an emergency release valve. Once the dam pressure crisis is resolved, the team proceeds further into the dam and finds that it is a weapons research lab, where Doctors Smythe and Williams inform the team the terrorists have a micro-pulse missile on top of the dam.
Logan presses forward, confronting Irena Morales herself and fatally wounding her. With her last breath, Irena taunts Logan; while she may die, her partner will continue the fight against Rainbow. Finally, the team heads to the top of the dam and plants a charge on the missile to detonate it in mid-air, without triggering the micro-pulse payload.
Logan receives a transmission from Gabriel, who tells him that he is Irena's mole. Furious, Logan rushes to the chopper to see Jo and Brody Lukin, the pilot, kicked out of the helicopter, Brody unconscious. The team must protect Jo and Brody from a small group of terrorists.
As Logan, Michael and Jung rush to their fallen comrades, Gabriel attempts to escape with an enemy pilot. Logan can let this happen or he can fire a few shots at the helicopter, which eventually causes it to crash. Logan explains the situation, and the team is sent out to find the organization behind Irena's and Gabriel's terrorist attacks. When the mission completes, the words "To Be Continued" appear on the screen, implying a sequel. The credits roll while news is broadcast about the situation. A news clip states that a helicopter had crashed in the lake, but indicated that only the pilot, and not Gabriel, was found.
[edit] Reception and sales
The Xbox 360 edition of Rainbow Six: Vegas was released to very positive reviews from major gaming news outlets, such as GameSpy (5/5),[1] GameSpot (9.1/10),[2] IGN (9.3/10),[3] and TeamXbox (9.5/10).[4] IGN called Vegas the "best first-person shooter on the Xbox 360", while GameSpot described the game as an "excellent, immersive tactical shooter". G4's X-Play also liked the game, putting it on their 2006 Holiday Buyer's Guide, and also giving it a perfect 5 out of 5.
Rainbow Six Vegas has won numerous awards, including "Best First-Person Shooter",[5] "Best Xbox 360 First-Person Shooter",[6] "Best Online Game",[7] and "Best Xbox Live Game"[8] in IGN's Best of 2006, as well as an "Editor's Choice Award" from GameSpot. Gaming Target also selected the title as one of "52 Games We will Still Be Playing From 2006".[9] It also received the "Best Online Game" award from OXM in their annual Game of the Year awards.
The PC version has also received positive reviews. However, some in the PC community have expressed disappointment that the game requires a video card that supports Shader Model 3.0, thus preventing PC owners with cards that lack it from playing the game. In addition, the PC community was also disappointed in the lack of support for widescreen resolutions, dedicated server support, and a lot of mutiplayer flaws. The most notable flaws were the lack of custom server names, password protection on servers, non-disappearing text when someone talked, and no numeric ping. Also, there is no custom map or modding support. This comes as a surprise to many, since these features were in the previous Rainbow Six games, as with a multitude of other PC titles. These features were and are considered a standard in PC games for many years and are to this day. And, since these basic features were absent in this game on the PC version, many consumers were upset with the developers.
With patch 1.06 some of these issues were fixed. But, the patches were not available until months after the games release. During this time, the community was left with little word from the community managers at Ubisoft. One of the main things that the community was upset over was the SADS (stand alone dedicated server), which the community tried to develop on their own. The community worked so hard to develop their own SADS in hopes that Ubisoft would make one or improve on what the community tried to accomplish. However, the developers took the SADS straight from the community and put it into a patch. They did not even try to improve their work in any shape or form. Finally, numeric ping and custom server names are still absent, and there is still no mod or map support to this day.
During November 2007, the North American Support Supervisor announced on the Ubisoft forums that Ubisoft "has and will always provide support for this title". He also said, "As for the rumors of no further patching, I can confirm that the rumor is false. There is another patch in the works. Unfortunately at this time, we do not have a release date or a fix list. We have been listening and have heard your complaints. All that we ask is that you please continue to be patient." [10] The patch was released on July 19, 2007 and updated the game to version 1.05. Since that time, Ubisoft has released the latest patch 1.06.
As of April 26, 2007, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas has sold 1.7 million copies.[11]
[edit] Xbox 360 Collector's Edition
A Limited Collector's Edition of Rainbow Six: Vegas for the Xbox 360 version was released at the game's launch featuring alternate cover art and a bonus disc. The bonus disc contained a documentary on the making of Rainbow Six: Vegas and a Rainbow Six retrospective, which features information on all Rainbow Six games in the series.
[edit] Expansion packs
On April 18, 2007, the Player's Pack Red Edition was released as downloadable content on Xbox Live for 800 Microsoft Points. The pack includes two new game modes. The first is "Assassination" whereby one team has to protect a VIP armed only with a pistol, whilst the other team needs to assassinate him. The second is Conquest (a "capture and hold"-style game, whereby each team has to hold as many strategic points for as long as possible). Three new maps were also included: "Doscala Restaurant," "Marshalling Yard," and "Roof." The maps "Killhouse" and "Border Town" have been redesigned and packaged as two new "redux" maps. The expansion pack comes directly after an update was released for the game. All original game modes and maps are intercompatible with those featured in the Player's Pack Red Edition. On July 6, 2007, the Red Pack was made available for download free of charge.[12]
On June 26, 2007, a new downloadable content pack was released. The Player's Pack Black Edition features five new maps. "Red Lotus", "Wartown" and "Neon Graveyard" are the three newly featured maps. "Streets: Redux" has been redesigned in a similar fashion to the Redux maps found in the Player's Pack Red Edition, and "Presidio" is a map overhauled and upgraded from Rainbow Six 3. On June 27, 2007, the Black Edition was retracted from the Xbox Live Marketplace. Ubisoft announced that it was pulled due to a pricing error, and that the pack (which was originally priced at 800 Microsoft Points) was intended to be free.[13] On June 30, 2007, the Black Edition was re-released for download free of charge. All Xbox Live users who paid for the pack had their points reimbursed.
Both the Red and the Black expansion packs were included in the PS3 version.
Both map packs were released for PC platform on July 26, 2007.
[edit] Dynamic advertising
Rainbow Six: Vegas includes dynamic real world advertising on billboards and lighted posters in certain areas. Some dynamic advertising requires that the player be connected to the internet, although the single-player campaign displays advertisements to the player on billboards by default, particularly Axe bodyspray.
[edit] Major League Gaming
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This section does not cite any references or sources. (March 2008) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
In early 2007, Rainbow Six: Vegas became the first Xbox 360 title to join the Major League Gaming (MLG) Circuit. It premiered in the opening event of the season in Charlotte, North Carolina. This game had it's last showing at Las Vegas Nevada, the final stop on the 2007 MLG Pro Circuit. However, "Rainbow Six Vegas 2", this game's sequel, will be featured on the 2008 MLG Pro Circuit, with its first showing in San Diego, California.
[edit] Sequel
Ubisoft Montreal developed the sequel Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. The sequel was released on current-generation consoles in March 2008 and on PC in April 2008.[14]
[edit] References
- ^ xbox360.gamespy.com/xbox-360/rainbow-six-vegas/747474p1.html.
- ^ www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/rainbowsixvegas/review.html.
- ^ xbox360.ign.com/articles/745/745678p1.html.
- ^ reviews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1255/Tom-Clancys-Rainbow-Six-Vegas/p1/.
- ^ bestof.ign.com/2006/overall/7.html.
- ^ bestof.ign.com/2006/xbox360/7.html.
- ^ bestof.ign.com/2006/overall/28.html.
- ^ bestof.ign.com/2006/xbox360/29.html.
- ^ www.gamingtarget.com/article.php?artid=6375.
- ^ forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3801065024/m/3711069245.
- ^ Kris Graft (2007-04-26). Ubisoft Annual Sales Rise 24%. Next-Gen.biz. Retrieved on 2007-12-14.
- ^ rainbowsixgame.us.ubi.com/newspost.php?news_id=6146.
- ^ news.teamxbox.com/xbox/13855/Rainbow-Six-Vegas-Black-Edition-Map-Pack-Update/.
- ^ http://ps3.ign.com/articles/836/836749p1.html.
[edit] External links
- The Official Rainbow Six: Vegas Site
- Official Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas mobile game site
- Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Ranks - Multiplayer
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