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Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Preview

Games // Charles // 19th February 2008

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is out in just over a month. Heard any fanfares or build up yet? Well, you wouldn’t as most gaming publishers don’t have the marketing budget that Halo 3 had (the GDP of Poland) and the press coverage that comes from savvy marketing. Was the original RS6:Vegas a better game? It was certainly more enjoyable and didn’t have the ambiguous ending that Halo had (although those who played Vegas would argue that “To Be Continued”, which greeted the player at a crucial point in the game – i.e. “the end” - smacked of “we ran out of time to finish it”)

While we’re on the topic, do you wonder how games get announced? You’d be forgiven for thinking it’s the industry press that find out about these releases first but it’s the City that usually take the scoop as the Games Developers file their intentions for the next financial year and you then see them announce (in small print) something like “Jet Set Willy II” or “Bioshock 2” (kinda like seeing a trailer for Goodfellas II..sounds good for 20 seconds and then you realise it should never be made). As it is, the over zealousness for a game you’ve just played, to have a sequel, means that you end up scouring web pages and papers like a Death Row inmate’s lawyer with 10 minutes to go, for the mere mention of an chance to revisit that gaming moment again.

With that in mind, downloading “Tron” on Xbox Live Arcade is a very bad idea unless you’ve got a penchant for really, really bad videogames or you’re one of the people that can’t ask for a plain cup of coffee in Starbucks - trust me on this one: it isn’t as good as you remember and it will destroy a part of your childhood forever.

Anyway, if you’ve played the first Vegas residency of Rainbow Six, then you’ll know what I mean. In gaming, you’re either a blast-everything-in-sight (basically button-bashing that would make a Track And Field junkie wince), a strategist (so Team A go here, Team B through the north window, etc….) or a mixture of the both.

rainbow six vegas 2: sounds like, a football score

In my opinion (and that’s the only one I have), it’s better to be a mixture of the two; that’s where Rainbow Six comes into its own. Think about the tactics, if you want, but also why not open that door and chuck in six grenades while making a Han Solo-type charge into the room, if that’s what you’d prefer. The game (unlike your ex-girlfriend) will forgive you and (like your girlfriend) will allow you another go if you press the right buttons.

There’s all sorts of new enhancements (really want me to list them?) but they just enhance the game play, which is top notch. You are in charge of a team of 3 that have to bring down terrorists, etc…but it is the mixture of tactical approach and presentation that makes this one of the high points in the gaming year.

Oh, and the other gaming high points for this year are, in no order, Mario Kart Wii, Resident Evil 5, Gears of War 2, Guitar Hero IV and Grand Theft Auto IV (original thoughts, anyone?). If anyone wants me to review them, then I may come out of my self-imposed retirement. Until then, I’m off to play Wii Fit, to cling to an unsubstantiated view that playing it will somehow transform me into a version of me when I was a teenager. Wait, I was a fat teenager…scrub that.

Maybe I can use the Fit Board as a makeshift bullet-proof vest when I play Resident Evil for real when Avian Flu has transformed the population into gibbering zombies…