Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
Developer(s)	Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft
Series	Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six
Engine	Unreal Engine 3
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Release	PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 Microsoft Windows April 15, 2008
Genre(s)	Tactical shooter, first person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 is the ninth installment in the Rainbow Six series (not including expansions). It is a tactical first person shooter video game and the sequel to Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas. It was announced by Ubisoft on November 20, 2007. The game was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on March 18, 2008 in North America and March 20 2008 in Europe, except in Germany, where the game was delayed. The Microsoft Windows version, however, was delayed until April 15 2008. It has been released in Japan on April 24, 2008 for the Xbox 360 and on May 29, 2008 for the Playstation 3.

A world-exclusive first-look of the game appeared in the January edition of the Official Xbox Magazine. One of the biggest announcements is that Logan Keller, the lead character from the previous game, has been removed in favor of having the player create his own character to play through the campaign. The player instead assumes the role of "Bishop", a member of the Rainbow squad with a great deal more experience and who is more deeply involved in the story.

The game, billed as "part sequel, part prequel", has events that run both before and concurrently to the story of Logan Keller and continue after where the first game concluded. In addition to the ability to customize a character in multiplayer, the player can now customize Bishop, Vegas 2's new protagonist. In single-player, the developers claim to have vastly improved teammate AI, so that now teammates cover each other as they advance. There are also several new commands, for example, the ability of a teammate to throw a grenade at a specific point.

Synopsis

Setting

The setting for the game initially begins in Pic des Pyréneés, France, though the story promptly moves five years forward to Las Vegas, United States of America on July 2, 2010, the same day of Logan Keller's arrival to Las Vegas in Rainbow Six: Vegas. Terrorists have seized control of Las Vegas to instill widespread panic in both the public as well as law enforcement agencies, such as the National Security Agency, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Rainbow, as well as local SWAT. As the plot unfolds, however, the setting moves away from Las Vegas to other places, such as a small town in Nevada, unlike in the first Rainbow Six: Vegas, which was mainly in Las Vegas.

Characters

• Bishop

Bishop is the main protagonist that the player controls and gags throughtout the events of Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. His/her appearance and gender vary, depending on the intended look by the player. He/she is a high-ranking veteran of the Rainbow organization, and is an instructor at the organization's training academy when the game first begins. Five years after the first mission in the French Alps, Bishop returns from retirement as the team leader of Park and Walters.

• Knight

If co-op mode is enabled, Knight accompanies Bishop on missions, whose appearance also varies depending on how the player desires him/her to look. His role, however, is limited as merely a co-op player, and unlike some games, such as Gears of War and Halo 3, Knight is not critical to the single player campaign's story, as elaborated on the Eurogamer review. Playing as Knight also allows the player to unlock co-op achievements.

• Gabriel Nowak

The game's main antagonist, a traitorous former Rainbow operative revealed as a mole in Rainbow Six: Vegas. Though cunning and ambitious, Nowak's gung-ho recklessness earns him the disrespect of fellow teammates, ultimately leading to Bishop passing him up for promotion in favor of Logan, which therefore leads to Nowak betraying the Rainbow organization with the assistance of big-time terrorist ringleaders. Nowak betrays more Rainbow operatives in Vegas 2, mainly by posing falsely as an NSA agent, helping Bishop along the way for some of the campaign while actually putting Bishop in a state of danger, in order to kill him/her, which fails. Bishop eventually kills him in a final showdown at a villa in Costa Rica.

• Logan Keller

The main protagonist in Rainbow Six: Vegas, Keller is seen in the opening level of the game. Keller demonstrates a formidable sense of close-quarters combat (CQB), with realistic analyses of certain hostage situations and how to eliminate the opposition in an effective and concise manner. He is later seen after Bishop's showdown with Nowak at the end of the game. Logan is seen quoting Bishop's teachings at the last level, implying his respect towards Bishop.

• Jung Park

Jung Park’s natural proficiency for computers drove him to serve his mandatory term in the ROK Army immediately after graduation. Park’s high scores on electronics screening made him eligible for entry into the 1st Anti-Guerilla Group. For two years, Park served as part of the 15th Security Battalion’s signals unit. In 2004, Park received a transfer to the ROK Army’s 5th Special Forces Brigade (Airborne). During his time as a Black Dragon, Park earned top marksmanship decorations in every long-range category, as well as SCUBA and parachute qualifications. After three years with the 5th SFB, Park volunteered for the 707th Special Mission Battalion, South Korea’s elite counter-terrorist and quick-reaction unit. During a joint training mission with SAS and 1st SFOD-D, Park caught Ding Chavez’s eye for his mix of electronics and combat expertise. When Park’s two year term with the 707th concluded, he was immediately invited to join Rainbow.

• Michael Walters

Michael Walter’s three year tour in 40 Commando Royal Marines included the military evacuation of British nationals from the Democratic Republic of Congo and active operations in West Belfast in support of Operation Banner. Success in CQB tactics and special operations earned Walter a recommendation to pursue a path in Special Forces. In 2001, Walter completed the legendary Selection, earning him a place in 22 SAS. Walter distinguished himself as an SAS operator in counter-terrorist operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. After four years, 22 SAS transferred Walter from his Sabre Squadron to its secretive 14 Intelligence Company in Northern Ireland. His work went global when 14 Int was folded into the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, where he worked with operators and agents of SAS, MI5 and the Special Branch. In 2008, Walter was offered a spot in Rainbow for his combination of combat, reconnaissance and special operations experience.

• Ding Chavez

Chavez, formerly Rainbow's main team leader, and current "Six" (radio code for commander) as of Rainbow Six: Lockdown. In the first level, he is seen in-person, whereas throughout the rest of the game the player can only see him on the cross-com video.

• "Lieutenant Monroe"

Monroe (first name not given) is the negotiator in the first level of the game. He is killed when Gabriel Nowak, one of the men under Bishop's leadership, breaks formation and opens fire on a terrorist, causing the terrorist to shoot Monroe in panic.

• Sharon Judd

The intelligence officer of Bishop's team, Judd's role is much like Joanna Torres' role in Vegas 1. She supplies on-the-site intelligence to Bishop, but she is nearly mortally wounded by a terrorist sniper. Ding Chavez declares later that "she is stable."

• Gary Kenyon

Gary Kenyon serves as the helicopter pilot of Team Rainbow. As a veteran pilot of both the New Zealand and British Royal Air Force, Gary's flight skills are impressive. The team depends on Gary as he skillfully maneuvers them into terrorist hotspots.

Plot

The game begins in 2005, one year before the bioterrorist events of Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield. Rainbow deploys Bishop to a science observatory in Píc des Pyreneés, France for an operation in which EU hostages must be rescued. Under his leadership are Logan Keller and Gabriel Nowak; Nowak and Keller have recently joined Rainbow, according to Ding Chavez/Six, who refers to them as recruits.

Monroe, the negotiator, plans to talk to the terrorists in-person, effectively distracting their attention while Rainbow’s Alpha and Bravo teams on the operation get into place. Bishop, who is in control of Bravo, takes Keller and Nowak to their assigned position and waits for Alpha to get in place. However, before Alpha arrives, Nowak exclaims 'Fuck it,' and fires prematurely. Bishop is then forced to fire onto the terrorists, but Monroe is killed by collateral gunfire from the terrorists who panicked when Nowak first opened fire.

Six then radios in, giving Bishop Alpha’s sit-rep, but Bishop responds by saying that the situation “...is over, but Monroe is dead. We need to talk.” Nowak attempts to apologize for what he has done, but Bishop retorts back, “Not now!” In the PC and Xbox 360 versions, Bishop responds differently, saying "Save it. We'll have a talk later."

Six then tells Bishop that there are terrorists scrambling to escape and that Bishop needs to neutralize them. He also informs Bishop that there is a bomb that needs to be defused. When Bishop arrives, Nowak is assigned to defuse the bomb, and per Nowak’s request, Bishop and Keller distance themselves to give Nowak “space” to work with. The bomb is successfully defused, but terrorists open fire on Nowak. Nowak falls, and starts to scream helplessly into the radio, particularly “You knew this would happen! You set me up out here!” Bishop assures him that they are not leaving him behind. Rainbow operatives from Alpha team then arrive and quell the situation, getting Nowak to his feet, just as the level ends.

The game then moves five years forward to July 2 2010, at 6:27 P.M. local time, in Las Vegas. Bishop is now in a helicopter with Jung Park, electronics specialist, and Michael Walters, demolitions expert. Six contacts Bishop via secure satellite video, effectively giving Bishop a sit-rep of what operation is to come: Miguel and Alvarez Cabreros, two human traffickers (“people smugglers”) have suddenly come in interest of taking up small arms trafficking and even more recently, chemical weapons. Though Rainbow and the National Security Agency (NSA) seem certain that the Cabreros brothers are running the operation for the opposition, they both want Bishop’s (new) team to investigate the matter firsthand. Six informs Bishop that Logan Keller is running a separate operation down in Mexico, implying that Keller’s operation is an event that occurs during the first game, Rainbow Six: Vegas.

Bishop, Park, and Walters finally set foot on ground and make their way into the warehouse that the NSA believes the Cabreros brothers are running their operation from. Following a failed attempt to save Neville, an undercover NSA agent whose cover is blown, Bishop and his team fight through a plethora of terrorists into another warehouse, where they find Hispanic hostages held at gunpoint by more terrorists.

After a quick rescue, Bishop is ordered by a Rainbow coordinator (Sharon) to board the same helicopter he inserted into the warehouse district with, a modified Eurocopter Panther, which goes to a recreational facility where the Cabrero's chemical weapons have shown up. Upon reaching the facility and securing the area, Walters searches the stash where the chemical bombs are presumed to be located. Not finding them, Bishop decides as team leader that the team has the responsibility to save the people of a Las Vegas sports stadium from a bioterrorist attack.

Bishop and his squadmates, however, get to the presumed bomb site, the stadium, too late. The bomb goes off, just as Walters attempts to break through the door to the stadium. He blames himself for not saving the trapped hostages, but Bishop accepts full responsibility, saying "I made the call. We have a mission to save people."

Sharon Judd, the on-site intelligence officer (similar to Joanna Torres' role in Rainbow Six: Vegas) then notifies Bishop that he and his team need to catch the younger Cabrero brother, Miguel, who has disguised himself as a hazmat official and escaped the area. In a chase for Miguel, Bishop eliminates all of the terrorists protecting him, leaving Miguel vulnerable to on-the-spot interrogation, specifically as to what happened to the second bioterrorist bomb. The brother at first denies any knowledge of the bomb, but after Michael aims his gun at him and Bishop threatens to tell his brother Alvarez that he betrayed their plan, Miguel confesses the location (albeit vague description), but immediately draws a pistol to shoot Bishop, who is forced to shoot before Miguel could kill him.

An important hostage is then saved by Walters at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Here, Bishop learns from Sharon that the other bomb is located on a train headed towards a high-density populated area of Las Vegas. Bishop heads over to the train, though Walters is unable to defuse the bomb. Sharon cleverly suggests to Walters that the bomb can be detonated, just not in a civilian area, ultimately fulfilling both NSA Deputy Director Lawrence's order to "get rid of the bomb" as well as Six (Ding Chavez)'s order, "Rainbow's ultimate objective is to protect civilians."

Bishop then heads over to an upscale Las Vegas penthouse, where the last bomb is located, though two disastrous things happen: First, just before landing, a terrorist sniper shoots Sharon Judd, wounding her. Second, after landing, Bishop doesn't reach the bomb in time, leaving Echo team to die from a close-contact explosion by the bomb. Both were due to the NSA agent's inadequate intelligence of the situation.

In an ensuing casino battle with terrorists, Bishop rescues many civilian hostages, leading to a revelation that there is yet another bomb held in a Chinese theater, protected by highly armed terrorists. Walters successfully defuses the bomb. Rushing to the roof for extraction the team is yet again assaulted by more terrorists, in the aftermath of the firefight, Bishop is then contacted stating Logan's team has been captured in Mexico and Park and Walters are to be his replacements (start of Rainbow Six: Vegas), and for Bishop to return to base.

On the roof the NSA agent joins Bishop in the helicopter at extraction saying that Alvarez has been spotted in an airstrip in the desert, and that because Alvarez is responsible for the bombing of several Las Vegas hotspots (e.g. casino, hotel, convention center, stadium, train station), Alvarez is too dangerous to let escape. Not letting Alvarez have the chance to escape, Bishop rushes over to confront Alvarez personally.

The helicopters arrive at an oil-refinery close to the airstrip's position. But due to heavy resistance at the airstrip, Bishop is forced to make his way down from the oil-refinery. He is dropped in on a roof of a gas station while the NSA agent is dropped in a different location to provide Bishop with intelligence on the surrounding situation. Bishop is then forced to fight alone, making his way through the refinery and into an abandoned train-yard. When Bishop finally reaches the refinery's airstrip, the NSA agent is revealed to be Gabriel Nowak, who shoots and kills Alvarez. He then insults Bishop before terrorists attempt to kill him. With help from Gary Kenyon, Bishop's helicopter pilot from earlier, Bishop escapes from the airstrip.

Six orders Bishop to stand down, however, Bishop, Jung, and Walters follow Gabriel to a Costa Rican villa, ignoring Six's orders. After more fighting, Logan and other Rainbow operatives arrive to assist Bishop's team. Gabriel insults Bishop throughout the level, before revealing that he was going to sell information about all Rainbow operatives to terrorists. Bishop then goes to face Gabriel alone; however, an attack helicopter and more of Gabriel's terrorists attack. By repeatedly shooting and damaging it, Bishop manages to trick the helicopter into radioing for assistance, which lets Joanna Torres, Keller's intelligence officer, target the helicopter and shoot it down. Finally, Gabriel and Bishop meet face to face, with Gabriel gloating that he outsmarted all of Rainbow, and arguing that Bishop should have let him fix his own mistakes including what happened in France and that all he ever was in Rainbow was a fuck up. Gabriel draws his gun forcing Bishop to shoot first with his/her pistol, while Logan and the other Rainbow operatives arrive. Six berates Bishop for disobeying a direct order, but offers him the position as deputy director of Rainbow at Hereford, England.

Discrepancies

Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 is the first game not to adhere to the standard storyline of the Rainbow Six video game series. Notably, in Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield, which took place in 2006, John Clark held the title of Rainbow Six, though in Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 (flashback in 2005), Ding Chavez carries the title of Rainbow Six.. Previous Rainbow Six games also did not have the presence of a drill instructor, as is manifested into Bishop's role in Vegas 2. In previous games, either Ding Chavez or any member of Rainbow could act as a team leader.

Gabriel Nowak appears in the first Rainbow Six: Vegas as a traitor who is "rescued" by Logan at the fictional Dante's Casino, yet this is less than an hour after Bishop discovered Gabriel's true affiliation in Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 at the fictional Oil Refinery in the deserts of Nevada. Travel time between Las Vegas and the deserts of Nevada in Vegas 2 took well over three hours, yet traveling back for Nowak took less than 60 minutes. In addition, even after Gabriel reveals himself as a traitor to Bishop, his treachery inexplicably remains unknown to the rest of Rainbow Six as Gabriel is then able to return to Dante's Casino and be rescued by Logan who still thinks him loyal to Rainbow.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer in Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 has been expanded to include more than 10 new close-quarters maps, two new adversarial modes, a newer and different rewards system, and according to Ubisoft, improved online matchmaking. The experience point (XP) system is different than the old Vegas, for every kill achieved the player gains XP. Also, unlike its predecessor, the XP system is tied in with the campaign mode as well. The gained XP results in promotions which rewards the player with new equipment. Players also receive bonuses from the A.C.E.S combat system based on achieving goals and the methods used to kill opponents, much like the single-player and co-op modes.. A.C.E.S also result in the unlocking of new weapons. Another feature for multiplayer is that using a Xbox Live Vision camera or a PlayStation Eye, the player could take a picture of his/her face and make him/herself the playable character. A camera can also be used in the PC version as well to create a playable character.

Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 Limited Edition

Released at launch, this limited version contains a collectible poker chip keychain, along with a bonus disc containing an exclusive strategy video, an interview with pro gamer FinestX, an MLG insider video containing hints and tips about the online modes, along with a Tom Clancy's EndWar sneak peek.

Co-op

Previous Rainbow Six games up to Lockdown supported eight human players on the PC in co-op mode, while Rainbow Six Vegas 1 reduced co-op from eight human players to four human players. Although Terrorist Hunt mode retains the four human player limit, story mode in Rainbow Six Vegas 2 has reduced co-op from four human players to two human players, with the second human player assuming the position of Knight, Bishop's teammate.

Reception

As of July 24, 2008 the game has sold six million copies worldwide.

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	85% (based on 8 reviews)

Review scores

Publication	Score
Eurogamer	7/10
Game Informer	9.25/10
GameSpot	8.5/10
GameSpy	4.5/5
IGN	8.4/10
TeamXbox	8.4/10
X-Play	4 out of 5

The game received generally positive reviews from critics. The Xbox 360 version had an average score of 85% based on 18 reviews on the review aggregator Game Rankings, and on Metacritic had an average score of 84 out of 100, based on 24 reviews.

The PS3 version had an average score of 86% based on 11 reviews on Game Rankings, and an average score of 86 out of 100 based on 13 reviews from Metacritic.

In the March issue of Game Informer Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 was given a review of 9.25.

IGN gave the Xbox 360 version an 8.4 and the PS3 version an 8.2, where the main criticism was that the game was too similar to the first, and citing slight framerate issues on the PS3 version.

In-game advertising

In the single player mission that takes place in the Las Vegas Convention Center and elsewhere throughout the game, there are some real world products and organizations advertised in this level, along with many fictional products. This is known as in-game advertising. Some of the real world products advertised in this map are: Tropic thunder,Trojan condoms, Indiana Jones, Major League Gaming, Canadian Forces, The Dark Knight, US Army, Iron Man, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, Far Cry 2, I Am Legend and Comcast. There is also an arcade game of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, another highly popular Ubisoft franchise, as well as Prince of Persia. There are also instances of product placement. For example, all the cars in the game are models of the Dodge car company. Furthermore, the communication system used by Rainbow Six to communicate with the player and the team is made by Cisco. In the UK Xbox version of the game, Channel 4's programmes have been seen on billboards.

External links

• Official Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Website