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dkirschner's Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (360)
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| [June 16, 2012 12:05:19 PM]
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Beat this tonight, and quite surprised and smug now. I was oh-so-stuck on the first one, and you bet I got real scared when in Vegas 2 I revisited the very same theater stage where I was stuck in Vegas 1. I was so overcome with anxiety over becoming stuck again that I became stuck again...briefly, then I kicked its ass.
Vegas 2 is basically a carbon copy of Vegas 1, the only real difference being character customization for multiplayer and a plethora of achievement-related shinies. There are Xbox achievements, badges, medals, in-game achievements, experience points in 3 tiers (roughly long-range killing, short-range killing, and odds and ends like killing enemies with shields or killing enemies while hanging upside down from a rope) that unlock a bunch of weapons, camouflage, clothing and armor. This game is definitely built with multiplayer in mind, and I'll keep it around for that possibility. If I do take it online, I'll be the old grey-bearded black guy with the safari hat, mismatched camo, and poorly done face paint, and proud of it. If I get more achievements and unlock more things, I can dress even sillier.
So Vegas 2 is actually a prequel-synchronous event to Vegas 1, which I appreciate because I didn't pay much attention to Vegas 1's story. They keep referencing what your team from Vegas 1 is doing in this game, and I guess the terrorists are all connected somehow. Vegas 2 is just as intense as 1. Controls and levels play out exactly the same way. In the chapter I mentioned, you revisit -- or visit for the first time chronologically -- one casino from Vegas 1. Vegas 2 spends most of its time playing out in less interesting locales than slot machine exploding gambling dens, but it's all good.
Chapter 5 deserves a mention because here the game takes a brief detour from the squad maneuvering. You go solo in chapter 5 as you chase the bad guy to an airfield. This chapter really shook up the gameplay. It was hard as hell because you've got no teammates to rely on. I usually send my teammates out in front of me to soak gunfire before I clean up after them. In chapter 5, it's just you alone in an enemy-infested industrial refinery area. You must be very methodical, rooting out all the enemies, checking every corner, keeping crouched, always staying behind cover, using height to your advantage -- basically using most of the gameplay mechanics to maximum advantage -- in order to succeed. I died a lot, but each death was a learning experience. Ah, there's the order by which to kill enemies. Ah, I should enter this door and clean out level 1 before taking the stairs to level 2. Ah, there's an enemy hiding in this corner that has killed me a few times and I just spotted him so now I know for next time! It's that good kind of meaningful death that I don't get too often in games.
My last comment, the final battle. I didn't make it to the end in Vegas 1...actually, let's watch YouTube real quick...okay so Vegas 1 didn't really have a boss fight...but the one in Vegas 2 was nice. You have to hide from/fire at a helicopter to get it to radio for help. When it radios for help, your mission crew can use the radio signals to shoot a guided missile at it. Meanwhile, there are terrorists coming from two sides and lobbing grenades left and right. It was kinda hard, but I eventually got it, and there's a nice checkpoint halfway through before you actually kill the main bad guy. The chopper part had an odd glitch, and this happened a couple other times too. The fight takes place on and around a tennis court (bad guy hiding out in Costa Rican manor, of course he has a tennis court). You take cover behind some rock slabs. The chopper is ahead of you, enemies pour from a shed onto the tennis court left-of-center, and on the right side one lone enemy rappels down a wall at the beginning (shoot the first shed guy, then shoot the rappelling guy, shoot the next shed guy, then alternate chopper/shed guy until you have to move due to the chopper shooting missiles in your general direction). So the rappelling guy, if you shoot him on his way down but don't kill him, will get to the ground, then start climbing back up. He'll get a ways up, then come back down, then climb back up. Kinda funny to watch.
That wraps up my Rainbow Sixes. I have half a mind to go try to get unstuck and finish the first one, but I have a feeling I'm just asking for trouble. Because I was really stuck. Really really stuck. And there is supposedly the 'hard part' yet to come. On another general gaming note, I'm done with my frenzy that's been carrying on this summer. Need to focus on work. Will finish Sakura Wars next time I'm at P's place and finish Bastion after work over the course of the week, probably start something else after those, but then I'm gone to the US for a few weeks and pretty much on home stretch to prepare prepare prepare to have a draft of something written/job talk done by the time school starts in 2 months. Ah, work.
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dkirschner's Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (360)
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Current Status: Finished playing
GameLog started on: Tuesday 12 June, 2012
GameLog closed on: Saturday 16 June, 2012 |
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