The Gameplay
Unlike run-and-gun shooters, tactical shooters take a more strategic approach to taking out enemies. Much like R6 Vegas, R6 Vegas 2 takes this element in the direction of real time strategy, as players will command their squad mates on the fly. These commands are simple to initiate and include ordering your teammates to prepare for entering a room full of terrorists. Then, after peering through a snake cam that allows you to see what's going on inside, you can order your team to open the door, toss in a grenade, then storm in and take out whoever is left standing. You can also order your team to rappel down the side of a building and surprise enemies by busting through windows. This aspect of the game is hugely satisfying and really gives players the feeling of playing the lead role in an action movie.
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As described in the previous example, your goal is to strategically order the members of your team to take defensive positions that aid in your squad's victory. While scenarios exist in the campaign that will allow your teammates to do all the work, the game is designed to keep you in the action. In fact, you'll often choose to take point and be the first to rush in and clear a room full of bad guys. If your character dies in the process, you can choose a different strategy the next time around. For instance, you may choose to have your two squad members hold their position at one door to a room while you take position at another door, then storm the room from both sides at the same time. If that doesn't work, you may choose to provide cover fire from an elevated position while your team takes care of business down below. R6 Vegas 2 makes this kind of coordination easy and you'll have an absolute blast designing your own methods of attacking your pursuers. The beauty of tactical gameplay is that there is no one way to successfully take down your attackers. Much like a game of chess, the experience can be different every time you play the game.
With every good game come a number of bad elements. These elements may be in the form of glitches, oversights, lack of polish, or just plain neglect by the development team. R6 Vegas 2 is no exception to this rule and there are a number of annoyances that are worth mentioning. First off, your AI teammates do not always like to follow orders. For instance, after you've knotted up your ropes and give the order to scale a building, your squad may just sit there instead of acknowledging your command. This happened a couple of times during the campaign and was downright frustrating. And when orders are followed, your squad mates do not always follow them correctly. While one teammate runs to the covered area you pointed out, the other often stops and kneels in the line of fire. They'll also run into you a lot and blatantly refuse to follow orders when there is clearly nothing in the way of their ability to do so. These occurrences appear to be the largest issues you'll experience. Luckily, they won't happen very often and will not hinder you from completing your mission.
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Another minor issue is with the game's voice command system that was introduced earlier in the series. What this does is allow you to issue verbal commands into your USB headset that your AI squad mates will follow in the game. This is a really cool feature that was spoiled this time around by its inability to recognize even the simplest of commands. Instead of following your order to "get over here," your team will "frag and clear" thus starting a firefight that you may not have been ready to begin. Other voice commands may simply be ignored, causing this feature to be utterly useless. Not to worry though; tapping your d-pad to give an order is just as easy and works flawlessly.
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Donkey2008 - Monday, April 7, 2008 - link
Maybe Anandtech wanted to review the game because they found it interesting. I personally like the concept and would love to battle it out in a Vegas casino. With a PC version forthcoming, I found it useful to hear that the console game had framerate issues.Complaining about their rating or the fact that it's a console game is simply complaining for the sake of complaining. Good for Anandtech for previewing a game soon to be available to us PC users.
EddieTurner - Saturday, April 5, 2008 - link
Hey all! Just thought I'd shed some light on a few of your concerns.This rating system is one that I devised after the good folks at AT explained that they wanted something new that would steer away from the traditional point scale. It is still evolving. But for now, I've created seven senarios that I believe people can indentify with. After all, if you were to ask a friend what he or she thought of a particular game, I doubt very seriously that you'd get a reply that included two numbers with a decimal in between. Not everyone will agree with my final words, and I don't expect that to be the case. I'd hate for any of you to miss out on something you were truly interested in because of something I said. I am hardly the authority on gaming. However, I do have a passion for games and I play a lot of them. So may be it'll help to think of me as your neighborhood fellow gamer. Because that's what I am indeed. AT saw that in me and here I am.
Yes, this review is of a console game. But a game nonetheless. Considering array of different articles here at AT, I see no reason that such a product should be exluded from the site. Consoles are very much part a of the gaming world today. Sales figures will tell you that. As for me, I don't limit myself to a single platform. I go where the games are. And they're very much on consoles, as well as PC. The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii all have a fair offering in the tech-world today. So there's no reason they shouldn't have a presence here. Needless to say, you can expect a full review of Grand Theft Auto IV very soon. But I do have in mind a pretty intriguiing PC game to talk about next.
Oh, and I've never been repelling. Thanks for setting me straight!
ACasualObserver - Saturday, April 5, 2008 - link
While I might share some of the reservations expressed in other posts about console reviews at Anandtech, and there were enough caveats listed for the game to have me scratching my head at a "Sweet" rating, you've earned some serious points for taking the moral high ground and responding to criticism with a humble, enthusiastic and entirely positive outlook. Your forum post was in many ways more illuminating than your game review. There is a lesson there for all of us.Kudos sir, and welcome aboard.
simla - Saturday, April 5, 2008 - link
1) Much too long. I enjoy most of the in-depth hardware articles but still find myself skipping through the hyperbole in the middle sections. This much text on a game is beyond me though. Seriously.2) Ratings system, while trying to be 'cool' and unbiased is a little off the mark for me. 'Sweet' really doesn't mean shit for me - I'll still be using Metacritic for my games ratings...
3) Confused by the sudden move to console gaming coverage on what is self-labelled as 'the' PC enthusiast website. Stick to what you know and specialize. Personally, we don't need another all-in-one site that tries everything, yet knows ultimately ends up knowing nothing. I really hope this isn't a sign of a good website going the way of Toms...
dare2savefreedom - Saturday, April 5, 2008 - link
WTF,W
T
F
you guys don't review disney's princess enchanted journey pcdvd but u review a 360 game?
how much is m$ paying you guys, I'll double it.
I want to see the review for dpej with sli.
6bit macs and you guys never said a word.
Ever since anandy got married this places been going down.
poohbear - Friday, April 4, 2008 - link
why on earth would you review an xbox 360 game on a PC enthusiast website?!?! are you guys really trying to insult us here?!? BLASPHEMERS THE LOT OF YOU!!!!!!jordanclock - Friday, April 4, 2008 - link
It doesn't sound like the reviewer actually played through the game on co-op.I went through the game with my room mate on co-op and every non-character texture is downgraded to a blurry mess. Every single one. And the helicopter event at the end of the game brought the frame rate to what I would guess to be low teens, at best. This kind of problem came up in other parts of the game, to a lesser degree, many times. And it wasn't little things, it was 10-15 second spots that made it very difficult to play. What seems to be the culprit of this are the "physics." Whenever the frame rate dropped, it almost always occurred during firefights where there were lots of things that moved or broke.
Also, the lack of control of the NPCs by the second player is a pretty big issue. There were many times when I'd get stuck between the two or unable to get somewhere because they were in the way. Of course, being player two, I had no way to get them to move other than ask my room mate to stop what he was doing and tell them to move.
Playing on co-op is further hindered by the fact that whenever you receive a video message from the command, it covers up half of the second players view. It's a bit hard to aim properly when a giant Cisco logo is in your way.
I think the game lacked a lot of polish. I'm not even going to bother with the PC version unless a decent demo is released.
Hardin - Friday, April 4, 2008 - link
Oh man don't even mention that helicopter. I was playing that level with my brother and we had to repeat that part several times because we died so much due to the terrible frame rates. The Cisco message was also very annoying because it blocked my view. And it was really hard getting used to the coop splitting the screen right down the middle.jordanclock - Monday, April 7, 2008 - link
The middle split wasn't too much of an issue for me since we were playing in widescreen. However, I could see major issues on a standard definition TV.All I know is that the game had a strong feeling of lack of polish. I can not see many reasons why a game should be released with any of the problems my room mate and I experienced, let alone all of them together. It completely turned me off from purchasing the PC version.
Blitzed Penguin - Friday, April 4, 2008 - link
I love AnandTech and there unbiased review of PC hardware such as graphics cards, CPU, power supplies, routers, and my other techy stuff. They also post the latest and greatest news of what is going on the the PC world and what we can expect in the future.Whats with the article about an XBOX video game? Did UBI pay you guys to advertise? It has nothing to do with hardware or PC. You have it labeled as "software" but there is no "software" tab at the top of the screen. There are several other sites dedicated to video games that gamers are more accustomed to.
I could understand an article about the PC version maybe. AnandTech did use the first R6 Vegas as a benchmark and they could do the same with Vegas 2 (its a port and has limited graphics settings so maybe not). It is your site so you can change it how you want just giving my opinion. I just love the site and would hate to see it change.