Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas - Playstation 3 (PS3), Xbox 360 (360) Previews


	Platform PS3, Xbox 360 Genre Shooter / Action Publisher Ubisoft Developer Ubisoft Montreal ETA Q4 2006
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Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six series debuted on the PC back in 1998. It was one of the first military shooter to focus heavily on team-based gameplay and relied on tactical planning and shooting. Over the years since then, the series made appearances on numerous consoles, but no console seemed to have much success with the series, with the exception of the Xbox. Rainbow Six 3 for the Xbox was one of the premiere titles featured on Microsoft’s Xbox Live service. There were a total of four Rainbow Six titles released for the Xbox. It was a no-brainer when UbiSoft announced its much beloved series was landing on next-generation platforms this fall.

Unlike previous games in the series, Vegas will take place in one locale. It’s certainly not a bad choice that the developers chose to focus on only one city, considering Las Vegas has so much to offer for pretty much any genre of game. That being said, Ubi’s upcoming game hasn’t been free from controversy. Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman isn’t too impressed with his city being the center of

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attention in the next Rainbow Six game. The city of Las Vegas is attempting to stop the release of the game, but it’s doubtful any political action would have any effect on the release of the game.

Escalating violence and terrorist activity in Las Vegas sees the Rainbow Six team deploy to the city in an effort to bring much

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needed stability. The developers have gone extra far to include recognizable landmarks in the game.

During E3, UbiSoft released a demo for the game showing the single player game in action. The demo began with the Rainbow team flying around Sin City before inserting at their target building. As the helicopter continues to fly around the city, numerous rocket propelled grenades are fired at the chopper. Fortunately, all the rockets miss and the team successfully reaches their target. During the whole chopper ride the game is shown through a first person perspective and your character is given the mission briefing. The game will feature real-time in-game mission briefings. Once the team reaches the target building, your character fast ropes down from the chopper in third-person. The developers are aiming to show dynamic sequences such as fast-roping and rappelling along a building, scenes which were formerly reserved strictly for cut-scenes.

After your team exit’s the helicopter, the video show a mix between first and third person action. The demo concludes by showing your team taking down hostiles and rescuing hostages in the target building.

By far one of the coolest new additions to the game is the ability to “tag” terrorists using the snake cam. Prior to entering a room, you can peek under the door (much like Splinter Cell) and highlight certain enemies in the room for your buddies to take out once your team moves in for the kill. This new addition really sets up take-downs in a new and dynamic way by allowing all the characters to know what their roles are before they enter a room.

UbiSoft hasn’t revealed too much information regarding the multiplayer just yet. All that’s been announced so far is that there will be a large amount of customization in terms of your online character. You can see your online character evolve as you get more experience online. There will also be a number of unlock able weapons and achievements as you progress farther through the game.

From what has been shown, UbiSoft looks like it has another winner on its hands. While not much has been shown regarding the multiplayer side of the game, more information will most likely become available closer to the game’s launch. Rainbow Six Vegas should be in stores sometime this holiday season.

- Siddharth Masand

(August 14, 2006)