The excellent multiplayer and a smattering of important and new additions overshadow an uninspired single player.
SINGLE PLAYER LET-DOWN:
Firstly, the story mode of Vegas 2 is extremely disappointing. Details will not be explored here, as the story mode has been played through over and over again by thousands of players by now, but the common complaint among these people is consistent: the story not only is filled with countless plot holes and nonsense, but it strays from all of the elements that made the original a memorable and pleasurable experience. It honestly makes little to no sense that UBI Montreal chose to make a sequel bearing the name 'Vegas' yet chose to set the game in some of the worst chosen and absolute weakest areas of its namesake location. Most of the playing community finds the levels that deal with the Vegas that is known in public memory among the best ones in the game, for example, casinos, theaters, and hotels. Unfortunately that is just one act in the game, and every other one strays from this tried-and-true formula, creating a boring experience that one is thankful for when it finally ends. Moreover, one of the most hated aspects of the original, namely, when your player controlled character is on his own with no squadmates, returns and lasts for almost an entire act, creating a hated and dreadful experience. A tactical, squad-based shooter does not succeed in a single player evironment when the player has no squad, and that is evidenced here.
Also, enemies remain completely unintelligent, often standing around waiting for you to kill them and rarely using effective tactics to deal with your heavily-armed squad. Simply retooling the enemy AI to seek cover where they aren't exposed in some way, then actively move to flank your team would have been an improvement, or even making them more likely to open doors your team is stacked against or counterattacking your team would have been a welcome and surprising addition to the single player gameplay. Basically, the enemies are just slow-moving targets, and when the single player is played through the maps are just filled with countless dead terrorists. It seemed as though UBI tried to compensate for the lack of terrorist killing ability by increasing their number in the maps. This is the wrong way to go about a tactical shooter, even if they are heavily armed and elite-level troops, it is not realistic for a squad of 3 troopers to completely ravage 50+ terrorists per level. It would have been much more satisfying to decrease the number of terrorists dramatically and increase their ability to effectively fight back in the face of the player.
SINGLE PLAYER ADDITIONS:
The single player is not without its merits, as it features an excellent split-screen local and online cooperative feature that is literally one of the best among any shooter for either next generation platform. Allowing the player to customize his appearance and letting players jump in and out of the campaign as it is progressed are two features that were highly sought after in the original Vegas. Also, the gaining of experience points for the persistent elite character profile in the single player game is also excellent, as it makes an otherwise bland and boring story mode instantly replayable and more fun when played through with a friend. It should be a no-brainer for UBI Montreal to retain all of these features when making a future Rainbow Six title, as they essentially added a depth to the story mode that would not have been present otherwise.
MULTIPLAYER ADDITIONS:
The multiplayer in this game is excellent as far as tactical shooters go. The ability to sprint turns the strategies of this game on their head, as it is now possible to suppress an enemy while a teammate rushes in on his flank to finish him off with a CQB firearm. The multiplayer graphics are now on par with the single player graphics, one of the greatest complaints of the original Vegas. The weapons are all well-balanced and virtually every firearm has a different feel and handling to it, making it a pleasurable experience to switch up your weaponry to find a different experience everytime. New additions are slightly minimal, but the additions essentially came from fan requests (such as the M4 and the Rainbow Operative ballistic helmet and armor), so they are highly enjoyable. Weapon balance has also been addressed by UBI Montreal in light of the constant stream of complaints from the player community of the original Vegas, as the MP7A1 no longer dominates every weapon from all ranges, sniper rifles are now a legitimate option on maps with long fields of fire, assault rifles have their place as highly effective mid to long range firearms, and submachineguns dominate CQB but cannot be used to snipe. The addition of downloadable content, more specifically, the new High Stakes mode that essentially turns the entire experience into a more realistic and dangerous game that longtime Rainbow Six fans have been craving since the release of the last Rainbow Six 3 expansion pack. High Stakes is basically the way Rainbow Six games are meant to be played, as it makes scoped firing the most accurate way of gunning down enemies, it removes the ability of the player to see around corners when stacked up against cover, and essentially turns the game from one that can be played in a run-and-gun style to one solely of tactical suppressing fire and flanking maneuver tactics.
WHERE TO GO WITH THE SERIES NEXT:
The story mode of this game needs more work, it needs to be engaging and fresh. The Rainbow Six series suffers from a tired repetition of the same plot devices, fight disorganized unrelated terrorists, fight new organized terrorists, find out they are in posession of a WMD which they plan to set off at location X, travel to location X and kill all of them. It would be interesting to throw Rainbow Six into the middle of a global conflict where they are performing hostage rescue and target elimination actions like many real-world counter terror organizations, instead of allowing the series to dwindle down the path toward these seemingly endless action-movie-epic but tired and hollow plot devices. Improvements to this series can be found by overhauling the entire engine the game runs on, as the Unreal engine the game is powered by has proven to be prone to lag issues (bullets will be severely delayed) in multiplayer that can hamper any gameplay where the host has a subpar connection. The persistent elite character mode also needs an overhaul, it is not ludicrous the borrow a page from shooter powerhouse Call of Duty 4 and allow for challenges and progress bars to correspond with unlockable items. The customization of weaponry should also be overhauled in any future titles; this was always one of the Rainbow Six series strengths and it seems too limited in light of the firearm customization of other titles. Essentially, future Rainbow Six titles should allow for multiple gun customization slots, such as the ability to add a grip handle, a scope, a targeting laser, a suppressor, and custom gun camo. Little things like these will go a long way in a series hailed for its tactical nature, customization options and intense, engaging multiplayer. The tweaking of the cover system should also be implemented to bring it in line with that of the High Stakes game mode, players should not be allowed to see around corners while stacked up as it destroys realistic gameplay and allows for 'cover camping' as players can leave their targeting reticule at head level, sit behind a wall and wait for a target to run by, swinging out for an easy headshot.
It goes without saying that this game could have been much more than an expansion pack with a story mode if there had been more new weaponry, armor and more engaging, varied maps included in it, and as it stands this game can only really be recommended as a definite purchase for those players looking to get a solid cooperative or multiplayer experience out of the game. Casual fans will likely be turned off by the lack of new content and the prospect of being dominated in multiplayer by players who know every hot zone of conflict in the maps and gamemodes. Still, this is a solid title, and fans of tactical shooters will absolutely love everything this game brings to the table that so many others cannot even touch; it doesn't do anything worse than its predecessor and slightly builds on it.