So, here's the interesting thing. I like tacticle shooters. Namely, I've played a lot of SWAT 4. Almost, like... finished the game twice. You know?
So, unlike SWAT 4, you can actually shoot the guys trying to kill you on sight. You of course need to avoid ever hurting a civie but you don't have to very calmly ask the drugged up armed lady who your brother is simping for to kidly put the shotgun down and not dome you and than run of.
Also, unlike SWAT 4 you have a considerable amount of ammo and verities of guns. In SWAT you can get only police approved guns but Rainbow Six Seige: Vegas 2 allows you use machine guns. Hell yeah. So, I ended up relying on "suppresive fire". With a side arm of a burst fire sub-machine gun with a suppressor so, everyone doesn't end up dead.
Also, you have to be very careful. You can't just wander into any rooms or you're going to get domed. But even with more ammo than SWAT 4 you still can't just spray every room. Also, hotages are of the most importance and you have to keep them safe. So, if you assume, or got intel that, a hostage might be in the room, you can't just throw a frag into the room. Just as my brother...
Plus, most rooms end up being rather large or having multiple enterances or way too much cover to reasonably or safely just spray the whole area with bullets. Plus, some areas have multiple floors overlooking lower floors meaning snipers are a problem.
As a result, you need to move very slowly and carefully. Flank if you can and make use of 'nades (either tactials like smokes and flashbangs or flat-out lethals). Actually, let me just-
So, like SWAT 4 and almost every other tactical shooter, you need to play smart. Enemies are dangerous. They have good gear and usually enemies have baracaded or at least created choke points in the buildings. Up to the point of some areas being under the watch of a machine gun nest.
Not to mention civies are being held as hostages. And since you're a good guy, you have to get them out safe and sound. It is a mission requirement which is not optional. Besides, you don't want to hurt innocents who are mostly just trying to survive, right?
You get supply depots along the way. It namely lets you set up your gear, reload ammo and maybe customise your gear. I personally went for a black-out outfit and gear, with a full face mask. Pretty cool, but it also means you don't have to spec yourself out too much before entering an area. If you really wanted to you could start with a shotgun, before switching to sniper rifle or machine gun and so on.
And again, the nice thing is that you get pretty useful 'nades. You get tacticals like smokes which when combined with thermal goggles allow you to see while enemies can't look through the thick smoke. Flashbangs also work really well, execpt if you look into them. In which, you'd be blinded and unable to see anything for a few seconds.
For the lethal 'nades, you get incendary and frags. But are almost identical, I just prefer incendaries because they are pretty easy to notice. Besides, incendaries are scary and I like the idea of freaking out the terrorist.
On top of lethals and tacticals you also get the good old fashioned breaching charges. It's helpful when you end having to deal with doors which you suspect might have a unreasonably amount of tangoes are behind. Of course, it might hurt a hostage, so use with extreme caution.
Of course this game lets you have some AI teammates. Now, since my brother and I were playing split-screen, I couldn't actually control the teammates. So, this is mostly from what I've heard from my bro and from how tag-teaming was working.
They're pretty good AI's all things considered but it is still an older game. They will stand directly infront of you while you're trying to open fire on tangoes. Or they'll freeze up in doorways. Or the AI would randomly bug out and stop responding. Or if you accidently stand in front of their path they'd just bug out and freeze.
The good part is that they do have rather good combat AI. You can order them to stay quiet and only return fire if fired upon or for them to fire on sight. Plus they have very good aim and will hit most shots most of the time.
On top of that, the AI teammates can do specific jobs you can't. In otherwords, only your teammates could defuse bombs or try to work on something. It's rather fun that you have a proper role to carry out. I like it, alot.
I freaking love the civies. Did one almost get shot by jump scaring me? Unfortunately yes, but said civie was also incrediably helpful. She lead us right to the rest of the hostages so that we could actually help without just getting lost again.
All of the civies are so much more well behaved than the SWAT 4 npcs. For some reason the SWAT 4 civies just love running up to you or not listening to simple orders or even worst standing directly in a tangoes line of fire.
But the civies are nice in this game. I have honestly done some honest to god stuipd shit to make sure the civies where fine. Like one time, I dived through a window, guns blazing because the civie's where in danger. It worked out but I definately get shot more than once.
Dude, I love multiplayer games. Namely local/couch co-op. It's great to crack open a White Monster can before spending the full afternoon playing a game with my brother. We've downed Borderlands 2, Borderlands the Pre-sequal, Resident Evil 5, Diablo 3, SWAT 4 and we're now working on finishing Resident Evil 6 and Rainbow Six Seige: Vegas 2.
So, what I'm saying is. I like multiplayer games and this is a real good one. You can play the campeign multiplayer, not to mention, you share ranks and level ups. You can also do a PvE match making system called terrorist hunt which helps with replaiblity.
Plus, co-op helps balence out the team as having one extra player who is able to roam on their own, or separate from the rest of the team, and has better responses or rationality than the AI. All in all, it works out pretty great.
Like my other tacical shooter darling, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 drops you in an urban environment. Namely, Las Vegas, Navada. Which means casions, penthouses and warehouses for shows. It's soo freaking cool.
I already love Las Vegas as an actual place in real life. The city of sin built because of the casion industry which only exsisted because of the mafia. A place built in a hostile environment which gets so hot that your shoes melt on the tar and the substations are at risk of overheating. A place managed by people underpaid and working for pennies while richer tourists buy overpriced drinks and get absolutes wasted. It's damn near mythological.
So, yeah. I love the environment. It's sin city for crying out loud. And the map design is fantast. Areas feel either claustraphobic or much too open. Large windows leave you open to sniper fire or allow you to look around a bit and spot tangoes. Many building have multiple enterances and more than enough cover to make you feel like a room would never be clear. Hallways branch into numerous doors which all need to be cleared while you just have a small team.
Honestly, it's really good map design. Encounters with enemies feel very risky. Rooms need to be properly cleared but there's more than one area a threat can come from, so you have to keep your head on a swivel. The only real option is to rely on your teammates.
If you like SWAT 4 or SWAT 4 like games, you might like Rainbow Six Vegas 2. It's fun, the maps are very well designed and the multiplayer is great.