Game On: Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (360)

[jow]

Let's use this thread to recollect gamertags for people who will be purchasing this game and looking for folks to shoot. I have friends who will be playing, and I'll share their gamertags with you lot if we have interest. I'm hoping to get a few TMH game nights on the RSV2.

So, show of GTs, TMH. Who's getting RSV2?

Vandal NY

[DarkPenfold]

DarkPenfold
Should be getting my copy on Thurs 20th. How many TMH people are in the UK/EU timezone though?

[Ska Wars]

SkaWars86

Birthday at the end of the month so plan to treat myself to this probably.

[Shade-of-Grey]

360!? and you guys call yourself gamers...

i'll be getting it for the PC thanks.

[DarkPenfold]

Once you adapt to the control method (which is actually perfect for the game), most online games on the 360 are better than their PC brethren. The first R6V and CoD4 are loads better on 360, and Splinter Cell has (IMHO) never really worked on mouse and keyboard.

The main advantages of XBox Live are legion, and include (but are not restricted to):
Persistent friends list across all games and almost foolproof matchmaking/team-up options[/*:m:3g3ek09c]
Virtually hacker-free (no aimbots here)[/*:m:3g3ek09c]
A guarantee that everyone in the game is playing with the same toolset - no 15-action macros employed by the hardcore for an immense unfair advantage, for example[/*:m:3g3ek09c]
"Prefer/Avoid" feature so you can stop Live from putting you in the same matches as people who've clearly played the game far too much and know every exploit and bug, or the prebubescent chattybitches (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/03/21)[/*:m:3g3ek09c]
Hardware guarantee - companies don't need to cater for literally millions of graphic/processor/soundcard combos, and can be confident that everyone is using the same 16-button controller and owns a microphone headset[/*:m:3g3ek09c]

There are some titles which don't work on the consoles as well as the PC, such as The Orange Box, but all in all this (http://www.penny-arcade.com/2008/02/27) newspost from Penny Arcade sums up why consoles have become my platform(s) of choice.

[jow]

^ Word.

[jow]

Alright. So. I've been playing this game non stop since Tuesday. It's fucking rad.

DO IT.

[TylerDurden]

i was going to buy it for 360 but decided not to. I've sorta lost interest in my Xbox ever since i started building my computer.

I plan on buying it for PC. I heard it's great.

I do agree however that for console this game, and others like it are really good. No hacking, and all that other stuff is pretty cool.

[blackguy32]

I would have it if my Xbox 360 hadn't decided to die on me. Im waiting for them to send my box.

[Fenris Wolf]

I could never get into the whole R6 franchise. I've tried, by God, but it always seemed slow and the mulitplay was always spotty. That may be because it was being hosted on some kids crappy DSL line and there was no such thing as a dedicated server, and I absolutely despised the server search funtion they had, but still, even when it worked it wasn't that fun. If you can convince me otherwise, I may consider purchase.

Keep in mind, I've played R6, RS, Black Ops, and Raven Shield. That last one I had a few good times in, but mostly it was peek around a corner and die.

[TylerDurden]

one of the first games i got in 1998 as R6, which i played on Mplayer online. At the time, you couldn't get any better then that. When it came to those types of games of course.

I played another one for ps2 and didn't think anything good of it. I hated it. So really, i've only played r6 all the way through. HOWEVER, seeing videos, and reviews and reading about the new r6 vegas games, i must say how much they have improved. I myself haven't played them yet, and like to think that i judge these games harshly.

SO what i'm trying to say is, this new r6 game is bad ass in my eyes. And might be the best R6 game since the very first one that came out in 1998.

I have in front of me my Gold Pack. The first R6 game that came out, the expansion pack, and the guide. Many good memories playing online via Mplayer.

My first clan ever was for r6, we were called "Death will come to you" (D.W.C.T.Y.) lol, yeah i know. that was 10 years ago, i'm 22 years old now, do the math. I was a child :manji:

[Fenris Wolf]

Honestly I would've guessed that you were only 15 or 16 right now.

[TylerDurden]

ahem ..

may i please break your legs.

[Fenris Wolf]

I'm just sayin' is all. I understand that copious amounts of drugs can cause some of the effects you exhibit in your posts. It's cool though.

[TylerDurden]

i will find where you sleep fenris ! I will find where you sleep, and blow hits of free based crack in your face, AND THEN, we'll see how you post then, now wont we.

aaahhh lol it's all fun and games until tyler gets hurt.

[jow]

I could never get into the whole R6 franchise. I've tried, by God, but it always seemed slow and the mulitplay was always spotty. That may be because it was being hosted on some kids crappy DSL line and there was no such thing as a dedicated server, and I absolutely despised the server search funtion they had, but still, even when it worked it wasn't that fun. If you can convince me otherwise, I may consider purchase.

Keep in mind, I've played R6, RS, Black Ops, and Raven Shield. That last one I had a few good times in, but mostly it was peek around a corner and die.

If you got yourself a 360 or PS3, head down to your local GameStop. Grab Rainbow Six Vegas (the first) used and give it a spin. If you don't like it, no harm, no foul. Bring it back within 7 days and get your 26.99 back. If you do, go back and get R6V2. I doubt anyone plays Vegas 1 anymore online.

[DarkPenfold]

Is it just me or is R6V2 actually not that fantastic a sequel?

It doesn't have the same gripping story that kept me plugging through the first one, and the more mundane locations (just clocked the Exhibition Hall/Monorail chapter) don't pop off the screen in the same way as the neon lights and brash noises of the first R6V.

Plus there are some serious issues with the graphics engine being pushed too far - numerous times I've missed vital shots because the frame rate drops by more than three-quarters. On a console, that's inexcusable.
And the still-dodgy AI is laughable at times - I've seen bad guys literally spin around in endless circles when they're partially-behind cover, inviting an easy headshot.

The netcoding is still a bit broken. On a 4-player terrorist hunt stage, whenever my brother joined in the game became unbearably choppy for everyone - even though he wasn't the host.
And the "invulnerable to everyone but the host" bad guys are back, too - there have been several times in co-op where I've shot a bad guy in the head with an entire clip of ammo, seen the flinch and blood-spray, but have him survive to take me out... yet when the host shoots him once in the knee, he drops down dead.

Aside from the frame-rate, all the other issues make absolutely no sense considering how long they've had to fix the problems - and the fact that the vast majority of assets in the game, from slot machines to weapons to the entire library of sound effects are recycled from the first Vegas really makes me wonder what they've spent the last 15 months doing, other than ripping off CoD4's ranking system wholesale.

/rant over

Not to say that R6V2 is a bad game. Hell, it's still miles better than most shooters (Halo 3, I'm looking at you), but considering how psyched I was about its release it's just a real letdown that mending the broken parts of the first Vegas has been overlooked in favour of adding little things (thermal scan - CoD4 UAV anyone?) that have nowhere near as much impact on the gameplay as some serious bugfixing would have done.
Meh, shouldn't have been surprised. Ubi managed to stuff up GRAW2 as well...

[jow]

Idunno. I've been doing adversarial. It's fun.

[swedish]

I'm playing Campaign, and it seems meh so far. For some reason, the enemy and squad AI just doesn't feel as intelligent. The new locations are refreshing, but not as awesome as it was in the first game.

Lack of four player online Campaign co-op greatly annoys me. I don't want two AI squadmates, I'd rather have them replaced with two players.

Haven't touched MP Adversarial yet.

Overall, pretty disappointing as a sequel. Still a great game though, and if you haven't played the first, I definitely recommend picking the sequel up.

[jow]

Play the online multiplayer before formulating an opinion.

[Zao]

Lack of four player online Campaign co-op greatly annoys me. I don't want two AI squadmates, I'd rather have them replaced with two players.


The PcGamer preview a few issues back said that the campaign coop was supposed to be revised to include all the dialog that for some reason was missing in the first game, so I know they were intending to have campaign coop. It didn't make the final cut? I need to research that. It was one of the big reasons I bought the first game: I love online campaign coop in games. Hopefully, if this is true, it was only ganked in the 360 version. I'll be sticking with PC as I don't own a 360... yet.

[jow]

There is two player co-op. Not four :( But what's great about it, is it's drop in/drop out. Like old school sega games, haha. You don't have to restart when your buddy joins or leaves. Not even from the beginning of a chapter or level or something.

[TylerDurden]

played this game finally. Kick ass.

i like how you can lean up on stuff, and blind shoot, or move around and get a shot, etc.

very realistic. you get shot in the face. you die. same goes for bad guys.

repealing off stuff, with your desert eagle out, is bad ass.

all in all, i think this is by far the best r6 game. The way you command yer dooders is pretty good.

I LOVE how you can pop smoke in a room, then put on those goggles, and scope the room out.

whats even better is hiding in a room, while someone pops smoke in it, and having a thermal goggle battle. Picking people off as they come in the door and what not.

i'm going to buy this for my PC. I hope it's as good !

ps.

bishop is a pimp mac daddy.

[Zao]

There is two player co-op. Not four :( But what's great about it, is it's drop in/drop out. Like old school sega games, haha. You don't have to restart when your buddy joins or leaves. Not even from the beginning of a chapter or level or something.


Oh.... Well hopefully they expand it to four on the pc version. If not, that's still not terrible. It's not like I was ever able to reliably coordinate four player coop matches. Most of the time, it was just me and best friend and before he got sick of it, Roman.


I like the drop in. That's fantastic. More games that feature coop need that.

[jow]

Yep. Halo 3, for all the shit that's talked about it by jealous jaded gamer bois had co-op almost fucking perfect. The only thing it messed up was if you dropped out it would quit the game out, IIRC.

Developers - We need four player co-op, drop in/drop out, online AND local AND syslink co-op where any combination of players can be on Syslink/Local OR Xbox Live. One XBL gold account per XBOX not per USER. (See - Rock Band)

Really. No, it's important. Don't forget to make a good game, though.

[Penguin]

Co-op? I'm waiting for Gears of War 2.

[DarkPenfold]

Co-op? I'm waiting for Gears of War 2.
Srsly?

Am I the only one who finds Gears hopelessly generic? The graphics are gorgeous, yes. But the hide-and-seek gameplay is just plain clunky when compared to other similar mechanics in R6V and even Army of Two, the character design is 3 measures of uninspired to 4 measures of Unreal Tournament asset recycling (I'm aware Cliffy B is Epic's lead designer on both series), and the bad guys look more like orks from the LotR films than cave-dwelling aliens. Plus they're almost all muscle-bound bipeds which is just plain lazy in my book.

There's fun to be had with Gears, no doubt. Hell, I bought it. But if the only unique thing about your game is that you've strapped a chainsaw onto a gun, then you're doing it wrong - an OTT macho shooter (you'd almost think they were compensating for something) without any thinking or tactics; perfect for the loud, obnoxious fratboy crowd.

EDIT: So macho.
vEu191cjQhs

[Penguin]

But if the only unique thing about your game is that you've strapped a chainsaw onto a gun, then you're doing it wrong
You've just outed yourself as a CAD fan and have rendered yourself irrelevant.

But seriously though, the gaming genre NEEDS more manliness in these dark times. Our culture is sadly lacking in it. I mean, fuck. Just look at Liebgott. And he's a fucking Marine!

And if "Army of Two"? Are you seriously holding that up as an example of NOT silly-macho? Of something NOT fratboyish? (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/03/07)

[DarkPenfold]

I concede that AoT is overcompensatingly macho even when compared to Gears, but I merely said AoT's cover system was better. Aaahhh.

(And for the record, I loathe CAD - Buckley is a talentless hack :p)

[swedish]

Why the heck is nobody on playing Vegas 2?

I'm looking at you, Vandal.

[DarkPenfold]

Because CoD4 is better :D

[Stephenson]

Seanyboii20

[jow]

Fuck you, Swedish. I invited you to like ten mufuckin' games since that shit came out, and you're always like WAH WAH WAH IM DOING CO-OP.

What a homo.

[swedish]

Seanyboii20
You best have Xbox Live Gold.


Fuck you, Swedish. I invited you to like ten mufuckin' games since that shit came out, and you're always like WAH WAH WAH IM DOING CO-OP.

What a homo.
No, you're a homo. I asked later on if you wanted to play, and you were like NUH UH I GOTTA DO SOMETHING WITH MY FRIENDS

In other news, I found out a way to boost my rank. I didn't want to boost my rank in the first Vegas because I was a huge moralfag, but after days of playing and only getting up to Sergeant Major, I finally decided to cheat in Vegas 2 to get all the camo and accessories.

Fuck yes now I can finally have my guy look like an Eastern European militant.

[DarkPenfold]

Seanyboii20In other news, I found out a way to boost my rank. I didn't want to boost my rank in the first Vegas because I was a huge moralfag, but after days of playing and only getting up to Sergeant Major, I finally decided to cheat in Vegas 2 to get all the camo and accessories.

Fuck yes now I can finally have my guy look like an Eastern European militant.
Do share. I lack the patience to sit through endless, tedious Total Conquest matches just to get that boonie hat.

[jow]

What I said was that a buddy and I were just doing T-Hunt while we were talking on the phone. Was important stuff, didn't want you to sit there with nobody to talk to.

Also. Yeah, I saw the glitch, and I've been considering it... but meh.

[Cheeto]

Fucking hated the first one for the bullshit enemy super AI. Did they fix it this time?