more of the same ... but in a good way
POSITIVE CHANGES:
- online connectivity much better than initially in Vegas 1
- "sprint" added to the assortment of movements (otherwise no changes)
- bots taking cover and not dying from clear headshots is not a widespread as in Vegas 1
- the game is better optimized for PC and runs smoother than Vegas 1 initially
- join online multiplayer game in progress at any time ... very neat
- a dozen or so new weapons
- the AI somewhat improved on already rather decent Vegas 1 AI
- more screen resolutions supported
- reduced graphics blur compared to Vegas 1
GAMEPLAY: The singleplayer is well done and full length. Tactical gameplay has always been the trademark of the R6 series and is still the best. Weapons balance is somewhat different than in Vegas 1, for example, sometimes the same weapons that are also in Vegas 1 are more accurate in Vegas 2 (e.g., FAMAS) but inflict less damage. Otherwise the gameplay is almost identical to Vegas 1. However, check the new "sprint" feature. Multiplayer modalities are superb as usual in R6, however unfortunately the "coop story mode" now supports only 2 players (rather than 4 as in Vegas 1) -- BAD UBI!. A great feature is that in Vegas 2 you can join a multiplayer session that's in progress at any time and not wait for the new one to start. The character customization is on par with Vegas 1 with pretty much nothing new going on (except maybe slightly uglier models).
GRAPHICS/VIDEO/SOUND: R6 Vegas 1 was probably the first FPS game to feature Unreal 3 engine. It had lots of performance issues, bugs, and such, tho it looked good despite some excessive blur. Vegas 2 features the same engine and practically doesn't have any performance bugs. And that's good. On the other hand, in general, Vegas 2 really doesn't look any better than Vegas 1 (except for a better blur management). Some scenes (aerial views) are actually better looking in the first Vegas. Overall, the graphics/video is very good, not a contender for the best by far since we've seen what's possible in CoD 4 and Crysis, but also not bad at all and some scenes simply look great if you have a higher end rig. The game sound is very good too, definitively above the average. Overall, the entire sound-graphics experience can be described as "above the average" and on par with Vegas 1. A great piece of news is that Vegas 2 supports many more screen resolutions than Vegas 1.
NEGATIVE:
- coop story multiplayer modality reduced from the "usual" 4 to 2 players (not sure what's the reason for this super lame decision since "coop terrorist hunt" still runs 4 players as before"
- ranking and achievements (as useless a concept as it is ... except for the very young XBOX kids) needs some serious work. You probably won't be bothered by this system, but you'd probably wonder why you need to work to unlock some mediocre rifle when you already have a much better one.
- in modalities against bots, there is still (as in Vegas 1) a problem of bots' not being restricted in movement by the physicality of their own bodies. This practically means that in instances of physical collision with an enemy-bot you are likely to die 90% or more of the time since your movement is restricted by the physical laws, but bots' are not -- they can move and aim that shotgun even if your body is in the way of their movement or should obstruct the execution of the movement (so far the only workaround for this is to take a few quick steps back and create a distance enough so your shots are actually hitting the target)
- the singleplayer end ( "boss" ) fight is somewhat lame or at least uninspired
- artificially raised difficulty for the difficulty sake in many places on the "realistic" level where instead of harder more fierce fights one may experience more of frustration with the AI "unrealistically exaggerated" accuracy and bots appearing (spawning) out of nowhere. The highest difficulty in a game should be a challenge that encourages improving your skills -- however, Ubi frequently doesn't differentiate between a challenge and frustration. Frustration, of course, leads to repetitiveness, counting on luck instead of skills, and ultimately to boredom
- and again, no manual saves which combined with the unrealistic spots on the "REALISTIC" level provides you with the multiple opportunities to run longer sections of a map over and again without learning much and mostly relying on luck
UNKNOWN: Since this is a new game, I'm not sure if in multiplayer the "improved and intuitive matchmaking system" that basically searches for other players with similar skills would prevent you from actually hooking up with your friend who, say, is less skillful than you. That would be really bad.
CONCLUSION: Overall R6 Vegas 2 shines. So far in this 2008 year this is the top shooter on the PC platform (tho there hasn't been much competition in the FPS area in 2008 so far on the PC platform either). To buy or not? Well, if you liked Vegas 1, then this is more of the same with some minor enhancements. Maps are nice and exciting and offer a great setting for some tactical gameplay. If a tactical FPS game is not something very high on your gaming preference list then you could simply wait a few months till the game gets cheaper ... but otherwise get it (check the system requirements beforehand and make sure they exceed the "minimal" ). My score for this game is somewhat subjectively high since I like the game and usually spend lots of time playing the R6 series. But objectively speaking this game should be scoring anywhere between 7.5 and 9.0 depending on the reviewers preferences (and site/magazine ad money). A perfect 10/10 would be a significant stretch from the technical perspective and anything below 7 could mean that the reviewer is really not into FPS or PC games in general. Anywho, enjoy, it's a good game.
Score: 9.3/10