New missions, new point system, few new gear and such, but essentially same as previous Vegas. Which isn't bad, though.
The Good :
- Same game as previous Vegas, as in retaining the good stuff
- Point system. Adds interest towards the campaign, mainly for playing it through again, solo or along with a friend
- Gun sounds are still excellent, pretty much the best I recall hearing in games
- A.I of your own guys is somewhat solid. At least they're proper killing machines
- Co-op campaign. The best fun in the whole game, more of this, please.
The Bad (and The Ugly) :
- Same as previous Vegas, as in retaining the bad stuff
- Solo missions. It sucked in Vegas 1, now it sucks even more. There's a few good moments, but 90% of it is pure pish
- Terrorist hunt, or should I call it Terrorist Hunting Memory Game. It's just not as fun as you'd think it should be
- Checkpoint locations are sometimes waaaaaaay too far away compared to how hard the action can be (especially in solo's)
- Some corners and spots where you can't shoot the opponents, but the opponents can easily shoot you
The longer version :
Let's make it clear right away from the beginning : Vegas 2 is 95% the same game as Vegas (1), if you don't count the levels and few new stuff into it. Graphics are pretty much the same, weapons are pretty much the same, and gameplay works 99% the same. This is not saying it's bad, because the original Vegas was excellent.
So here's a short recap to what's new :
Point system. While it previously worked only in online games, now it works in campaign and online games. Additionally, you gain ranks and new (or if you played Vegas 1, old weapons as well) stuff by doing certain types of kills, ie. get a headshot, kill through cover, kill with an explosive, kill opponent who's rappelling, and so on. Only flaw I see in the system is that you seem to get far more points into marksmanship than into others. It's not a bad thing, but re-balancing it a bit may not hurt.
Another new stuff is co-op playable campaign. System works fine, and playing the campaign is always much more enjoyable than playing terrorist hunts with your mate. In general, I wish gamemakers would finally start pushing out more good co-op playable games, since it's always much more fun to play with a friend than solo.
Now you can also dress your guy however you like him into the campaign as well, which adds some sort of interest to gaining new camo patterns (that usually help nothing) and new gear in general.
Then there's few new weapons and gear, some new stuff the bad guys say and so on, and that's about it really. The original was a solid game, so why go change it.
However, also the bad stuff has remained. Sometimes your teammates (the A.I one's) are complete idiots, standing in the line of fire and getting killed, which usually ends up to re-loading from previous checkpoints, since you get killed when you try to go heal them. Also you can never be absolutely sure if the room is empty when they say ''Clear''. But generally they work pretty well.
Previously bad stuff as "corners where you can't shoot them but they can shoot you" and some spots where leaning doesn't work at all are still there too. Not everywhere, but still there. Same thing with moments when you're crouching under a window and you're going to get up and shoot : you never properly know where you're going to end up aiming, because the guy twists his body when he's getting up. This basically means that while you are exactly in a position where you should be able to get a good shot if you get up straight, you usually end up having a window-bar in front of your face or something. Or even a wall. Would be good to have a button to switch your rolling side.
Also, having cameras on teammates would be good, and you should be able to command'em through the camera. Now you need to take your guys to the other door, command'em to it, go to other door yourself, and then do the break-in command. Also, it would help determinating how much they're being fired upon.
While the campaign is 80% great, the rest 20% is solo missions, which plain suck. They have some good moments, but those are few and far between in the agony of doing the same thing over and over again, because you couldn't possibly see that guy behind that corner. Why did the makers ditch the thermal scan in solo missions is beyond me, that would have helped a bit. On those solo missions your NVG's are usable, but it's still a workout flicking between normal view and NVG's because it's not dark enough to have a good use of NVG's, and it's dark enough to not see properly. It's funny how you can actually see better with NVG's when you're hurt a little.
The final part, which is solo, sucks as well. I damn well salute the guy who did that part in first three tries. It's not unbelievably hard per se, but it's relying too much on luck and knowning exactly what to do and when to do it.
While the campaign is mostly great fun and good, the terrorist hunt's suck. I was hoping it would be random, just certain amount of people scattered around the level, but no; the terrorist are always in the exact same positions, and after you've killed a certain number of'em at one spot, you know there's not gonna be more before you move forward. As an example, Lone Wolf in CQB Training Grounds or whatever it's name was. Low opponent density on realistic. Every time the same guy stands if you peek behind the wall, every time same amount of men come (albeit somewhat in random patterns), and every time it's clear after there's 17 of 25 left, and I can move on.
I've only got to try like five different terrorist hunts, alone and with friends, and every time we've got to see maybe 20% of the level before we've killed all the few dozen terrorists. I kind of long the normal kind of stuff, where we didn't need to stay still the whole time, blasting away dozen's of terrorist spewing out of every hole in the building and hoping no one comes to shoot when you're changing the clip. It really looses all the tactics when you get to kill 50+ men in less than five minutes, and all you have moved is out of the place you started in.
Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is as good as the first Vegas, but instead of a complete sequel, it seems more like an add-on to the original. New missions and new levels, few new guns and gear, better and more entertaining way to obtain points without spending your whole life in the game, but it's still essentially the same game. But still a very good one at that. Only gripe I have is that it seems they only added stuff without taking out old bugs and glitches.