The Cult of Sun Tzu

R6V2: First Look

I have been playing Rainbow Six Vegas for a week in anticipation of ganging up with my old buddies for the new release. Who knows, we might even become a devastating clan. So last night was the first time I played the game and it looks new and interesting.

The four biggest differences are all important.

1. Tight Maps
Everybody will tell you immediately that these maps force you to think. Open areas where you might have just dashed across in Ghost Recon or Call of Duty - don't even think about it. The enemy is deadly and they don't miss. You simply must use your tactics. I've been on just a few co-op terrorist hunts and everybody right now is calling out positions and thinking about their load outs. That's because when the AIs are lurking twelve feet from you behind cover, they're ready to pop you quickly.

The maps are claustrophobic and you get the feeling that there is an enemy around every corner, it's not as tight as Splinter Cell, but this is definitely and indoorsy game. Sure there is lots of outdoor action but busting down doors and hiding in cover is really part of this game because there are few wide open spaces.

2. Sprinting.
I can't tell you how annoying it has become to play R6V after playing Gears of War or Call of Duty or Frontlines. It just seems way too slow by comparison. But part of that pace was its appeal because you had to think your way around, not just run and gun. Well now you can run and guess what. You still have to think. In fact you have to think more, because the accellerated pace of this game, which was already way more deadly.

The great new aspect of gameplay makes this game really cool and it took about a dozen online 7 on 7 matches for me to see the magic. Running short distances and slamming into cover in R6V2 now approaches the excitement of doing the same in Gears of War. It's more difficult to accomplish in Rainbow, but the tactic is immediately familiar and the way that the new tight close combat maps work, this is how you can inch your way to the enemy stronghold. That's excitement. I was practically spawn killing using this technique.

3. Armor
Armor makes a much bigger difference in this game. I can remember the frustration of the old R6 when spawn killing was a problem and you could dance around and pump people full of lead and people would dance on their left joystick and not die. Now, there can still be a little bit of dancing, way more than R6V, but only when they are wearing armor. In combination with sprinting, it makes for a more dynamic part of gameplay because you can change up armor on each respawn. The less armor you wear, the longer you can sprint. Adjusting your armor for different maps adds a real dimension I really appreciate right away.

4. ACES
In Project Gotham Racing 4, the Kudos system finally reached perfection. I think that can now be said about the ranking system in R6V2. I love it. The fact that you accumulate your points in co-op whether you win or lose is very cool and the three categories of achievements are stellar. I''ve never been one to accumulate internal rankings for more than just the big guns, but these are actually fun in a non-fanboy way.

A few other things I've noticed. The interiors of some of these maps are very sweet looking. Almost to the quality of Splinter Cell. Putting the ROE on the Back button is a little bit annoying - it's one of the things I use a lot, especially when I want them to flash & clear and then engage weapons free.

Enemy AI seems improved slightly and now there are two weapons they have and you don't that are to be feared and respected. The SPAS 12 is back, and deadly as ever, but now they have the AUG Para. That bad boy is nasty.

The four biggest differences are all important.

1. Tight Maps
Everybody will tell you immediately that these maps force you to think. Open areas where you might have just dashed across in Ghost Recon or Call of Duty - don't even think about it. The enemy is deadly and they don't miss. You simply must use your tactics. I've been on just a few co-op terrorist hunts and everybody right now is calling out positions and thinking about their load outs. That's because when the AIs are lurking twelve feet from you behind cover, they're ready to pop you quickly.

The maps are claustrophobic and you get the feeling that there is an enemy around every corner, it's not as tight as Splinter Cell, but this is definitely and indoorsy game. Sure there is lots of outdoor action but busting down doors and hiding in cover is really part of this game because there are few wide open spaces.

2. Sprinting.
I can't tell you how annoying it has become to play R6V after playing Gears of War or Call of Duty or Frontlines. It just seems way too slow by comparison. But part of that pace was its appeal because you had to think your way around, not just run and gun. Well now you can run and guess what. You still have to think. In fact you have to think more, because the accellerated pace of this game, which was already way more deadly.

The great new aspect of gameplay makes this game really cool and it took about a dozen online 7 on 7 matches for me to see the magic. Running short distances and slamming into cover in R6V2 now approaches the excitement of doing the same in Gears of War. It's more difficult to accomplish in Rainbow, but the tactic is immediately familiar and the way that the new tight close combat maps work, this is how you can inch your way to the enemy stronghold. That's excitement. I was practically spawn killing using this technique.

3. Armor
Armor makes a much bigger difference in this game. I can remember the frustration of the old R6 when spawn killing was a problem and you could dance around and pump people full of lead and people would dance on their left joystick and not die. Now, there can still be a little bit of dancing, way more than R6V, but only when they are wearing armor. In combination with sprinting, it makes for a more dynamic part of gameplay because you can change up armor on each respawn. The less armor you wear, the longer you can sprint. Adjusting your armor for different maps adds a real dimension I really appreciate right away.

4. ACES
In Project Gotham Racing 4, the Kudos system finally reached perfection. I think that can now be said about the ranking system in R6V2. I love it. The fact that you accumulate your points in co-op whether you win or lose is very cool and the three categories of achievements are stellar. I''ve never been one to accumulate internal rankings for more than just the big guns, but these are actually fun in a non-fanboy way.

A few other things I've noticed. The interiors of some of these maps are very sweet looking. Almost to the quality of Splinter Cell. Putting the ROE on the Back button is a little bit annoying - it's one of the things I use a lot, especially when I want them to flash & clear and then engage weapons free.

Enemy AI seems improved slightly and now there are two weapons they have and you don't that are to be feared and respected. The SPAS 12 is back, and deadly as ever, but now they have the AUG Para. That bad boy is nasty.

Frontlines: Fuel of War

It's really funny to play the game that Nulan sees in our future, an international conflict over the last oil on earth. The peak oil crisis is the premise for the new large scale multiplayer battle sim on XBox 360. It's an excellent game. It just came out last week, but the weekend before I had been playing the free demo. It took about 30 minutes to get it, which was a bit long for me in a first person shooter. But as soon as I did, the veils were lifted from my eyes which allowed me to see that this is a landmark game for the 360.

First of all, it's got more weapons and more vehicles than Halo3. You start with one of six basic loadouts (Sniper, Rockets, Assault, Heavy Gun, Silenced Sub, Shotty) and you carry a pistol and grenades or mines or C4. Then there are four addional weapon sets you can get as you score kills or objectives in the game. They are {Ground Support, EMP Tech, Air Strikes, Drone Tech). Each of the weapon sets has three levels and you can switch your loadout and/or weapon sets during the game. You have to die or respawn yourself, but the option is always there. So that's 24 sets of stuff to begin with. But wait, there are two versions of each of those, you can use NATO style or Sino-Russian tech. After all you're either with us or with them.

I have to say that the greatest part of this game are the vehicles, and most especially the attack helo. But even the six man helo is extra cool. You can pickup five teammates and parachute them behind enemy lines to mount a surprise attack, but watch out for anit-aircraft flack and rockets that lock on. Still you have flare countermeasures and you can always bail if you're taking too much damage. The first time I realized that I could jump out of a helicopter and then pull the ripcord, I freaked out. Ultra cool. There are tanks with three kinds of guns, Stryker-like APCs, 8 wheeled AA + SAM vehicles and super quick Humvees with the 50 cal. All can be used to move your team around.

But there are also drones. You can hide behind a rock and send a UAV up and over into enemy territory. Some fire rockets, some you just get close to the bad guy and explode. There are six different types and they really add a new dimension in battle.

Airstrikes in COD4 are just weak compared to the way they are handled in Frontlines. Frontlines is, by the way, nothing but team warfare online. No capture the flag, no oddball or any of that. This is really the most realistic war gaming for multiplayer, period. Battlefield 2 comes close when it comes to big team battles, but Frontlines is far superior. You can call in three types of airstrikes. A precision JDAM, a cluster bomb attack, or an awesome 105mm gunship barrage.

The EMP weapons are also formidable. You can setup a pulse beacon that renders all vehicles and drones ineffective for a good radius, or you can launch an EMP rocket that will drop a helo or stop a tank in its tracks.

Online play with 32+ players on a battlefield is really awesome. It brings back memories of COD3, which was previously the best big team battles. COD4 is very good, but it doesn't have the frenzied action - something about the new maps just doesn't quite do it for me. I can't explain why. Still, you can get up to 50 people playing. The rounds are timed for one hour, and you just rip through it.

Maps on Frontlines are huge, and you always need to be on the lookout for UAVs. You can shoot choppers out of the sky, but you cannot survive helo attacks. You had better see him first and hope he doesn't evade your missile.

There are certain things about Frontlines that I find more realistic. Close explosions don't always kill you. I think the idea that you're going to throw a grenade back to the enemy preposterous. There's none of that in Frontlines. Airstrikes are time delayed and targeting is non-trivial. So you can effect some friendly fire, or just miss the enemy altogether. Sniper fire does not work well unless you pop the head. It feels like a more realistic version of sniper fire. Tanks feel very safe. All that small arms fire that's deadly becomes a mere annoyance when you've got armor.

The single player game in FFOW is unremarkable save two or three unique elements. I find the tank battles to be fairly tedious and just a real pain. The AI for driving is very weak, unlike in Halo where you can just jump in the backseat and let your driver take you to the right place. However, there are multiple nukes and one or two defending battles that are well worth it. Controls are very good although close combat is klugey. The long distance combat is unbeatable.

Right now an underused option is the squad based system. You can command a squad and set objectives and communicate, but everybody is a noob now and few people are using that option, even helo pilots don't communicate with the people in their aircraft. I suspect that's different in the ranked games and will become more prevalent as time goes on, but for now most people are just mostly mewling that they've been jacked.

I suspect that this is the big competition to Endwar. For massive online battles, it is the new benchmark. The only reason Halo is better is because more people play it and are used to it, but these maps, weapons, vehicles and tech give new dimensions to battle that every new game is going to have to try to match.