We just spent the last hour playing the Rainbow Six: Vegas multiplayer demo, and so far it's pretty damned good. First of all, the character creation and outfitting is surprisingly robust for a demo. There are plenty of faces available -- sorry, no Vision support in the demo -- lots of facial hair options, as well as a few different camouflage options. The amount of weapons and armor is very impressive for a demo. There are multiple types of rifles, machine guns, pistols, grenades, and plenty of armor and clothing choices for the whole body. What's more, there are even some gadgets and custom weapon attachments, too. Finally, the game lets you add a three character prefix to your Gamertag. This is great for those who haven't appended Clan prefixes to their tags (or those who don't want to). Unfortunately, none of these options are saved when you quit the demo, so you may not want to get too attached to your avatar.
Of course, all of these options don't mean much without some gameplay to back them up. Lucky for 360 owners, Vegas has that in spades (spades, get it? Little Las Vegas humor there). It takes some getting used to, especially if you've been playing Gears. There are times when you'll hit the wrong button for cover, or want to dive out of the way. Once you learn the controls, however, Vegas becomes a blast to play. Cover, short bursts, and quick kills are the order of the day.
We sampled the Attack & Defend gametype, which has one team infiltrating a casino to retrieve some top secret data, while the other team (surprise!) defends it. What really makes it interesting is how many options are available for each team. As defenders, do you stay in the basement and try to funnel your enemy, or venture upstairs into the casino and take out your enemies as they come in? For attackers, there are multiple ways of breaching the casino. The fastest is to jump through the skylight on the roof, but it's also the most visible. Elevator shafts, on the other hand, are more silent and provide more cover (assuming no one tosses a grenade into the elevator). If that doesn't do it for you, there are two sides of the building that allow you to rappel and break in through a window. This is the longest route to the objective, but also one of the safest.
Though there is an overall objective, our game was set to no respawns, so wiping out either team would win the match. As such, most of our games wound up as impromptu deathmatches. The tactical, cover based gameplay works well, and you die much faster than you do in Gears. As in Gears, a smart team will work in pairs, allowing them to flank or overpower lone soldiers.
Sure, it's fun to shoot people, but half the fun of Vegas is planning your assault (or defense) when the match starts. Teammates will call out their entrance points, note any hostiles they may have seen on the way in, and hopefully warn the rest of the team in time. Working with a good team is a really great experience and we suggest you give it a try. Go download the demo and tell us what you think.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-17-2006 @ 12:49PM
fretster said...
...Cleveland Steamer?
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11-17-2006 @ 1:13PM
Gunner43 said...
Man, I am telling you, this demo is disappointing. I was all up and ready to buy this game until this demo. I think this might really hurts sales. Where is the next-gen grapheics? Anyone? Who here agrees?
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11-17-2006 @ 1:28PM
The Hedon said...
I don't agree with # 2 at all. This must be the best MP version of RB6 to date. VERY impressive. Everyone I played has loved it.
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11-17-2006 @ 1:38PM
adam said...
I have not yet had a chance to download the demo as I am sitting at work still. However, I want to make a comment on the #2 observation.
#1. How can you make such a comment and expect it to be taken seriously? The majority of us have played the single-player demo of RB6 and already know what the graphics look like and how the game play is.
#2. Stop making stupid anti-xbox360 comments. Almost on every single editorial I can gurantee that the second or third post will be, "this demo/game crashed my xbox360 so I cant play it" or "this is going to kill sales/revenues" or anything to do with trying to incite a fanboy flame war.
#3. Last time I checked there is a PS3 Fanboy site. I am sure they have plenty of articles over there. Just a few clicks away. I know you can do it. Now GO!
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11-17-2006 @ 1:39PM
BigD said...
I enjoyed the gamplay but visually the MP is lacking IMO. Gears is so polished and this game looks closer to the original xbox version
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11-17-2006 @ 1:41PM
jayman16 said...
@ Adam: Ha Ha! I was thinking the same thing! The RB6 single player demo is amazing! Obviously graphics get downgraded during multiplayer, but not THAT downgraded. Downloading demo now. And hey Superman didn't totally suck...Wow.
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11-17-2006 @ 1:48PM
ElGuapo82 said...
@Gunner43
STOP trolling this is your second comment on two Vegas posts. No one agrees with you so just shut up about it. This game is not comparable to Gears. It is a different genre and a great demo on its own merits. Just because you chose to buy Gears and now you can't afford Vegas doesn't make it a bad game.
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11-17-2006 @ 1:57PM
joe said...
yea you toliet bug what he said..
i dont think he has said anything intelligent in any post. he's one of those retards that just doesnt get it. base your comments in facts not just your opinion.
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11-17-2006 @ 2:55PM
tacklebox said...
I thought the demo was good. I wasnt sure on buying it with all the great games coming out for 360 and only having 1 full time job. But R6 has moved way up on my list.
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11-17-2006 @ 3:08PM
fretster said...
How about Resistence:FOM, that game looks like ass. Sure it has good frame rates, but that's easy to do when you have nothing worth looking at on-screen.
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11-17-2006 @ 5:11PM
Anthony D said...
IGN gave R6V a 9.3!! I usually trust there in depth reviews. Yes the single player game will be visually better the MP. What the F do you expect?? Not every game can be like GOW graphically MP wise. PLUS IT'S BASED IN VEGAS!!! A FORTUNE WON AND LOST ON EVERY DRAW........VIVA LAS..........
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11-17-2006 @ 6:04PM
BigD said...
Turned on GRAW just to compare and I'm still disapointed in the graphics.
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11-17-2006 @ 7:33PM
GhostDoggy said...
I guess teamplay is the only form of multiplayer. Nothing mentioned about cooperative play against the AI. I suppose that after Rainblow Sex Lockup they gave up on the human vs AI thing.
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11-17-2006 @ 8:10PM
JoelW said...
I've been all over the map whether to buy this or not. I was first very excited when I saw the videos and read the reviews based on the beta versions.
Then I played the single-player demo. Hated it. I couldn't stand the controls (GRAW spoiled me rotten) and the graphics were a bit disappointing as well. After forcing myself to play the demo a couple of times, I decided not to buy it.
Then I played the multi-player demo. I'm not certain that I'm going to buy R6V, but I'm leaning in that direction right now. I really enjoyed the online matches I played earlier tonight. I like how the maps feel large, but confined that lend itself to team work to take an an enemy.
I'll probably rent the game and take it for a spin before deciding to buy it or not.
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11-17-2006 @ 10:39PM
Mikeawesome said...
In this demo state graphics ARE a bit sub-par, and you can assume this is what it'll look similar to when you buy it. However, take into account that this baby is doing 8v8 matches, with all kinds of particle effects and such and at the same exact time doing it's damnedest to not make players lag from the graphics. I'm actually fairly impressed, mostly because the gameplay is just, well, THERE. ripe for the taking, the gameplay is just amazing. I've been a Rainbow fan since the first and I stopped with Black Arrow because I didn't get to play Live for, like, a year.
However, this game's multiplayer reminds me of the first, and it feels great. I'm so glad I jumped on the Amazon Deal so I'll be getting it for $39.99 only A WEEK LATER. $20 off to give me a week to play Gear and finish Tony Hawks Project 8? Fine by me.
Only problem, I'm getting it right around the time I should be studying for Finals, hahaha. D:
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11-18-2006 @ 9:16PM
smutscut said...
i know every1 says the graphics will drop 4 the mp but graws quality of visuals didnt much this demo in my opinion is a little lacking in team based feel maybe the people ive played with!! i loved graw hoping this would be better cause i love fps game but im still undecided in buying it i still hold a little hope
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12-02-2006 @ 12:36AM
ray said...
does the headset work with this game?
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12-02-2006 @ 2:11AM
ray said...
well the demo more specifically
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12-09-2006 @ 3:18PM
Devin said...
I played the single-player demo, kicked ass. But I have got to say, in the multiplayer demo, the graphics were much worse. In fact, I feel it was about counterstrike graphics on the Xbox 1. I mean really, the graphics were really really bad. I was going to buy it but after playing the multiplayer demo I just don't know.
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