2 in 1: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 + Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 (Xbox 360)

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas

Like its predecessor Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Lockdown, Vegas is a more action-driven tactical shooter. You play as Logan Keller who is the leader of a Rainbow Six squad. Controlling two team-members, you have to take on terrorists who attempt to get the city of Las Vegas under their control.

The missions are all connected with one another through the storyline. You always have different goals like rescuing a hostage or disarming a bomb. To do so, you have access to different kinds of weapons from pistols to Assault Rifles and Gadgets like C4 or Tear Gas. You order your men around by aiming at something and then choosing from a list of options called “Rules of Engagement”, available in a circle menu much like in Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. They will then do they best to fulfill your order without risking their own lives by taking cover as often as possible.

Instead of a health indicator and medi-packs scattered around the map, your vision blurs when you get a hit. If you take too many, you die but if you take cover and wait a while, you recover and can once again take on the terrorists.

Compared to earlier versions, there are fewer enemies, but they are harder to kill due to the improved AI. The mission planning has been removed, for the first time weapons can be picked up from dead enemies, and the aiming system has been altered. The story is no longer told to cutscenes as the plot now advances through scenes during gameplay.

If you have saved Las Vegas or are tired of the AI, you can engage in the multiplayer-modes available for up to 15 other players like Assault & Defend, in which one team needs to take over an objective, defended by the other team, or just plain Deathmatch in the Sharpshooter mode. You can also play through the singleplayer story with friends or go on a hunt for terrorists on random generated maps.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2

Not even a day has fully passed since you rescued the US president from Mexican soil and you and the rest of your Ghost team are on the way home. Then the General phones in and gives you your next mission: a group of terrorists deposited two dirty bombs (normal blasting compositions combined with radioactive material) near the city of Juarez. Your goal as Captain Mitchell is to once again save the day with your three team mates.

Like in its predecessor Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter you see Captain Mitchell from behind while you command your team mates directly over the Cross-Com to fulfil your objectives like blowing up a bunch of anti-air-vehicles and then raiding a rebel outpost. To do so you have the normal Ghost team weaponry like the MR-C to your disposal which you can equip you and your team with before and at some points even during the missions. You also have access to a tactical map which allows you to see an aerial view of the current level.

The four multiplayer modes from the previous game are back: Co-op Campaign, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Hamburger Hill in which a team needs to hold a central zone of the map for a certain amount of time.

The PC version of the game was independently developed from the Xbox 360 version and is, besides the storyline, almost completely different and much more tactic-oriented. The 360 version is played from a third-person perspective and has a fewer multiplayer maps (and game modes). With the more action-based approach, there are no individual orders and a limited amount of team order (4 compared to 8 in the PC version). Players also cannot pick up enemy weapon or use stationary turrets. The game’s planning phase is entirely linear, while in the PC version players can plan dynamic insertion points. There are less classes and the tactical map is limited, using wire-frame instead of a full 3D map.

Compared to the 360 version, the PS3 game supports the SIXAXIS control, and adds extra multiplayer maps, 8 new weapons in quick mission mode, and two new co-operative multiplayer modes.