I was a little harsh in my
review of the original Vegas. I was expecting
something really, really good, based on the
popularity and reviews it got. It left me a
little disappointed, so I ripped into it. Still,
after playing all the other shooters of 2006
it was one of the better ones. So for Vegas
2 I was going to make sure I wasn't too critical
of it if it was still a fairly decent game.
Unfortunately, it's a big let down and proves
once again that the critics have sold their
soul to the devil aka Ubisoft's marketing department.
While Vegas was quite memorable
for all it's sparkly, dazzling indoors casino's
with great detail, Vegas 2 loses that charm
and turns into a boring display of typical,
flat urban locations. Generic plain buildings,
car parking areas, factories and warehouses,
the kind of urban settings that have been done
to death since Soldier Of Fortune. And done
much better in other games. There's seven acts
to the game, each featuring roughly four levels
and only a single act features the swish casino's
that were so common in Vegas. Vegas 2 got plain,
very plain. However, it looks better as the
game rolls on, which it needs to because the
start of the first level I found myself thinking
this is what a level should look like before
all the fancy detailing is added in. It was
ugly, nothing more.
While Ubisoft attempted to
do some nice sprawling views of the city, they
look hideously under-detailed. In one such scene
the cars look like little cardboard cutouts
in the distance. Even Turning Point: Fall Of
Liberty puts the urban city scenery of Vegas
2 to shame. It's on the same engine, so Ubisoft
have no excuse.
The bottom line is that this
isn't one of the better looking Unreal Engine
3 games. Hell's Highway looks years ahead of
Vegas 2. And while the levels start to look
a little better as you play through Vegas 2,
there's no wow factor. Not a single thing to
make you go "wow".
I guess Vegas 2 is all about
it's gameplay. But sadly, it's done absolutely
nothing to advance Vegas. The gameplay is identical
apart from a sprint ability that makes you feel
like you're drunk. The combat is still fun though;
as it was in Vegas. The strategy is still the
same with your team mates opening doors and
charging in while you attack from another door.
Re-spawning enemies are far too common though
with them just appearing out of thin air right
in front of me. Or thinking I had a room cleared
out only for more to suddenly appear from nowhere.
I played on easy difficulty, but easy still
isn't that easy. Console players must have to
replay checkpoints a LOT. My main strategy was
just ordering team mates to stay ahead of me
as decoys so they can shake out the enemies
and I'll pick them off. Fairly good fun.
Only the sixth act was a nightmare
as you play alone and it only takes a few shots
before you're dead. You end up having to play
very slowly using cover constantly and patiently
picking enemies off. It's not particularly fun
when checkpoints are spread too far out, as
in some tight fight - it's marginal in Vegas
2. A lot of the time it's a pot shot from someone
you never saw that catches you out. The amount
of times I'd be getting shot at by enemies around
a corner and I'm not even close to getting them
into eye sight, yet they can clearly shoot me,
is very frustrating.
There's plenty of ammo and
your team mates can be revived. It would have
been better if they could revive you as well.
There's not much of a storyline
in Vegas 2. You're chasing after someone, whom
in the final cutscene I realised his name is
Gabe and must have been on your side in Vegas.
Very poor story and poorly told because I had
no idea what was going on through most of the
game. Not helped by the characters voices all
being muffled and barely audible while in the
same helicopter ride between every single act.
I'm not sure if that's a bug in the game or
my speakers.
Overall Vegas 2 is just an
okay game. The combat is fun most of the time,
though it can be challenging. This is a game
that doesn't test your speed like Painkiller
or Serious Sam, it tests your patience. The
design, however, looks pretty average. Halfway
through the game I remember thinking this is
very similar in design quality to Soldier of
Fortune: Payback. And that's not a good thing.
It's certainly not as good looking as Vegas,
released two years prior.
