Rainbow Six Las Vegas PS3 Review

After months of promising screenshots, tantalizing movies and much hype, Rainbow Six: Las Vegas has finally arrived on PS3. I remember the good old days of Rainbow Six on PC, the original. What makes this game unique is its realism. The original had to be one of my first experiences of one-shot kills in a first person shooter. Tactics and teamwork are champion.

Lets take a look at the PS3 incarnation on a few levels.

Graphics

Hmmm… you know that feeling when you are watching a clip-scene, and then you have a sudden realisation this is IN-GAME graphics and they totally kickass, and within moments i’m going to be running around in this high-res city. That was my first impression of Rainbow Six.

Level design is thorough, challenging, and ideally suited for heavily armed special forces operatives roaming in unison for some scum to pump full of lead. It is hard to characterise the graphics - they are indeed quite nice to look at, but at the same time, I can’t help but think, why do they have to have this crazy filter over everything, that to me seems to make everything look a bit fuzzy, a bit dreamy.

Things blow up, glass breaks, grenade effects are nice, character design is solid.

Gameplay

This is where it gets fun. I can hardly hope to express my glee at for the first time, hopping over a wall and descending down a rope, with the option of going conventional or ultra-cool upside down style, all the while being able to shoot any mofo with my pistol. Single player, it has to be said is good. I’m only a few hours into the single player campaign, and boy it is challenging. But commanding your AI teammates around is a true joy.

Option 1: Order them to follow you around and go gung-ho around corners, with a very real possibility of death, and that inevitable frustration at losing 10 minutes of your life as your get ported back to your last checkpoint.

Option 2: Find yourself the nicest vantage point, select a sniper rifle with optional 6x or 12x zoom scope, and feel like a general as you command your team to move to any location within sight.

A particular highlight is ordering your players to a door, and then having the option of how they enter the room. Sometimes, a bit of the old flash-bang grenade is called for, while other times you might want to send them round the back while you prepare for a frontal assault.

Walls and virtually any other object on the map that might substitute as cover come to great use in Rainbow Six. Just hitting the L1 button will have you hunched against the object. A bit of analogue maneuvering allows one to sneak up to a corner, with a generous proportion of the out-of-site scenery suddenly revealed. With a bit of practice, you’ll look like a real pro, lining up ze enemy before even becoming visible, waiting for the perfect moment (like when the ze enemy reloads) and bang!

Multiplayer

Multiplayer in Rainbow Six is comprehensive. There is no hiding the fact that the game makers know how to give this title longevity on the PS3, by stuffing multiplayer mode with many delights. The character customisation is good with a decent amount of skins and body armour to select from. Within minutes I stylised myself with a handlebar moustache, a nasty gash above my right eye, some badass full-suite body armour, and a big, mean, machine gun. And with eye protection in mind, who could forget a pair of aviator sunglasses?

Whats more, there are weapons and kit items to unlock, making it all the more enticing to progress through the ranks.

The Bad

I can’t help myself. I have to make some comparisons. And going off what I know, I have to compare Rainbow Six to Resistance. Given the fact that Resistance was a launch title here in Australia, and Rainbow Six has had many months to polish their act, I find some annoying annoyances with Vegas.

• Load times are excessive - nothing more frustrating than booting up for a quick game, only to spend a few minutes loading up the multiplayer console, being forced into a random multiplayer game (no facility to select a game that i’ve seen) wait patiently for the in-progress game to finish… and then the game host quits and your back to square one!
• The graphics are just a shade fuzzy, like i’m getting a bit of eye strain and I know its not from a lack of hardware (just look at resistance and the smooth chaos that occurs)
• Overall I think the game lacks just a touch of class, as though there was some rush in its preparation… or something. Undoubtedly we will see a game patch sometime in the future that hopefully addresses all of the above.

Conclusion

Ok so i’ve unloaded the good and the bad about Rainbow Six: Las Vegas on PS3. My review is about 75% positive so I think thats a good indicator of my satisfaction level. To be fair I haven’t even seen much of this game, such is the nature (hopefully) of owning a game for less than 48 hours. I have no doubt that there are many surprises, many joys and few disappointments awaiting as I dig deeper into Rainbow Six.

MySQL Reserved Words

The database language MySQL has a number of reserved words that should not be used in queries or for field names. Some of the big ones are:

• Add
• All
• Between
• Both
• Check
• Current_Date
• Drop
• For
• From
• Group
• INT
• Key
• Load
• Lock
• Null
• On
• Out
• Real
• Repeat
• Table
• Use
• Write

And so it goes. I came across the official list when I couldn't work out why this query wouldn't work:

The reason? Both "to" and "read" are reserved words and the query failed. See the full list here:

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/reserved-words.html

Playstation 3: First Impressions

The long wait was finally over 3 months ago, and I was the proud new own of a Sony Playstation 3. Blissfully gaming away, its hard to believe the long struggle in attaining a PS3 in Australia. Unlike countries on the NTSC video standard, the release of the Playstation was delayed until March 23rd, 2007 for all countries on the PAL standard. Agonising as the delays were, it was worth it!Like any kid with a new toy, I marvelled at the ease in which I was able to connect to my wireless broadband connection using the in-built wireless network card, and get straight into the online store. Awaiting me was several demos, a bunch of hi-def trailers, and the full version of Tekken 5 Dark Resistance for $15 or so dollars.

Not to mention, I was comfortably lounged on the couch, with the freedom of movement that only a wireless dual analogue controller can provide.

So wireless freedom aside, here is a short highlight list, which may encourage you to join the next generation of consoles, if you haven't already!

Games 

If some of the downloadable trailers are anything to go by, the array of games being released in the next 6-12 months looks very, very promising. Their is the impending release of Rainbow 6: Las Vegas, Collin McCrae DIRT, and of course the big one, Grand Theft Auto 4. Add to this to the current lineup which include highlights such as Resistance, FEAR (although the controls in this game suck) and Motorstorm and you'll be wishing someone would subsidize the time you spend on your PS3!

Don't forget, a blockbuster game on a console is now equivalent to a PC game, in that game patching and new content are common occurrence. That means new levels, new challenges, bug fixes, all that good stuff - anyone who's ever played Battlefield 2 on PC will know exactly what a good game patch can add to a game (Jalalabad anyone?)

Resistance: Fall Of Man

My initial game purchase was Resistance, and its certainly a great insight into next-gen gaming. The graphics are smooth and highly detailed, with great level design and plenty of nifty things to shoot at. Most will notice the physics right away, as objects interact with each other in a very realistic manner. Have a read of my Resistance: Fall of Man Review here

Online Content

Owning only one game for the first 3 months is not bad as soon as one sees the delights of the playstation store. Accessed from the Playstation OS, the store contains a mix of free demos, free and paid full games, free and paid game items, and free videos (mostly game and movie trailers).

Within 8 hours I had downloaded absolutely everything I could, and between the demos, trailers and the local video shop, its still hard to get bored with the PS3. It's all very easy to just plug in the credit card details and download the paid stuff.

Controllers

The dual analogue controller has grown up, and has some nice revisions from the previous Playstation 1 and Playstation 2 versions. For starts, the shock vibration system is gone. Bummer, yeah, but it doesn't take too long to appreciate the newfound lightness of the controller. There is a PS button in the middle between SELECT and START that lets you do important things like:

• Turn the Playstation off
• Turn the controller off (good when the batteries and you have to switch controllers)
• Reassign the controller
• Quit a game

The motion sensor is pretty cool, although I haven't had much opportunity to use it except as a virtual steering wheel in the frantic Motorstorm.  I'm guessing that there will be some really good usage coming into the next crop of games - in fact I hear that in Rainbow 6 it can be used to steer a mini camera through air vents!

The L2 and R2 triggers are more Xbox like, allowing for more accuracy when pressure is important, such as when used as accelerate/brake. There are also lights on top to indicate what number the controller is (eg. 1, 2, 3 or 4) as well do a bit of flashing here and there when something important is happening.

Obviously the cost of wireless controllers is that the they need charging up. But you'll be relieved to know that the battery life is both very long, and if you have a spare controller its easy to switch. On top of that, you can always plug in the USB cable and charge it up anytime even while gaming.

Summary

When news broke of the PS3's delayed release in Australia, I seriously considered buying an Xbox 360. I don't want to start an Xbox 360 vs PS3 war (not in this post at least ) but I think we all know which console is superior on virtually any level. The Playstation 3 is THE console to own for at least the next 5 years. So what are you waiting for?

Resistance: Fall of Man Review

Resistance: Fall Of Man

My initial game purchase was Resistance, and its certainly a great insight into next-gen gaming. The graphics are smooth and highly detailed, with great level design and plenty of nifty things to shoot at. Most will notice the physics right away, as objects interact with each other in a very realistic manner. Possibly the best example is shooting at the round cylinders littering the alien levels, where you can shoot at one explosive, and then watch as it explodes and sets off a chain reaction of explosions, sometimes to great effect against the enemy.

Speaking of enemies, the AI holds it own, not revolutionary but certainly good quality. Enemies will sometimes decide they are facing imminent death, and will retreat to find some support. Likewise when they are in numbers, they ain't backing down!

After completing the single player mode with a mate in co-op mode I was satisfied on the most part with the single player campaign. But a good single player mode doesn't cut it in this new age of internet capable consoles.

The multiplayer in Resistance has slowly grown on me, and it is now my sole purpose for booting up the game.  The community is steadily growing in size, and you don't have to look hard to find some very worthy foes. Of course, you have to start somewhere, and in most games there will probably be a "first timer" who invariably turns into cannon fodder.  The multiplayer modes are quite diverse, ranging from shotgun carnage in a tightly enclosed bus yard, to massive levels where strategy is king. The popular multiplayer modes include all the favourites, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag, as well as a few other less popular, but all the same fun, modes.