The first Rainbow Six to appear on a next-generation platform was a nearly perfect single player experience, but let’s face it… You play the single player once, maybe twice (or 5 times, if you are User X), and then it is really up to the multiplayer features of a game to give it any kind of longevity. If the multiplayer is good, the game can last a few months past the single player expiration date. If the multiplayer is great or excellent, the replayability can last years and years and years. Nods to Counter-Strike on the PC, and of course the venerable Halo series as prime examples of the latter category.

Luckily, Ubisoft pretty much knocked this one out of the park and hit a home run with multiplayer on Rainbow Six: Vegas, especially for what is essentially a first generation Xbox 360 title. Now it wasn’t all roses, there are many many many problems with multiplayer in the original Rainbow Six: Vegas, but for the most part, it was and still is one of the best multiplayer games on the Xbox 360. I don’t need to go into what was so great about it… most people know, and if you don’t, you’re an idiot. But there are some things that needed fixing, and since it has been nearly 2 years since the original came out, they’ve had enough time to do it, so here is a wishlist of what we at TrustyGamer expect:

1)      Multiplayer better have the same graphical quality as the single player experience.

Imagine playing through a great single player game, with fancy levels, lighting, textures, all beautiful and immersive… then you fire up the multiplayer, expecting to get this level of beauty, plus your own face on your character (which in my case would make it way more beautiful than the single player), only to realize that the graphics for the multiplayer are basically the same quality of James Bond on the N64. WTF was Ubisoft thinking on this one? Many of you are saying, “NOOOooo, it’s not that bad, you ass!” You only say that because you haven’t played the single player in a while. Seriously. Go back and play a couple levels of single player… spend 10 minutes in there… and then come back and play multiplayer. If it doesn’t taste like cardboard vs. filet mignon to your eyes, I’d call you a liar.

2)      Fix the multiplayer bugs

Ubisoft did a good job with the first Rainbow Six: Vegas. There really weren’t that many bugs and hiccups. But the few that were (and still are) there are pretty annoying. No more glitching please. Nothing sucks worse than the one ass that gets up on the fence and starts picking people off from places the other team never expects. It’s just not fair, and leads to a lot of horsing around and team killing. Not to say that I haven’t  glitched from time to time… of course I have! It’s kind of interesting to see where you can walk, etc, but this does nothing but upset the gaming experience for everybody, so fix it. Thanks. Also, please fix those retarded places where you can take cover, but somehow shoot through the wall at the other team without them being able to even see you, let alone kill you. That blows.

Next in this category is the lag. Unless the host has an internet connection that can choke a hippo, there is no way you are playing with 14 people. Anything less than 1 meg up, and things can get a little laggy, especially of one guy has the venerable red dot, signifying a less-than-ideal internet connection. I prefer smooth motion and responsive controls to feeling like I’m in an episode of Max Headroom.

3)      Co-op should be the SAME game experience as single player!

When playing the single player missions on Rainbow Six: Vegas, you are treated to a great story, and nice voice-overs to describe what is happening. It actually explains where you are going, why, and what you have to do when you get there. Now try playing the story mode co-op with your friends, and for some retarded reason, all of the story elements are cut out. No story. No mission briefing. Nothing. It’s just you and your buddies sitting on a helicopter, staring at each others’ faces.    WTF?? Why should I suffer a complete lack of story just because I want to have the single player experience with my friends? Isn’t that the whole point of co-op? RETARDED. For the next version of Vegas, MAKE CO-OP HAVE THE SAME STORY ELEMENTS AND DIALOGUES AS THE SINGLE PLAYER. Gears of War got it right. Halo got it right. Ubisoft fumbled at the goal line.

But alas, these issues are minor compared to this last category:

4)      HEY UBISOFT, SEE THAT LEFT BUMPER BUTTON? THE ONE YOU DECIDED WAS USELESS FOR MULTIPLAYER? YAH, THAT ONE. INSTEAD OF DOING NOTHING, MAKE IT CHANGE YOUR GRENADE TYPE. THANKS, ASSES. (plus other worthy enhancements).

How many f’ing times have you come around the corner, right into the faces of 3 punks from the other team, and in a last ditch effort to prolong your life, you hit the grenade button, only to have NOTHING happen, and this retarded message pops up: GRENADES EMPTY. Thanks!!!!   Grenades EMPTY? What does that even mean???   And why did this happen in the first place? Because like an idiot, you already used your two primary grenades, and you didn’t spend the 10 seconds necessary to switch your grenade types to your secondary ones. That’s right, it’s your fault! No quick flashbang for you! No C4 either! Sure Ubisoft could have had it auto-switch when the initially selected grenades ran out… or just mapped the left bumper to this arduous task to make our lives easier… but no. Of course they didn’t.

F’ING LAME. You actually have to stop running so you can hit all the necessary buttons to pull up the necessary menus, to switch which grenades you have “armed.” How retarded is that? How many times have you been shot in the face or back of the head while being stopped like a sitting duck with your stupid grenade select menu up? DUMB. 5 minutes of decent QA on the multiplayer would have caught that. Don’t tell me it’s a “design decision” either, because it’s a stupid one. I understand having menu-select systems for things that (in real life) should take longer, such as putting a silencer on. Bravo! But having to pull up a menu to select your grenade type? STUPID. Especially when you see them just hanging there right next to where your primary grenades were, as you stare at your dead and lifeless body. Halo got this right ages ago, nobody should get it wrong, but Ubisoft did. 

And for all you idiots reading this thinking, “Only asses play with grenades on! I only play with NO NADES and NO FRIENDLY FIRE.” Get the F out of here you douche bag!!!! If you play with nades, AND turn friendly fire ON, it makes it a way better game experience, and guess what, it makes you a better player too. Why? Because there is actually some gravity or weight, if you will, to how you play the game. You can no longer play run and gun or spray and pray, aimlessly blasting the room you are in, because you might wind up killing half of your own teammates. Yes, you actually have to play the game as it was designed to be played… as a TACTICAL SHOOTER, with potential inadvertent consequences when you squeeze the trigger. Thanks.

Now… other than this missing piece of major functionality, there isn’t much else to complain about, but these next couple things are nothing to scoff at. First, Halo 3 is the model of how multiplayer should work. You and your group of buddies should be able to travel from server to server, playing together on the same team, with no hassle, only being broken up when absolutely necessary. There is no reason this should be difficult, and why it has taken so long for a game to get this right is an abomination of the gods. Pre-patch Call of Duty 4 also got it right (well almost, when the host closes the room, everybody gets dropped… LAME), so Ubisoft better follow suit. It sucks when the map changes, and everybody has to see a retarded loading screen, only to be dropped into the room again with all of the teams scrambled up. “Hey, LameAss420, can you go down so I can play with my mates?”   Oh CRAP, never mind the ROOM IS FULL, nobody can move! Thanks Ubisoft! Fix it!

Another thing to fix: it would be nice if there was more than one good level for Attack and Defend. This is a great game mode, but the only level it really works on is the Calypso Casino. Why? The bomb arming ones are retarded, and too easy to win if you are the attackers. And the hostage rescue? Are you kidding me? Most people don’t’ even know this part of the game exists because it is so retarded. I enjoyed it in previous RB6 games on the PC, but somehow Vegas screwed it up. There should be a retrieve-the-brief-case version for every Attack and Defend level. Also, it would be nice if the defenders could reset the brief case if they defend it for X amounts of minutes. That way it isn’t just a constant score-fest for the attacking team once they pwn the defenders and leave the package 3 inches from the drop zone. Give the defenders something to live for as they die over and over again trying to get to helicopter pad!

In conclusion, I don’t think that this list is too much to ask for. Ubisoft already has a solid game and platform with which to work, and they did do a damn fine job of making the best multiplayer game to grace the system for a long time before any other FPS contenders showed up, so they deserve much praise. But now that we have perfect models for how Xbox Live games should work, let’s hope they follow suit and turn this game into a legend.