Ideally today’s comic would have come before (or even after) Monday’s strip. I feel like I’m jumping around a bit this week, but until it was out I couldn’t be sure Rainbow Six Vegas 2 would do these tie-hooks the same way as RSV1.

They do.

It’s probably a bit of an inside joke, I’ve just always found it amusing, these conveniently placed hooks on railing and windowsills that you can rappel from. I mean, I completely get it from a gameplay standpoint, you need to easily and visually identify the points where a player can rope down from. That’s fine. And in industrial environments, the hooks don’t stand out quite as much. But it’s a little funny when you’re infiltrating a library, or some guy’s house, and all the railings have these hooks every five feet like they were expecting us.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is basically RSV1 with some polish. It’s the same game. That’s not entirely a bad thing, as RSV1 was a great game. Better to stay the same than get worse, I suppose. But you’d think with nearly a year and a half between games, they could have done some other stuff. Like… work on the awful, awful AI.

AI isn’t so much of a problem for me, because I haven’t touched single player. But I know it’s there.

And I know, I know, the campaign is probably great fun. I want to play it someday. But the problem with RSV is that as soon as versus gets its hooks in me, I can’t tear away.

I applaud the fact that co-op gets the full campaign treatment this time around, but I’m not so much a fan of the application. Basically, the host has to control the two AI teammates, and the other player just sort of… tags along. Not really a part of the group, just there, doin’ his own thing. I think it would have been a better idea to give each player one AI buddy, but that’s just me.

I do like the A.C.E.S. progression system though. And the run button, I already mentioned that. It’s unfortunate that there are loopholes in campaign that allow you to farm ranks, but it’s par for the course I suppose.

Maps are a mixed bag in my opinion. I like most of them, and some of them are pretty big. I loathe the Theater map though.

Still… as hooked as I am on RSV versus… I have to question how long it will last. It’s great, but there’s also this feeling of “Oh right, this again”, that leads me to glance over at Condemned 2. It doesn’t have a fun and addicting rank system, but the multiplayer experience is a bit more unique in comparison.