Played on my PSP and beat on Recruit (easy) then Elite (hard). I wanted to run simultaneous campaigns on each difficulty like I did in the previous game, but it only had a single save file. Stupid. Otherwise this game was a vast improvement. There was full keybinding so I could set the controls how I wanted; square to shoot, X to run, O to interact, triangle for zoom, right stick to change weapon, left stick to reload, select + up and down on D pad to look vertically, L and R to strafe, select + right on D pad for nightvision. Dealing with verticality was still awkward but auto aim helped immensely. There was a huge selection of weapons, armor and accessories. Too much really. I hated how armor was set for the entire squad, so I could not have a light stealth guy with heavy assaults. Instead everyone had to use either light or heavy depending on how important stealth was for the mission. I found heavy to still be plenty stealthy while slowing movement, but my guys still died in 1 hit on Elite regardless of armor, so might as well wear light. I experimented a bit more on my first playthrough, using a mix of assault, recon, and demolition guys. Eventually I settled on the best setup being 2 teams of 2 assault guys, and used that for the majority of my Elite playthrough. The reason for this was the AI guy following me could sometimes kill enemies, especially ones at too long a range for auto aim to work. Though I had to be careful not to shoot him while strafing or backing up, and he occasionally glitched out making both characters stuck until I switched to the other team and had them change room using plan. My weapon was 9mm suppressed smg, 9mm suppressed pistol, heartbeat sensor, and flashbangs. Occasionally I went with loud rifles and the enemies did not seem to notice the difference. Only grenades seemed to make enough noise to change enemy behavior; I usually gave them to the other team and they were occasionally useful. Lockpicks and demolition kits were entirely useless.
I tried to use the planning system but I did not like it at all. Instead I played it like the previous game by manually controlling everyone. There were only 3 or 4 times where I actually bothered to set up something for the other team to do, and even then it was not necessary, and I set it up after starting the mission. I can imagine all the elaborate maneuvers that could be accomplished with the plan system, especially if it allowed planned use of flashbangs and grenades, but the reality was this game was not difficult enough to require it. I used the plan mode more as a map of the level. I used the heartbeat sensor to pin point enemies and take them out. The most important thing was using flashbangs on hostages to prevent them from getting killed, and knowing the best way to approach. Otherwise it was surprising enemies whenever possible, shooting them in the back, or using flash or frag for guaranteed easy kill. Sometimes enemies clipped into the walls which made them more difficult to hit, especially when they were flashed. Eventually I discovered how overpowered thermal vision was as it showed enemies through walls at considerable distance. Nightvision was useless though as no level was dark enough. I still got game over or restarted due to a death plenty often on easy; the enemies were not messing around in this game. It was much harder than Easy in the previous game. Elite mode added more enemies and gave them faster reactions and crack accuracy, so it was critical to always attack from advantage. I hated the stealth missions but they were not retarded like the one in the previous game. Rather it was about using thermal vision to evade guards. I used a level skip cheat for the last stealth mission on Elite because it was made significantly more difficult. I do not want content where I can't shoot stuff in my FPS. The most difficult level was early on with the nerve gas bomb in a water plant. On Elite I had to take a sniper to take out 2 guys near the door to the hostage building, and 2 guys inside there on catwalks, both because the auto aim on the smgs would not lock on from a safe range. Then the hostages were in an awkward position and had to be approached from the right. Another difficult mission was the base with hostages in a courtyard. On Recruit I took a lone demo guy to blow the generator, but on Elite the guy following me shot at the hostage guards while I was trying to set the bomb, thus getting the hostages killed. I never did figure out how to micromanage the teams, like tell the other guy to hold fire, wait, or switch to him. It was a very tricky situation because 1 enemy was hidden from view and could not be reached with a flash from the assault team. So I had the bomb team throw a flash through the narrow window, then I switched to the other team to secure the hostages. The rest of the levels were fairly simple and most could be done with a single guy.
I have not played the PC version but I can tell from the plan system and huge variety of items that the missions must be far more elaborate there. I will have to check it out. Still this was a fun game that was a significant improvement over playstation Rainbow Six. It could have used more tactical variety in mission design, like more need for simultaneous action by multiple teams, more use for demolitions, snipers and recon, more realistic AI, and more need to use the stronger weapons.
7.3/10
