Part 1 – Game Mechanics, Weapons & PEC System
Game Mechanics, Weapons & PEC System
Destroyable Environments – You’ve heard of bullet penetration, but we’ve taken it further. Not only can you shoot through wooden doors and thin walls, you can also break certain objects (such as tables) within the battlefield depending on its durability. See a tango taking cover behind a wooden crate? Shred it and watch them panic, or just shoot them through the box, whatever works for you. You can also damage certain vehicles, some to the point where they even explode. We also give you environmental objects that can help you, such as fire extinguishers which will give off smoke when you shoot them, and combustible tanks. We didn’t place these objects in areas that don’t fit within the environment (I’ve seen other games where gas tanks are placed in the middle of a public street); these environmental tools are found in places that make sense, such as a gas tank under a BBQ grill. Be warned… if the enemy AI spots these objects they’ll use them on you too.
Sprinting - You can sprint for a limited time until your character gets tired. Think of an imaginary bar that depletes itself when you sprint, and slowly begins to fill up again when you don’t. While you sprint you cannot do any other actions, so use it wisely. It’s really handy when you hear a frag hitting the floor. Sprinting uses the Left Bumper (360), L2 (PS3) and Shift Key (default for PC, can be re-assigned).
Other Game Mechanics -
Sorry folks, no “active reload”. Gadgets work pretty much the same. Doors behave the same as Vegas 1 (open and close) with the inclusion of shooting through them/blowing them up depending on the thickness. No melee. Cover system is the same as Vegas 1 but more refined (a lot of testing went into ridding bugs). No “running-man” glitch. No location-based armour (shooting a person’s leg causes the same damage as shooting their arm), however, if your enemy AI is being shot in the foot when taking cover, he’ll actually respond now by moving further back behind cover.
Weapons -
The 11 new weapons are as follows:
P99 (Pistol)
AUG PARA (SMG)
Type 05 JS (SMG)
SKORPION VZ83 (SMG)
FNC (Assault)
L85A2 (Assault)
AKS-74U (Assault)
M468 (Assault)
500 TACTICAL (Shotgun)
L96 Arctic Warfare (Sniper)
SR-25 SD (Sniper)
The “Noob Cannon” (XM-26 LSS) has a slower rate of fire than Vegas 1. Silencers do NOT alert other enemy AI if they aren’t paying attention, which is a major improvement for silencer gameplay. The new SR-25 SD is the first sniper gun with a silencer attachment, making it extra deadly. I can also confirm that silencers DO add extra accuracy to guns but lessens the damage. You can now attach an ACOG Scope on SMGs.
P.E.C. Menu - Improvements from Vegas 1: you can now “swap gadgets” without having to go through the trouble of manually swapping to a different gadget and replacing your current one. Also, you now have 4 slots for custom preset equipment templates: Assault, Recon, Demolition & Sniper. Whatever weapons and gadgets you save on each template will always be there as you freely swap between them. Another great feature is having an auto-save for silencers and rate of fire, meaning, if you have your silencer on in single player, co-op or multiplayer, they will automatically save unless you replace the weapon. You also have a separate equipment template for Story/Terrorist Hunt because you can assign “two primary” guns and a handgun, unlike multiplayer where you assign “one primary” gun and a handgun. Yes, you can now assign two primary guns when playing Terrorist Hunt offline AND online. Last but not least, the P.E.C. menu is not on a separate screen that requires loading. You see the P.E.C. menu as soon as you press start at the main title screen. For those who have played Vegas 1, you will be happy to know that there are no longer 2 loading screens prior to joining a multiplayer map. Loading times have been drastically improved.
Part 2 – Multiplayer
Multiplayer
Max # of players:
360 - 14, Dedicated Server 16
PS3 - 14 Dedicated Server 16
PC - 14, Dedicated Server 16
No map editor.
Ever hear someone tell you, “I’ll take your whole team on”? Multiplayer matches no longer have to be balanced. For example, you can now have a game of 7 vs 2 (Player Match only). No host migration. No split screen online. No multiple “squads” per team.
Join In Progress - You now have the option of allowing players to join in the middle of a multiplayer map and play right away instead of waiting until the end of the match. You can toggle this option if you want joiners to wait until the end. No party-invite.
Menu Interface – Vegas 1 fans will be happy to know that when in a full room, you can now swap teams without asking someone to leave and re-invite them back. As mentioned in Part 1, you now have 4 slots for custom preset equipment templates: Assault, Recon, Demolition & Sniper. Whatever weapons and gadgets you save on each template will always be there as you freely swap between them. From the multiplayer menu, you have the following:
Launch Game (host only)
Change Team
Outfitting
Match Settings (changeable by host)
Players
Options
A.C.E.S.
Statistics
Communication - While your team is talking, your HUD will display the person’s name on the top left, showing you who is talking.
Sprinting & Bullet Penetration – Sprinting and Bullet Penetration is available in all modes. Please refer to Part 1 for more information.
Host Control in Ranked Matches Improved - Ranked Matches are a competitive area where players go to affect their statistics. Therefore, we have certain “fixed” settings that cannot be modified by the host in order to create a fairer experience:
- Join In Progress: Disabled
- Game Invitations: Enabled
- Friendly-Fire: Host Control
- Host cannot kick players under any circumstances; In Lobby & In Game.
- Automatically kick a player after 3 Team-Kills
- Lock Teams: Host Control
- Host cannot force a player to change teams
- Auto-Swap Teams: Host Control
- Game cannot start until there is an even number of players on both teams. (ex: 3v3, 4v4)
- Require a minimum number of 4 players before starting the game.
- Modify respawn setting: Disabled; therefore this setting is disabled from the CREATE MATCH and MATCH SETTING screens altogether.
I am very pleased to announce that Vegas 2 has the option for you to invite your friends into ranked matches (while in the multiplayer lobby). The person who invites and the person who accepts will be on the same team. Think: ranked clan matches with you and your friends.
Radar (Overhead Map) – Can be toggled on or off and is auto-saved to your system. You can set this under multiplayer OPTIONS.
Kill Cam – When enabled, the camera will look to the location from which the killing shot came. Kill cam can be toggled on or off under multiplayer MATCH SETTINGS.
Loading Times - Much, Much Better!
We substantially reduced the waiting & loading times associated with playing multiplayer compared to Vegas 1.
* No loading of the multiplayer menu to play online; the PEC is now part of the main menu.
* PEC assets are streamed, so there is no need to load other players' PEC assets.
* Join in Progress eliminates having to wait in observer mode until the round ends.
* Coop Tango Hunt can be launched alone, so you aren't waiting in a lobby for more players to connect before you can play.
* Clients and host load maps simultaneously, as opposed to having the host first load the map and then all clients following afterwards.
We also optimized the replication of custom faces across the network. We've noticed in Vegas 1 that when there is a full multiplayer room of custom faces, it would sometimes take over 15 minutes to load them all (and would be pending with a default face until they loaded). In Vegas 2 we have optimized the custom faces so even with a full room each face would load in a minute or less (depending on the connection). With our tests they loaded in a matter of seconds.
Rankings – Vegas 2 will reward returning gamers with enough XP to make the first rank, as well as extra gear to help you on your mission. If you are a returning Elite (or completed story mode on realistic difficulty) you will be rewarded all the benefits that veteran gamers get + more.
XP Cap per match – There is none! Depending on how well you play (A.C.E.S., Team Kill, Suicide, # of Kills, etc) you can earn up to and over 1200 XP (which was the cap limit in Vegas 1). Mind you, it takes a lot of skill to earn over 1200 XP per match.
"I'm not cheating... a fly died in the center of my screen"
In multiplayer modes, players do not have a crosshair when covering against a wall. If you've played Vegas 1 multiplayer, you most likely came across a gamer who put a black dot in the middle of their screen with a marker, or a put a small rip of paper in the center held by a piece of tape. Whatever the case may be, there was no way to stop them from aiming from behind cover with their self-made crosshair and killing you in a blink of an eye. Enter Vegas 2, where pop-n-shoot has a movement penalty applied to the accuracy. Players are encouraged to peek around corners when waiting instead of covering to pop-n-shoot.
