Rainbow Six: Vegas: A Performance Analysis
by Josh Venning on December 25, 2006 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Gaming
Introduction
We recently looked at performance with Ubisoft's Splinter Cell: Double Agent and saw that although the game has some enjoyable gameplay elements, there were some technical problems at its release that couldn't be overlooked. When a consumer brings home a game for their PC that they've paid for with their hard-earned money, they should be able to enjoy that game without having to deal with things like crashing and incompatibility issues. Granted, it's not as easy to buy, setup and play a game for the PC as it is for a console system, and some would cite this as an incentive to go with a console gaming system instead of a PC. We feel however, that PCs have just as much if not more potential than consoles for providing incredible gaming experiences.
Of course, there is still the issue of hardware, and the fact is that good hardware is required to enjoy the best PC gaming has to offer. We've talked about Splinter Cell: Double agent, and today we are looking at another game by Ubisoft; the newly released Rainbow Six: Vegas (RSV). We'll be talking a little about the game and how it performs, and we're especially interested in it because it's one of the first games out now based on Unreal Engine 3.
Thankfully with Rainbow Six: Vegas, we found we didn't run into nearly as many of the problems and annoyances we did with Double Agent, and for the most part the game seems like a much more solid port of the Xbox 360 version, if this is in fact the case. It isn't perfect, however, and there are some issues that still should have been fixed before the game's release, but we'll talk about these later on.
Testing performance with Rainbow Six: Vegas was a little more straightforward than we saw with Splinter Cell: Double Agent, but we've tested the game on the same range of cards and we now have a good idea of the type of performance you can expect for this game. While it does break ground somewhat on the graphics engine front (being based on the Unreal Engine 3), it doesn't really do the same for GPU performance requirements (as with Oblivion), which is good news for those looking to buy Rainbow Six: Vegas. However, it can still tax most GPUs out there at higher resolutions and quality settings, and you will most likely need at least a mainstream graphics solution to enjoy the game. We'll give you the details on all this in the performance section.
Overall we were impressed with what we've seen in this latest addition to the Rainbow Six series, and we're sure many fans - as well as those not so familiar with the Rainbow Six series - will enjoy it. The overall graphical quality of the game is excellent, and puts games based on the older Unreal Engine 2 (like Splinter Cell: Double Agent) to shame. We enjoyed playing and testing Rainbow Six: Vegas, so without further ado, let's take a look at the game and our benchmark.
We recently looked at performance with Ubisoft's Splinter Cell: Double Agent and saw that although the game has some enjoyable gameplay elements, there were some technical problems at its release that couldn't be overlooked. When a consumer brings home a game for their PC that they've paid for with their hard-earned money, they should be able to enjoy that game without having to deal with things like crashing and incompatibility issues. Granted, it's not as easy to buy, setup and play a game for the PC as it is for a console system, and some would cite this as an incentive to go with a console gaming system instead of a PC. We feel however, that PCs have just as much if not more potential than consoles for providing incredible gaming experiences.
Of course, there is still the issue of hardware, and the fact is that good hardware is required to enjoy the best PC gaming has to offer. We've talked about Splinter Cell: Double agent, and today we are looking at another game by Ubisoft; the newly released Rainbow Six: Vegas (RSV). We'll be talking a little about the game and how it performs, and we're especially interested in it because it's one of the first games out now based on Unreal Engine 3.
Thankfully with Rainbow Six: Vegas, we found we didn't run into nearly as many of the problems and annoyances we did with Double Agent, and for the most part the game seems like a much more solid port of the Xbox 360 version, if this is in fact the case. It isn't perfect, however, and there are some issues that still should have been fixed before the game's release, but we'll talk about these later on.
Testing performance with Rainbow Six: Vegas was a little more straightforward than we saw with Splinter Cell: Double Agent, but we've tested the game on the same range of cards and we now have a good idea of the type of performance you can expect for this game. While it does break ground somewhat on the graphics engine front (being based on the Unreal Engine 3), it doesn't really do the same for GPU performance requirements (as with Oblivion), which is good news for those looking to buy Rainbow Six: Vegas. However, it can still tax most GPUs out there at higher resolutions and quality settings, and you will most likely need at least a mainstream graphics solution to enjoy the game. We'll give you the details on all this in the performance section.
Overall we were impressed with what we've seen in this latest addition to the Rainbow Six series, and we're sure many fans - as well as those not so familiar with the Rainbow Six series - will enjoy it. The overall graphical quality of the game is excellent, and puts games based on the older Unreal Engine 2 (like Splinter Cell: Double Agent) to shame. We enjoyed playing and testing Rainbow Six: Vegas, so without further ado, let's take a look at the game and our benchmark.
32 Comments
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100proof - Thursday, December 28, 2006 - link
Matching statistics to the GamerID alone is useless. So why include the GamerID at all? Is other information related to a Ubisoft GamerID account being shared? birthdate? gender?Anandtech will you investigate this?
BronxBartoni - Tuesday, December 26, 2006 - link
I would really have loved to see the differences, if any, between single and multi core setups.poohbear - Tuesday, December 26, 2006 - link
thanks for the review anandtech, many of us are interested in new graphics engines and how they perform w/ current hardware.:)unclebud - Tuesday, December 26, 2006 - link
"I think the point Anandtech was trying to make is that they hope the performance gap can be reduced somewhat with driver/game updates."yeah, it hurts them so bad to admit it... just look at their past reviews in video for the absolute proof.
i bet if they had their way, amd + ati would have never happened. they probably have nightmares every night about it? just my opinion/observation. the site owner needs to come back and review more! i miss his articles! augh!
CrystalBay - Tuesday, December 26, 2006 - link
Go Sierra, never give in. You Rock Forever, Keep on patchin...BikeDude - Monday, December 25, 2006 - link
I don't care about 1600x1200 running full blast with all the settings enabled.Which cards will allow me to run this game at 2560x1600 using reasonable settings? (reasonable=good fps without tangos turning into stick figures)
I have a 7800GTX now... Time to upgrade?
VooDooAddict - Tuesday, December 26, 2006 - link
If you want to run at 2560x1600 then expect to be upgrading to the leading edge frequently. 8800GTX would be a good buy for you if you really want to run at 2560x1600.However, if you run at 1280x800 you'll be at a perfect scaling for that 2560x1600 monitor. (I'm assuming you have the lovely Dell 30") 1280x800 will still look great when it's running smoothly on your 7800GTX.
Spoelie - Monday, December 25, 2006 - link
yesJodiuh - Monday, December 25, 2006 - link
1. Instead of using the "suggested" scene for benching and telling us to expect worse perf, why not take a look at the most stressful scenarios?2. Would you say there might be more perf/better compat for 88's using the newer 97.02's...97.44's?
3. Are these "ports" running better on ATI because they were deved mainly for 360? Thankfully PS3's out w/ NV inside then?
ariafrost - Monday, December 25, 2006 - link
Looks like with my X850XT overclocked I may be able to run RSV at 1440x900... albeit with medium settings and the widescreen hack from WSGF.Graphics performance can only improve as the Unreal Engine 3 is tweaked/optimized. I wouldn't despair quite yet :P