Rainbow Six: Vegas Diaries (PSP) Part Two

This is my ongoing exploration of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six series, played in release order, where I will chronicle my playthrough like a text-based Let’s Play. This time I continue Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas on the PSP.

Although we had no signs of our missing teammates, we were hot on the trail of a bioweapon that Lucas Picares was taking to Las Vegas…

It was 0045hrs, and we were headed to an alleyway near our target. Said target was some property owned by one of Picares’ men, and we were looking for leads. Funnily enough, it looked like we were a stone’s throw from the Vertigo Spire, which Logan Keller’s team were headed to in about an hour’s time. Brian cosied up to a gate which he couldn’t open and I took control of Shawn.

Making my way through some offices and hallways, I shot a few tangos before reaching a big window looking over a parking lot. Shooting the two men down there, I continued through the hallways, leaving the building to go down a fire escape, and inside through another door to open the gate for Brian.

Taking control of Brian, I shot two more tangos in the car park, and made my way up to a rooftop, and killed some more. I picked the lock on a gate but came under fire. Now in control of Shawn, I made my way up to a rooftop above Brian’s assailant, killing some tangos as I went. Once on a fire escape, I shot the “sniper”, and Brian asked me to shoot another tango a bit further away, just ahead of his position. After locating the tango, I did so, and resumed control of Brian.

Heading down some stairs, I could clearly see some shipping containers with big biohazard symbols on. If the tangos hadn’t given it away, then we now knew that this was the right place. Joanna told me that other teams were looking for our missing teammates, and that I should concentrate on this whole “bioweapon” thing. Dropping down through a hole in the ground, I loaded into the next section.

Joanna told me that I needed to hack into the terrorist systems, so I took an elevator down a level and followed the hallways. It was a bit of a maze, so I got a little lost taking the scenic route around and shooting some tangos. Coming across a door with a keypad, I decided to go through the other door in the locker room, and found the computer with two tangos guarding it. They fell easily, and I hacked the computer. Joanna told me that I needed to get to the tower’s penthouse via an elevator - apparently I was now inside a tower?

Back at the keypad door, I opened it without needing to use the keypad and went upstairs. I was immediately fired upon by hostiles but reacted quickly enough to avoid dying. Unfortunately, as I activated the elevator, Joanna was locked out of the system, and the elevator shut off. Worse, I was closed in by some kind of blast door.

Taking control of Shawn, now in the garage, I followed the same route that I did as Brian but slightly altered to avoid some new blockades. Unfortunately, there were more tangos than I had handgun ammunition, so I had to take some out with my PSG-1. Reaching the computer, Shawn came under fire, and I had to take control of Brian again. Taking a position in a hallway above Shawn, I shot the handful of tangos, allowing him to hack the computer.

I returned to the elevator and started going up. Suddenly stopping, the ceiling of the elevator exploded, and two tangos fired down at me. I killed them, and the elevator continued up, loading into the next section.

As the doors opened, I carefully checked for tangos, finding one to the left, and one to the right. Them now dead, I opened the doors in front of me and went around the wall in front of me to shoot a tango at the door behind.

Moving around to the left, I shot someone as they entered the hot tub room that wasn't quite a bathroom, then another tango as they opened a door in the next room. Heading into the next room, I was told to hurry, so I shot a tango, then checked the balcony above me. A tango ran over, ignoring me until I shot him, and went back downstairs. Exiting the room, I took control of Shawn. He was now in a helicopter, and under fire from tangos.

Once they were dead, I returned to Brian and hacked the computer. Unfortunately, it triggered a self destruct, and I had two minutes to leg it with the hostage in tow. I led the way back the way I'd come, shooting multiple tangos as I went, reaching the elevator with 30 seconds to spare. As we went down, the penthouse exploded, somehow not affecting the safety of the elevator.

Mission success in 1:07:30.

Operation: Water Filtration Plant, beginning at 0330hrs, saw a change in our mission. We weren’t even entertaining the idea of finding our missing colleagues, we were now focussed on stopping Picares, and we were off to a water filtration plant to stop him from deploying his bio weapon. All we had to do was infiltrate via a construction site, and turn off the water pumps, so it was probably going to be easy…

Entering the construction site as Brian, I shot two men in the head before being spotted by a third, though I quickly killed him without issue. A fourth may have been aware of me, but I shot him from quite a distance, so can’t be certain. Joanna told me that our men had been located, so that meant the other squad were about halfway through Dante’s Casino. After casually killing a few more tangos, I reached an elevator that wasn’t functioning.

Taking control of Shawn, who rightly wondered what was with Brian and lifts today, I went in search of a generator. I shot a couple of tangos and activated a switch, which put me back in control of Brian again. Moving cautiously along the wooden upper level, which paid off because I shot two more tangos in the head without raising an alarm! Unfortunately, in the area at the end I was spotted and shot once before I could shoot the tango. My perfect streak was ruined!

After another short hallway, I was swapped back to Shawn as a valve was blocked. I shot the tango inside the closest room, exiting out into the main area. Someone spotted me to the left before I could shoot them, but then I went to the right and shot three other tangos and activated the switch.

Taking control of Brian again, I climbed a ladder into the water treatment basin. Despite Shawn having cleared it out, two more tangos attacked from where I was heading, and I had to gun them down. I went down a ladder, loading into the next section.

Joanna told us that we just had to shut down the plant’s power and kill Picares. Rainbow had everything they needed from Morrison’s PC, so we didn’t need Picares anymore. I entered the water filtration room and made my way around to the left, keeping an eye out for tangos. I shot three of them before exiting out the far end, as the whole place shook. They had blown up something, Joanna suspected a chlorine tank, which meant that Shawn would have to purge it.

Taking control of Shawn, I shot three tangos in a long hallway, then another through the door at the end. Turning the valve, the door in front of Brian opened and I took control of him. There were a few men inside the room which had just been cleared of deadly chlorine, so I killed them and chose the door in front of me to head upstairs. Unfortunately, a tango was just inside and shot me a few times before I killed him. I went upstairs and carefully shot three tangos who were patrolling the upper levels, managing to get headshots on them at quite a distance.

I killed a tango behind a double door, but despite having now cleared the area I still had to find the main breaker. It was apparently back downstairs, so I had to head back downstairs, via a control room. Which was not clear of tangos. After killing the four men inside, I went downstairs and past two generators, where I found a detonator attached to the breaker. If I turned it off, everything exploded.

Joanna set Shawn on it, putting me back in control of him and in search of the manual cutoffs, and the bombs to disarm them. I shot a handful of tangos without incident and reached a door that Brian had to open. Since he was in the control room, he teased me by asking if I wanted to know where the tangos were, neglecting the fact that one was standing right in front of me. I shot the tango, then continued down the corridor to a large room with some water vats inside. Brian warned about the two tangos, and I killed them.

Using an elevator to go down one level, I had two tangos to deal with. Having decided to swap back to my PSG-1, I was annoyed when the closest one entered the room and I somehow missed at point-blank range. After killing the second, I continued on to a ramp. There were two tangos at the top, according to Brian, but the next area’s cameras were offline. I shot the tangos and checked the next room with my snake cam. I could see at least two tangos, so entered and shot them both, taking a few hits in the process.

Heading over to the console, I attempted to deactivate the pumps - but Picares had a failsafe to prevent that. Also, he shot Shawn and the computer bank! He left, gloating, but Shawn was still able to walk. He started evacuating the area, as I resumed control of Brian. We only had seconds to do the backup plan - blow up the place. The moment Shawn reported that he was clear, I cut the power and blew up the plant.

Mission success in 42:46.

Joanna told me that they had eyes on Picares, but had lost contact with Shawn. She said that they would find him, but I had to go after Picares. He was heading for the Nevada Dam, and if my guess was right, Irena Morales would also be there…