It is nice that they released the Black Pack for free, but it still is a tad annoying they messed up the first time and charged $10 for it. Now I have to wait 8 to 10 weeks to get my refund. It is also nice they dropped price of the Red Pack to be free now as well, but since I already had it that doesn’t benefit me. Still, I’m not really that upset about it. $10 for 5 maps was a bit steep since the Red Pack was $10 for 5 maps and 2 game modes, but I would still have bought them since Rainbow Six: Vegas is the game that I play most consistently.

The Black Pack contains 5 maps. Three are completely brand new, one is a remake from Rainbow Six 3, and one is a remake of Streets that was originally included with Rainbow Six: Vegas. I really like most of these maps, but my one issue with all of them, other than Streets, is that the spawn points for Team Sharpshooter are really close together. I also played Retrieval on all of the new maps and the spawns were better for the most part. It just seems odd that they would put the spawns so close on a couple of these maps when they are so large.

Streets Redux
I’ll start with a preface before I get into details on this map…I don’t really like the original one. The redo of Streets is pretty much the exact same map, but now it is night time and very dark (see the screenshot for an idea how just how dark it really is). Because of this I found that it plays pretty much the same way as the original streets, but you can’t see as well. Night vision does help some but after playing it a while I found I prefer to play it with the Night Vision off.

Presidio
Presidio was originally released with Rainbow Six 3. I never played it so it was a new map for me. The entire map consists of a two story building with a little bit of ground outside of it. It is probably the smallest map available for Rainbow Six: Vegas, but it was still a lot of fun. I’d recommend playing it with grenades off through because one team spawns on the second floor and the other team spawns on the ground floor. Because of this, if the team on the ground floor is not familiar with the map they walk right under the opposing team and get hit with grenades within the first seconds of the game. As long as everyone knows the map or grenades are off it is a lot of fun.

Wartown
This is a large map, but on Team Sharpshooter only about 2/3 of the map gets used because they spawn points are on the same half of the map. In the other game modes the whole map is used so it is a bit odd that in Team Sharpshooter it is not. The map is fairly dimly lit, but not as bad as the Streets Redux. The map has a large portion that is broken buildings with holes in the walls to sneak through and then the rest is outdoors. This great mix of areas has something for everyone. There are areas to snipe and then other areas to sit in ambush around a corner with a shotgun. In reminds a little of Marshling Yard in that respect.

Red Lotus
Like Wartow, the spawn points are oddly close together for a map of this size. It is not as large as Wartown, but still with three stories it is fairly large. There are numerous rooms and hallways to use for flanking. It just seems odd that they would have the teams spawn on the same floor of the building in Team Sharpshooter. In other game modes the spawns are further apart. In Retrieval specifically the package is on the ground floor while teams start on the top floor. It makes for a great fight trying to get to the package. Even with the odd spawn points this map is a lot of fun. There are very few places where you can get pinned down because of all of the hallways and rooms which leads to some great offensive attacks. Just watch where you run because it is easy to get lost in the maze of rooms and hallways that all look alike.

Neon Graveyard
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite maps. The spawn points are still close together with one team starting outside and another starting on the second floor. This makes for some cheap grenade kills from the second story windows at the very first of the match, but if teams are familiar with the map and move quickly it is not an issue. The map consists of a few warehouse building, each with two stories and a basement, and some outdoor areas. One of the things I love about this map is that there are windows everywhere. Most of them can be climbed through. This makes the map seem a but smaller than it actual size because you can get across it so many ways so quickly.

I would recommend everyone spend some time with these maps because they are a lot of fun. Just be ready to hide right away on Team Sharpshooter since the spawn points are all so close.