Not a reinvention, just a damned good improvement.
I am now finally pleased to say that Rainbow Six Vegas has built on the great game Rainbow Six 3 was and have made it better in all of the above terms.
The music is exhilerating and relentless, the sound of the hails of bullets thudding against your cover and the terrorists shouting and firing blindly creates a frantic and satisfying scene at every enemy encounter. Tactics are no longer arbitry commands you give to dim-whitted allies that seem more intent on suicide than capturing a position. Your team are far more competent and easy to manouver, with simple yet fun stacking up and breaching routines. If you have found friendly AI buggy and unresponsive in other tactical shooters you'll be relieved to find out Vegas is about as slick as it comes.
The whole look of the game just oozes the word "finito". The pollished graphics and sublime atmosphere the game creates with the interesting neon lighting you'll come across while blast your way through Las Vegas really makes you feel like you're in the fire-fight (especailly with a HDTV, I would strongly recomend one of these for this game).
Thats enough for the single-player, now heres where you'l be speanding 90% of your time on Rainbow Six Vegas if you so decide its worth the puny £17.99 it costs right now (play.com :D ). I am of course talking about the online modes. Once you have customized your character with all the sick gear you get, you'll realize you need to go and shoot some people to rank up, so that you can get more weapons, armor and snazzy camoflague and hats. "Suits you sir!" Furiously competitive Team Sharpshooter with up to 16 players on one server is the clear favourite among Rainbow veterans. But equally (if not more so) popular is Co-op terrorist Hunt; as well as new online co-op story, Vegas has a gem of an online mode in which you rather quickly rank up by your team of 4 human players eliminating a set number of terrorists terrorists in a map. Extremely fun, and likewize rewarding, you'll watch the hours fly by on this mode. Its a team based mode so you MUST work together to get it over and done with and on to the next round as quick as possible.
This game will keep you amuzed for hours, it is arguably twice the online game Gears of War is. The Campaign only lacks in its depth of plot and unresolving ending, which cancel eachother out really and why would you care when you're having so much fun killing Terrorist scum! Its an easy game to get into, but difficult to master. But its incredibly equal online so not to worry if you're a bit rubbish.