Rainbow Six Vegas is a breath of fresh air in the long running Rainbow Six series.
User Rating: 8.9 | Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas X360
The Rainbow Six Series debuted nine years ago on the PC and at the time it's careful planning and one-shot one-kill mechanics were really new in the world of Quake and Doom. The Series made a high profile jump to consoles in the middle of last generation with Rainbow Six 3 and then some lackluster followups. Rainbow Six Vegas from Ubi Montreal represents are reinvention of the series which all in all represents a step forward for the series and a signficant reinvention. Like Rainbow Six 3 this game eschews the planning stages and team commands that defined the first two rainbow games. Instead you and two AI controlled team mates go on a thrilling series of missions that takes you from the mean streets of Mexico to a terrorist attack in Las Vegas. Also, thankfully gone are the former games' save system unlike having to use a set number of saves or a one chance per attempt type approach it uses checkpoints for much longer missions than before. This change also balances the difficulty better than it had been in the first few games. More central to the gameplay is the implementation of two new features. Like Gears of War it employs both an infinite health system and a cover shooting mechanic. That is the amount of damage you can take is limited in a short burst but on the other hand over time you can take an infinite amount of damage on a given mission. Secondly it implements a cover system similar to gears of war where you can peak out at various spots from cover to return fire or if you're really pressed to get bullets out with minimu risk you can blind fire around your cover. Because this is a tactical game you can't take too many bullets but niether can any of your foes. As Such the firefights can be some of the most satisfying that you're going to find in a shooter, on the other hand a few spots get really annoyingly frustrating. There is kind of one spot in most of the levels that is just annoying the way they designed it.
One of the best things about this game is its fantastic level design. The first levels are just okay but once you get to Vegas you start to see more and more complex levels. Entering buildings can especially be a treat as you can try doors, fast-roping through skylights, rappelling down walls and breaching the windows and any combination of the above. One of my favorite tricks was to stand near the sky light with my rifle and ordering my team to rappel to the windows and then smash in as i started sniping guys. Also all these kinds of options made it so you really got the feel of being a special teams operative. The Single player game will take you between 8-12 hours I'd imagine depending on the player. The game also has some of the richest multiplayer features you'll find on the Xbox 360. It's got co-op campaign, terrorist hunt and a whole bunch of adveserial modes. If you're looking for an online shooter this is probably the best you're going to do on the 360. Presentationally this game is the first liscensed game which uses the Unreal 3 engine. As such the graphics are pretty good--however when you compare them to Gears of War they fall significantly short of that games level of graphical fidelity. However this looks considerably better than most Xbox 360 games. The sound in the game is pretty much unremarkable. Although some of the friendly voice acting has a minor issue where it sounds really strange on the helo you ride into missions it's otherwise completely unremarkable. It is unfortunate that at no point do we hear any Vegas music which is a bit sad for the home of Wayne Newton, Frank Sinatra and Elvis. All things considered this represents a new start for th Rainbow Six Series that's a lot better than it had been. If you're not doggedly obsessed about the planning stages this game should please you. 
