It's about damned time Rainbow Six entered the next-gen gaming world. And it was worth the wait...
RSV is an excellent game. I was very impressed with the setting of the game. I loved rappelling down the side of a Stratosphere-like Vegas tower 1000 feet in the air, high enough to see the entire city. It may seem strange, but it works phenomenally well.
Vegas puts you in charge of Logan Keller, the newest leader of the Rainbow Six squad. The game begins just south of Texas in Mexico, where you are looking for the leader of a Mexican terrorist faction. Like many games of this genre, the first level is mostly a tutorial, showing you how to take cover, fast rope, rappel, flank, and so on, mostly so you are aware of what you can do. Unlike previous games in this series, RSV has tweaked the game slightly. Your health will recharge if you can take cover and not get shot for a few seconds. All you will still die if shot more then a couple times, and pretty much any kind of shot to the head with any weapon will kill you, so watch it. Very quickly the action switches environments as the terrorists have attacked several Hotel/Casinos' along the Vegas strip. You are sent in with your squad to stop them. Here is where most of the action takes place. I really did enjoy the single player campaign. Enemies will try to flank you, they will throw smokes, frags, flashbangs, they will even fight amongst themselves over who should attack you first!
I was also very impressed with my AI-controlled squad-mates. They are not just there for show and tell, they will kill plenty tangos, with or without you. I loved being able to dictate what my squad did, everything from "cease fire, attach sound-suppressors, throw a grenade, shoot this guy first, take cover, regroup on me" all make you know you really are the head honcho with the poo hits the fan. The story is rather flat. It's the usual "kill this charismatic terrorist-leader" plot we've seen before. Although they do throw a curveball towards the end, the conclusion to the campaign left me wanting more (and not in the usual sense).
With that, Multiplayer is excellent. There is plenty of game modes, so you'll find something to enjoy. Playing Terrorist Hunt with your friends is a blast, as the enemies are rather smart (usually) and don't spawn in the same damn place every single time. Is there one tango behind the door? 2? 5? Maybe none? This kind of unpredictability damn-near requires you to work together, and it's a blast doing it. Other modes, such as Team Sharpshooter (like a Team Deathmatch) and Attack and Defend (a very fun game of cat-and-mouse-type gameplay) add some sauce to the game. Like in the campaign, your health will automatically restore itself if you can manage to not get shot for a short moment. But this is still Rainbow Six, and it will only take a couple shots of your rifle to bring down even the most heavily armored opponent out there.
You'll also love the P.E.C. (Persistent Elite Creation), which allows you to customize the look of your Multiplayer character to your liking. As you rank up, you unlock various items such as hats, helmets, armor, camouflage, guns, and other accessories while still putting anyone new to the game at any real disadvantage (other then being new). Probably the only problem is a couple glitches that hinder gameplay ever so slightly, and I could go for some more maps. But if Gears of War can somehow be so glitchy and yet so popular, it's hard to really judge RSV any different. With all that in mind, Rainbow Six: Vegas is an excellent addition to the series, and it really revives it from becoming "just another shooter". it's still fairly more advanced then games such as Halo, but it is loads of fun regardless, and well worth your money.