Pull the Trigger

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® Vegas comes from a long line of shooters, each with its own distinct personality. Its predecessors have drawn a large and faithful following of fans, folks drawn in by the tactical, squad-based gameplay, especially on Xbox Live®. The fact is, that in the past, the developers' focus has been on the multiplayer action.

With this new chapter in the Rainbow Six series, the developers have nearly perfected the multiplayer modes, while adding a few new features. At the same time, since they have built such a solid foundation to build on, they have also built a strong single-player mode to be a fun and replayable stand-alone feature.

Somebody's luck just ran out.

Who's Got Your Back?
The people at Ubisoft Montreal decided it was time to give the story mode an equal amount of the time in the spotlight as the multiplayer game. You start the story right away, flying to your mission and rappelling from a helicopter. From that moment on, it is non-stop shooting, sneaking, and strategizing. Terrorists have taken hostages and are attempting to take over Las Vegas. It's your job to show them who's boss.

Ding Chavez has been promoted, he's now giving your orders. He's sent you and your teammates, Mike and Jung, into the city through a building under construction. This gives you time to master the movement options available to you. Practice giving your squad orders and learn what special skills your teammates have. Mike has a knack for demolitions, and Jung is your resident techno-geek. In Rainbow Six Vegas, your team automatically follows your lead, and they do a very good job of it.

The story is driven by the fact that Ubisoft Montreal chose to keep the game as realistic as possible. The care they put into the environments shows everywhere, and they used mo-cap to make the movements as smooth and natural as possible.

The game maintains a palpable level of tension, and there aren't cut scenes every five minutes to give you a breather. Mission instructions are given through the commlink in your helmet, and you might be getting shot at when they come through, so you'll have to learn to multitask quickly.

You can sleep when you're dead.

The Tactical Edge
With a new emphasis on player choice, Vegas gives you a number of great options from which you can develop your own tactical strategies. You can now choose to rappel from ledges down buildings. Look for trigger points on every structure that allow you to rappel, and just point and click. Your squad mates will follow, or you can choose to send them ahead.

When rappelling, choose to drop traditionally or turn around and drop in head first. This can be very handy if you want to peek in through a window to get in some early reconnaissance. You can also fire from this position to get the drop on your opponents. If you don't need to stop on the way, you can rappel all the way down to the next level and crash through a window.

Taking cover in Vegas is much easier than in previous Rainbow Six titles. Cover options are now more intuitive, flexible, and easy to access. Simply hold a button down to place your back against cover. Hold down until you're ready to break cover, then release. While against cover, you have full visibility to each side, and you can shoot from your position. You can take a targeted shot, or even choose to fire blindly.

Stealth and strategy keep you alive.

Multiplayer Mania
For those die-hard multiplayer fans, all the mechanics mentioned above (aside from the A.I. squad elements), appear in multiplayer as well. The rappelling and cover features promise exciting and realistic gameplay in multiplayer. Ubisoft Montreal wouldn't dare let down those people who've been waiting for this multiplayer triumph. They've taken every improvement and applied them across the board on both single-player and multiplayer modes.

In addition, of course, they have added new multiplayer modes and maps. With its arrival on Xbox 360™, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas arrives completely in the 21st Century. Its graphics, realism, and enhanced gameplay features make it a truly next-gen title. Whether you're a long-time fan of the series or not, you'll find it tough to take your finger off the trigger. It's okay. Go ahead and shoot. Vegas needs saving.

Article by Angel Leigh McCoy