Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas

A new console and a new team breathe life back into Ubisoft's popular shooter.

	Version X360, PS3, PSP, PC	Developer Ubisoft Montreal	Publisher Ubisoft	Genre FPS

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By Alex Wollenschlaeger

The last few months of 2006 have seen a few games centred on cover and that ask us to concentrate more on our surroundings than anything else. The most famous (and obvious) example is Gears of War, which brings a caricature of cover to the Xbox 360 in spectacular fashion. The system used in Killzone: Liberation on the PSP is borne of necessity, since accuracy is out the door at those tiny proportions. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas stands apart from these others, offering a more granular take in a style befitting the serious tone of the team's return to form.

The cover system used in Vegas is far more natural than in those other two games, mostly because it's more barebones and serious. You can pull up behind cars and corners whenever you choose and it's less cartoony than in Gears of War. This is perfect for Vegas, which is a game that is ruthlessly severe. Fun seems like the wrong word to use to describe something that takes itself and its subject matter so earnestly and yet I still found myself enjoying it - even if my playtime was accompanied by a soundtrack of swearing.

Vegas introduces cover to Rainbow Six because the gameplay is challenging enough that it demands it. This isn't the kind of shooter where you can suss out a solution on the fly as you swoop in like G.I. Joe with muscles bulging and bullets screaming. There is no question of your option to storm into a situation here. If you don't approach every new obstacle humbly and take your time to devise a plan you will die.

Key to your surviving the winding story - which takes you through Mexico, Las Vegas and more - is strategy. The snake cam, which lets you peak into the world on the other side of closed doors, and the breaching commands that guide your team through them soon become indispensable, since the terrorists, out to blow up large parts of Sin City, outnumber you and have the benefit of preparation and scripted responses. Even if you do your reconnaissance, you will probably still find the screen blooding over often as your teammates call out to you in vain. The important thing, however, is that when that happens you know why, and because it was your fault you know what you should do next time to get it right.

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Video Coverage (See Latest Videos & Video FAQ Here)
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Description	Dur.	Size	Details
Rainbow Six Vegas Extended gameplay sequence (normal quality)	11:04	128MB	DF, SD, 16:9 640x360p30 1.7Mbps
Rainbow Six: Vegas Direct feed trailer   (PS3, X360 - Ubisoft)	00:34	12MB	DF, ED, 16:9 852x480p30 3.0Mbps