Title: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas
Genre: FPS
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: 17th November 2006

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The most famous Ubisoft anti-terrorism squad comes back for the sake of all gamers.
Tom Clancy name is, indeed, linked to every known entertaining media: books, movies and, clearly, videogames. In fact, there are a lot of games having his name in their title, between which we can recall the Ghost Recon series and... the Rainbow Six one.

With their last effort, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas, Ubisoft Montreal guys seem to be able to amuse all Clancy's fans.

Terror at Las Vegas

Here we are again, another terrorist cell is preparing itself to hit an "American" symbol, and again the United Nations anti-terrorism squad, the Rainbow Six, will have to stem the threat trying to avoid an escalation of the situation, in a long, terrible, night time.
Las Vegas, Nevada main city, is in the middle of the Mojave desert and it is famous all around the world for the lights, the casinos, the great amusement possibilities and for the "easy" weddings: something like a Disneyland for adults; and this fascinating and chaotic location will be the videogame background, consisting in the city being the terrorists' hostage.
Hence, this incredibly detailed digital Las Vegas (also thanks to the use of satellite scans) will be the battle field for the new issue of this great Tom Clancy's franchise.

Action and Strategy

If the atmospheres will certainly have a peculiar charm, the game-play promises to be the most important feature.
Three will be the members of your squad: Logan Keller, the commander, is an expert in tactical reconnaissance, Michael Walter is the weapon ad demolition specialist and Jung Park is the electronic devices expert. A well assorted group, indeed, with different abilities and weapons; however, we will take the control of the only commander, with a first person point of view.

Clearly as commanders, we'll be able to give order (GRAW-style) and decide the engagement rules, therefore, having the possibility to decide the type of behaviour: aggressive (attacking enemies at the first sight, etc.) or stealth (putting silencers on, studying accurately the tactics, etc.). Then, we'll have to study the different sets, the enemies and the possible escape ways, well before the attack. And to do this, the game gives us several instruments as tactics elements stolen from electronic devices (as surveillance cameras), or as an optical fibre micro-camera that will allow us to observe the situation without being noticed.

After having understood the situation, as seen at the Leipzig Game Convention, it will be possible to assign a target to each team mate and then...attack. All this is possible thanks to a great AI that allows our team mates to take different decisions in different situations and maybe to take the wrong ones, as often happens in reality. Our only hope is that, given the order to attack, they will be able to cover when necessary without remaining frozen and exposed to enemies' bullets, as unfortunately often happened in GRAW.

The game offers several covering possibilities (slot machines, roulette tables, etc...) and we should be smart enough to use them all. Our "alias" can cover behind any element of the set and, in this case, the point of view will switch to third person (as in GRAW or PD0): from there, we will be able to point and shot to all visible enemies even if not with a great accuracy.
The appropriate use of coverings is a fundamental component of our tactics, also because it's going to be very easy to die in this game: a well shot bullet could be the difference between life and death. Moreover, life and energy bars will be always visible on-screen, even if the more we'll get hurt the more our visual will become blurred. If, on the other hand, our team mates become unconscious, we'll have the possibility to reanimate them through a life-kit.

Another worthwhile feature of this videogame consists in the fact that there will be times in which we'll have to let ourselves down from a helicopter to a building roof, or directly along its external walls, in order to surprise terrorists and enhance the success percentage.

Speaking Technically

Considering what we were able to see about this title in the numerous images and in-game videos, from a technical point of view Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas will be a great game. Graphics is, certainly, at high level: a highly detailed "sin-city", great lights effects, good textures; in particular, characters models are extremely realistic thanks to the great care developers have put in the faces reproduction and the advanced motion-capture animations.
As already said, the AI will be reliable and the overall sound effects will help the game experience.

Web Special Squads

Obviously, taken the huge success of GRAW online mode, also Rainbow Six: Vegas will have several multiplayer options.
We will, then, create our customisable alias, choosing his class (it is always better to play with different-classes teams), his abilities and equipments, which can be improved playing classified matches, gaining experience and unlocking new weapons and items.

However, Ubisoft tries to keep some secrets about the game online features: some new cooperative modes and PvP (Player versus Player, r.n.) are expected along with the classic Rainbow Six ones. For example, one of the new modes will, for sure, be the "attack and defend" one: the first team will attack the second, while this latest will try to keep the position, take hostages or stole some information.

Furthermore, a special care has been put on the "clan modes", where LIVE clans will have the possibility to challenge each other in sort of tournaments. It seems that, in these tournaments, non-playing clan-mates will be able to see their friends' sessions and try to help them.

Conclusions

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas is announced as one of the best games soon available for Xbox 360, and there are the bases for a masterpiece of the genre. However, the developers have to take care that all will be absolutely perfect: in fact, the game will be released the some day of Gears of War...it'll be a great challenge!

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Original article by Davide Vincenzi, XboxWay Staff