Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 - (Xbox 360, PS3)
Developer: in-house
Format: Xbox 360, PS3
Genre: Shooter

Team Rainbow have got shiny new colours.

This time round Ubisoft has done away with the four-player co-op to focus in on just two. That means that Bishop and his sidekick Knight have the opportunity to control the squad-based removal of all the bad guys hell bent on terrorist takeover of The Strip.

This also means that you can switch instantly through co-op to single player with no loss of gameplay. Jumping between the characters, between the natural born leader qualities of Bishop and the slightly more scatter-gun approach of Knight, make for a frantic game pace that you can speed up at a whim.

With added entrances and exits and multiple angles to tackle objectives, this sequel packs much more of a punch and demonstrates how it's been tailored to hone in on the co-op as the main thrust of the action. Having players jump in from offline as well creates a tactical tension to the combat but crucially doesn't skew the storyline or your progress through the levels.

The whole thing has a fluid feel to it. It also means because only the host player can control the other two AIs in your squad, you might, on occasions, be left feeling slightly detached from the decision-making of the squad working around you.

In multiplayer, Terrorist Hunt is still there though, allowing a four player combat option but it's no secret that all the energy of the game's design has been in creating a co-op two player.

For some this might feel like a mere tweak of the original but this is leaps and bounds beyond for first-timers to the franchise. There's still the exemplary tactical combat here that the series is known for, set against a vivid and visceral backdrop of terrorist threats with a cinema-worthy storyline. The Rainbow Six boys just go from strength to strength and this title proves it.

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