Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas

Casino Royale with cheese

Still, it's by no means the definite article, and there's still tangible room for improvement for the inevitable follow-up next year. The chief 'problem' is the fact that it's just not that interesting to have to fight through numerous casinos. One is fine, two is stretching it, but three? In what is a fairly short-ish campaign (set over six acts, lasting 8-10 hours), the game really needed a better premise than having to duke it out among fruit machines, neon lights, golden statues and roulette tables. There's enough variety elsewhere for it to not be a real deal-breaker, but Ubisoft stretches the whole Casino locale beyond novelty. Was it really that essential to the premise?

As it demonstrated with the brilliant-but-flawed GRAW single player campaign, Ubisoft still hasn't quite worked out what constitutes an acceptable distance between checkpoints. Most of the time Vegas gets it absolutely spot-on, but on a few notable teeth-grinding occasions it will suddenly demand the player stays alive for an unexpectedly long time through numerous blistering, unpredictable sections. With the new recharging health system, such instances are mercifully rare, but when you've repeated the same section 10, 15 times and have to repeat 10 or more minutes of painstaking progress, it's on the cusp of pad-bouncingly annoying. On a related note, playing the game on a standard definition TV instantly made the game about 50 per cent harder, due to not being able to see your enemies very clearly. But that's another story altogether.

One note solo

You could also argue that Rainbow Six Vegas sticks rather too rigidly to one specific gameplay style throughout. Ok, so the extra emphasis on outdoor gameplay makes for a refreshing change to clearing out office complexes, but there are no memorable gameplay curveballs of note to break up the action. Even Lockdown with its Sniper sections tried to change the gameplay emphasis, so it's slightly disappointing to see the game's focus stay the same for almost the entire game.

If you want to get really nitpicky over what is a generally lovely looking game, you might well notice that it's officially the reddest game ever. Whether it's the neon, or just an artistic decision, it's the sort of game that makes you wonder if there might be something wrong with your TV. But do not adjust your set! Equally odd - and equally unimportant - is the realisation that Ubisoft still can't seem to make a Rainbow Six game with even vaguely realistic looking NPCs. Given how great the main character and his squaddies look, you'd expect better. We're not expecting spot-on human likenesses, but there's something slightly freakish-looking about all of the hostages you meet in the game - not just in terms of their weird expressionless faces, but their odd, simplistic animations. One day we'll stop having to reference silly things like this, and it'll be a glorious occasion.

As for the multiplayer - it's once again a great way to while away some uncomplicated online hours in all the usual competitive and collaborative ways. New this year is the ability to create your own online avatar using the new Xbox Live Vision camera add-on and the long-established but painfully under utilised Digimask technology. By simply tweaking the lighting conditions and posing for one face-on and one side-on mugshot, the game spits out a remarkably accurate representation of your mush in a matter of a few minutes. From there you can apply a few 'modifications' to your appearance, adding face paint, scars and all manner of scary additions that would frighten Gene Simmons himself. The main drawback is that Digimask's tech still can't really 'do' hair as such, so you end up getting a fair idea of what you'd look like with a short crop, which is interesting in itself. Still, it's a damned fine effort, and means that whenever you go online, people can actually see that it's you - especially useful if you're playing co-op or fancy being able to fully identify the person you're shooting between the eyes in adversarial matches.

Playable, as ever, over split screen (up to four players), system link and online (for up to 16 players), you get a full complement of modes to cater for just about every kill-based whim you might have, along with ten maps for most modes (seven for Attack & Defend). Sharpshooter provides ye olde deathmatch thrills in a free-for-all most-kills-wins spree, Survival is Last Man Standing by another name, while the remaining four adversarial modes put the emphasis on teamwork. First up is the objective-based Attack & Defend, where, literally one team defends an objective point while other attacks it, then there's Retrieval, a CTF variant where each team must race to nab biohazard cannisters and take them back to their base, while Team Sharpshooter and Team Survival are pretty self-explanatory. All modes are available in ranked or unranked 'player' matches, with points earned contributing to your overall rank. As you rank up, you can unlock new weapons and equipment to help give you the edge in combat.

Where Rainbow Six Vegas inevitably comes alive online is when you play it in co-op. If you fancy playing through the story mode, you can choose one of the 20 maps in any part of the campaign and enjoy it with up to three other friends - with the ability to reserve private slots (which also applies to all the other modes, helpfully). The less connected Co-op Terrorist Hunt mode (also available in single player, remember) lends itself better to online play, with players tasked with clearing any given map of all the terrorists within a specific time limit. Simply put, the game is an absolute joy to play online, with a simple set up procedure, sensible non-retarded players, no lag in evidence (and a connection meter to alert you to everyone's status) and a real sense of genuine co-operation and teamwork, which is exactly how it should be. The only drawback is when you find yourself eliminated early on and forced to spectate while the (potentially long) match plays out. Typically, though, patience and care removes any real likelihood of that. Although there's nothing especially revolutionary about this year's online portion of Rainbow Six, it still ranks as one of the most enjoyable online games console gaming has to offer, with a great selection of modes, some excellent maps and even the opportunity to earn some achievement points without having to be some sort of online gaming junkie.