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Rainbow 6: Vegas - Review - Xbox 360

by Steven Williamson on 20 December 2006, 14:24

Tags: Shoot 'em up

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The stakes are high...



The stakes are high when the world's most elite counter-terrorism unit enters Las Vegas, where over 36.7 million men, women and children visit each year. "Sin City," the home of the famous Las Vegas Strip, flashy hotels, high-rolling casinos and world-famous celebrities, becomes the setting for a terrorist threat of global proportions. What happens when one of the world's most famous cities is held hostage by terrorists?

In Rainbow 6: Vegas you take the role of the commander of Team Rainbow and your mission is to observe and assault the terrorists before they get a chance to destroy the gambler’s paradise. The action is frenetic, the visual impact of smashing through a window and rappelling to a casino floor is intoxicating and the scope for tactical play is immense. Rainbow 6: Vegas brings the best elements from previous games in the Rainbow series and fuses them together to create a game that is tactically superior and more visually stirring than many other games in the same genre. On top of that, the new functions, such as rappelling, coupled with the superb map design, ensure that this latest Rainbow instalment is an intense, shooter of the highest quality.

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After playing Gears of War, I thought that Epic Games had implemented a cover system that would take some beating, but Rainbow 6: Vegas appears on the scene only a few weeks after Epic’s title and introduces a superb cover system that other developers will surely attempt to re-create in future shooters.

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You can move into cover by holding the left trigger down and can shift up against walls, door frames, slot machines, cars and practically any static object. The great thing about the cover system is that - unless you have someone behind you or to the side - the terrorists won’t be able to hit you as long as you keep your head down. The result means that you’ll get caught up in some frantic cat and mouse battles, where you’ll bob your head over the bonnet of a car, shoot at the enemy until your clip runs out, duck down and watch the bullets go whizzing by as he takes his turn. If you’re pinned down you can even blind-fire so ,although you won’t see a targeting reticule, it’s an excellent way to take out enemies at close range.