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Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
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The non-expansion pack we've all been waiting for.

Sin City has never been sweeter. That's something you might hear from a friend returning from a party binge, or perhaps from a friend wearing the markings of headset hair. Don't worry, that's typical for anyone who sits in front of Rainbow Six Vegas 2.

Not continuing the story from it's prequel, Vegas 2 begins five years prior to the original, placing players in control of Bishop, former mentor of both previous protagonist Logan Keller and antagonist, former Rainbow member and general bastard Gabriel Novak. Amusing is the fact that one can never be too old to be a Rainbow operative.

The blatant in-game advertising was funny at first, but after twenty seconds of MLG signs everywhere, it got old.

Following a partially ruined first mission by Novak, the second mission begins just as Vegas 1 placed Logan in Mexico, keeping both games tied directly together time-wise like a LOST episode. It was difficult to comprehend what exactly was happening because it required knowledge of what happened in the previous title, as well as when you are, which for anyone who finds that Wednesday's feel like Thursday's occasionally knows how frustrating it can be.

What Vegas 2 brings is exactly the same as we had before, with touch-ups and fixes that make gameplay more fluid and dynamic. Ubisoft has done a remarkable job on their Rainbow Six titles ever since they hit the Xbox console in full-title form (expansion packs not included), and the same holds true. Little has changed in this installment.

So little, in fact, that if Vegas and Vegas 2 were released simultaneously and the box art didn't explicitly state which game was which, the only telltale sign would be the ability to run in Vegas 2. Graphics, gameplay and pretty much everything else are identical with a few minor exceptions.

Squad commands once again come in the form of D-pad or voice commands, though the voice function hasn't improved at all.

The biggest change, other than the ability to run which improves gameplay tremendously for small things like running from grenades or finding cover quickly, is the experience points that carry over from single tomultiplayer . Following Call of Duty 4's example, points racked up in any form of play add to a total experience point meter, which opens up new weapons and armor to use. There are also in-game achievements named A.C.E.S., which are accomplishments like close-quarters kills orheadshots that give large sums of points. This made the mediocre single player, most of which took place outside the casino sadly, not feel like a waste of time because even though Rainbow Six has always been about themultiplayer aspect, everything you do counts.

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