Rainbow Six Vegas made an incredible splash on the Xbox 360 in 2006, setting the bar high for any other shooter to come in the future, especially it’s successor, Rainbow Six Vegas 2.  The Vegas series gave us an amazing cover system, one of the better player customization systems in the shooter genre, and the amazing ability to dangle from a rappel upside down to take down your opponents with your favorite pistol.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 picks up nearly a year and a half later than the original, and Ubisoft has taken a great formula and kept it going strong.  Vegas still has all of the elements that made you love the first one, but if you’re buying this year’s version in hopes of receiving an abundance of upgrades and features, you might be a little bit disappointed.

Whether playing online or offline, you are given the ability to earn XP, or experience points, through three major categories: Marksman, CQB, and Assault.  These three categories make up the A.C.E.S. system:

Marksman
- Kill a sprinter
- Long range kill
- Kill opponent using a rope
- Headshot

CQB
- Kill an opponent from behind
- Kill a visually impaired opponent
- Kill at short range

Assault
- Kill using C4 or explosives
- Kill a shielded opponent
- Kill through cover

The A.C.E.S. system allows you to level up your character to earn new weapons, pieces of uniform, and XP to level up even faster than normal.  There are a total of 20 levels in each of the three categories, and while the system is a great idea, we would have loved to see something similar to Call of Duty 4’s system where there are prestiges or levels, making it take more than a few days for dedicated gamers to fully level up.  All in all, the system is very well done, but could have stood for quite a bit more depth since most gamers will max the system out before they’re even within 5 ranks of becoming an Elite.

Rainbow Six Vegas left gamers with somewhat of a clinghanger, leaving them wanting more and anticipating the next version of the game.  The story is a rather quick one in the new version, with most gamers being able to finish it within a day if they have six to eight hours with a friend. Gamers will pick up the story as Bishop, rather than Logan, as you lead your unit into Sin City’s unknown to end the terrorist threat led by Alvarez Cabrero and close the book on Vegas terrorist threat once for all.