Reviews// Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Xbox 360)

Talking of cheating, I have to draw your attention to the fact that quitting out of a game in progress causes you to lose XP.

Because there is a penalty for leaving a game in progress, unscrupulous hosts who feel they are "pwning" can start a game immediately upon re-entering the lobby, thereby preventing you from leaving. If a host feels that his team has an overwhelming advantage, doing this virtually ensures another victory and, also by keeping at least some people in the lobby, the host's XP remains un-penalised.

Overall the rework of the frontend is a success. However, I would like to see freer access to the equipment screen. It is locked out in certain circumstances, for example when you're dead and out of respawns or when you’d really like to be able to change your equipment, because obviously the stuff you had didn’t work.

Among the new weapons you might want to get at are:

- Kalashnikov AKS-74u (updated AK-47 assault carbine, folding buttstock, fires 5.45mm round)

- Barrett M468 (M4 based assault carbine, fires 6.8mm round, uses M16/M4 lower reciever)

- Royal Ordinance/H&K L85A2 (Britain’s bullpup assault rifle in its second incarnation)

- FN FNC (Belgium’s 5.56mm assault carbine)

- Steyr Aug Para (Austrian submachinegun based on the Aug A3, but operates via blowback)

- Type 05 (Chinese bullpup submachinegun with 50 round clip)

- Mossberg Tactical 500 (tactical shotgun, quicker ROF than Franchi Spas 12)

- Accuracy International L96 Arctic Warfare (new British sniper rifle)

However, the A.C.E.S. system is not without its flaws and frustrations. For example, as I have mentioned previously, the easiest class to rank up in is Marksman. This makes Marksman points less desirable - especially after gaining all 20 ranks in that class.

For example, I kill a turret-gunner, which should give me +2 Assault points…but hold on, I killed him at long range. So, even though I already have all the Marksman points I need, it gives me the +3 Marksman for the long-range kill rather than the +2 Assault I need for the turret-gunner. It just makes it that much harder to rank up in Assault without actually trying explicitly to rank up in Assault.

In the multi-player, Marksman points are harder to come by. So, if anyone ever asks you how to get lots of Marksman points, it’s a lead-pipe cinch he’s never played much Story mode. This is not a theory, I have already proved it empirically.

The graphics are definitely an upgrade from the previous incarnation. I could go on and on about textures and pixels and whatnot and quite possibly sound exactly like I know what I’m on about, but suffice it to say that the game suffers few noticeable flaws, aside from the occasional (it happened to me once) guy walking though a closed door or gun peeking though a door or wall.