Arm yourself with a variety of pistols, shotguns, machine guns and sniper rifles; just leave room for the laser sights, scopes and extended clips that can better your chances for success. Should you be more apt to protect than project, there are also options for heavy and light armors, each with different densities and configurations. There are even color options to help you better blend in with your surroundings. The player starts with basic weaponry and a few options for customization, but as ranks are earned primarily through experience, don’t expect the whole assortment to magically open up for you. You have to go through A.C.E.S. first before the good stuff becomes available.

A.C.E.S., or Advanced Combat Enhancement and Specialization, rewards one for doing what they do best. So if you’re more apt to kill at close range you’ll unlock pistols, if you like distance killing, sniper rifles, and so on. The idea works well, although most players will unlock a little from each group out of necessity. The best part about A.C.E.S. is that everything and anything you gain in one mode carries over into the other modes, so play multiplayer all you want, you’ll still unlock weapons and gain experience, and if online isn’t your thing, anywhere else will be just fine. Very awesome indeed, Ubisoft!

What would a Rainbow Six game be without multiplayer? Well, a damn fine single player experience, that’s what! Still, I can’t imagine a release without it, and Vegas 2 does well to keep this proud tradition up with both online and LAN options so you can match wits with people in the same room or across the country. Two new adversarial modes, in addition to 10 new close quarters maps (bringing the map count to 13) and jump in co-op play, give this puppy some long legs. Throw 16 competent human players in the same map and you’ve got some tense firefights on your hands. Just watch where you lob that grenade.

Sometimes you don’t need to fix something to make an impression, and Rainbow Six has shown itself to be a pretty consistent series to support this argument. Some of those who consider themselves a bit more hardcore in the tactical department may find the forgiving nature of the game a departure from past offerings, but there’s good fun to be had here. With that said let’s stack up and get an assessment of the situation.