(Editor's Note: This review was originally posted on the pages of Gaming Nexus. You will find more reviews written by this author available on that site, but for now enjoy Cyril Lachel's take on Rainbow Six Vegas!)

I have an idea, let's completely forget Rainbow Six Black Arrow and Lockdown ever happened. Rainbow Six Vegas is a strong return for a series that has been marred by a few unfortunate misfires. With its exciting level designs, amazing graphics, easy control and robust online multiplayer modes, Rainbow Six Vegas proves to be one of the best games of the year. It's an amazing accomplishment that everybody should experience ... just as long as you can get over the enormously unsatisfying ending.

In Rainbow Six Vegas you take control of Logan Keller, the leader of a three-man counterterrorist team. The game initially starts you out in Mexico, but it won't take long before you're swept away to the colorful streets of Las Vegas, Nevada. As it turns out Vegas is the perfect backdrop for an exciting first-person tactical shooter, there are plenty of loud and colorful things blowing up all the time, there's a lot of diversity in the levels and it all feels authentic. And just as you start to get sick of the anything goes attitude of Vegas, you're transported to yet another state landmark that is just as exciting as the casinos.

But let's not get too ahead of ourselves yet, because Rainbow Six Vegas is a game worth savoring. This is a tactical squad-based shooter that rewards working as a team and calculating the right action for every situation. While that may sound slow and boring, Rainbow Six Vegas manages to offer just enough fast-paced action to keep traditional first-person shooter fans happy.

Early in the game you are on the hunt for Irena Morales, a terrorist hiding out in Mexico smuggling unsavory types across the Northern border. As the trail to Irena winds down we learn about a massive assault on the city of Las Vegas, and just like that you're off to bright lights and high stakes action. As you might guess from the name, Rainbow Six Vegas is all about infiltrating casinos, flushing out bombs in clubs, and generally keeping the streets of Las Vegas safe.

While the story isn't going to win any awards for originality, it does do a good job of taking us from one interesting location to another. Anybody that has been to the real Las Vegas already knows that there's a new experience around every corner, and the developers of this newest Rainbow Six mission took the best of the city and crammed it into one amazing single player experience. You'll be visiting several different casinos along the way, each with their own look, style and theme. Thankfully this carefully crafted Las Vegas is more than flashing lights and promises of big money; you get to take the tour of the city that includes underground tunnels, office buildings, building tops and VIP parties.

The missions aren't quite as diverse as the locations, but they still do an excellent job of adding to the urgency of the situation. A lot of the tasks involve you locating a person, disarming a bomb, clearing the area of terrorists and getting your butt back to the extraction point. Thankfully you can go about performing these missions in a number of different ways. For instance, you will often have the choice between sneaking in behind the enemies by way of the stairs, using your rope to jump down the side of a building and then bursting in, jumping down a fast rope to surprise them, or using your backup team to do all of heavy combat. Along with the game's unpredictable AI, the ability to play these missions multiple ways really adds to the longevity of this title, this is the kind of game you actually want to go back and play through even after you've completed its lengthy story mode.