Cert: 16+
Platform(s): PS3, XBOX360
Genre: First-person shooter

Rainbow Six started out life as something very different. It was a squad-based first-person shooter - which is what it is now - but it was different, it was tactical. You mapped out a path for your squad to follow, you knew where the bad guys were and you took them out in a precision movement. It felt more like a training video than a game, but it was great.

Subsequent games have bowed to the pressure of market researchers, I fear, and the games have become very much action-based. That's not entirely bad, because they handle their new theme with gusto, and Rainbow Six: Vegas was a fun FPS.

If you are looking for closure from the annoyingly short and premature 'To Be Continued..' from Rainbow Six: Vegas, pay close attention. As a sequel this game disappoints; the game runs in concurrence with the first, and while it does have a conclusion, it took me a very long time to realise the link between the characters from the different games. You'd want to have just dropped the first game and picked up the second to be clued in.

A tidy little shooter all the same - just lacking the urgency of its predecessors.

Graphics: 3/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Replay Value: 4/5
Overall rating: 3.5/5

Review by Eamonn Cleary