If you felt a little cheated by the cliffhanger ending of the original Rainbow Six Vegas, you may be surprised, frustrated perhaps, to find out that Vegas 2 doesn’t pick up immediately where the previous game left off. In fact, it’s set before, during, and after the events of the first game.

The opening level acts as a game-setting prologue, taking place five years before the rest of the story. You play as a new character known simply as “Bishop” who can be customised to your liking. This includes setting up your own armour, clothes and camouflage as well as deciding on whether you want to play as a male or a female.

Anyone familiar with Vegas 1 will recognize this from the multiplayer mode, and essentially it’s the same system, only now you use the same character both online and off. It’s only one of a bevy of features new to the game, ranging from a re-worked cooperative mode to a handy new sprint mechanic.

Anyone who hasn’t played Vegas 1, or tactical shooters in general, may find the game initially pretty tough. After the opening level the difficulty quickly increases to the point where you feel death is an ever-present possibility.

While this adds to the intensity of the game, and forces you to play a little more conservatively, even in comparison to other tactical shooters, it does seem as though the developers have created the game with experienced Vegas players in mind. Yet after a few levels spent adjusting to the difficulty the game is very playable, and in fact the increased difficulty adds to the drama and intensity of the whole package.

As mentioned above a new sprint function has been included in the game. While this sounds like a minor upgrade it actually has a real impact on the game play. In comparison to the original the game now feels a whole lot quicker, as the time spent traveling around the maps is greatly reduced. Used correctly, sprinting can be a lifesaver when diving from one piece of cover to another, or putting distance between yourself and the enemy so you can reload your weapon.

For every second gained through sprinting however, there’s at least a second lost due to the stupidity of your A.I. teammates. Jung and Michael return from the first game and they are somewhat of a mixed blessing. They are devastatingly effective in combat and can clear most rooms without you setting so much as a foot in the doorway.

But, when moving across areas devoid of enemies they quickly turn from killing machines to a major hindrance. If you don’t micromanage their every move they all too easily become stuck in small rooms or between objects that they can seemingly walk right by, such as parked cars. I also experienced a few issues with them not responding to my commands to launch grenades into rooms full of enemies. It took five or six repeated attempts to get them to react at all, with my own character dying in process.

Graphically I found it incredibly difficult to notice any big improvements over Vegas 1. Some textures on walls and floors look impressive, and the way blood splatters from enemies is extremely satisfying, but generally the graphics look dated and are somewhat repetitive. Call of Duty 4 raised the bar of expectation for modern day shooters and Rainbow Six Vegas 2 doesn’t come anywhere near it.

On the other hand, the sound design throughout the game is excellent and does a far better job of drawing you into the game than the visuals do. Also, the music is remarkably varied, ranging from heavy electronic beats to dramatic intense classical pieces. As in the movies of Stanley Kubrick, there is just something so appealing about the juxtaposition of killing bad guys while listening to classical music.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 introduces a new experience system called A.C.E.S. (Advanced Combat Enhancement Specialization). Essentially this breaks down the type of experience you can acquire into three categories, based on the method used to take out your opponents. Marksman points are awarded for accuracy and range, CQB points for short range kills and use of gadgets (such as grenades), and assault points are gained for blasting enemies through cover.

As you gain experience in each category you will unlock new weapons specific to each. For example, levelling up your marksman rank will earn you new sniper and assault rifles, perfect for those long-range shots. While the system generally works well enough, it’s impossible to earn experience points in two sections for a single kill.

This means that if you shoot someone at close range with a headshot, you cannot earn both marksman points (for the headshot) and CQB points (for close range) at one time. Instead you will earn just one of these, chosen seemingly at random by the game. The true innovation with this system however, is that it encapsulates both the single and multiplayer elements of the game. This means the weapons and attire unlocked in single player are immediately available in the multiplayer, and vice-versa.

Of course Rainbow Six wouldn’t be the success it is today if it wasn’t for the strength of its multiplayer modes. Co-op play returns to the story mode, but not without it’s problems. While the co-op story now allows players to play through the entire campaign, including all the cut scenes and conversations, it only supports two players as opposed to the four-player support in the original Rainbow Six Vegas.

This seems like a step in the wrong direction as your team is now made up of to players the two A.I. characters that accompany you in the single player story. Only the host can control these two, which is extremely frustrating if the host is killed, as there is no one to give them commands. It would seem logical that in this situation the second player would be able to give orders to your team mates, this is not possible however, so they merely wait until the host has respawned.

Co-op terrorist hunt makes a welcome return with full four-player support. Even compared with the steeper difficulty of the story mode, the enemy A.I. in terrorist hunt can be brutal to the point where even thinking about playing on your own is ridiculous.

As for the adversarial multiplayer modes, there are now five match types to choose from, all supporting up to sixteen players. Joining Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are Team Leader, Total Conquest, and the self-explanatory Attack and Defend.

Team Leader is a squad-based game in which one member of each team is designated the leader. The objective is for each team to successfully get their leader to an extraction point. Sounds easy enough, right? The twist is that if your leader is killed your team can no longer respawn.

This means the leader normally takes a back seat to the action while your team either clears a path, or hunts down the opposing leader, giving your squad a distinct advantage. Victory can also be achieved by eliminating the opposition completely.

Total Conquest involves two teams struggling over three controls points spread across the map. Once a single team has control of all three points they must hold them for a set amount of time to achieve victory. As always the multiplayer modes in Rainbow Six is what is going to keep you coming back for more, and with thirteen maps there’s plenty to keep you occupied.

One last point to make on the multiplayer is that after every ranked match the game dumps you all the way out to the main menu. This is due to the fact that you cannot play ranked matches against the same group of players twice in a row, to prevent cheating. This is reasonable, but what is frustrating is that it would have made a lot more sense to put you back at the match selection menu rather than the title screen. A small gripe I know, but an annoying one.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is a fantastic game let down by the fact that it takes too few risks; it feels all too similar to the original game. The vast amount of content on offer means it’s a game with a huge amount of replay value, and the new multiplayer modes spice up an already established and much-loved part of the game.

Fans of the original Rainbow Six Vegas, and tactical shooters in general, will probably be able to look past its flaws and soak up its many strengths. Conversely, if you aren’t familiar with the previous game you may find it a little tough going early on, and even wonder what all the hype is about. In essence, this game is total fan service.