Maybe you’d have thought that the tension might drop out once you’d devised a perfect strategy, but not so. Just like real life, some of these terrorists are smart - performing flanking maneuvers of their own. And to make things worse, every time you reload a checkpoint, the enemies respawn in different places making their movements highly unpredictable. It’s this simple feature that adds incredible replay value to the game’s online Co-op modes. You never get bored.

If Rainbow Six has any major weaknesses, it’s arguably in its similarity to Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 and in an underwhelming storyline. Depending on how you feel about Tom Clancy plotlines, you might not be too surprised that it revolves around eastern-European terrorists, a scheme to blow up the US and something about Mexico. There are no cutscenes to speak of, because all the storyline is relayed through a small window on your HUD. Maybe it’s for the best though, because this game is more about action than words.

Disappointingly, the game begins rather flatly in Mexico, the exact same setting as GRAW 2. But it’s an entirely different story once you arrive in Vegas. In fact, it’s difficult to imagine how Ubisoft could have found a more electrifying and varied setting based on the real world. Flying over the strip for the first time in your helicopter is nothing short of a majestic spectacle. The city lights sparkle on for miles as the unsuspecting people swarm about below. And as if it wasn’t already dramatic enough, casinos soon start blowing up. Although the PS3 is capable of so much more, this is still an example of crisp, highly polished graphics with some superb art direction.

Campaign mode packs plenty of drama into its six huge missions. There’s never a dull moment, especially if you crank the game up to realistic difficulty. In this mode, you can die in just a single hit, something that will prepare you well for playing online. The multiplayer in Vegas is a little like SOCOM’s, in that it’s more enjoyable as a team game. You can hook up with up to 16 players and battle through eight adversarial modes, including Capture the Flag and King of the Hill-style variants. The excellent level design and cover system ensures that this is one of the strongest examples of team-play FPS since Counter-Strike. Online Co-op against AI-controlled enemies is also hugely enjoyable and there’s never a dull moment - something that can’t be said of most of today’s shooters.