Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas [PS3]

On the PS3, Vegas exhibits few graphical improvements over the 360 version. Nothing wrong with that, of course -- it still stands out as one of the best-looking shooters around. It's the logical procession of the graphical muscle in Advanced Warfighter and the ambience in the Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia games. Although the settings are mostly indoors, the maps are large and richly detailed. The game opens with a prologue in a dusty Mexican border town that serves as a visual palette cleanser. But then the action smash cuts to the streets of Las Vegas, full of color and light and fire and product placement.

By setting the action in Las Vegas, the artists have license to get crazy, throwing into the levels all manner of glittering things waiting to be shattered by an errant bullet. Slot machines spitting out coins is just the tip of the delicate glass and crystal iceberg. At one point, there's a firefight in a multi-storied indoor atrium, with the Rainbow team and terrorists trading fire from across multiple balconies. In between are hanging ornate light fixtures that are there for no other reason than to be shot up. And because this is Vegas, you'd expect this sort of gaudy display of glasswork and color. Short of having wall-sized fish tanks that spill out fish and water, this is as advanced as gun-induced mayhem gets, easily on par with F.E.A.R.

The levels are linear, unwinding in a predetermined sequence. But they aren't laid out as corridors so much as linked tactical challenges, each wide with possibility. It's largely dynamic, but there are enough bits of scripting to keep it interesting. There's nothing like a half dozen terrorists rappelling in on your to keep you on your toes. Which raises the question, why are terrorists rappelling into someplace where they're supposedly holed up? Never mind that. There's plenty of amazing gunplay going on before your eyes to keep you occupied.

Online, Rainbow Six Vegas delivers an impressive suite of options. Indeed, you could almost be forgiven for thinking you were playing the 360 version on Xbox Live, and that's high praise. The persistent character development system of unlocks from the 360 is here, so as you play online you'll gradually gain access to more and more specialized weapons, armor, and other kit. Invites and messaging are also supported.

Five new maps join the original 15. At its original release, Vegas quickly became one of the most played games on Xbox Live, where it remains to this day, and given the sparse selection of online games on the PS3 you can safely expect it to become extremely popular. If you're feeling the need for a robust PS3 online experience, Rainbow Six Vegas has everything you need.

It's a real pleasure to see Rainbow Six given such royal treatment, particularly if you're a fan of the series. But even if you just like gunplay, this is a great time for shooter fans, whose embarrassment of riches just got even more embarrassing. At last, Rainbow Six is back among the best of the best.