Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, from UbiSoft Montreal, ought to have anyone who played the original very excited; the silky-smooth tactical gameplay returns in this sequel, bolstered by new customization options, online modes, a new story and more user-friendly co-op support. It still sports a couple of rough patches in the technical realm, with buggy AI and semi-frequent slowdowns, but overall the return trip to Vegas is every bit as enjoyable as the first time - and then some.

Rainbow Six: Vegas closed with a big, fat "To Be Continued" cliffhanger. Those who were disappointed by this ending will be pleased to learn that closure awaits you at the end of Vegas 2. Even the tutorial mission, set five years before the events of the Vegas incident, illuminates some of the back story and motivations for both games' primary antagonist. Those who haven't played the original won't be lost as they try to follow the story, although a few subtleties might get innocently and uneventfully passed over.

One of the biggest changes in Vegas 2 comes with the new team leader, Bishop. While Logan was running through the fanciest casinos on The Strip, Bishop and his team were eliminating an army of terrorists in less touristy locations: warehouses, recreation centers, a library and even a Major League Gaming convention site! The key difference between Logan and Bishop is that Bishop can be whoever you want him... or her... to be (and to avoid confusion, Bishop will hereafter be referred to as a man.)

Bishop is completely customizable, even allowing Xbox 360 users to map their own faces to him via an Xbox Live Vision camera (which doesn't look very good, just like the first RSV). Players can outfit him with primary and secondary weapons, sidearms and gadgets, while his appearance can also now be customized for both the single player and multiplayer portions of the game, with additional articles of clothing and armor being unlocked as Bishop gains experience.

The game looks as great as ever, which you can think of this as a good thing, as the first Rainbow Six looked great and sported unprecedented graphics in 2006, or you can look at it as a bad thing, because it's now 2008 and developers are constantly pushing the power of the Xbox 360 to new heights. You'll hear people say "Zomg, tey shuld call it Rainbow Six Vegas 1.5." Idiots. It may look more or less the same as the first game, but it's a totally different experience that shouldn't be missed by fans of the original, fans of shooters, or fans of great games in general.

As you would expect, Vegas 2 features a terrific array of guns. You've your assault rifles, sub-machine guns, light machine guns, sniper rifles and shotguns. The riot shield also returns, giving you the option to hold up a riot shield in one hand and shoot around it with the pistol in your other hand. A range of pistols is available, from Glocks to Desert Eagles; it's got damn near every Call of Duty 4 gun and plenty more for good measure. You can then customize your gun to have a red dot sight, an ACOG scope, a straight laser sight so you can see where you're going to shoot, or you can just get a higher amount of bullets per magazine.

Experience can now be earned online and off, in any of Vegas 2's modes. Each enemy death - whether it's at your hands or an AI teammate's - adds to your XP total, which counts towards improving your rank, gradually unlocking more of the game's content and options as you continue to level up. Players with a save from the previous game on their hard drive also get an immediate set of unlocks to enjoy. You can gain experience in Single Player, Terrorist Hunt or Multiplayer, with a different amount of experience per kill in each of these modes, with more XP for the higher difficulties. You also get the same points for each kill that your teammates get, a great feature that ensures you're not competing with your teammates to stop them from stealing your kills!

Vegas 2 also features three different specializations, each of which levels up independently based on your style of play. Advanced Combat Enhancement Specialization - or A.C.E.S. - is defined by Marksman, CQB and Assault classes, and the manner in which terrorists are taken out determines how A.C.E.S. points are applied. Short range kills, for example, put some points into CQB, while long-range kills or headshots add to Marksman. Each earned A.C.E.S. level switches back and forth between a general XP bonus and a weapon unlock.

UbiSoft's Montreal studio has worked hard to improve the team AI performance for Vegas 2 and while the game isn't without its share of AI glitches - enemies and friendlies both have a tendency to occasionally get stuck - the overall improvement is noticeable. New features allow grenade orders to be issued for designated locations and teammates to automatically cover one another as they comply with move-to orders. Your squad-mates are usually great, but sometimes, like when rappelling, you have to tell each one of them to go down or up, then when they get to the top or bottom they don't always detach themselves, so you're left on your own until you realize that they're still hanging there.

The enemy AI has also improved, but not to the degree I would have liked. Even on the game's most difficult setting, Realistic, the terrorists tend to move in predictable patterns and seize too few flanking opportunities. They are grenade-happy however, especially with those momentum-killing flash bangs, while more distant opponents, such as snipers, are very good at getting the first shot off if they know where you're crouched as you prepare to deliver your own head shot. All in all the AI is great, but it isn't perfect. Enemies know how to take cover and throw grenades, and they provide a real challenge, but they can't seem to flank and sometimes they'll just come out in a big heap and you'll lay them all out.

Vegas 2 now offers full co-op support through the entire story (online and off), rather than the previous game's menu-based playlist setup for co-op engagements. What's more, adding a second human player still allows you to keep your AI teammates in the game; your squad simply expands to four. Only the first player can issue orders, but those two extra bodies come in especially handy when you're preparing to assault a room with three entry points. It's a little disappointing that you can't have four player co-op, as it gets pretty difficult at times, but your AI squad-mates get the job done.

Terrorist Hunt, a "kill all the terrorists" mode in which you choose the map, time limits, enemy density and overall difficulty, also supports co-op play. Unlike the campaign, up to four human players can participate in a Hunt. While this offers a good way to improve your stealth tactics, it also diminishes some of the replay value for this mode. You'll also notice that each time different terrorists are in different places, and they'll all take different routes each time to change things up. You'll never feel like you've seen all the ways a Terrorist Hunt can go down.

The online multiplayer is as great as it ever was. In addition to Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, Vegas 2 offers Attack and Defend, Team Leader and Total Conquest. Attack and Defend is an objective-based scenario that comes in three different varieties; one team looks for intel, tries to rescue and free hostages or plants a bomb, while the other team attempts to stop them. Team Leader designates one player on each team as the Leader. The goal is to either escort your Leader to the extraction point or to wipe out the other team in its entirety. Respawns are unlimited while the Leader still lives, but the flow halts if he or she goes down. Finally, Total Conquest requires either team to capture three different strategic points - satellite transmitters in the game - and hold them for thirty seconds. The catch is that all three must be held simultaneously for that period of time.

Despite a few minor flaws, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 stands as a considerable improvement over its already fantastic predecessor. The addition of customization options to the single player game - and allowing that progress to transfer over to all of the other gameplay modes - is by far the best enhancement, while the beefed up AI is as impressive as we'd hoped and the refined co-op play offers a great range of options. At base, both Vegas games are first-rate efforts, so this sequel does exactly what it's supposed to do; it delivers the same entertaining and addictive gameplay while correcting the majority of the flaws in the original.

Reviewed by James Fanciullo for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).