Rainbow Six: Vegas -- Final Opinion.

I have managed to work my way through the offline story mode, the online co-op story mode, and the online terrorist hunt mode of Rainbow Six: Vegas. What started out as a shiny glow around the game has now dulled and faded away. It's still a good game. But the flaws are there. The game seemed to have ironed out most of the flaws inherent to the genre. Things like the cheap spawning of enemies right on top of you. Enemies shooting through corners. Enemies with intermittent accuracy. The more you play the game the more you'll see of these flaws as they're all there. And it seems to be some of the game's modes fair better than others. The offline game seems to be rather stable. The online co-op mode starts to see some degradation. The online terrorist hunt levels seem to see the game break down the most. That's where it gets really bad. Especially the spawning of enemies right on top of you. I was hoping this generation was going to be the one where they fixed some of the issues that have been plaguing gaming the last couple of generations. They need to use that extra memory and load in every single enemy within a stage with the initial load. They all need to be in there and active. Instead they're continuing to fill the memory with graphical touches. They're making sure that the statue in the corner you don't look twice at has the most amazingly shiny and reflective texturing. It results in this ridiculously cheap spawning of enemies. Stop pushing the graphics and try working on the AI for a change? You know, improve the gameplay maybe? The game would be amazing if things like the spawning of enemies and their accuracy were just a tad bit more fair. The game's graphics are great. Maybe too much so. The game's sound design is awesome. A great use of surround sound. The music that cues in with the action is great. The environmental noises are great. Even though they're often annoying sounds like car alarms and the like, they're exceptionally well done and really put you in the moment. The voice acting is decent enough. Stereotypes abound. The story is standard stuff here and entirely irrelevant. The game plays the best with other people. The offline mode tends to lean towards boring with your AI teammates doing most of the work. The online modes are fun in spite of the cheap flaws. It's well worth playing even with the bits of frustration. I'm giving Rainbow Six: Vegas an 8.