Rainbow Six Vegas
In Rainbow Six Vegas The fate of the free world once more teeters on the brink, and its up to you and your team to make your way through neon decadence and tipsy tourists to make things safe for freedom, democracy and Moms good ol apple pie. Youll need to defend well-known locations such as Fremont Street and the Strip against a new level of terrorism as Vegas lies under siege.

Tactics are going to play a major part in your success as you manoeuvre a new team through a multiple path environment, with each team member having their own specialities and skills. Plenty of high-tech goodies (such as snake cams to tag your enemies for your team-mates) are on offer to aid you in your planning and execution, whilst your team-mates utilise their expertise to make tactical suggestions such as hacking computers and smashing through walls.

Anyway...for a series not renowned for its graphics, Vegas looks really good. The city-scapes are nothing short of stunning, with the developer really going to town using the next-generation specs for realistic backdrops and gorgeous lighting. Similarly, the level design on offer is superb, with nice little details like slot machines raining out quarters and blood effects, well, to die for.

Ubisoft is really injecting some life back into this franchise and were glad to see it. Vegas, Baby!!!

Splinter Cell Double Agent
The general double-agent concept fits perfectly with the Splinter Cell series, which has always had its roots firmly in the espionage and stealth genre. And lets face it, if you are a double agent, best not to go drawing attention to yourself.

So once more, you take the role of Sam Fisher. But this time, instead of stealthing around in black as part of the NSA Black Ops agency and taking on the bad guys, you go undercover with a terrorist organisation and take them on from within. Sneaky.

Sams deep cover is set up by the intricate staging of a number of bank robberies and murders, the result of which is Sam ending up in jail with a terrorist organisation member. Together they break out of prison, and Sam is successfully inserted, as the spy types say.

This undercover-brother schtick is not really a case of bandwagon jumping - its an opportunity for Ubisoft to inject some drama into the series, as you are faced with moral dilemmas as your straight down the line good guy has to maintain his cover among the evil terrorist scum.

As the first next-generation outing for the SC series, Double Agent looks incredible - and adds those touches were coming to expect from the 360 - like a dynamic weather system that makes visibility variable during the game - adding tension to the already nerve-racking missions as your objective flickers in and out of view. And because this is all dynamic, the next time you play through the experience can be subtly different.

Double Agent will see you traverse the globe, with levels as far spread as Russia, the Congo, New Orleans and Shanghai...so pack your toothbrush. You wont have much other gadgetry at your disposal, at least initially, as you have to maintain your cover.

Map size in Double Agent is considerably increased - with the smallest map in the new game being larger than the biggest from the previous game, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.