These days the name Tom Clancy is just as synonymous with a certain type of video game as it is with a certain type of novel. And, by and large, in both cases you can be fairly sure of what you’re getting before you’ve read a single page or played a single level.

On those terms, Rainbow 6: Vegas 2 doesn’t disappoint. It’s the second title in the Rainbow 6: Vegas series (rather than the sixth title in the Rainbow: Vegas 2 series) and puts the player in the role of a member of an elite black ops anti-terrorist squad (so far so Clancy).

The twist is that, in this case, the battleground on which the majority of the action takes place is not some identikit Middle Eastern or eastern European backwater, but America’s very own Sin City, Las Vegas.

Unfortunately, this supposedly unique setting is somewhat spoiled by the fact that the previous Rainbow 6: Vegas game also took place there, and if you’ve already played that version you won’t find much more that’s new here.

As before, you and your computer-controlled squad mates will find yourselves covertly sneaking around casinos, rappelling off rooftops, poking cameras under doorways and taking out the bad guys throughout the fairly predictable single-player campaign.

The game comes into its own a little more if it is played online along with other human opponents and team-mates. A good range of familiar multiplayer game types and co-operative modes make this a worthwhile purchase if you’re already a fan of shooter games.

We would, however, warn prospective players that, in addition to the relatively high computer requirements (3GHz Pentium 4, 1GB memory, 7GB hard disk space), Vegas 2 suffers from some annoying graphical and gameplay bugs. Hopefully a downloadable patch will have fixed these by the time you read this.

PEGI age rating: 16+

Vista compatibility: Yes