Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas set its tactical shooter in Las Vegas and expanded the series' traditional emphasis on cover and squad control with a system for crouching behind corners and low obstacles, which brought the game to a wider audience without abandoning tactical room-clearing, fiber-optic camera reconnaissance under doors, and issuing orders to two Rainbow squadmates. Weapons could be fitted with stocks, sights, and other attachments unlocked through progress, letting players tailor their loadout to their own combat style just as in the console versions.

The PC version released after the console launches and carried over the same campaign and multiplayer maps as the Xbox 360 version, but this time with support for higher resolution and better graphical detail if the player's rig allowed it, including sharper weapon textures and casino and desert location environments. Mouse-and-keyboard controls also gave more precise aiming and faster reactions in firefights, which the series had traditionally been built around since its first PC entries, where precise aiming mattered more than reflex speed, including in team missions against multiple enemies at once. What it lacked, on the other hand, was the analog subtlety of leaning and peeking around corners that the gamepad offered on consoles, which was often more useful for gradually clearing rooms than the fast mouse movement better suited to open spaces and longer sightlines.

The multiplayer community on PC was initially smaller than on Xbox 360, where the game launched as one of the generation's first major online shooters, but thanks to the modding scene and the ability to host custom servers, the PC version eventually built its own group of loyal players who preferred mouse precision over a gamepad even in team modes. In terms of content, the port didn't differ significantly from the original and brought no exclusive missions or extra weapons compared to the Xbox 360 version.

Why play it: For players who prefer mouse precision and the ability to host their own servers – thanks to modding, the PC version built its own loyal audience over time despite a smaller starting community than on Xbox 360.