Las Vegas is such a cool setting for an FPS, so I can recommend it on that alone, but the best part about this game has to be the Co-Op A.I buddy's, commanding them, etc. One shot up close can kill you instantly. It's tough for an FPS campaign. Annoyingly, you cannot run in this game, which is ridiculous and does hamper the experience but on sale, I can definitely recommend it, BUT, if you can only chose between 1 and 2, go buy Vegas 2 instead. Because at least you can run.

Short, sweet, and definitely Rainbow. Commanding your units is pretty smooth, gunplay feels good, lots of weapon and attachment options, and while the overall story isn't as complicated a Splinter Cell game it was still pretty driving.

The first level is an absolute slog, I will not sugarcoat it, it really sucks. They take away your squad and leave you with nothing but a pistol, stick you in extremely tight quarters, and all the enemies have for you to pick up are shotguns. Especially terrible on realistic difficulty, made even worse by the hidden inaccuracy penalty while scoped and basically funneling you into loud engagements. I almost dropped the game (or at least the difficulty) over this. But once you get past this they give you a fresh squad and all is right in the world. Really don't understand these squad based games that think its fun to take away the core mechanic of the game. I digress, game picks up a lot once you're actually in Vegas and you understand how to properly use your squadmates.

Small complaints include some soft-lock oversights, especially regarding AI pathing (they get stuck sometimes and can't get out). AI generally being either John Wick or a Stormtrooper (friendly and otherwise). Lack of replayability unless you have a friend, this is kind of a one-and-one, go play Vegas 2 it's better anyways. Some specific interactions are kind of clunky, like you can't order your squadmate if one is down. If you die you can't be revived (why is every one of these one step behind Republic Commando, seriously). There's some serious issues with save points, sometimes saves occur right before a weapon crate, sometimes after, causing you to have to redo any kit switches or re-armaments every time you die. I chose to never change my weapons out as a result of this. Also your AI teammates cannot be re-kitted. The NV and HV seem to be very room dependent, as in whether the shaders are mild determines whether they function beyond a 5 meter radius. Some places they work splendidly and others they don't. I played through on Realistic and while I (the player) could generally guarantee whether or not taking a fight would kill me, my AI teammates seemed to be a bit of a crapshoot in that area. Sometimes they would breach a door and things would go fine, and sometimes breaching the same door would result in something totally different. Sometimes the combat puzzles even felt relatively unsolvable due to this, like I was just waiting for the right roll of circumstances to clear a room. Also save points seem to be very inconveniently spaced, requiring redos of certain very-long sections, which adds tension, but not in a good way. I did find that there were some things that were not explained or not used frequently to good effect.

The RoE and how your team responds to putting on silencers effectively creates four modes of engagement, which I'll briefly summarize. LoudLoud (no silencers, Assault) means highest damage, but most enemies in an area are immediately alerted of engagement. LoudQuiet (no silencers, Infiltrate) is same as last, but teammates won't shoot first, least used mode. QuietLoud (silencers, Assault) teammates will KoS, but because video game silencers, they won't really be heard by most enemies, very effective for spread out groups in the same encounter. QuietQuiet (silencers, Infiltrate) means teammates will not engage unless discovered, and will not be heard, lesser used mode since quiet wetwork will usually have your AI squadmates getting spotted and blowing your cover. Better to leave them somewhere and take out the singles yourself, then pull them in to breach later. Also I didn't know I could vault over half cover until the last two levels, the game never told me about it. But it's so infrequently available since most cover pieces are debris or too wide that it doesn't matter. Just weird that they even bothered to include it, the squad AI usually avoids doing it too since it means sacrificing aim, even if it means taking a longer route.

Anyways, can absolutely recommend if you're a fan of the genre and it's on sale, provided you also pick up Vegas 2. Story ends a bit abruptly and evidently isn't complete without the sequel.