'TOM CLANCY'S RAINBOW SIX VEGAS'

'TOM CLANCY'S RAINBOW SIX VEGAS'
(Ubisoft) for Xbox 360, PC
Genre: Shooter; Rating: M
Grade: A
Direct your squad to the door, assess the situation via a spy camera and then choose your infiltration method (use the flashbang, or the frag grenade?). These are just some of the heart-pounding decisions and scenarios you will encounter in Ubisoft's amazing "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas."
Whether you are rappelling down the side of a high-rise casino overlooking the Las Vegas Strip or canvassing the multiple casino floors filled with slot machines and craps tables, this is a tactical shooter that will truly blow you away. Just as Microsoft has helped redefine tactical shooters with its "Gears of War," "Rainbow Six" also takes it up a notch in a different manner.
"Gears of War" had a more post-apocalyptic setting, but "Rainbow Six" has a much more realistic, modern setting that is richly detailed and beautifully rendered. Most shooters have you doing all the dirty work in rundown office buildings or jungle set pieces. Here, you get the real feel of what urban-assault tactics would be like in a major city like Las Vegas, where details in all the casinos are amazingly reproduced.
There are some superb online and offline multiplayer modes here as well. There's no denying it: "Rainbow Six Vegas" is a major shot of adrenaline for this franchise, and it sets a high bar for the competition. A must-buy for Xbox 360 or PC owners.
--Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard
'COLLEGE HOOPS 2K7'
(2K Sports) for Xbox 360, PlayStation 2
Genre: Sports; Rating: E
Grade: A-
A constant complaint about college basketball video games is that they are merely ports of that particular company's NBA game with college arenas and jerseys substituted for pro players.
But this changes with "College Hoops 2K7" by 2K Sports. When you load and play the game, you get the sense that a real college experience is being provided.
Yes, this does play a whole heap like "College Hoops 2K6," and it does have a lot in common with "NBA 2K7," so anyone who has experience with those games should glide right in without worry. But it's also easy to see where the time was spent to create a more collegiate atmosphere.
You can create crowd chants -- which is really fun to do, although it's too "family friendly" and won't allow you to create rollicking chants ragging on your biggest rivals. And the legacy modes give you deep control over coaching moves both on and off the court.
Shelling out the money for a new college hoops game may be a hard decision considering that "2K6" just came out last spring, but those who do will find plenty of new content and enjoyment in the new release.
--Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard
'FINAL FANTASY III'
(Square Enix) for DS
Genre: Role-playing; Rating: E
Grade: B+
This role-playing game is out from the mothballs, but not without some fanfare.
What Square Enix has done is take one of its earlier chapters in the "Final Fantasy" saga and retool it for the DS. In doing so, it has introduced a whole new audience of gamers to perhaps the most successful RPG franchise ever created, and made a game that is probably the most robust RPG the DS has ever had.
The plot is negligible since this is a retread of a previously released game. Four friends take to the countryside, encounter friends and foes, do battle and ... yada yada yada.
But while the themes are pretty standard, the depth is a real treat, as you realize you are playing a console game in a handheld unit.
More use of the DS's top screen would have been nice, but it's a minor quibble.
This game offers nostalgia for "Final Fantasy" fans and new life for younger gamers searching for a more vigorous RPG for the DS. Not picking it up would be a silly mistake.
--Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard