The game takes place on an island called Skira, which is based on the real life island of Kiska in both detail and terrain, off the coast of Russia. Chinese forces have invaded and it's up to you to drive them out. At your disposal: over 50 vehicles, over 75 weapons, and some help from above in the form of air support and artillery. While I mostly used a scoped weapon the whole time (trust me, distance between you and your enemy is your best friend in this game), you have access to everything from shotguns to mortars to pistols.

While the game does have variable difficulties, two things remain: one: a kill will generally result after two or three shots max, most of the time it only takes one, that goes for both you and the enemy and two: distance is your friend. The higher difficulties remove certain HUD information such as the amount of health and ammo you have, and the game removes check points as well. At the lowest difficulty, the game will save itself every few minutes, meaning that while you may still be taken down in one shot, you won't have to backtrack that much. At the highest difficulty, there won't be any checkpoints (and the levels are huge, lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to complete), meaning you may make it smoothly for 45 minutes only to have a sniper take you out right at the end and force you to start all over.

The graphics are really good on the PC version however I found the console versions to lack the detail that the PC textures had, however it is to be expected (keep in mind this was originally a PC game and was ported to the consoles). If you ever played the first game, you'll know that the game is based more on a realistic war simulation as opposed to eye candy that doubles as a video game. The audio is very good and while I expected that the developers may had gone ahead and used ultra realistic gunshots, I was relieved when I realized they had punched up each sound and had that added bass that really makes you feel like you're shooting a gun when all you're doing is clicking a mouse.

The AI is smart, not human smart, but really close; it is also really dumb at times. While the enemy will flank you and use any tool it has to take you down, you get the feeling that sometimes you are invisible to them. This is especially true at night and while I understand it's dark outside, they have access to the same night vision abilities that you have access to use. That said, when the AI sees you, you best be on your toes and ready to shout out orders to take cover. Being anywhere within 100 meters of an enemy is fairly close range and will get you killed left and right. I tried to keep my distance and found that 150-200 meters was a comfortable range to spot out the enemies and either A: route your squad around the enemy, hoping they don't notice you slip by, or B: shoot the shit out them and hope they all get downed before they spot you.

The tactical side of things are where this game really shines. The game manages to marry the in-depth squad controls of games like GRAW2 with the gritty realism of ArmA. Squadmates will realistically take cover and retreat if need be, and will spot out enemies and take them out if possible. Your squad AI is smart enough to allow you to go through the whole game without having to fire a single shot from your own gun.

The game includes a few multiplayer modes. The meat and potatoes of the multiplayer modes is the co-op. The whole game can be played with either your buddies or AI mates or a mixture of the two. There are also 2 more traditional team multiplayer modes that are 16 vs 16. While it's nice to see the co-op mode included, the 16 vs 16 competitive mode seemed like a throw in to appease COD converts.

The game is definitely a pick up for any fans of tactical shooters. While it's not as arcade-y as R6V2 or COD4, it's not meant to be. The game will draw comparisons to the original Rainbow 6's, as an objective is presented and how you do it is up to you and you alone; run and gun, sneak around, or take out from afar, the choice is yours. The game is best played (and meant to be played) on the PC, as the mouse provides a much more accurate shooting experience than using an analog stick, however the game is also available as a fairly good port on both the Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles.