LAS VEGAS - Ubisoft used The Palms Casino to showcase the latest Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six game, which appropriately enough, is set in Sin City. The game, which ships for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, marks a lot of firsts for the franchise. For one thing, players control a brand new R6 team.

Ding Chavez, the hero of previous Rainbow games, has been promoted and is now in control of the entire Team Rainbow operation. Players will take control of a new three-man crew on the ground in the single-player experience. There's team leader Logan Keller, demolitions expert Mike Walter and recon expert Jung Park. Each soldier will have strengths and weaknesses, which will play into the strategy of eliminating terrorists. Walter packs a hulking MK 46 that sprays a lot of bullets but weighs him down, while Park's G36 offers precision targeting. Of course, arming your team before combat allows you to choose everything from guns to armor. There are over 30 weapons in the game. Rounding out the team is their eye-in-the-sky Joanna Torres, who provides updates from a chopper above Vegas.

The game's story, which Chadi Labbos, senior producer, Ubisoft, said unfolds with twists and turns like a season of Hollywood's hit TV show, "24," has the Rainbow team hunting down an international terrorist named Irena Morales. Rather than traveling around the globe to terrorist hotspots for missions, Rainbow Six: Vegas takes place in Sin City over a 24-hour period. Once in Vegas, the team finds a city under siege. Terrorists have taken over the city and are blowing up casinos. Ultimately, as the plot unwinds, the R6 team discovers that Morales is the mastermind behind this nefarious plan.

J.F. Poirier, associate producer, Ubisoft, said not everything is as it seems as the story unravels. The story will unfold through scripted events in-game. Players will see the destruction of the city in the chopper rides, as well as through the many windows that the fictional Vegas casinos provide.

"The story's an active part of the tension in this game," said Poirier. "Past Rainbow games used cinematics and mission briefings to tell the stories, with next generation consoles, we're able to do all of this in-game to keep the pace taut."

Mission objectives will be relayed through a picture-in-picture device at the top left hand corner of the screen. In-game events, including terrorists broadcasting threats on TVs in the casinos, will alert players of the plot, as well. In addition, eavesdropping on terrorists will unveil further details.

"The environments will speak volumes," said Poirer. "When the team enters a casino after thousands of people have fled amidst terrorist gunfire, the place will be a mess with purses and chips and overturned chairs and bullet holes in the walls."

The team will be able to trace the origins of the terrorists by examining the environment. A look at an elevator shaft might divulge how they entered the casino, for example. Dynamic music will also add to the game's tension along the way.