I bought Shadow Ops: Red Mercury today (when am I going to learn to rent first at Blockbuster?) and we gave it a quick go on XBOX Live! tonight.  After playing it for about an hour, here’s what I’ve found:

The pros:

·         Pretty fast action

·         You can speak to your opponents all the time, making smaller games more fun than in Rainbow Six 3

·         Fantastic sound – this one is THX certified; if nothing else, just throw the game in and listen to the THX logo sound

·         You can pick up health and ammo, allowing you to play “longer”

·         You can jump

·         You can melee attack

·         There are a number of different controller options to choose from

·         Maps are pretty big, and with the ability to jump, you can find some interesting places to ambush your opponents

The cons:

·         Arcade-style action – you can pick up health and ammo, body actions are a tad weak, etc.

·         Extremely long load times - no wonder the default is 20 minute games!

·         It doesn’t remember controller configuration between maps

·         Inability to simply “replay” the current map

·         Typically poor XBOX Live! lobby UI

·         Weapon selection is generally poor

·         Way too hard to kill someone with headshots

·         Shotgun is way over-powered at close range

·         Sniper rifle is way-over powered at long range

·         All the other guns seem relatively under powered

·         No small maps for 4 or less players – expect to run around (a lot)

·         It’s $49

Summary?  Rainbow Six 3 still rules for a first-person tactical shooter in my book.  The Clancy games continue the trend for realism.  Shadow Ops is nice for a change of pace, but I still wonder what the folks are doing who play test these games?