After an absence of 7 Years the acclaimed Rainbow Six franchise from Ubisoft marks its return by making a bold decision. No longer are you hunting down terrorists in Las Vegas while traversing well known landmarks. This terrorist hunt is all done in the small confines of various buildings and at one point a plane. But is this new approach a welcome change to the series or a step back.
When I first heard about the route Rainbow Six Siege was taking I was worried. I'm the kinda person who doesn't do stealth or tactics in first person shooter games. If there's a sniper rifle lying around I'll avoid it like the plaque. I haven't got the time for sitting and waiting for someone to come into my cross hairs. I have to be out there in the open spaces spraying bullets everywhere and tossing grenades with abandon. So you won't be surprised to hear that in the beginning I was complete and utter garbage at Rainbow Six Siege.
Rainbow Six Siege only has three main game modes. If I'm honest you will more than likely just end up playing one of them and this is the game's bread and butter mode. This online multiplayer offers up a few different modes with Bomb Defusal, Team Deathmatch and Hostage Rescue among the few on offer. Each game pits two teams of five against each other with one team on defense and the other attacking.
The name of the game may be different but at the end of the day it all amounts to the same thing. The team on defence must barricade any opening they can find, lay traps and counter surveillance gadgets. The team on attack must then seek out whatever the objective is while taking down anything that gets in their way. It's a rare thing in a game when the objective rarely matters and the majority of the games I have played have ended because one team has been wiped out and that seems to be the experience of most people I have played online with. So no matter what your objective is it always descends into Team Deathmatch.
Terrorist Hunt makes its return in Rainbow Sir Siege. If you've played either of the Las Vegas games you will know exactly what to expect here. You mission is to eliminate group of AI controlled terrorists that have barricaded themselves into a building/plane. This mode is only worth playing on ? Otherwise you can just freely roam around taking the terrorists out with ease. When you ramp the difficulty right up this becomes a serious challenge with one shot kills taking you out if you're stupid enough to just storm into a room. There are also suicide bombers in this mode and what a pain in the arse they are. A cheap trick enemy that only ever seems to attack you once your back is turned so they seemingly come out of nowhere. And once they have you in their sites it's game over. There is no way to defend against them but I suppose that's the point.
Situations is the game's attempt at giving you some single player action but it's really just a training mode. Each situation tasks you with completing specific objectives and trying to obtain the three bonus objectives as well. The bonus objectives are there to add a certain amount of replayability but you'll soon become bored of it and head back online. One mode I only found out about a few hours ago is Lone Wolf which is a match type in Terrorist Hunt. As the name implies it's just you against a whole load of terrorists. I found the Lone Wolf mode to be couch better experience than playing with other online opponent's. My reasons for that will become clear later on.
As you play you will be rewarded with in-game currency which you can use to unlock a plethora of items. There are 20 operators to unlock and each has their own class, specialist gadget and unique ability. Sledge carries a heavy duty breaching hammer for smashing through barricades, Castle who can deploy kevlar barricades which take a huge amount of damage before succumbing and Pulse is equipped with a heartbeat motor that allows him to pinpoint the enemy's positions through walls and last but not least The Recruit who you can customize until your little counter terrorist heart's content. Each squad will consist of members from the SAS, FBI SWAT, French GIGN, Russian Spetsnaz German GSG 9 Operators all of which are specialised in counter terrorism. Each team can only have one type of each operator on their team so you must choose wisely. There are also additional weapons and skins for you to unlock all of which cost you your valuable currency. If you're wise you will spend every penny you get unlocking all the operators first.
A game like this has to have a fantastic selection of maps to put into rotation and it's here that Rainbow Six Siege starts to fall apart. The game has shipped with only 11 maps and after a good few hours you will have seen them all multiple times and for some strange reason a few maps a lot more than others. There are 4 more maps being released for free but as usual in this day and age the majority are tied to a Season Pass or purchasable map packs.
Rainbow Six Siege can be a lot of fun though. Putting the lack of maps to one side for a moment. I have had some fantastic sessions. You can cut the tension with a knife when you're down to a one on one stand off and the clock is ticking. Get into a party of like minded people and it turns into one giant game of online chess with each move hopefully counteracting one of the opposing teams. But jump into a room full of people without microphones or even worse people that are wearing headsets but refusing to speak and the game collapses especially if you're up against a team that are wearing headsets and aren't afraid to use them.
The majority of my games have been spent playing with people who don't wear headsets or just play music down them or just scream obscenities down the mic or engage in contestation/arguments with whoever is in the same room as them while their baby cries in the background. We've all been unfortunate enough to play with these people but here it's a game changer. Team killing is also widespread and measures need to be put into place now before people just switch off and don't come back. I know Ubisoft is going for realism here but surely they can remove friendly fire for now or at least give us the option to do so until a solution can be found.
But then there are those times where you luck out and get into a lobby where everyone is wearing headsets and talking to each other. I have been lucky to get into such lobbies and let me tell you it elevates the game to a whole other level. Your planning strategies before you've even left the lobby. Each player debates which operator they should have and why. Each map is sectioned off and specific operators are sent off in teams of two to get to work. Distraction tactics using a Lone Wolf to make as much noise as possible are sounded out and quickly dismissed. Why give the opposing team an easy kill. Breach charges are planted and remote camera drones are placed in strategic positions so we can pinpoint enemy positions, traps and counter surveillance gadgets. Stupidly the opposing team have all set up in one room. One member is in each corner and another is prone right behind the bomb.
3, 2, 1, go, go, go. The explosions are deafening as 4 breach charges rip through walls, windows and doors that were once barricaded. To add to the confusion we toss in flash bangs and grenades for good measure. I enter first crouched down slowly weaving my way through what's left of the door frame. I step over one of the terrorists dead bodies and then gunfire erupts from every angle. I go prone but to little too late. I'm dead and the killcam shows me that as we breached the room one of the opposing team erected his portable shield which saved him from the initial onslaught. The remaining members of my team come rushing in all guns blazing. One down, two down, another one of my team is hit. It's pure chaos. Orders are being barked as the remaining terrorist is flanked. He makes one ballsy last stand before his ripped into shreds by a hail of bullets.
It's moments like these where Rainbow Six Siege comes into its own. But I was quickly dragged back down to earth when our party had to split up for various reasons and I was once again left to game with the silent majority. With only 11 maps available right now and a large portion of gamers who have bought this game refusing to speak I find it hard to justify what has the makings of a very good game. I would suggest holding off until next year when the inevitable special edition gets released with all the map packs included.
Review copy supplied by Ubisoft.
Game: Rainbow Six Siege.
Genre: First Person Tactical Shooter.
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal.
Publisher: Ubisoft.
Platform(s): Xbox One.