REVIEW

Rainbow Six Siege Review

by Dominic Coles, December 14th, 2015

After becoming an avid fan of the Rainbow Six series, I have been lying in wait for the next title since Vegas 2. Vegas 1 & 2 were magnificent games for both the single and multiplayer elements, but now it seems the developers are going with a more multiplayer centric approach this time around. In comes Siege, a five versus five tactical FPS that is looking to rival Counter Strike: Global Offensive.

Before delving into the gameplay, it is best to go over the games fundamental features. These include the operators, renown and micro-transactions. Yes, another game with real world money spending, but luckily it does not include anything that gives the player power. These market place items instead consist of exclusive weapon skins and boosters for experience and renown. This is a relief as it is never forced upon you to buy any of these and you can also earn skins through in-game currency. So no need to feel left out about not having a fancy gun.

The in-game currency is known as renown, which is rewarded to you by simply playing the games modes. In the beta phases of the game, the amount of renown you gain from matches seemed to be pretty low and sometimes got frustrating to get enough to purchase something you desired. However this has been addressed in the full launch as you can easily gain this currency via many methods. Of course the straight forward route is by playing online matches and gaining more renown through wins than losses. On top of this we have daily challenges that can give you a nice boost to your wallet by giving you little side objectives whilst you’re in matches. You can even gain an easy six hundred renown right off of the bat by watching three tutorial videos. That is equal to one operator and maybe a weapon add-on. You can also gain substantial amounts through Terrorist Hunt missions and Situations, which are tutorials that help you learn the games mechanics and individual operators.

These Operators can be thought of as League of Legends style champions as they all have their own personalities, weapon loadouts and unique tools. These help them cater to many play styles which is an instant win to every player. These characters are split between five military factions and two major groups, attackers and defenders. Purchasing these are simple as the first one you buy from a faction costs five hundred renown. Then every subsequent operator in that same faction would cost five hundred more up to two thousand. This may seem like a lot at first, but you can easily acquire this much renown in a matter of hours, with enough left over for add-ons. The attackers have characters specialising in breach and deploy gameplay. Team mates such as Ash and Fuze can breach through walls with specialised equipment, whilst Blitz can assist with tanking damage with his shield. Defenders on the other hand have technology and skills that are made to stop, detect and destroy enemy units heading to the objective. Kapkhan deploys window and door booby traps, Jaeger plants anti-grenade bots to destroy incoming projectiles and Mute can plant small EMPs to disrupt and stop enemy scouting drones.

Every single one of these operators feel and play brilliantly, with no one standing out as overpowered amongst the others. They all have their pros and cons when in the matches which makes team diversities very large, especially when in ranked games. There were some concerns in the beta about overpowered weapons or shields being too tough to handle, but this has also seemed to be addressed. Quite frankly the game is perfectly balanced for terrorist hunt, casual matches and ranked play with barely anything to complain about. The only thing that I have noticed players criticising are mistakes made by the players themselves rather than the limitations of the game.

Now we move to gameplay and this is where the game truly shines. There may not be many maps in the game but do not let this put you off. Every map comes with three possible modes to play with including capture the location, disarm the bomb or save the hostage. The maps in casual then randomise where the objective is held within the area which determines the defenders starting location. This is changed in ranked matches as the defending team can vote to decide where the objective is placed every individual round. The equivalent on the attacking team is voting to decide where they will deploy when the mission begins. With this voting system every round of the game you never truly know where the objective is going to be next. On top of that, you can also pick the same location over and over but the opposing team has to switch up their tactics or else they will easily be taken out.

At the start of these matches, the defending team has a set amount of time to set up their defences. Each operator has two wall fortifications, that stop breaching from the majority of the attackers, as well as wall barricades that can stop an enemy in their tracks forcing them to create noise or use a breach charge in order to push through. Whilst the defenders set themselves up, the attackers are able to move around the map using their scout drones. These can scan for enemy locations and the location of the objective on the map. Be careful though as these can be shot by the defending team and stopped via EMPs, stopping you from finding the objective which will give the enemy team additional points towards their overall score. Rounds end when either one team is completely killed or the objective has been seized.

All of these match variations and maps add up to gameplay sessions that constantly keep you on edge and in communication with your team mates. Using distractions and the environment around you could be the difference between winning and losing at a crucial moment. On top of this, defending teams can choose to stick around the objective or to split up around the entire location to pick off, detect or simply sneak up on the attackers as they proceed in. Tactics are the main stake here and a lack of proper communication and coordination will put you at a loss. Mix them up every round, bring your A game and see how you can dominate the competition.

With everything looking amazing on the games part, is there anything that goes against the title? Just two elements,first being the lack of story. This game with all the characters, levels, amazing cut scenes and some hilarious dialogue is craving for a single player or co-op campaign that allows you to choose different operators and take on mission with different styles. With all of this said however, the game does not feel like a waste of money because of the lack of a campaign. The title feels, plays and stands as a brilliant addition to the Rainbow Six franchise. It goes to show that although a game can have a narrative behind it, sometimes it just needs a simple explanation of the world to get you fully engrosses which is what Siege accomplishes. The other fault with the game however has to do with its number of maps. For a multiplayer only title, diverse map selection is essential or else you will fall into the CS:GO state of Dust2 syndrome. Although the maps are well done, incentivise changing up approaches to attacking and defending and also vary with different locations for players to start, there isn’t quite enough here. After a while you will get to know the maps inside and out and know more efficient routes to get to objectives. Although this does not hinder the gameplay in the long run, the low number of multiplayer levels early on is sad to see. Luckily new areas that are added as DLC later will be completely free.

Rainbow Six Siege is one of the best games to come out at the very end of 2015. If you are an FPS player looking for something different, a CS:GO player looking to mix things up or someone craving for a game focused on tactics and teamwork, then this is perfect for you. With an easy entry level, a nice selection of operators to choose from and plenty of hours of non-stop fun, this is simply one game you must get your hands on before the year comes to a close. Especially since the new operators being released will be free DLC which you unlock with renown. Value, Action, Tactics and Brilliance. The ultimate blend that you have to make this Rainbow Six experience one of the best.