In a videogame world literally suffocated by frenetic and user friendly FPS, the saga of Rainbow Six has always been seen as last bastion of the tactical shooter, the reasoned and thought one, where every single move must be wisely planned together with your team to be able to dominate the opposing team. So here's why Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft Montreal's latest effort, is a highly anticipated title from the great little niche described above. Will the title be able to fully meet the enormous expectations? Let's find out together!
A historically current title
The themes of Rainbow Six Siege they are raw, heavy and the most current there can be: terrorism and its red shades. A title more relevant than ever, therefore, deployed as the main infantry against the media detractors of the video game seen as an "object of little use and purely diseducative". Too bad that the theme is clear and exhaustive only in the well-made presentation, since during the entire game experience there will be no more dedicated videos and cutscenes. Which is pretty obvious, since the title does not have a story mode in its baggage; a truly absurd choice, which clearly indicates how much distance there is between this Rainbow Six Siege and the previous titles of this historic franchise. The game offers only three modes: simulation, multiplayer and terrorist hunt. The simulation mode consists of ten objective missions, a masked tutorial where you can show the game maps, the few types of games and some weapons and gadgets. The multiplayer mode is the classic 5 Vs 5 competitive, while the terrorist hunt mode is exactly the mirror of the latter, with the difference that the opponents will be controlled by the AI and it will be possible to face them as a lone wolf. The thing that has left me totally blown away, and which is probably the first time this has happened in the entire videogame history, is the impossibility of choosing the type of match; let me explain: as in any self-respecting fps, the title has various maps and game types (for example the domination and the classic search and destroy of the Call of Duty series or the conquest of Battlefield). Well, here it will be impossible to choose whether to defend or escort the hostage, attack the station or defuse a bomb: matchmaking will choose one of the few modes for you and will slap you in the game without a reason, thus destroying all pre-game tactics; an absolutely crazy and deleterious choice for the gaming experience.
That little dark corner ...
If on the content side the title proves to be rather lacking, from the gameplay side, the situation is at least better. Rainbow Six Siege shows interesting insights and keeps part of the expectations promised in these years of gestation. The feeling and realism of the weapons is very good, the number of gadgets really high, each with its own usefulness and function: it will be possible to sprinkle a corner of barbed wire as a kind of trap, use spy drones, place traps and hoist barricades. The tactical component is not lacking, except that the lack of a screen map and a pre-game tactical mode will make the title seem like the camper festival, also accentuated by the very low destructiveness of the environment: it will be the order of the day to find enemies lurking in the darkest corners, strong in the indestructibility of the wall behind them and therefore the immunity of an attack from behind, thus destroying all tactics and bringing the level of frustration at serious risk. Multiply this by 100 if you play alone: Rainbow Six Siege, to be enjoyed, must be played with a team of friends, compulsorily in audio chat to better organize and better appreciate the gameplay of the title.
Technical terrorism
Ubisoft, on the technical side, has practically never disappointed: Far Cry, the Assassin's Creed saga, the much mistreated Watch Dogs and the future The Division enjoy a video / audio sector of the highest quality, among the best on the square. Rainbow Six Siege, unfortunately, does not enjoy this graphic goodness; the title is technically mediocre: visual depth to the minimum terms, grainy and very low resolution textures, maps all very similar and an unrealistic color palette bring down the Ubisoft title even more. Fortunately the sound sector is better, with a discreet dubbing; shame about the sound of some weapon, really unrealistic and almost annoying. Some particle effects are significant, among all the smoke, while the aforementioned destructibility is really limited and generally bad.
