If there’s one thing that has remained consistent about video games over the past twenty years, it’s that directionless first-person shooters are what people want to play. Slap a robot and some aliens on a game with little to do besides “go get ‘em” and you’ve added another drop into the ocean of alien or robot-themed FPS games. Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six franchise has long been about more than just firing guns and killing bad guys, there’s a depth to its gameplay. Though some entries may have strayed from it, the latest game Rainbow Six Siege puts the tactics at the top of its list.
Ubisoft recently announced that Terrohunt will be back in Rainbow Six Siege, and this time it will have a few new game modes to play with instead of simply “kill everyone.” Players will be able to take part in Hunt, the previously referenced “kill everyone;” Extract, which sees them rescuing a hostage from inside a building; Defuse, which has them disarming bombs at a location; and Protect, a king-of-the-hill type scenario. Eleven different maps are playable in the game, each with the added day or night possibility, so there’s always something new to expect
In fact, Terrohunt is designed for vast replay ability with the Siege Generator. Not only does the map change every time you play but so does the positioning of the objectives and the enemies. Imagine how Left4Dead plays out, except instead of zombies it’s terrorists. Enemies are capable of transitioning from an attack mode to a defense mode at the drop of a hot, allowing for an even more competitive atmosphere against players. In theory this will create an endless possibility of gameplay for players, and in the two demos that I took part in it was certainly the case.
We started outside of an embassy with the task of infiltrating it to disarm two bombs. Scaling the building to the second floor, we placed breaching charges on the outside and blasted our way inside to a flurry of terrorist gunfire. Our team entered the building and dispatched the stragglers before beginning the disarming process, which takes about a minute in total. During this time, however, more terrorists are going to storm your position, and they did, from all angles too. From the roof to the main entrance, and even an adjoining room, bullets were flying everywhere. Somehow we survived, and we made our way into the basement where an unfortunate bug forced us to restart the match.
In our second attempt, we entered from a different side of the building. I even managed to take out a terrorist through a wall without even realizing it, prompting a “Good job” from the Game Dev which made me feel pretty good. We moved inside and got into position to disarm the bomb, which is when the game dev was killed by an enemy combatant, surely a bad sign, so bad in fact that we didn’t last another three minutes!
What I love about Rainbow Six Siege is that there is strategy involved. You’re forced to be tactical in your execution, and since the game is different every time, you have to always be on your toes. Games too often appeal to our ADD sensibilities, showing off bigger and louder explosions, and though Rainbow Six has no shortage of explosions, they’re not the central conceit. In fact, the game puts a value of life over an emphasis on killing, which is admirable in the landscape of video games today.
Rainbow Six Siege will debut on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on October 13.
