14 DAY TRIAL // 
Rainbow Six Siege is a video game about the anxiety of planning and the tension of combat, a shooter that makes preparations an integral part of the action but also makes it clear that the destiny of the player is linked to their ability to spot the enemy as fast as possible and take them out with a well-placed bullet.
I died quite a bit early on because I was too focused on the hostage at the center of the action or the bomb that needs to be protected or disarmed, which meant I constantly tried to get a fix on locations before combat began to then try and secure that objective as quickly as possible.
Rainbow Six Siege is not a classic shooter, and my approach was too focused to work in a game that is built around surprises and around each player's capability to think on their feet, re-formulate plans and then implement new ones based on rapidly changing battlefield conditions.
The title is not a continuation of the classic ideas of the franchise, but it does capture the need for tactics that has long defined it and can offer a wide range of impressive moments for those who love multiplayer-centered combat with a twist.
Rainbow Six Siege is created by a team at Ubisoft Montreal, and the title is offered on the PC, the Xbox One, and the PlayStation 4.
Story
Rainbow Six Siege does not focus too much on story, mainly because it is driven by the Player versus Player multiplayer experience, but there are some signs that Ubisoft has plans to expand its narrative in the future.
This is a prologue, something that's best seen in the series of training missions that gamers can play, designed to teach core elements like the correct way to tackle enemies, how to breach, and more, which culminate in an extended scenario with its setup.
The events portrayed there are clearly designed to show gamers that a full Rainbow Six cooperatively driven campaign is coming before long, although it will be probably a separate video game rather than downloadable content for Siege.
In some ways, the limited details work for the game because they allow gamers to focus on the mechanics and the stories that emerge organically from the scenarios rather than take into account a series of external events with little real impact.
Gameplay
Rainbow Six Siege is a shooter played from a first-person perspective that encourages players to create plans to defend or to breach a location and then asks them to execute them as well as possible in conjunction with teammates.
The most important game mode is clearly Hostage, in which teams of five players face each other on a variety of maps, but gamers can also enjoy Secure and Bomb, take part in the cooperative Terrorist Hunt, and there are some limited solo scenarios that a player can also explore.
Regardless of the experience that the player chooses, they will have to deal with how the destructible environments tweak the way the genre normally works.
It's great to spot an enemy moving across a map or to use a gadget or power to get info on their position and then to take them out blind, knowing that they think they're safe behind cover and feeling their surprise when they are out of the round, leaving their team vulnerable.
Equally, it's a thrill to get hit in Rainbow Six Siege because you're never entirely sure where from the bullets are coming and how exactly an enemy managed to get eyes on the target.
The ten maps created by Ubisoft are not impressive when it comes to the theme or initial layout, but the fact that there are many surfaces that can be breached or destroyed creates plenty of variety and keeps gamers always on edge during the planning stage, before the actual action starts.
The Operators have personality, and each player will certainly find a favorite, although they will first need to work to unlock them all, and the weapons feel a little underwhelming.
“The planning phase that takes place between rounds, where one side can fortify rooms and play traps while the other aims to gain intel, is filled with tension, and the combat, while very lethal, never feels unfair.”
For players who do not want to face other humans, Rainbow Six Siege features a Terrorist Hunt cooperative mode, which serves as great practice for teams who are planning to improve their skills, and it can generate its cool moments and narratives.
The biggest problem Rainbow Six Siege deals with at the moment is the lack of impact that actual objectives have on the action, with most teams, especially the effective ones, moving to take out the enemy operators as quickly as possible.
Gamers also have to forget some of the classic tactics of the first-person shooter genre and learn both the maps and the Operators included in the new Ubisoft title to be truly effective, while also mixing up tactics as a match progresses to keep their enemies guessing.
Winning the information battle is half the fight in Rainbow Six Siege, the preparation time is crucial, and the results of a firefight often depend less on skill and more on careful movement and in-team communication.
Graphics
Rainbow Six Siege manages to deliver a good-looking experience because it is actually a very small game, focused on a limited number of locations that are rendered with plenty of details.
The presentation is equally solid, with a lot of information offered by the interface that gives players hints about how they can improve their performance during a combat round.
There are some moments when it’s hard to spot the actual enemies against the backgrounds, but the game mostly stays smooth and allows skill and quick thinking to determine the outcome of a firefight.
Rainbow Six Siege does not feature a traditional soundtrack, which is a great choice, given the focus on early detection and lethal combat, and allows gamers to use their hearing to the best of their ability to gain insights into the plans of their enemies.
Multiplayer
Rainbow Six Siege is almost a multiplayer-only experience, and the development team at Ubisoft has clearly worked hard to make sure that there are no connectivity issues and that the servers can handle the load generated by matches.
I experienced some moments when the pace of a match was affected by network problems, but they were temporary, and the pace of matches is high enough that, even when I was outmatched, I knew that my defeat would soon be complete, and I could try again, with improved ideas and execution.
The coordination that Rainbow Six Siege encourages is best achieved with friends who are happy to formulate plans and then stick to them during the execution phase, and constant communication tends to be one of the most important assets for a team who wants to win as many matches as possible.
The community that the Ubisoft title has managed to attract so far is mostly well behaved, but it will be hard to get random players to collaborate in an impressive manner, and that tends to give the defending team a significant advantage.
The Good
- Tactical combat
- Planning mode
- Excellent for groups of players
The Bad
- Almost no single-player content
- Driven by unlocks
Conclusion
Gamers can get access to weapon skins, boosts for their experience gain, and they can also pay so that they unlock the various operators included, although characters can be obtained by simply playing for long enough.
The system does not feel oppressive, and Ubisoft clearly hopes that most gamers will spend actual currency at some point during their career, but for some fans, its very existence is a problem, given that they already have to pay full price for the core package.
If the business model is not taken into account, Rainbow Six Siege offers a very solid experience for gamers who have a group of four friends that they can team up with to experience the best version of the terrorist versus law enforcement battles.
The focus on destruction and the variety offered when it comes to maps, Operators, and tactical choices means that the core shooter mechanics remain fresh in the long term and that gamers have the tools to create some spectacular combat moments.
