Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’ Rainbow Six Siege is a multiplayer only game built around counter-terrorism, where you and 4 friends become counter-terrorism operators and work together in a selection of game modes that have you either attacking or defending an objective for a maximum of 5 rounds per match.

Rainbow Six Siege is a game I both love and hate. I love its gameplay and operator setup, but I hate the fact I am awful at the game. I bring up the fact I am awful at the game as I found Rainbow Six Siege relies heavily on teamwork, which is nearly impossible when you play with a bunch of random players, and me been as lucky as I am, I never managed to get into a match that featured a lot of teamwork. While, I talk about my lack of luck when it comes to finding good teammates, I respect the fact that the game is team orientated.

The teamwork focused aspect is not the only part that I enjoy, the gameplay is also highly enjoyable, when removing the teamwork aspect of the game, Rainbow Six Siege is a game that rewards players who think tactically and don’t like to run around shooting from the hip. Tactics are important as each of game’s three game modes feature permanent death and no armour regeneration, which means if you go down you are down until the round ends. The tactical nature is also highlighted by the fact that there is verticality to combat, as the game allows you to attack your opponents from nearly any angle as destructible barricades, walls and floors means you can coordinate with your teammates and attack not just from the sides, but from above.

To help you with the games tactical, destructible and team oriented gameplay each operator (class) has a set of gadgets to help defend or attack their objective. Gadgets on the defensive side include barbed wire, to slow down opponents, wall reinforcing, and traps. Gadgets on the offensive side include various breach charges, to get through reinforced and non-reinforced walls and floors, and jammers to deactivate some of the defensive sides traps.

As I stated above you play as a counterterrorism operator, with the game allowing you to choose between a maximum of ten attackers and ten defender operators from five real life counter-terrorism units, SAS, FBI SWAT, GIGN, Spetsnaz, and GSG 9, each unit has two attacker and two defender operators.

Each operator has his or her own unique ability and loadout, some of which include Thatcher’s EMP Grenade, which allows you to disable any electronics in range, and Jäger’s Active Defense, which allows you to use an active defense system to intercept grenades before they detonate. Each operator’s loadout has a moderate degree of customization with a choice of one of two primary weapons, which can be customised, a secondary weapon, and an additional gadget. The choice of weapons and gadgets changes depending on the operator you play.

While there is a total of twenty operators, you don’t have access to all of them from the start, as you must slowly unlock each operator with “Renown”, a currency you gain from playing matches. The unlock system for operators while straightforward has a few drawbacks. The primary drawback is the fact you cannot have multiple versions of an operator on one team, for example if someone picks the Thermite operator no one else on your team can select him. While this does have potential drawbacks for players who haven’t unlocked numerous operators, the game lets players select a recruit operator; a recruit has access to all the same weapons and gadgets as the operators but lacks a unique ability.

So, how many modes and maps are there and what are they like? Well, there are three 5v5 multiplayer modes: TDM – Secure Area, TDM – Bomb and TDM – Hostage. Each mode is based around attackers and defenders with a total of five rounds, with each round ending when either all the players on one side are dead or the attackers have completed their objective. When a round ends the teams switch positions, so for example if you were an attacker in round 1 you become a defender in round 2. A match is won when one side reaches three wins.

At the beginning of each match, there is a short preparation phase where the attackers operate drones to look for their targets, and the defenders build their defences. This preparation phase is as almost as essential as the combat phase, because a well-built defence can win you a round before it even begins, and a well-scouted preparation phase by the attackers can give them the ability to swoop in for an easy victory. As I said earlier, the game requires a lot of teamwork.

With regards to maps, there is a total of ten maps: House, Oregon, Hereford Base, Club House, Presidential Plane, Consulate, Bank, Kanal, Chalet, and Kafe Dostoyevsky. While I didn’t manage to experience them all they each offered their own style and worked well with the game’s vertical and team orientated gameplay.

It is worth noting that you cannot select what mode or map you play on as both appear to be picked randomly by the game.

While the game’s primary mode is multiplayer. The game also has two additional modes in the form of situations and terrorist hunt. Situations are ten short single player missions that exist to serve as an expanded tutorial with each mission attempting to teach you an aspect of the game. Terrorist hunt is a wave based mode that can be played as either solo or in an up to five player co-op. Terrorist hunt has the same selection of game modes and maps from the regular multiplayer, and like the regular multiplayer you cannot select what mode or map you play. The mode also consists of three difficulty levels: normal, hard, and realistic.

Now, it what appears to be a trend with Ubisoft games, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege has microtransactions. These microtransactions come in the form of weapon skins, renown boosters, and bundle skins. The currency used to purchase these items, R6 credits, costs from €4.99 for 600 R6 to €49.99 for 6,000+1560 (free) R6. The cost of the items available range from 120 R6 for a 1-day renown booster to 1,800 R6 for a bundle skin.

While the microtransactions don’t offer any tangible advantages apart from fast renown gain, which will allow you to unlock operators and customise guns quicker, there is no worry of Rainbow Six Siege being pay to win. The only thing on display is Ubisoft trying to eke out some more money from its players.

Now, let’s talk about issues. There are very few apparent issues with the game, with the only major issue I encountered was in regards to getting stuck on terrain after rappelling up a building. There was also one instance of when I was disconnected from a game, but that could have been an issue with my own internet.

Now, before reaching my conclusion let’s talk about the graphics and audio. In terms of graphical fidelity and overall representation the game provides a decent job of bringing you into the world. This is also true of the audio as sounds of gunfire and explosions echo throughout the map creating a level of ambience that makes you feel like you are personally in the situation you see on screen.

Now I don’t want to say anymore regarding the graphics as my level of expertise regarding frame rates etc. is limited, so if you want more information regarding Rainbow Six Siege’s graphics I highly recommend watching Digital Foundry’s Rainbow Six Siege PS4/Xbox One/PC Graphics Comparison video.

Conclusion

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege is an enjoyable team focused and tactical driven first person shooter. However when teamwork is removed matches becomes chaotic and sloppy.

Score: 8/10

Pros	Cons
+ Requires teamwork and tactics	– Lack of teamwork makes for sloppy and chaotic games
+ Each operator feels unique	– All the game modes are essentially the same
+ Audio makes you feel like you are in the world	– Microtransactions

Developer	Publisher	Genre	Rating	Platform	Release date
Ubisoft Montreal	Ubisoft	Action	18+	PS4, XBOne, PC	December 1, 2015

*A review code was provided by the game’s publisher.*

For more information on  Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege or to find out where to buy it, visit rainbow6.com.