Rainbow Six: Siege has been out for a while now and I’ve had a chance to really put it through the ringer. I have most operators unlocked, found a squad to regularly play with, and many hours logged for a game with only a handful of maps and modes. Since I was surprised that I got sucked into a game I quickly wrote off as another shooter, I wanted to give my personal view on some of the best and worst aspects of the game that have kept me coming back for more.
The Good
At its best, Rainbow Six: Siege is a great game. I want to keep playing it for the tense moments and the satisfying payoff of a winning with a well-organized team. I’ve played a couple dozen hours and I still get anxious on defense, waiting for the attackers to breach. When I hear a cluster charge start chunking explosive hockey pucks I make an erratic dash to the nearest cover. Even though you might see the same operators from round to round, every match has the potential to create that “Wow!” moment that you can’t wait to tell your friends about.
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“There is something incredibly satisfying about being able to perform a well-coordinated breach, utilizing each operator’s special ability. Likewise, it is equally satisfying being able to ambush unsuspecting attackers when defending.”
Most of this comes from the great level and gameplay design choices. Most of the defensive locations I’ve come across are all designed to be heavily fortified just enough to give the attackers a chance no matter what operators they choose. In fact, every operator class is useful; any combination of five operators can win successfully either defending or attacking. For the attackers, if a team works well and doesn’t suffer any early casualties no defense is impenetrable. For defenders, playing to deny the objective till the timer runs out can be just as an effective strategy as eliminating all the enemies. Though most matches devolve into team death matches, there are still numerous paths of entry that give either team the advantage they need.
I’ve been playing on the PS4 version and so far I’ve been really impressed with the community. If you have voice coms (and for this game you should), people are generally willing to help you out with strategy and mechanics of the game. More so, the type of coordination you can achieve with voice coms is exponentially higher than you could with just simple pings; what’s even better is when all of that planning and execution actually pays. There is something incredibly satisfying about being able to perform a well-coordinated breach, utilizing each operator’s special ability. Likewise, it is equally satisfying being able to ambush unsuspecting attackers when defending.
When Rainbow Six: Siege is at its best, it produces some of my best experiences in multiplayer gaming.
Click on through to page 2 to read about the bad and the ugly.