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E3 2015 Preview: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege

Ahead of E3, Stevivor had a chance to check out Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege. Overall, we spent an hour with the title over four rounds of multiplayer co-op.

First, Ubisoft devs showed us the ropes, playing as a team of five against nasty baddies. Playing a bomb diffusion mission in TerroHunt, the objective was kind of obvious: diffuse two bombs scattered across the map. Together, the Ubisoft crew worked as a well-oiled unit. They moved as a pack, eyeing off corners and vocalising every threat to one another. Fuze, one of two playable characters that carries a shield, took point, slowly advancing as his offensive-geared teammates followed close behind.

As they approached a mansion fortified by terrorists, the devs surveyed the area. As with any of the eleven locales the game will offer, they had several options at that particular point. They could rappel up to the mansion’s roof. They could send a shock drone through a nearby barricaded door to see if any surprises waited in ambush. Hell, Sledge – true to his name – could create a new entry point with his trusty sledgehammer.

Opting for the rappelling option, the devs moved silently up the mansion’s wall, and there the team split; three operatives took to the roof and the remaining two positioned themselves along different windows of the home’s second floor. Identifying two bogies, the operatives did a three-count over their mics and delivered silenced headshots with precision. Kicking out from their rappel lines, the team members busted through their respective windows and secured the room.

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The remaining three members of the team got to the same area by placing breaching charges on different walls or floors and took advantage of offensive drones that not only could target enemies but eliminate them.

As a squad, the team rushed to a nearby bomb and placed the diffuser at its base. A one minute countdown started up; the devs were forced to fortify their position and protect the diffuser until the job was done.

That’s when all hell broke loose.

Waves of enemies worked in tandem to destroy the devs and their careful planning. Snowsuited bombers ran down corridors towards the room, lobbing explosives that made the Ubisoft team disperse in disarray. Terrorists used rappel lines of their own to come crashing through windows, sometimes behind an unwitting team member who was too focused on a different eyeline.

The team barely made it through the countdown, but in the end, they got the job done. Work complete, the briefcase diffuser closed itself up and waited for transport to the second bomb.

Sadly, none of the Ubisoft team was able to pick it up; the one remaining squad member who went to was head-shotted by a ruthless terrorist two rooms over. The terrorist aimed with precision, sending his bullet through two separate breach points to eliminate his prey.

As such, it was with nervous anticipation that we journalists started to play. Nothing like the Ubisoft devs had played – and most likely, not like they imaged we would – we moved like four strangers (with an Ubisoft dev as our team lead) with little attempt at cooperation.

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Or, you know, like everyone playing an online multiplayer game without a proper group of friends.

We were sloppy; some of us ran far ahead and met a tragic end at the hands of a nitrous trap laid inconspicuously after a dimly-lit corridor. Those with shields didn’t rush up to take point, and those who’d decided to throw out a drone to control and scout ahead were picked off, unaware they were under threat.

Against all odds, we somehow managed to diffuse not one, but both, bombs before our Ubisoft handler told us that we were playing in easy mode.

I can’t even begin to detail you how poorly we went on hard; I met my tragic death in a failed attempt to throw up Fuze’s shield to save a squad member who’d for some reason decided he needed to get up-close-and-personal with a breach charge that was just about to explode.

In short: we didn’t even come close to completing an objective on hard.

To me, this means a couple things: first, that you can play Rainbow Six: Siege on easy and have it feel like any other modern shooter; speed through, shoot anything that moves and continue on. If that’s not sounding like something you’d enjoy, you can bump the difficulty up to hard and watch as everything becomes real. You’ll have to work with a squad you trust. That you can communicate with. Most importantly, you’d better use the tools at your disposal to scout out your environment and then be damn procedural as you progress, ticking all the boxes to ensure you and your mates survive any oncoming threat.

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Even then, enemies with smart and aggressive will do their best to take you out. There’s an emphasis on smart there, too; in our last round, enemies made a damn loud show breaking down barricades on one side of the room. Stupidly, we all turned to face the threat, and it was at that point that additional terrorists used a sledgehammer on the wall behind us. Oh, and terrorists also came through the windows alongside a third wall.

We never even saw it coming.

With only two of our squad making it through that encounter, two very badly beat up members ran down a hallway in retreat. One threw up his shield as another crouched and hid behind it for cover. It wasn’t enough. True to the game’s emphasis that it’s one shot and one kill, a ranged terrorist managed to draw a bead on the trailing squad member’s head and finished him. The shielded teammate cried out in surprise, lowering his own shield, and very quickly met the same fate.

Walking into Rainbow Six: Siege without a terrible deal of excitement, I walked out very differently. Admittedly, I probably won’t be able to dedicate my talents to a team of five friends, but even so, I’m energised at the thought of the game’s mechanics in a well-oiled single-player mode.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege heads to Windows PC, Xbox One and PS4 from 13 October. Those who buy the game on Xbox One will also receive copies of Rainbow Six: Vegas and Vegas 2 on Xbox 360 for free to take advantage of the console’s new-found backwards compatibility. The game’s beta starts on 24 September on all platforms.


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About the author

Steve Wright

Steve's the owner of this very site and an active games journalist nearing twenty (TWENTY!?!) years. He's a Canadian-Australian gay gaming geek, ice hockey player and fan. Husband to Matt and cat dad to Wally and Quinn.