Games about the fight against terrorism have always been popular among gamers. Just remember the cult Counter Strike, which is still played by tens of millions of users to this day. These days, the issue of terrorism is more pressing than ever, and games related to this topic are attracting close attention. The popular Rainbow Six series, with almost two dozen games for various platforms, tells us about the everyday life of an anti-terrorist squad consisting of operatives different countries. Today we will discuss a new game in this franchise with the subtitle Siege (“siege” - English).
Tom Clancy is an American writer who made his career in the genre of alternative history. He wrote many books about cold war, as well as scripts for such famous films as “The Hunt for Red October” (1990), “Patriot Games” (1992), “The Price of Fear” (2002) and many others. In 1998, Clancy published a book called Rainbow Six, which chronicled the formation of the international anti-terrorist unit Rainbow. The employees of this organization had to prevent the massive spread of the deadly virus. At that time, no one knew that the book would mark the beginning of a whole new franchise.
Rainbow Six: Siege is a tactical first-person shooter that became the “ideological successor” to the never-released game Tom Clancy’s Ranbow 6: Patriots. “Patriots” was announced in 2011, but due to the death of Tom Clancy in October 2013, the publishing house Ubisoft, which owns the rights to games created based on its franchises, decided to curtail the development of the current project and release a completely new, higher-quality product with the subtitle Siege. No one knows for sure what exactly went wrong during the development of the Patriots.
Traditionally, the plot of the game centers on a certain terrorist organization that plans to spread a deadly virus among civilians in various parts of the planet. Only the Rainbow team, led by a black chief of staff, who gives them an emotional introductory briefing, is able to resist them. Actually, this is the whole plot of the game, since then the player is left alone with the gameplay. The fact that the game was devoid of a story component really upset me personally. Siege is a purely multiplayer product, which you will have to play online with other players. Yes, it has single-player training missions, but, as you well understand, this is not exactly what we would all like.
So, there are three modes available to us in the game. “Operations” are 10 introductory missions, by completing which you can understand the game mechanics and get into the spirit of Siege. Each operation is distinguished by both a main mission and a set of additional optional tasks, for the completion of which the player is paid so-called “fame points” - a kind of local game currency. The second mode is “Network Game”, there is no need to explain anything to you here. Players are divided into two teams: operatives and terrorists. The first storm the building in which the second are holed up. Missions range from clearing chemical bombs to rescuing hostages. Players also have access to two multiplayer options - simplified and ranked, which you will only gain access to after reaching level 20. The third game mode is “Anti-Terror”, when you, alone or together with other players from the network, are forced to fight against opponents controlled by artificial intelligence. You choose the difficulty level, and the game itself generates severe tests for you that you will have to overcome.
Multiplayer matches begin with a minute of preparation on both sides for the start of the assault. Terrorists strengthen their defenses by barricading door and window openings using metal sliding shields, they spread barbed wire across the floor and erect shelters from behind which they can shoot back from the enemy. Operatives of the Rainbow organization, using tiny wheeled drones (they somehow reminded me of Sphero toys), enter the building and look around from the inside, marking the locations of terrorists, chemical weapons and hostages. If the enemy notices your drone, he can destroy it and cut off your connection with him, so be as stealthy as possible and as silent as possible.
When the “preparatory minute” ends, the actual gameplay begins. Operatives rush to storm the building, and terrorists take the safest positions for effective defense. It should be noted here that the game now has the ability to destroy certain types of walls using a butt, shots or special explosives, as well as create openings in certain places on the floor and ceiling, which significantly expands the field for experimentation and allows you to create an even more effective strategy for fighting terrorists. As I noted above, there are several ways to strengthen destructible surfaces, which will make their destruction almost impossible. You can make a small hole in the wall and carefully shoot the enemies through it, or you can blow up the wall and launch a frontal attack, taking advantage of the clouds of dust and smoke from the explosion.
Initially, you only have access to a faceless operative, who is not that fun to play as he lacks any special skills. All you can do is run, shoot, blow up or reinforce surfaces, throw stun grenades and climb walls with a grappling hook. By accumulating fame points, you will be able to acquire unique operatives from five countries, four people each. Here you have the British SAS, the American SWAT, the French GIGN, the German GSG 9, and even the Russian Spetsnaz. All operatives are divided into attack aircraft and defenders, that is, some are focused on carrying out an attack, and the latter are endowed with advanced skills that allow them to effectively defend themselves. Each Operator you acquire has one unique skill, such as improved aiming, the ability to break through fortified walls, hear the pulse of approaching enemies, or the ability to use a full-length shield. When you unlock each character, you will be shown an incredibly cool screensaver that effectively demonstrates its advantages in battle. Personally, I was very impressed by these screensavers.
Leveling up in the game is just incredibly slow. Apparently, the developers were counting on the fact that fans of the Rainbow Six series are not particularly afraid of the leisurely gameplay. But in the modern gaming industry, it is customary to reward the player for success much more actively than what happens in Siege. You receive about 150-200 fame points for missions, and you will receive another 200 points by completing special tasks like “Survive with more than 50% health” or “Get three shots in the heads of enemies.” At first, these points seem quite enough, but then you realize that each new operative costs more and more, and you also need to upgrade him, buy the appropriate camouflage and improve his weapons. All this costs money that you don't have. The game has integration with the Ubisoft Club service (nee UPlay), and there you can get some nice free bonuses, but this is clearly not enough.
And the developers seem to be mocking the players by offering to buy a special bonus to the fame points they earn for one or three days of the game. You can buy it for the same fame points that you don’t already have. And if you can’t earn money, you’re welcome to the store, where you can buy everything you need for real money. And it doesn’t matter that you already bought the game for 60 euros without story campaign included. Who even cares? You can also purchase the Season Pass, which is so popular these days. It will automatically unlock 8 additional Operators coming to the game in the near future, increase the amount of Fame Points you receive by 5%, give you access to 6 unique weapon skins, and also unlock two additional challenges for each new day.
The game has three difficulty levels. Low when accuracy and damage dealt to you by enemies are reduced and auto-aim is enabled. Normal, in which the damage and accuracy of enemies is increased, and auto-aim is still turned on. And realistic, where everything is as hardcore as possible, and the game does not help you while aiming. I’ll tell you honestly, even with auto-aim on the first two difficulty levels you’ll have a hard time. In this game, it is not your speed or shooting ability that rules the show, but cold calculation and strategic planning. It is very important to communicate with the rest of the team. It is generally advisable to play online with your friends whom you know well. One player can enter the room, and the second must cover him in order to see where the enemy is attacking from. One destroys a wall using his unique skill, the second jams signals from enemy drones, and the third throws a stun grenade into the room to blind enemies. Only by working as a team will you be able to achieve victories in this game as efficiently as possible. And this, in my opinion, is wonderful.
The game was developed on the AnvilNext version 2.0 graphics engine, which was also used in Ubisoft games such as Assassin's Creed Unity, Assassin's Creed Syndicate and the upcoming For Honor game scheduled for release in 2016. The engine includes a number of graphics and physics technologies that are actively used in modern video games, such as global illumination, volumetric smoke, dynamic weather, physically calculated foliage on trees, and much, much more. It actively uses physics-based rendering, which makes the image of materials, objects and their surfaces more realistic. Be that as it may, in Rainbow Six: Siege you simply won’t have time to admire the surrounding beauty. The game is deliberately kept in muted, dull colors so that the player can concentrate on planning an attack or defense. The graphics in the game are exactly such that you can complete the combat mission assigned to you as clearly as possible, that is, without any special frills.
Pros:
- Tactical gameplay requires the player to have brains, not reflexes.
- Well designed cards allow you to use different styles games.
- A wide selection of operatives with their own unique abilities.
- Incredibly high-quality sound will allow you to hear literally every rustle.
- Very high-quality video inserts create a unique atmosphere.
- Personally, I was very pleased with the presence of Russian special forces in the game.
- The best embodiment of team play among all the projects I know.
Cons:
- The game quickly gets boring with monotony and a small number of modes.
- What Rainbow Six: Siege lacks most is a story campaign.
- Progressing too slowly may turn off some players.
- The presence of in-game purchases in the game leads to bad thoughts.
Rainbow Six: Siege will undoubtedly appeal to people who love smart shooters. If you like light, fun Call of Duty matches, you won't have much to do in this game. Too specific a product, designed for players who love to think. Here you will have to actively work with your head, making rare but accurate shots from time to time. I hope that in the future new modes will be added to the game, since the ones that are in it today get boring pretty quickly. You want more and more. And yes, this is the best team game of recent times - it’s simply stupid to argue with that. If you don't mind the lack of a story campaign in Siege, or you just miss the Rainbow Six series, then this game will give you many exciting hours. I bet her 8 points out of 10.
Based on materials from hi-news
Since the founding of the gaming industry, we have seen a great many projects that were dedicated to the work of special units. Just look at the good old “Contra”, passionately adored by millions of people on our planet, or the “hardcore” SWAT 4. In general, the theme of tactical team action films about the confrontation between special forces and terrorist groups has never been presented as vividly as in new promising " Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege"from the French company Ubisoft. From the very moment the game was announced at E3 2014, the developers gradually revealed various details to us, which further fueled interest. But what happened in the end and how successfully did the French manage to implement the promised concept of the project? Let's figure it out.
We are presented with as many as five anti-terrorism groups. Each of them belongs to one of the world powers, including Russian Federation, USA, UK, Germany and France. In the game you will have the opportunity to step into the shoes of the brave “Special Forces”, operatives of the French GIGN, English SAS, American SWAT and German GSG 9. It is immediately worth noting the responsibility with which the developers approached the details of the presentation of each unit.
Thus, each of the operatives, of which there are as many as twenty in the game (four for each group), is accompanied by a personal high-quality video, to one degree or another (and sometimes in a rather comical form) presenting us with the features of this class. Also, employees were not spared a personal dossier, which included the character’s full name, nickname, date of birth and brief description"occupation".
For example, an operative with the code name "MUTE", specializing in defense, stands out because he can install special "jammers" that will prevent opponents within a radius of several meters from using radio-controlled devices. Such a gadget is very useful for hiding strategically important objects from the eyes of enemy reconnaissance bots. And a huge special forces guy, clad in armor, nicknamed “FUZE,” who specializes in attack, with a smile on his face, will stick a “matryoshka bomb” into the wall and release three fragmentation charges on the other side, literally tearing apart every living thing in a small room.
However, after half an hour of studying all the operatives, it may seem that the gadgets of half of them are absolutely useless and inapplicable in the everyday life of special forces, this is not at all the case. Ubisoft specifically tried to diversify the choice of operatives as much as possible. Exactly the one that would suit you and your playing style, of which, by the way, there are a huge number in the game. Although, most of them are revealed through exceptionally full-fledged teamwork.
Indeed, you shouldn’t expect fun “shooting games” in the style of Call of Duty or Battlefield from the game. Before us is a truly adult, serious project in which your reaction and ability to shoot accurately pales in comparison with the need for deep tactical thinking and the ability to act according to the situation. In addition, for success in most matches, similar skills are also required from your team members, just as the presence of voice communications is also welcome. Voice cooperation helps not only to play cohesively, but also to engage various instruments like surveillance cameras and controlled reconnaissance bots.
Multiplayer is divided into two categories. The first is a classic match with neutralization/capture of an object or its defense, which is presented in the “Best of 5” format. That is, to win, you and your team need to win three victories. It doesn’t matter in what order, as long as you do it before the enemy. There is also a “Ranked Battles” category, access to which opens only upon reaching access level 20.
In turn, “Siege”, in addition to the 5v5 multiplayer modes, also offers us the cooperative “Anti-Terror” and the “Operations” mode. The latter slightly refutes the beliefs of some players about the absence of a single-player mode in the game. So, we will be given 11 tasks, which we will have to complete alone. They are wrapped in a tiny “plot” of the level “There is a group that wants to kill everyone, you are our last hope!”, accompanied by small but pleasant video inserts. In fact, "Operations" is a kind of training mode in the game. Over the course of 11 missions, we will be taught how to use a good half of the tools kindly provided to us by the developers, will be allowed to try out several operatives in action and earn a tidy sum of “fame points”, for which we will have to unlock all the in-game content. That's all. During the last operation, we will need to connect to the other 4 players with whom we will “save the world.” So I don’t recommend that you start playing “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege” without an active PlayStation Plus or Xbox Live Gold subscription.
Returning to the topic of in-game content, I would like to add that the developers provided it in fairly large quantities. Several coloring options and modules for personalizing weapons will please true fans of standing out from the crowd. However, we should be patient, since to unlock even some average coloring for MP5K we will need about 5000-10000 points. To achieve this amount of “fame” in the bank, you will definitely waste several hours of your life. Well, if you don’t like to wait, then you are not prohibited from purchasing fame boosters or experience points, as well as special R6 credits for real currency. With them, getting the coveted “skins” should not be difficult.
But you get this beautiful coloring book for purchasing the “Golden Edition” of the game.
The notorious “Anti-Terror” offers us cooperative battles with artificial opponents in various modes and includes the ability to choose one of three difficulties: from low to realistic. I would like to immediately note that you can get the most vivid sensations only on “realism”, since on lower difficulties the success of the operation in no time consists of the banal shooting of electronic dummies in the most perverted ways, right up to the collective beating of them with ballistic shields. However, here Ubisoft made a small omission: even on realistic difficulty, the opponents are incredibly stupid and do not hesitate to desperately “throw themselves at the embrasure.” The whole difficulty consists of a huge number of attacking/resisting bots and incredibly ruthless “hit boxes”. So, having caught several bullets with your body, you begin to realize your helplessness in the madness happening around you.
Visually, the game doesn't look revolutionary, but that doesn't stop it from just looking good. Yes, it does not reach the level of recent Star Wars: Battlefront, however, such a trifle is fully compensated by the complete destructibility of everything. In addition, French designers did a great job of making the locations more natural. Entering the next room of a mansion in Courchevel, you are glad that all the objects seem to be in the very places where they are supposed to be. Separately, it is worth mentioning the detailing of firearms: it is done at the proper level, just like the ballistics in the game. The developers also did a great job on the recoil, penetration and speed of bullets.
However, “Siege” did not avoid obvious technical shortcomings. When playing a game on Xbox One, the initial connection to the servers takes quite a long time and is always unsuccessful, although after reconnecting again everything falls into place. The experience can also be spoiled by rare but sudden errors in connecting to the host during breaks, errors in creating matches and connecting to Ubisoft servers. During gameplay, no drops in frame rate or connection problems were noticed.
In their project “Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege”, Ubisoft studio still managed to implement its plans quite well. This is truly a new tactical team action movie, which has no worthy analogues today. And the word team here can be highlighted in double bold font, so How exactly in performing operations with your comrades the game will give you a lot of incomparable sensations, however, it can be quite disappointing when playing alone. The developers have provided tons of tools thanks to which you can “no joke” plunge into the workdays of special units. Various technical problems are just a small fly in the ointment in a huge barrel of honey, and will probably soon be corrected with all sorts of patches.
The review was written based on the digital version of the game for Xbox One, provided to the editors by the publisher. Screenshots taken by the author on the specified platform.
Fun for a couple of weeks or a new eSports discipline? Let's break the game down into its components
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A new game in the Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six line with the subtitle Siege has been released. Entertainment for a couple of weeks or a new e-sports discipline? Only time will answer this question, but for now we’ll try to figure it out into components.
The 3D shooter genre is already for a long time is in stagnation, and you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand this. Arcade projects have turned into an annual “crash”: they only invent something truly interesting Respawn Entertainment, while other developers do nothing but steal the latest game mechanics from their own games. In general, there are only one or two worthy tactical shooters: if you don’t take into account the more or less popular series, then the only one that comes to mind is that which came out ten years ago. It was all the more pleasant to follow the fate of the new game Ubisoft- in a very short time she was able to grow from a “dubious project”, if not to best game 2015, then at least until the most interesting release Ubisoft in the past year.
The results of the next rethinking of the series are equally far from both the single-player tactical shooters of the beginning of the franchise and from the arcade “pew-pew” from behind the wall of time and. Although closer in spirit to the hardcore first parts, many fans will probably be disappointed by the lack of at least some single player company in the game: - the project is exclusively multiplayer, for better or worse. The maximum that single players will get is a damn difficult training mode, designed to reveal to beginners the nuances and subtleties of online gameplay.
Once you try your hand at multiplayer, such insignificant things as the lack of a single-player campaign will immediately cease to seem like something important. The formula of the gameplay here, like everything ingenious, is simple: on a small map, terrorists and special forces soldiers converge in a deadly confrontation. The goals of each side are transparent to the point of impossibility: the terrorists need to detonate a bomb or hold hostages, and the fighters of the anti-terrorist units need to prevent dangerous repeat offenders from carrying out their plans. All this is very reminiscent of the rules, isn't it? Not true!
The devil, as always, is hidden in the details, and the devil is the total destructibility of everything and everyone present on the map. Moreover, it is not at all cosmetic in nature, as in, where destruction is a cause and an end in itself - a skyscraper falls, does it beautifully, everyone is happy. Destroyable surfaces exist for a very specific purpose - they create space for players to tactically maneuver. And, I must say, the developers managed to realize their plans to the fullest: the replayability of any individual card in the game thanks to this move increases significantly.
The success or failure of any battle depends primarily on the ability of its participants to think tactically: why break into a mansion with hostages through the door, if you can simply blow up the wall with a directed charge and penetrate through the resulting passage? Why even storm the fortifications of terrorists entrenched in one of the rooms of the building, when it is possible to simply blow up the ceiling and throw grenades at the bewildered enemies from above? Tactics here prevail over spinal reflexes: players who naively rely on their ability to shoot and decide to go “head-on” can die in the most stupid way from well-placed traps, as in the film with Macaulay Culkin- and the battle will end without a single shot being fired.
Any battle consists of several stages. First, players choose a suitable character class, differing in equipment and skills. The special forces soldier Sledge, for example, is armed with a huge sledgehammer, with which he can quickly make a passage in almost any wall, and the Castle terrorist protects the passages with indestructible barricades. This, by the way, is one of the few indestructible surfaces in the game, but its purpose is exactly the same as its less stable counterparts - new tactical opportunities. There are about a dozen classes in total, each of which is strategically useful in its own way. Each of them has a special set of gadgets that are inaccessible to the rest: this is where you have to decide what will be more useful for the team - a medic or additional ammunition? A demolitionist with a thermite charge or a fighter with a shield behind which at least the whole team can slip into a narrow passage?
After selecting classes and equipment, teams vote on a spawn point on the map, and then the preparation phase begins, which lasts exactly 40 seconds. During this time, the defenders build fortifications and set traps, and the attackers try to scout out what is happening inside the building using drones with a video camera - finding out what intrigues your opponent is plotting here is critically important. Well, the stage that decides the outcome of the battle, the battle itself, lasts 3 minutes. During this short period of time, the attackers must remove hostages, defuse a bomb, or destroy the opposing team. If time runs out and the special forces fail to do any of the above, the terrorists win the battle.
Of course, you can only get the full portion of impressions and emotions that can potentially give a player in the company of friends. Singles in most situations are doomed to failure: even if there is voice communication in the game, the degree of synergy in the team necessary for victory can be achieved only if there is complete and mutual trust on the part of all its participants. But a stacked “stack” of experienced fighters under the command of a good tactician works real miracles—it’s a pleasure to watch what such a team does even when you’re not on the winning side.
It's amazing, but take a breath new life those from whom such innovations were least expected were able to get into tactical shooters - Ubisoft with their annual “assassins” that differ from each other no more than two peas in a pod.
No matter how poorly you or your teammates play, any skirmish in Rainbow Six: Siege looks like a scene from a SWAT movie. Here are five brave specialists sneaking through a captured police station. They notice that the door to one of the rooms is fenced off with a sliding door, and anchors stick out from the adjacent wall - this is where the enemy has fortified himself. One of the attackers places a thermal charge on the wall. The armored big guy hides behind a shield, the rest hide behind his back, behind doorposts and furniture. Another operative had already taken out a flashbang. Someone presses the detonator button, the charge slowly burns a hole in the wall.
Smoke, wood chips, some shreds in the air. A grenade flies into the hole, but is shot down by a drone. A gas sprayer rolls under the shield-bearer's feet; the attackers hastily retreat, trying to get out of the acrid yellow smoke. The shots do not stop, almost all the bullets fly at random. The fifth attack operative rappels down from outside and peers through the window. His enemies greet him with lead and abuse. The barrels of rifles and shotguns peek out from behind hastily constructed barricades.
And then the attackers begin to die one after another, because Rambo attacked them from behind. He sneezed at tactics, at techniques and at traps. He has a skill, and he decides. Four frags are on his scoreboard, and the “bugbear” outside the window falls down in grief and breaks his neck.
This miniature illustrates the best and worst moments of The Siege.
Why isn't there a hole in the wall here?
If we ignore the details, the rules of Siege are about the same as elsewhere in Counter-Strike. One team holds a position, guarding a hostage, a bomb or a container with chemicals, and bristles with guns, the other tries to defeat the first with a dashing attack.
But the operation is unlikely to resemble a classic shootout. First of all, not a single location has any open space. The assault team starts on the street, but almost all skirmishes take place inside buildings: if someone from the defending team goes outside, their position will be illuminated by a helicopter hovering over the object in a few seconds.
So five conditional criminals (precisely conditional, since in fact they are also operatives) are entrenched inside, and where remains to be seen. Each round begins with reconnaissance by drones, and it cannot be neglected, otherwise the team will collect all the mines, wrap itself in barbed wire, stuff itself with bullets, and go off to the next round in such an entertaining manner.
It is better to set a trap in the passages with a regular barricade, which is broken by blows from the butt. Because the fortified one will be blown up, and the trap will be in trouble.
Finding the villainous “nest” is quite a task. Each location is a tangle of corridors, a clutter of rooms and Very inconveniently located windows. Even on an airplane it’s easy to get lost - and this, by the way, the right way protect yourself from a bullet if your team falls down at the first cordon.
Wandering along the corridors is not the only difficulty in the mechanics, because many of the walls in this corridor can be undermined, while others can be broken through or shot through. You know, dig a hole the size of a billiard pocket and release a whole clip in there, laughing maliciously. Just don’t swear if you catch the “olive” in response - every hole has two sides.
These holes are the stumbling block Rainbow Six: Siege. Defenders prevent their appearance, attackers, on the contrary, organize them. Some cover the walls with sliding impenetrable shields, lock doorways, set traps, lay explosives, extend “thorns,” and create false shelters, which would cost valuable resources to break.
And the attackers use all means to break, explode, cut, fly in, run in and even fall through. Some biker country club is not just a decoration, but a whole tactical theater, layer cake, where each layer is needed.
It is important not to allow the enemy to fire a single shot at an open target. A short burst can easily kill two or three.
The right rainbow
Various special forces and their skills are also one of the foundations of the tactics of defense, penetration and humiliation of the enemy. Some abilities are available to anyone and without restrictions: for example, all defenders have wall shields, as well as explosive packages for attackers.
But the lion's share of tactical things is individual. Pulse, an American operative, uses a heartbeat sensor to find enemies. At the same time, he cannot hold a pistol at the same time, so this hero is strictly for team play. Like the French Montagne with a huge shield and thick armor - not so much a “tank” as a mobile parapet for its comrades.
There is a harsh chemist who burns through barriers with special charges, there is an ordinary sniper, there is a trap master who blows up the enemy right on the doorstep, there is an enemy of radio technology who jams cameras and detonators. There are twenty classes, and almost all of them are needed in one situation or another.
There are no cases where one operative “counters” another (except partially), and there is no win-win synergy (although combining a doctor and Rook body armor is good idea), but the solitaire game turns out to be interesting. Coordination and complex, precise verbal planning are not the key to victory, but rather the key to surviving a mission.
This also applies to defenders, for whom it is important to strengthen some walls, leave others, not accidentally lock each other and not duplicate defenses (for example, do not put on one door frame and the C4 charge, and the trap of the special forces Kapkan), and the attackers, for whom it is important to break in suddenly, harmoniously and preferably from all sides.
Each operative has a “Meet the...” video and a complicated past. This could make a good story.
It rarely comes down to defusing a bomb. Usually, either its owners die first, or those others die.
Five free frags
Anytime team game individual farmers are not in favor (even in football). In “Siege” - especially, including because a couple of stray bullets, at best, will put the operative on the floor, so that he grimaces and clutches the wound, and at worst, will kill him outright. Isn't this a reason to work together and keep our guns pointed to the wind?
In an average game with strangers, perhaps best start for attackers - when the entire crowd trots along behind the leader. A flock of sheep? Right. But a herd lives longer and is richer than five lonely rams. Unfortunately, among the sheep, or just average players, or cowards, or natural performers, there will definitely be at least one BATYA who knows and can do everything without any backup dancers.
He takes off and disappears into the enemy's lair. With a deft shot through the partition, he takes a couple of lives, then sits down and, through two or three doorways, shoots a random victim who could not even think of such an outcome. Then he kills a couple more people while running - remember? One shot is enough.
And so, while you are honestly dismantling the barbed wire and the four of you are getting into trouble, this miracle man is famously harvesting frags and modestly writes in the chat: gg.
The hostage is convenient and compact, you can even climb with it on a rope. But why would a person who strafe kills the entire team of kidnappers need this?
Nice typo. We bet it's not random?
If the defenders finally come to their senses and organize a smart defense, the Rambo’s chances will drop sharply. If such a hero finds his way into the ranks of the defenders, everything is a little sadder. To make matters worse, players who are not endowed with such talents can also spit on the team effort and run away without so much as a word. Have you seen someone in a chat advising you to blow up the ceiling and throw a couple of grenades? Rejoice, someone has awakened to consciousness! And voice chat, paradoxically, is silent almost all the time.
There is no sensible display and target designation system - except for the yellow marker, which you can understand as you wish - in Siege either. So it turns out that the quality of the game depends on how lucky you are with your team especially strongly. Usually, if most of the squad does not show willpower and does not interact like human beings, there will be no interaction, and the noble mechanics of Siege will not work at all.
We addressed similar complaints Evolve. But “Siege” is saved by the fact that it is much less repetitive and does not exhaust itself so quickly. Thanks to breakable walls, grappling hooks, penetrating charges and other commando delights, you are unlikely to see two identical scenes on the same map. And no matter how sad the situation in the game may be, it will end quickly and decisively, will not have time to tire anyone and will allow you to move on to the next one without regrets.
The university level is the only one where they really show the “White Masks” and their dark deeds. Really dark - go and see something in this acrid haze.
In a battle with bots, it is important not to let them get to the hostage, he may get shot. Even if not to death.
* * *
There are also battles against AI in Siege, but no matter what difficulty you set, no matter how well you play the match, the intensity is still not the same. In single “situations” there is a lot of nonsense: the cards are the same, designed for five, but they let you out alone and try to teach you something. The germ of the campaign remained in these same “situations” - two luxurious CG videos about the attack on the university and its heroic liberation. At the very least, that campaign could have been entertaining.
In multiplayer, which is the essence of Siege and the reason to play it, everything works according to amazing rules, even if the players often sneezed at them. If you have a team you're confident in, Siege is amazing...
And then only the network code lets her down. Not too often, but still. Sometimes the ping will skyrocket, sometimes the connection will just suddenly stop. It happens that you carefully crawl into a room under the cover of a chest of drawers and die from a bullet in the skull, and then you see in a replay how your operative calmly enters the same room without even ducking. And you are sure that everything was completely wrong, but the server decided otherwise.
When it comes to Tom Clancy, Ubisoft is the master of surprises. Year after year it sells the same Assassin's Creed, and when it comes to shooters like Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six and even Splinter Cell, experiments begin. Concepts change so often and so radically that all of the listed series have already lost or almost lost their face, becoming just another empty but loud brand under which anything is sold. Of course, there is a positive side to this: something new and unusual is better than something old and terribly boring. But there is no need to talk about any kind of fan base here: each game turns out to have its own separate one, and sometimes there is none at all, as, for example, with the latest Ghost Recon, which did not find much recognition either among players or among critics.
When starting a new Rainbow Six, you need to forget about all the previous ones. IN new game, of course, some conceptual ideas have been preserved, it is still a counter-terrorism tactical shooter, but overall it is not similar to previous games. Siege is a product of its time, and it’s even a little strange to see it not being shareware. Here, apparently, the Western audience is to blame, which, unlike the Asian and post-Soviet ones, has not been able to fully accept free-to-play and relies more on games for which you must pay. And in this, by the way, they only made it worse for themselves, because microtransactions still appeared in such games, but this is another topic for discussion. In general, we have before us a game that would look great if it were a little more free or at least twice as cheap as it actually is. And so they sell it for a high price tag, and this has already managed to confuse, if not everyone, then many.
Why did this happen? First of all, there is no normal single player campaign. Instead, there are only 10 operations, which are essentially training in the basics of the game. True, they all take place in different locations, put the player in different circumstances and dictate different goals, have three difficulty levels and several types of rewards. That is, you not only complete a task, learn a new character and an important skill, but also earn bonuses. They are given, for example, for the fact that by the end you have at least half your health left. Or for blowing up three terrorists with grenades. Or the door was knocked down twice. Important point, the truth is that although this is a single, you still need to be online, otherwise you will not receive the reward. This is apparently a little dirty trick on the part of the developers for pirates.
Although there is no point in stealing this game. This is a team multiplayer first-person shooter, where communication with your comrades is the most valuable. The battle is 5 on 5. Some attack, others defend. Terrorists (without any nationality, it should be noted) either take someone hostage, or plant a bomb in a building, or simply capture some object, so the special forces need to get inside and, depending on the conditions, free and remove the hostages , install a bomb deactivator or simply clear the area.
It sounds like it's your typical Counter-Strike-inspired military shooter, and at first glance it certainly seems like one. But it’s enough to spend two or three battles as if it were CS or Call of Duty to get yourself in trouble and stop being a hero and start thinking. I will even say more: in that game you will think even more than you shoot.
It all starts with the fact that no matter where the terrorists are hiding, it’s like storming a fortress. Almost all doors and windows are always boarded up. This applies not only to entrances and exits to the outside, but also interior spaces. The game fully lives up to its name and its trailers: indeed, along the way you have to break through walls in the literal and figurative sense, besiege it and break through from several sides at once. If the new Rainbow Six is close to some modern multiplayer games in spirit, then this is more likely. Payday 2. You alone are worth nothing. The team is everything. A proper match begins with the team building a plan of action: if there are terrorists, then we are talking about defense, if there are special forces, then we are talking about an assault. And you always need to be prepared for things to go wrong. It is necessary to constantly coordinate actions.
Each map is a labyrinth. It doesn't matter if it's a building or a presidential plane, it always consists of several floors, numerous rooms, halls, nooks and corridors. There are always several positions for snipers outside, and with such a fighter, the team can feel a little more confident on the street, especially when it comes to hostages who need to be taken to the evacuation point and then wait there, right there, for a while.
But inside the labyrinth no one can be calm. Firstly, due to destructibility. Standard situation: throw a cable onto the roof, climb to the height of the second floor, shoot through a window, fly into an empty room and... die from shots from another room. Simply because the enemy heard the noise and decided to shoot through the wall. Usually a couple of shots is enough to make a hole and shoot through it. Not to mention the fact that there are special weapons just to punch your way through barricades and walls. And it looks even more impressive than the famous destructibility of Battlefield. Not to mention that there it was rather a decorative feature, and it did not greatly influence the gameplay, but here a lot depends on it. In Siege, sometimes all it takes is the wrong command, a small delay, or some other mistake to lose the match.
Secondly, there is good audibility inside the besieged fortress. The game has fantastic sound. You always understand clearly where the rustling came from, from what floor, on what staircase. You hear who ran where, where the speech came from, where they shot. And the shots are still like that - loud, sharp, short. And you can’t do without them. It's hard to get through the mission without making a fuss. If only because sooner or later you will need to blow up some door. But stealth, of course, is also real: you can walk half-bent and cut unwary enemies with a knife.
Gradually, match after match, the player acquires points, which he spends on unlocking new classes, skills and upgrades. They open relatively quickly - after about five hours, about half of them will already be open. The choice of character and ammunition, of course, affects the tactics of the entire team. And here lies the second ambiguous quality of Siege - it is for those who have friends. Playing with anonymous people is not easy, of course. Among them there are often either lone heroes who quickly die in such a game and leave the team in an unequal battle, or cowards, or fools, or just lazy people. Some people just want to shoot. And even if there are normal guys, it takes time to work together. Better yet, you need voice communication. So, ideally, to play Rainbow Six: Siege well, you need not only money and time, but also four friends. If you have all this, then you are unlikely to regret it.
Verdict
A good tactical shooter, especially if you play with friends. True, now it costs a little more than it deserves, and if price matters, then it’s better to wait a little.
Final score: 8 points out of 10!
