So as an avid Rainbow Six: Vegas and Vegas 2 fan, I have been patiently waiting for this game for a long while. I was a little disappointed that Ubisoft had decided to delay the full release to December, but after playing in the closed beta for a little while, I am fully prepared to give Ubisoft however much time they need to really put some polish on this game. Let’s talk about my first impressions of Rainbow Six: Siege’s closed beta.
It’s important to note that this is in no way the full release so features may be changed, bugs will be squashed and mechanics may be tweaked before launch. With that being said I sat down to play Siege with high hopes, but truth be told I wasn’t sure if it would live up to it’s predecessor in Rainbow Six: Vegas. It’s fair to say, they took the best parts of Vegas and improved them, then just added in a bunch of new features, characters with special abilities, a new style to the game and new mechanics to allow you to make the most of the game. After the first game, even though I did poorly adjusting to the game from other shooters I’ve played recently, Siege instantly re-ignited my love for the Rainbow Six games.
The difference between Siege and Vegas is that Siege is much more attack and defence oriented. There are two teams, one holds down a point with a package and the other kills the guys trying to defend the point, simple. But there is a whole new tool kit that is available to your operators including things like deployable cover for defending choke-points, camera drones for scouting areas for attack and breach charges to “blow the bloody doors (and some walls…) off!”. This stuff is equipment available to all, on top of this, there are specific classes that have different abilities to choose from, Team Fortress 2 style. There is one with a huge sledge hammer which is like 15 breach charges as a special ability, a riot shield that extends to cover your legs, a drone that shoots grenades through walls and loads of others for you to play around with and try your favourite. It is limited to one per game though so make sure you grab your favourite operator with the best ability before someone else does!
These operators extend into the much loved “Terrorist Hunt” mode. It’s back and better than ever, with enemies holding down a much smaller area, being much more deadly and with more tools for them to use against you and you to use against them. It mimics the multi-player of Siege but with AI opponents and the ability to do it lone wolf, with score modifiers and a time limit, this means you can play without friends without worrying about having a lesser experience.
The only downside I have come across in the closed beta so far is that the frame-rate seemed different in multi-player versus what it was in Terrorist Hunt. In the multi-player it felt like it was running at a constant 60 frames per second but in Terrorist Hunt it was noticeably slower, almost looking to be 30 frames per second. I can’t think why this would be the case, or maybe I just didn’t play enough PvP but either way, I hope it’s something that is sorted out before the full launch. This is what we have betas and delays for!
Overall, Siege is one hell of a ride so far and it’s still in beta! I am really excited to see what else the team have in store for the full release of the game. If what we’ve seen so far is anything to go on then this might just be the best Rainbow Six game we have ever seen!
Let us know your thoughts on the beta so far if you’ve had a chance to play it!
