Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege Reviews
It's a shame that, yet again, unrestrained lust for money on the part of a publisher has worked so hard to undo the goodwill earned by the developer's hard work. The core of Rainbow Six Siege is great – it's a game I want to absolutely adore. But it's just not a game I can recommend right now. Not at this price. Not with Ubisoft's chicanery.
Ubisoft Montreal's intense counter-terrorism simulation should satisfy FPS fans interested strategy and teamwork
For all of the wonderful craft on show, Siege doesn't contain any surprises. It executes its plan to perfection but there's no room for deviation.
Rainbow Six: Siege is one of the better tactical FPS experiences of the year, even with a smaller content offering than most. Microtransactions and limited custom options can muddy it up, but if you enjoy the core gameplay loop, there's a lot to enjoy here for the multiplayer-minded player.
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege has the polish of a big budget release, but the amount of content that one expects to see from a low budget free-to-play game.
With its taut, tense action and destructible environments, Siege is the best Rainbow Six for years – if only Ubisoft would rethink its business model
But that focus is what makes Siege's multiplayer so good. In a year with a glut of good competitive first-person shooters –the sci-fi fizz of Halo 5 and Star Wars Battlefront or bombastic ordnance of Battlefield Hardline and Call of Duty: Black Ops III- Rainbow Six Siege's smart, sharp tactical nous marks it as one of the best.
Delivering a final verdict for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege is complicated. Purely on the title's merits, it's a PS5 upgrade that is unquestionably an improvement and comes highly recommended. But on the other hand, even with all the new bells and whistles courtesy of the PS5, the title is a horrifying cesspool of cheating and toxicity of which very little has been done to stem the tide.
This tight, finely tuned experience might not be treading the same ground as classic Rainbow Six - and the lack of any substantial singe-player is unfortunate - but taken on its own merits, it's easily one of the best shooters of the year, and the best online experience we've had in quite some time.
This could have been a triumphant return for Rainbow Six, even with the true single-player experience stripped out, but bad decision after bad decision helps to bury the potential and leave Siege D.O.A.
There was a pretty big question mark about how stable Rainbow Six: Siege's online performance would be after a pretty disastrous open beta, and news of microtransactions in the final product also contributed to a general aura of bad feeling that's overshadowed its release. Should you decide to give it a chance, though, you'll realise that a lot of these concerns were unfounded, and Ubisoft has actually delivered a thoroughly enjoyable tactical shooter that feels like an antidote for anyone fatigued by the breakneck run-'n'-gun in other multiplayer titles. While its slow deliberate pace won't be for everyone, if you're looking for shooter that's trying something different, then the impressive destructibility and intense close-quarters battles will almost certainly bring the house down.
Probably the biggest example of something that Siege does that an Indie studio simply does not have the budget for, is the destructibility.
Rainbow Six Siege is a nice return for the series, but know about its caveats before diving in. This is a team game. Communication is necessary, and it is not a twitch shooter. If those things sound appealing, then Siege is definitely worth the time.
The game can be enjoyable, but the barrier to entry is so high that it's hard to recommend.
Rainbow Six Siege is the finest shooter of the year. Its systems combine to create a game that's immediately tense and feels several steps beyond what we've come to expect from yearly Call of Duty iterations. AAA games aren't usually this bold, but in this case the gamble has paid off. Rainbow Six Siege is sublime.
What Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege lacks in content it makes up for in intense, fast-paced, heart-pounding action and tight gameplay. If tactical multiplayer is your thing, there may be none better. If not, though, you'll likely find the experience to be a bit bare bones.
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege serves as a breath of fresh air against an overwhelming fog of twitch shooters.
Speaking of being a moving target, one notable issue that holds Siege back from excellence is its less than ideal hit detection. There is an odd and often frustrating discrepancy between the amount of successful hits you think you got versus what the replays claim you got. Assuming Ubisoft has big competitive gaming plans for Siege, this issue needs to be at the top of the fixes list for the next patch.
When it all comes together, Rainbow Six Siege offers some of the best multiplayer action you'll experience this generation, but the anaemic content and lack of a cohesive single player campaign mar what should be one of this year's best shooters.