Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six: Siege has had a run-up to release with one very important caveat looming over its head: it has no single-player campaign mode. If you want dynamic shootouts, lots of physics-based destruction and plenty of weapons to unlock, Rainbow Six: Siege has those features in spades. If you’re looking for a game with that will entertain you if you want to play solo or via single-player, you may want to look elsewhere.
Ubisoft didn’t really hammer home how non-solo friendly the game is, but they made it clear enough that games media basically did the work for them in reiterating the lack of a single-player campaign. The game itself consists of various maps and modes where two teams will battle it out across elimination modes, terrorist hunt PvE modes, and team demolition and hostage modes.
Rainbow Six: Siege is no where near as tactical and slow pace as the older games, but it still packs a wallop when it comes to intense firefights. It’s a closer breed of Battlefield meets Counter-Strike. In fact, that’s what Steam user Xenour said…
“Like Counterstrike and Battlefield had a child that was raised by Payday and put on steroids by insurgency…”
“All in all a very, very good game. Has the be the best tactical shooter I have ever played. HOWEVER I would warn anyone looking to pick this up, it is hard…if you are not prepared to play properly and just run around, you will die constantly and you will not enjoy it.”
Ancient was a Counter-Strike addict until Rainbow Six: Siege came along, writing…
“I’ve got probably 300 hours in this game if you count both betas. I will have many, many more.
“This is the Game of the Year for me. Competing with The Witcher 3 in my personal opinion.
“This is the only first person shooter that has been able to take my attention away from counterstrike…. in twelve years.”
Huntstheman like the weapon customization and competitive play, but hated the Uplay attachment. Even still, he enjoyed it enough to give it a very encouraging thumbs up and calling it a “masterpiece” by his standards…
“The game is like no other (maybe a little bit Payday 2). The textures of models and the gunfire feels realistic and fun. Feel free to bring down some settings to make it run faster, as it still will look stunning. The gunfire feels kind of crummy, as your gun goes nuts when you pull the trigger (which is a GOOD thing). This game plays like call of duty but has more less-controlled gunfire.”
Ex-army veteran MrHWYz was in love with the game, writing…
“I normally don’t write reviews for games, but being an Army Infantry Vet and an AVID CSGO player with 3k+ hours I can safely say…..
“This game is ♥♥♥♥ing amazing, it’s such a new breath of fresh air within FPSs. It’s got the graphics, the gameplay is amazing.”
It’s not all lollipops, though. Weaponized White Male Privilege was dissatisfied with the lacking team dynamics and culled content compared to the previous entry in the Rainbow Six series, writing…
“This game severely lacks content. It’s singleplayer aspect is just a bunch of training missions or a lone wolf against the AI which I’ll discuss the AI in a moment. All the modes revolve around one concept, attackers vs defenders. There isn’t much of a balance issue between the two teams. However, unless you pair up with a pre-made team you will rarely find a team that will cooperate/communicate let alone speak the same language. The whole gameplay revolves around cooperating and working with teamates. There’s nothing more fustrating that than the lack of teamwork in a teamwork based game. Period.”
While the negative reviews make up just one eighth of the total reviews out there, they do bring up consistent points about the game being fun at times but some connection issues make it difficult to play. More consistently, however, are the complaints about the lacking content and missing single-player, with natasha8384 writing…
“no capaign (story mode), no cigar. Was looking forward to play R6 campaign and then campaign co-op, but Ubi went for an MP play only. The R6 series ruined and definitively not wortth $60.”
Even console gamers had to acquiesce to the recognition of the faulted step by Ubisoft, focusing only on the multiplayer side of the equation. Mr. Knight over on Amazon wrote disparagingly of the game on behalf of single-player gamers, but still praised it for what it had to offer on the multiplayer front, writing…
“You can’t rely on strangers who may or may not talk to provide an enjoyable experience. If anything this breeds toxic behavior. So if you are a solo focused multiplayer type person. This game is an easy pass.”
“I’m as shocked as anyone the start of this year I thought this would be the worst shooter of the year and that you could almost bet on it. While Battlefront or Halo would be the best. Now you could argue Battlefront is the worst and Rainbow Six is the best. Any fan of multiplayer shooters owes it to themselves to give this game a try but just know this game is unlike other shooters. It is team based. No not a team death match team. Not a zone out a lone wolf it team. This is a team shooter where you will need to talk with other people. So it is best to have a bunch of friends who want to play this game.”
007 enjoyed the game for the multiplayer, the weapons and the destructible environments, but ran into a huge problem with one of the staple features from the series having gone AWOL…
“Now for the REALLY big gripe that I have. And quite surprisingly, I have not seen a single person mention it yet. WHERE IS THE COVER SYSTEM? That’s right folks, it is gone. The game that started the “tactical” genre, took out the ONE thing that set them apart from the run and gunner games like COD, Halo, etc. While I certainly enjoy each of those games, the one thing I really loved about the Rainbow series was its true tactical, slower and more deliberate pacing. “
Amazon Customer purchased the game on the Xbox One, but was not very satisfied with what he purchased, writing…
“Extremely dissapointed in everything these games stood for, I was aware that this was a multiplayer based game, but I thought that maybe they would have a campiagn, one of the things I enjoyed most. I thought maybe they’d have split screen to play terrorist hunt. The graphics are sub par for a game that excludes all of this, and not only that you can’t choose any weapon anymore, or customize your character (let’s be honest this was one of the best parts), you can’t even vote on what map or game mode you play.”
Three6teen was in the same boat, admitting that the game was quite fun in multiplayer and with a group of friends, but was disappointed at the lack of single-player and that the full game still felt the same as it did during the beta…
“The fact that shooters games recently are removing a single player campaign from there game is a huge step backward and it needs to stop! People do play the single player story in shooters and I’m one of them. I don’t care if 99.9% of players play Multiplayer only, don’t alienate other players who enjoy something other than the multiplayer in your game.”
TyQ also felt the game played smooth and that the customization and mods were worthwhile, but TyQ had other plans with his review: he wanted to use the space to warn gamers about the removal of content, the $60 hype trains, the pervasive microtransactions and the unfinished feeling a lot of AAA games have upon release. TyQ offers a pro-consumer tour de force in his review of the game, but here’s a small excerpt…
“The only reason this gets 2 stars is because Terrorist Hunt is fun, but not $60 worth of fun. This game should be $20 max really. It really amazes me how games like Evolve, Battlefront, and this even are released, they lack so little content it is absurd.”
The majority of console gamers seem to fall in between the really enthusiastic players and the really jaded players. The average on Amazon is a 3 out of 5 star rating for both the Xbox One and PS4 version of the game. In this case, console gamers have exercised more restraint and caution than Steam users. Shocking, I know.
Even still, most of everyone seems to agree that the multiplayer gameplay in Rainbow Six Siege – when it works and isn’t constantly disconnected players – is pretty much a “masterpiece”. The lack of single-player has rubbed more than enough players the wrong way, and many gamers – even those who gave the game a high rating – still contend that it may not be worth a $60 purchase.
Rainbow Six: Siege is available right now for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. For more info feel free to visit the official website.
