More than six years after the release of Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft is diving back into the franchise with Rainbow Six Extraction. A new release that distances itself from the excellent tactical FPS, for better and for worse.
[Mis à jour le 20 janvier 2021 à 12h19] Let’s go back six years quietly. Ubisoft then unveiled Rainbow Six: Siege, a tactical FPS based on a muscular Player versus Player (PvP) mode which quickly established itself as a lonely and relevant island in the immense sea of first-person shooters. Without revolutionizing the genre, this release marked the spirits, managing to forge a solid community of dedicated players who continue to keep the game alive today. Given this undeniable success, it’s no less surprising that Ubisoft decided to develop a sequel. This is how Rainbow Six: Extraction was born, after several years of development penalized by the coronavirus crisis. However, Rainbow Six: Extraction has taken an unexpected turn, totally upsetting the formula established by its predecessor to offer an experience as new as it is confusing. Indeed, Extraction is an entirely PvE (Player versus Environment) game, a cooperative and tactical FPS which at the same time moves away from what made the success of its predecessor. A risky bet for Ubisoft in times or the company increasingly struggling to convince players (and its shareholders). We had the opportunity to test it in detail for several hours. Here is our opinion, in brief.
Our intro pretty much painted the overall picture for you: Rainbow Six Extraction is a low-key release. And you will understand the reason, this game is not really the sequel to the respected Rainbow Six: Siege. It is far too different to have aroused the excitement of many players from its predecessor. Indeed, in Rainbow Six: Extraction, you play as operators, the same ones who make up the Rainbow Six Siege roster, in squads of 1 to 3 players dropped into areas contaminated by a dangerous and unknown enemy: the Archeans. You will then have to complete three tasks of increasing difficulty, before extracting yourself to be able to reap the fruits of your mission. A concept that is reminiscent of GTFO, or even Left 4 Dead 2 if we extrapolate a little much. Extraction indeed offers an FPS experience, but keeps the “tactical” gameplay that made Siege so successful. The mechanics of shooting through walls, scouting thanks to the different gadgets and abilities of operators, or even barricade reinforcement are retained, which gives us sensations very or even too similar to those of Rainbow Six: Siege. Add to that that Rainbow Six Extraction is based on the same graphics engine as its predecessor (resulting in undeniably good PC performance at the same time) and you’ll literally feel like you’re in the same game, if you don’t. don’t look too much at what’s going on around.
Because around, it’s another story. This time, your environment is a quarantine zone, and your enemies are AIs. Yes, PvP is completely absent from Rainbow Six Extraction, a decision which raises some eyebrows when you consider the success of Rainbow Six Siege, itself based solely on PvP. That being said, the new experience offered by Extraction is all in all quite fun. The Archaeans are tough enemies, the difficulty levels (four in number) are felt and the game overall offers a fairly substantial challenge. Unfortunately and as always with a PvE game, the limits of artificial intelligence appear very quickly (few games have advanced on this side since Left 4 Dead, to tell the truth). Another rather deplorable limit of the game, the number of players. Limiting the number of participants in a co-op game to three is a big mistake. We can have fun with three, of course, but we will always regret not having the opportunity to discover what it would be like for four or five.
The progression in game is relatively rewarding, without pushing too much the “grind” aspect so common to recent titles from Ubisoft. Completing missions earns you overall experience and character experience, the former allowing you to unlock other missions and action locations and the latter granting your operators new weapons, improving their stats and skills. You could almost say that the progression is a bit too fast, level 10 being the maximum level to reach for your operators (Count 6 or 7 missions of difficulty 3 to reach level 10). Something to ask real questions about the sustainability of the game. Because it is true that the pure and hard content in Extraction is limited. Count eighteen operators, 4 maps or “biomes”, a dozen types of Archaeans and fifteen gadgets. It is true that procedural map generation offers quite varied challenges with random terrain and objectives, but these too are limited in number.
Once again, Rainbow Six Extraction is fun (especially with friends), offers real challenges and a quite unique experience. You spend a good time there as you could have a good time on Back 4 Blood, especially when you consider the immense work that has been done to make the contaminated environment so alive, organic and immersive. But the game is limited, limited by its content, its graphics engine and its repetitive aspect. It is also and above all both too similar to Rainbow Six Siege in its form to be considered a novelty, and too different to appeal to veterans of the franchise. One could ultimately consider Rainbow Six Extraction more as an extremely well-crafted Rainbow Six Siege DLC than its sequel.
Note: Ubisoft gives you the opportunity to have your friends test the game, free of charge and for fourteen days. An excellent opportunity to form your own opinion. inquire here.
Rainbow Six Extraction is an experience focused on cooperative play, which contrasts greatly with the competitive PvP (player versus player) side of Siege, but also allows the license to renew itself in depth and expand its audience. The player embodies one of the eighteen operators from the Tom Clancy licenses, each with unique abilities, customization options and playstyle. The game is playable from 1 to 3 players, who will be forced to work together in order to accomplish various objectives in areas infested with Archaeans, in San Francisco, New York, New Mexico and Alaska. These four regions contain 12 environments different, which Ubisoft describes as: “at least three times larger than most Rainbow Six Siege maps.”. 13 mission types await the players (and a ranked mode !) and each part will include variables (map generation, modifiers, objectives, enemies…) which will greatly enhance the replayability of the game. Ubisoft also mentions the extensive arsenal of its game, with nearly 25 gadgets and 65 weapons personalized, which will overcome the thirteen archetypes of enemies and their random mutations.
The progress is a key element of the game, with an experience system that allows both to improve the equipment and skills of an operator, and to unlock permanent content (maps, gadgets, operators, skins) while accessing to new difficulty levels (Ubisoft has announced four). Three free DLCs will also be offered after launch, and all players who own both Rainbow Six Siege and Rainbow Six Extraction will instantly unlock all eighteen Operators in the game.
The player is led to progress through different levels, generated randomly, from safe zone to safe zone, and to perform increasingly difficult tasks, which are also random. Although a solo mode is available, it is in cooperation that the experience will be the most complete. Within these levels, many Archeans roam, dividing into thirteen archetypal creatures with particular characteristics. As far as the gameplay is concerned, we are moving away from a traditional zombie shooter since it is not really a question of rushing into the heap and piling up the victims, but rather of progressing tactically in an increasingly more dangerous. Once your objectives have been met, you will have the option of leaving the level or continuing your exploration, at the risk of falling on someone stronger than you. If ever one of your Operators is killed in action, they will be categorized as missing and will not be immediately replayable. The only small disappointment is that the game’s graphics engine seems a bit dated (it’s based on that of Rainbow Six Siege, released in 2015), which on the other hand is quite positive since it allows many players to enjoy a smooth experience, regardless of the game platform.
We were expecting it at the start of the 2021 school year, it’s finally the January 20, 2022 that we will be able to enter the quarantine zones of Rainbow Six Extraction. Ubisoft confirmed it recently, the development of the title suffered too much from the sanitary conditions and a postponement of the release date was necessary “to bring this game to life in the way it deserves.” We will therefore have to take our troubles a little more patiently, but always quoting the Ubisoft teams: “We are confident that [ce retard] will ensure that Rainbow Six Extraction is the immersive, cooperative and exciting experience that we are committed to creating and that you hope to play.” That delay isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially considering the trauma of the Cyberpunk 2077 experience.
There is still some good news, especially for owners of “last-gen” consoles; the game will be released on Playstation 4 and Xbox One, at the same time as on Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. PC players are not left out, since it will be available from launch on Epic Games and Ubisoft Connect. A release on Stadia, Google’s game streaming service is also planned. For the most impatient, the game is already available for pre-order, Ubisoft offers us a standard version and a deluxe version, which each contain different cosmetic bonuses, and experience boosts for the deluxe version.