There's a Rainbow 6 Patriots preview in this month's OXM (now available for a bargain-basement price on iTunes). You can tell from the scary short-haired white man on the cover, the one pulling a gas-mask out of his ear. This isn't just any preview, mind - it's a World Exclusive Preview, and you, therefore, urgently need to read it.
But perhaps the idea of a new Rainbow 6 leaves you cold. Perhaps you're wondering whether the series has anything to offer. Guess what? It does. Here are eleven reasons to get excited, features and mechanics that could make Rainbow 6 a (whisper it) Call of Duty beater. Consider this an appetiser - buy OXM 80 for the main course.
1. Distinguishing civvies from terrorists will be hard
The titular Patriots aren't card-carrying terrorist stereotypes - they're aggrieved average Joes and Janes, a little rougher round the edges than your classic innocent bystander, perhaps, but difficult to pick out at a glance. Rather than abandoned nuclear silos and oil rigs, they'll operate from street corners, shopfront crowds, bus shelters, unassuming vans. You'll find yourself in more traditional FPS scenarios at intervals, trading shots without fear of civilian collateral, but telling friend from foe won't always be as simple as spot-the-AK.
2. It runs on the Assassin's Creed engine
Which is immediately heartening, because if there's one thing the Assassin's Creed engine does extraordinarily well it's scope, streaming in a staggering quantity of environmental detail and miscellaneous NPC action per frame. We're big fans of scope in our tactical shooters. We're big fans of scopes, too. Badumtish.
3. You'll swap character perspectives mid-mission
The target footage catapulted us from a hostage's viewpoint to that of a sniper hundreds of metres away. Whose shoes will the game fill next?
4. The action will be more scripted this time
Rainbow 6 began life as a sandbox shooter - a punishing sandbox shooter, granted, where making a wrong turn could make the difference between a service medal and a funeral, but a sandbox nonetheless. Patriots aims to be more of a story-driven game, which means that certain twists will be outside your control. Example: you can't save that woman in the taxi cab later in the trailer. Sorry love.
Thanks to creative director David Sears for this little revelation, who also notes that "a lot of the things that Rainbow 6 has done in the past have been adopted by our competition". Here's a part-confirmed, part-speculative feature list: the multiplayer component will focus on teamplay and player-versus-AI, but will offer a deathmatch variant; there will be leaderboards; there will be a progression system with unlockable weapons and perks; there will be a Spec Ops style two player mode suite, for more intimate co-op play; you'll get customisable emblems, profiles and the like.
6. It'll be "radically different" to Call of Duty and Battlefield
This should be readily apparent from the announcement video, in which Rainbows move as one to take down perps, manoeuvring under fire with guidance from team-mates rather than trying to out-draw attackers. Where even Battlefield rarely punishes you outright for spraying and praying, the optimum bullet-to-kill ratio in Patriots is 1:1. You don't want to wing a civilian, or slot a guy holding a pressure-activated remote detonator, or advertise your activities unduly. Think before you shoot.
8 comments so far...
Joe90_Remy700 on 30 Nov '11 said:
sounds good, except its no longer sandbox? what i like is the multiple ways of completing stuff, do it whatever way suits you best with the tactics your squad excecutes best
the rest sounds juicy
razor6494 on 30 Nov '11 said:
in the trailer it says 'not actual game footage' what footage is the trailer exactly (because it looks awesome).
CPT Random 82 on 1 Dec '11 said:
1 thing the developer needs to know:
TAKE MY MONEY! I've missed the good old R6
Jensonjet on 2 Dec '11 said:
I've always been a massive fan of Rainbow Six. And I'm really pleased about its return. But I am worried that the first-person genre has taken many steps back from when Rainbow Six was at its height. I really hope this game isn't too influenced by the general standard of todays shooters.
One concern brought up in the article is the mention of a "Spec Ops style" two-player mode! Rainbow Six games of the past more than had this covered already. You could always play as two, three or four in a co-op campaign or terrorist-hunt (single maps either specifically designed for the purpose or utilising the campaign maps). Spec Ops is a weak copy of what Rainbow Six had always done. I guess it's possible that the "Spec Ops" description was used in order to spoon-feed young gamers, or those who have no experience of Rainbow Six, rather than just call it "Terrorist Hunt with just one friend".
Anyway, what's extremely positive to read is that the developers seem to be making an effort to resolve one of the worst elements of shooters – AI. It's amazing how, after all these decades, with all the collective experience of the industry, it's still incredibly rare to find AI that has any sense of self-preservation. Although I won't expect too much development on the suicidal, blind run towards the gamer AI tatics, it's good to hear that the developer is at least thinking about how the AI might react in order to survive and take out the player. I wonder if it's too much to hope that supressive fire is understood by the developers and that has been implemented into the AI.
Still disappointed that Rainbow Six will use that dumb and thoughtless third-person cover system. I suspect it's used because it makes life easy for gamers and allows the third-person 'cheat' of having a wider field of view and being able to see around corners. Either that or it's an admission that the developers aren't smart enough to implement a realistic cover system while remaining in a first-person view!!!
Bezza89 on 2 Dec '11 said:
In the issue of OXM it says you can be as simple or as complicated as you want in planning attacks and routes etc, it sounds like you can use RB6s traditional three way synchronised entry with flashbangs (...) or if you are a noob just simplify the approach... RB6 wasn't very noob friendly.
SidTheSloth on 2 Dec '11 said:
I feel a little bit 'confused' - which isn't the right word but don't know how else to describe it... This months issue has "R6 returns to take down call of duty", the intro to the article whispers that the new features have the potential to make it a CoD beater, and then point 6 specifies that it'll be radically different to CoD/Battlefield?
I don't like to bring the negative vibe but hasn't R6 always been radically different to the CoD/Battlefield(heck even halo) style anyway? I don't want it to beat CoD because to me they're different types of game 'playing style' wise...? Isn't this (albeit in a slightly less ridiculous way) like saying the next spyro the dragon game could take down skyrim?
Bezza89 on 2 Dec '11 said:
It's because Rainbow Six used to be #1 game on Xbox Live multiplayer.
SidTheSloth on 2 Dec '11 said:
Indeed, what an ignorant moron i am!
Just started reading the feature in the mag and groaned inside when i read something similar (knowing i'd posted my earlier bilge). I played R6 to death but only single & co-op, didnt realise it was so massive online! I stand very corrected. So long as it keeps the intensity and tactics based elements this is one gun game i'll certainly look forward to...!