With the recent release of Rainbow Six Extraction, it ended up highlighting the problems that Ubisoft has with its past titles more than solving them. Extraction is very similar to the Rainbow Six Siege game mode Outbreak, but this time it's a full-fledged game. Instead of the familiar five versus five scenarios that fans of the series have grown accustomed to, Extraction is a three-player co-op title that requires communication and strategy to complete three objectives at each level.
Even though it's a whole new title in the franchise, Extraction bears some resemblance to its counterpart Siege by bringing over the same gameplay mechanics, characters players can choose from, and the same weapons and skills attached to each operator. With that being said there are some new additions brought into the game which make Rainbow Six Extraction different than Siege. Things such as new gadgets, enemies to face, and an actual storyline offered in the series allow Extraction to make a clear difference between the two games.
While the game does take a more sci-fi approach to the series, it ends up repeating the same mistakes that appear in Siege. One of the biggest complaints that fans had with the original was the amount of repetitiveness that players had to endure. This time around, Extraction actually embraces it and encourages players to replay the same missions multiple times. In order to unlock new maps in the game, certain tasks have to be completed which can’t be done in one run, and it can get old quickly. Objective missions in Rainbow Six Extraction do vary from each other a little bit, but not enough to create an exciting new experience every time.
Rainbow Six Extraction Is A Game Based On Grinding Missions
In regards to the character roster, certain operators that were instantly playable in Siege are now locked and require players to replay missions in order for them to become playable. To add on their weapons also require a grind to acquire an operator’s full arsenal. Operators themselves haven’t changed much except for the fact that they all have a new set of skins for players to purchase with either real or in-game currency.
The one notable difference, however, is that certain characters such as Hibana have had their skills tweaked and scaled to face off against AI enemies instead of real people online. Another feature added in Rainbow Six Extraction is the MIA system which disables an operator if they are incapacitated during a mission. When this happens, players have to replay that same mission and complete the three objectives, but this time it includes a rescue mission to save that said character. It's an interesting take to add, however, it does feed into that grind aspect.
The one thing that Extraction did well was provide fast-paced gameplay, but coming from a game like Siege, it felt as though it was made to be a stealthy experience. If that was the intent, it was contradicted due to the fact that some operators don’t even have suppressors on their weapons. When going up against the Archæan’s in Rainbow Six Extraction, it makes it hard not to get detected anyway. Most of them play exactly the same and just feel too generic.
If Siege wasn’t able to showcase the problem that the series needed to fix, then Rainbow Six Extraction definitely filled that spot. It’s not that it should be considered a bad game; however, having a title rely on players to spend countless hours performing the same tasks doesn’t bode well for success. Along with the clunky UI, and the dated graphics, there’s a lot for Ubisoft to take away and learn from Rainbow Six Extraction.
