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Ubisoft's decision to forgo a single player campaign for Rainbow Six: Siege is an odd choice for a series that previously focused on delivering a challenging and in-depth 'campaign' for those wanting to go solo. The fortunes of the series now rest with the online modes in providing the strong concepts and range of content required to satisfy the Rainbow Six fanbase. While it's too early to tell if Ubisoft has succeeded here, the recent beta test shows how the use of the AnvilNext engine and RealBlast technology is used to create tactical shootouts that offer players a wide range of choices to tackling various situations, while also targeting a 60fps update for the main multiplayer mode of the game.Mounting an assault into a suburban town house, we set charges and blast our way through a boarded-up window before spraying the room with bullets, taking down one unlucky opponent in the process. Here, the use of RealBlast allows for bullet impact physics to procedurally damage parts of the environment, with soft surfaces such as clipboard breaking apart when shot while brick and metals become lined with holes. Explosive changes do more than destroy windows too, allowing players to blast through walls, ceilings and doors, alongside weaker concrete construction elements creating a wealth of smoke and debris in the process. To counter such an aggressive approach to combat, players can reinforce surfaces susceptible to being destroyed with metal barricades, or erect removable barriers during a gunfight. This adds a distinctly dynamic feel to gameplay where no two matches play out in the same way.
These pockets of spectacle in often-tense tactical battles of attrition are deployed equally across all three platforms with matching effects work and lighting. However, as a consequence of having to cram all these effects into a small 16.67ms render-time to hit 60fps, the graphical make-up of the game appears a little mixed in other areas. The lighting model often appears rather flat under certain conditions, while materials rendering often varies, with some surfaces more realistically displayed than others. However, there are some nice touches in play, such as the environmental destruction model that allows for players to smash, shoot, or blow holes through soft walls and ceilings. Chip damage, along with use of various effects including volumetric smoke add to the experience, with the latter providing thick clouds for tactical cover in combat.
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