The steps are simple: Get in, do tasks and get out without getting killed or injured. Each round gets more intense as you go deeper into the facility. And you alerted the whole enemy base, perhaps it is time to book it, as the experts would say, before saying goodbye to this rather good run.
If this sounds familiar then you are half-correct. Because what Rainbow 6: Extraction brings is mostly the same as the likes of GTFO or even Saber’s World War Z, but it does bring in some interesting elements to this 3-person PVE game that might tip it into its favor. But not by much, mind you.
Presentation
For starters, the cinematics and overall look of the game look incredible. Its location being enveloped by the alien parasites makes the rather mundane locations like an apartment or police station look outer-worldly with it scattering the location with the black goo, nest, and the wandering grunts that block your way.
But these new assets don’t tank the frame rate, as you would expect. It goes and holds onto a solid 60 fps on the Series S, making those pinpoint accurate shots more easily thanks to this. A big ups that the Ubisoft team that’s been making these games run at a smooth and constant framerate.
The music is rather subtle in its usage too, but intensifies during an engagement, like you would hear in the Ghost Recons or Far Cry, so that is a neat addition to the Rainbow Six formula and it does make close encounters rather exciting but it does get tiresome when you do the operations back to back as the tracks do loop when you do those 9-tier operations, which might seem annoying to some if you’re in it in the long run.
In short, Rainbow 6 Extraction nails its early presentation with the neat cinematics, really good atmosphere, and music cue that lands it mostly right.
Gameplay
For the most part, Extraction is an actually good mix of Siege tense and accurate shooting with inspirations from the likes of L4D, GTFO in a big way. It has for all intents and purposes a good feedback loop of gameplay (do objective, extract VIPs are the most common objectives for example) with every extraction giving you twice as much XP to level up your favorite Operator.
The rogue-lite element makes a very good twist in combat because that Operator that you might use all the time might get knocked down at one stage and have to be rescued, which might set you back a bit if your other characters aren’t as experienced as them. This makes Extraction now also feel more like Prey: Mooncrash but with a more modern, Tom Clancy feel.
One thing to note is that for me, solo excursions do get the blood pumping in a pretty major way because its game design is usually played with three players and the Parasite can easily swarm you if you are not careful. Which makes some harder operations rather profound if you have to go loud at any point of the game.
Content
At its core, R6: Extraction feels more of a live-service game where you can relax your mind and have fun with your mates. It might get tiring after some time but you can crank up the difficulty or even try out the Maelstrom mode where you have to do 9 Objectives back-to-back, which could also go stale by the numerous runs done without stops. Perhaps due to the game’s nature, we could see more objectives added in the future.
But right now, it’s a 10 hours or more affair for this interesting return to its roots for the tactical shooter.
Personal Enjoyment
Rainbow Six is more of a hit-or-miss series for me. The last good game in my opinion is the Raven Shield one, which was a good while ago and I couldn’t get myself into the Siege meta at all. But Extraction has that one thing that makes it unique with it being more PVE based and my first hours are fun enough that its entry on Game Pass makes it a good choice for those who have some time to burn.
Though I still feel that more things to do might make this a sleeper hit with the game release already ramping up this month, it might fade away from people’s memory rather quicker than Ubisoft themselves expected it
Summary
An interesting look at a concept that should work with how well the mechanics are there but falters at the content part, Rainbow Six: Extraction doesn’t quite hit the mark in making a PVE Shooter that is both fun and packed with stuff to do. But knowing Ubisoft’s track record, this might be a sleeper hit in the future if it stays within the Game Pass library.
Played on Xbox Series S, Game is available to download on Xbox Game Pass.
Rainbow Six Extraction
An interesting look at a concept that should work with how well the mechanics are there but falters at the content part, Rainbow Six: Extraction doesn’t quite hit the mark in making a PVE Shooter that is both fun and packed with stuff to do.
- Presentation 8
- Gameplay 7.5
- Content 5
- Personal Enjoyment 7.5