Rainbow Six: Extraction – Review

Rainbow Six Extraction is more in line with the series’ core values than Rainbow Six Siege, which is a multiplayer-focused blast-’em-up. While this isn’t meant as a dig at Siege, it is a huge compliment to Extraction, which manages to take the now-familiar “four friends trying not to die” formula popularised by Left 4 Dead and now found in every tactical shooter, and add flecks of horror created by the scarcity of resources and Extraction’s own terrifying cast of baddies. Extraction is a true triumph.

Pros:
Interesting maps
Fun and challenging
Great gameplay mechanics

Cons:
Enemies lack visual diversity

Score – 8/10

Siege fans will be familiar with some of the technology used by Team Rainbow to fight back against an invasion of parasitic aliens (Archaeans), but those who haven’t will miss out on some fan service but still enjoy the roguelite structure of the game that punishes you for dying on a mission by taking that operator away and reviving them with another before you can use them again. Siege fans will recognise each of these Operators, despite the fact that they each carry a modified version of their favourite Siege weapon. Take Pulse, who now utilises his heartbeat sensor to detect alien nests and objectives even when he is inside a building.

Each Operator has a distinct style of play. You’ll probably have a favourite over time. These characters each have their own XP pool and progression tree, which obviously your favourite is going to advance in. Having to deal with the inert form of the character you’ve spent so much time creating makes it even more heartbreaking when you lose them for a short period of time.

With Rainbow Six Extraction, I’m being honest, I’m drawn in by so many mechanics from Siege and GTFO and even from XCOM 2: War of the Chosen that it’s hard to believe that this is the same game.

Actual missions have been replaced by strings of objectives generated at random in the game. A random area of the map is selected for you, and you’re dropped into it with three randomly assigned objectives. As many of these as you’d like, but each one requires you to enter an even more dangerous area via an airlock. Cutting and running is an option if you’re nearing your health and ammo limits. For example, you may be tasked with sneaking into enemy nests and planting trackers on them, killing an elite enemy to collect a sample, or gathering intelligence from laptops scattered around the map. It’s to the game’s credit that the majority of objectives feel fresh and different, but this is usually followed by a frenzied dash to the airlock in order to escape and move on to the next one after a brief period of sneaking around to get your bearings. Since you gain a significant amount of experience and do not lose your operator by extracting, it is always preferable to leave safely rather than taking the riskier bets.

Again, Ubisoft has wowed us all with some breathtaking views of decaying society: whether you’re driving around a decaying New York City Police Department or a decaying Liberty Island or even a hospital infected with infection, these microcosms of urban living always look the part, and is something that Ubisoft always does well, but rarely gets praised for.

Three players is one of the most significant changes in the co-op formula. Unfortunately, this means finding a new group of friends for your regular fourth man, which gives you a strange sense of claustrophobia because you always feel like you’re up against it. You lose a lot of firepower if one of your Operators goes down, and even objectives that don’t necessitate the use of a sidearm or require you to pay attention to anything other than the angler can be dangerous. In spite of the fact that Extraction is a co-op game designed for three players, I found that I spent a lot of time playing the game solo and with a single friend and still had an enjoyable experience: As intense as Extraction is, it doesn’t ever feel unfair until you accidentally alert all the Archaeans on a level and are dumped back to the menu with one Operator.

Using the same destruction engine as Rainbow Six Siege, Extraction allows you to make your own path through the levels or take out Archaeans by destroying walls. Every weapon has a bioluminescent torch by default, which activates the enemy’s bioluminescence even through walls. When playing co-op games, it’s important to feel like you’re part of something bigger than yourself, and this nonsense provides that opportunity. In the event of a Breacher being shot, it will detonate, scattering debris and shards across the level.

Unfortunately, Ubisoft was distracted by the soft furnishings and only had time to stop at the two-for-one generic monster drive-thru on the way back to make the game. While playing, I could point out Archaens such as the “explodey boy,” “fast moving melee threat,” “big fella with armour and the punching,” and that classic “puts gunk on the ground that’s bad” goon, among others. Honestly, I could be fighting just about anything in this visually indistinct situation. In a gunfight, it’s difficult to tell what you’re fighting until it attacks you, making prioritising threats difficult.

Replayability is also a concern for me: if you play the game for just a few hours, you’ll be able to unlock new things almost every time you extract and the levels will feel fresh, but after just a few more plays, you’ll start to learn the best routes and options. When it comes to playing this co-op game with friends, it comes down to how much time you want to spend in the world right now, without the promised post-game content, which points to weekly missions and new environments and objectives over time.

Extraction’s depiction of an alien invasion in miniature intrigues me, and I can see myself investing a significant amount of time in it.