{"id":2657,"date":"2022-01-23T18:14:55","date_gmt":"2022-01-24T00:14:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/ggndev\/?p=2657"},"modified":"2022-05-13T21:21:23","modified_gmt":"2022-05-14T02:21:23","slug":"rainbow-six-extraction-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ghostgamer.news\/rainbow-six-extraction-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Rainbow Six Extraction Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s no secret that I am not a fan of the direction Rainbow Six has went. Rainbow Six was originally<\/a> a serious tactical shooter, and it eventually devolved into an online competitive shooter with the \u201ctactical\u201d becoming more \u201ctacticool\u201d than anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, it has been popular, and I don\u2019t begrudge people for liking what they like. I\u2019m just a grumpy old man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Rainbow Six Extraction was getting near release though, we already had signs that things weren\u2019t looking good: First, they dropped the launch price from $60 to $40. After that, it was announced that it\u2019d be available day one on XBox Games Pass (which is how I played it).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The warts are both literal as well as metaphorical here in this game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When a AAA title goes from super-dramatic hype to dropped launch price and launching on a subscription game service, you know the confidence in the game is already low from the publisher\u2019s perspective. Let\u2019s get into the review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Rainbow Six Extraction\u2019s deal?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rainbow Six Extraction is a coop PvE horror-themed semi-tactical stealth shooter.. And a mouthful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, that mouthful is more than what the gameplay itself actually offers. Rainbow Six Extraction\u2019s gameplay is severely lacking in any real.. Substance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve played Ghost Recon Breakpoint, you\u2019ll know about the faction missions: Randomly generated daily missions that put an objective in an area. Some of them are fine, letting you play how you want.. Clear a base, take out a VIP, rescue a prisoner, etc. Others, however, were just bonkers: Extract data from a computer out in the middle of nowhere while waves and waves of enemies come at you to blow it and you up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rainbow Six Extraction\u2019s objectives are more like the latter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Life imitates art.. Or, in this case, art obscures your view and makes continuing to live unnecessarily hard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the mission shown above I had to activate a scanner and stand in 3 different spots for a brief amount of time while waves of enemies charged at me. If I left the spot (which is blindingly obnoxious with the motes of tech visuals flying in my face) the timer would stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why yes, I’ll take a bullet-sponge flower-faced enemy with a side of death<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another required me to kill an \u201celite\u201d enemy: Elite enemies are essentially bullet-sponge versions of regular enemies (and some are just bullet sponges by default already). This one killed me, which meant my next mission had me rescuing my operator.. Which sounds cool at first, until you actually do it. I swear, they must’ve just googled reflex, coordination and timing tests for children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’ve start by tugging your operator out of a tree with blackened hands grasping them (it’s a solid visual at least). A little meter will show you playing tug of war with the tree.. And then little bursts start to fly in from the left on the meter. That means the organic power cables connected to the tree are drawing power from these little blisters around the room, so you’ve got to stop tugging, shoot the blisters and\/or the power sliding down the cable (I am not even kidding – alien power delivery systems are apparently REALLY SLOW), and then get back to tugging before the operator gets reclaimed. You do this a few times until the tree finally lets your operator go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The horrific visual? 10 points. The gameplay that kills the horror of the visual? -12 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Asset? More like ASS-et.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Or, we can take a look at the mission where I had to rescue a scientist who was trapped.. Right next to a couple enemies that explode. But they don\u2019t care that he\u2019s there. Seriously, they just sat there while he cowered, so I dropped smoke and CQB\u2019d them both to death. What was worse was that after I rescued him I had to fight all new enemies that magically appeared in places I already cleared; I meticulously cleared the entire region of everything just to make sure I wasn\u2019t in a firefight while I was escorting this guy, but instead had to deal with a handful of groups of foes while I held this idiot\u2019s hand..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You can literally hold their hand and fight off the hordes.. What a feature!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The missions just continue to get more ridiculous, having extra mechanics just to make them a little more challenging. These mechanics tend to feel more \u201ctacked on\u201d and kill any sense of immersion, like the operator rescue mission I described earlier, or luring an elite enemy to the extraction point and activating a computer to grab it before it kills you (that one was absurd – I shot at him a couple times, and I honestly had to wait for him to figure out his AI pathing to follow me).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of these mechanics are less of an issue if you\u2019re playing coop.. Which makes me think they were literally just added to try and force you to play coop rather than the solo mode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Studies”, also known as challenges.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On top of objectives you\u2019ve got these \u201cstudies\u201d, which are yet another attempt to plump out the game. These are essentially \u201cchallenges\u201d to complete, except these are pretty much critical to continue to earn XP and progress fast enough to not get bored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, each time you play a region it\u2019s \u201cdifferent\u201d.. In that your objectives, foes and more are all randomly placed each time (except for the core regions themselves; we’re not talking Diablo-level random here). Sometimes you\u2019ll encounter your objective right next to the extraction point you start at (separated loosely by some Geiger-esque \u201ctrees\u201d and misc. decor), other times you\u2019ll be hard pressed to find the objective and have time to move on before the timer runs out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, the rest has been covered to death by other reviewers: The \u201cshould I go to the next, more difficult part of the region or extract now\u201d mechanic. Operator progression and XP systems for your operators as well as your team. XCom-lite style research for tech. Unlock systems for other mission regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of these are added to plump out an essentially limited sort of gameplay to make it feel expansive and detailed.. Which it most definitely isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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