Ah, Rainbow Six Siege.

It's honestly surprising to recall that the last time we received a Rainbow Six game was all the way back in 2008, with the launch of Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Since then it's been nothing but silence and cancellations. I doubt few even remember much of Rainbow Six Patriots (What Siege originally was meant to be) as it only released a trailer or two before the axe came down.

But here we are, in 2016, just after the launch of Rainbow Six Siege in December, 2015. While it appears to head in a bold, new direction for the franchise, it still feels very 'Rainbow Six' and maintains the tactical finesse that made the older games stand out so much. If anything, this is one of the game's biggest successes when the market is dominated by twitch shooters such as Call Of Duty or Battlefield. The developers stayed true to the franchise's pedigree instead of caving in to the mainstream audience, and I respect that greatly as the work they have put in has created a fun, addicting game with high stakes and even higher tension every time you play.

Rainbow Six Siege features three prominent game-modes presented to you right off the bat : Situations, Terrorist Hunt and Multiplayer. Situations is Siege's dedicated single player experience, offering a variety of missions that teach you the basics of the game while also incorporating the underlying narrative of the game itself. Through these situations, you begin to learn about a new terror group known as 'The White Masks'. Little is ever told about these mysterious new antagonists, but what is clear is that they are a threat large enough to mean Team Rainbow is to be redeployed.

The narrative serves little other than to give the game some basis to work on. The Situations aren't a single player campaign, so, similar to Titanfall in some ways, the story is really just ongoing with no pre-determined resolution or conclusion. However, in the brief cutscenes before each Situation, it is soon clear that The White Masks are a truly terrifying group, making killing them that much more satisfying. These situations are fun and very intuitive in introducing you to the basic mechanics you will be using throughout your time in Rainbow Six Siege, and the hefty rewards offer all the more incentive to play them.

Terrorist Hunt is a mode any classic Rainbow Six fan will recognise in an instant. As Team Rainbow, it is your job to enter a building and clear out a hostile hold-out. What's great about Terrorist Hunt is it is enjoyable in both singe player and co-op play, with difficulty nicely balanced to the amount of players in the game. One major step-up from previous iterations of the mode is the inclusion of different versions of Terrorist Hunt such as disarming a bomb or extracting a hostage from a fortified location. It helps keep things fresh, so you're no longer just exterminating the set number of AIs dotted around the map.

Speaking of AIs, this is another area that Siege absolutely excels in. While PvP may have been their main focus, the developers clearly put a TON of time into making the AI some of the most realistic I've seen in any FPS to this date. During your assualt, terrorist's will find flanking routes or retreat into rooms in order to lure you into an ambush. When one terrorist with a shield pushes your position, another one or two will use him as cover, occasionally peeking out to try and hit a few shots on you. All of this really adds to the enjoyment of it all, knowing that you can't rely on the AI being stupid in order to win. You need REAL tactics.

And now for multiplayer. I've sunk quite a few hours into Siege already, and about 90% of those hours are dedicated solely to the PvP elements. There is something incredibly addicting about Siege's multiplayer. Is it the rush of adrenaline you feel when your the last man left on your team? Is it the wave of relief that sweeps over you as you defuse the bomb with mere seconds remaining? Is it all the excitement as your team breaches into a room and things swiftly turn chaotic as both teams hunker down and try their best to outmatch one another? It's the little moments in Rainbow Six SIege, when its all down to the wire, that make it special.

Rainbow Six Siege has a wealth of characters available to you for online play (your introduced to many in the Situations). These characters harken from all around the globe, recruited to Team Rainbow from organisations such as the SAS and the GIGN and it's very clear who's from what faction as every special forces seems to have a 'house style' which every character follows in some way. Each of these characters is fully fleshed out with background information, psychological profiles and past military experience which makes them feel VERY real, which in turn, makes the game feel more real. All of these characters also have their own specialisations, wielding unique gadgets and weapons which provide different uses to your team. A good team knows what operators are best for what situation, and plan accordingly.

From Smoke's Operator Cutscene. He is portrayed in both a haunting and menacing way with a beautiful use of colours and cinematography.

However, all of this praise does not mean Siege is perfect in any way.

Just like any Ubisoft game at the moment, Siege suffers from various server-side issues such as extended matchmaking times, connecting to the wrong data centre and failures to synchronise your data from a match. All of these are frustrating when they happen, and we only have to hope these are all quickly resolved considering steps have already been taken to improve all of them.

Another problem is the UI. Not in the design itself, but it is incredibly slow. Menu's seem to take longer to load than they should and the frame rate seems to stutter if you try to move through the menu's at any great speed. It seems like a small thing, but it can grow to be a nuisance during extended play times.

Overall, Rainbow Six Siege is an incredibly fun experience. It offers unique gameplay (especially in the console market) as well as having a large amount of replay value due to the unprecedented amount of freedom when it comes to tactics and destruction. Siege decides to focus on its most tense moments, to make sure your blood is pumping and your heart is jumping out of your throat. It wants your sweat and tears for its own.

FINAL VERDICT : 9/10

While I originally intended to give it an 8, the developers have done a brilliant job keeping on top of many of the problems plaguing Siege and have taken plenty of steps to not only rectify the situation, but improve upon what was already there.

Also free DLC. Y'know.