Rainbow Six Extraction Review. I'm Disappointed...

Rainbow Six Extraction is the game to kick off 2022. The alien co-op themed spin off to the popular Rainbow Six Siege has been in the works for a little bit now, and honestly, I couldn’t find many reasons to be excited for it. There are a few reasons why and I am just going to get straight into instead of rambling on.

Outbreak to Extraction

The biggest problem I have had with this game since it was revealed was the fact it is completely based upon a limited time free game mode. If you didn’t play at the time or don’t know what I am talking about, a few years back a mode called “Outbreak” was released into Rainbow Six Siege. It was a limited time event and didn’t cost you a thing.

Extraction is essentially Outbreak, but with a number of new additions and changes. Why did I hate this up to release? Because it seemed like a blatant cash grab. Ubisoft took a game mode that a lot of people liked and completely monetised it. Now we are here and Rainbow Six Extraction has released, is it the cash grab that I thought it would be? It is early days, but at this moment I am confident in saying yes.

What is Rainbow Six Extraction?

Before I can get onto what I like and dislike about the game so far, I thought it’d be best to add a bit of context to what the game is. Rainbow Six Extraction is the cooperative PvE spin-off to the highly rated Rainbow Six Siege. So, if you were expecting multiplayer, you are going to be disappointed.

Extraction puts you into a small team of three and places you in one of many locations that taken over by Archaean aliens. Each location is made up of three levels in a way and you will be assigned one of 12 objectives. After the objective is complete, you can choose either to extract or continue into the next and more difficult area.

That’s pretty much the basis of the game, so I am going to get on with my thoughts.

What I Liked (Spoiler Elert! Not Much.)

This isn’t exactly a bad point, but it is the closest I can get to a positive. The movement and gunplay systems here are pretty much the same as Six Siege. Obviously, this was going to be the case because this game is a spin-off. And there is a part of me that is glad they stuck to what works, but at the same time it’s nothing new and does nothing to surprise me. These systems work fine, though they do feel a bit outdated at times. Especially when it comes to the movement. It often feels quite clunky.

The same applies here for the characters and operatives. It’s all what you have seen in Six Siege but repurposed a little bit for PvE. There are load of gadgets you can use and other abilities to utilise, and it is cool having all of these options. But a lot of them are underwhelming or just very average at best.

There are 12 maps that you can play on with around 13 missions. And what I do like about these maps is the fact that you aren't playing through the same order of areas every time. It is a great idea, but quite limited as each area is only made up of three zones. 

The game takes all of these elements and mechanics from Siege and other games, but does nothing to make them unique or special. This doesn’t make it bad at all, but it doesn’t do much to make it good either. Again, average.

What I Didn’t Like.

I am not even sure where to start here as there is so much I disliked. I’ll start with the objectives. They simply suck. After a couple of runs, you will start to see how repetitive this game gets. You will be doing the same objectives over and over and over again.

The locations may be different every time, but the objectives let it down every time. There are only 12 objectives in the game and you get one with every area. So, if luck is on your side and you have a good and experienced team, you could play all most all of the base gameplay of Extraction in just 4 matches.

Combining the repetitive objectives with the play style of this mode makes for an awful experience too. Let me explain. The only effective way to play this really is through stealth. You can play aggressively, but all of the characters feel so weak compared to the enemies that playing this way is simply a bad idea. And as a result of having to go down the stealth route, the game starts to feel really slow. And when combined with the repeating objectives, you get one experience that is just a dread.

I mentioned that the characters felt weak, and they do. But this mostly plays on the part of the poor difficulty scaling. Between each level, the difficulty jumps massively. To the point where the final boss on the third level is simply extreme and you barely stand a chance.

Each difficulty rating doesn’t feel accurate. I played mostly on moderate/medium and it didn’t feel at all like a normal experience. Though I think the difficulty increasing with each area could be a strong point, the scaling has really let it down. The best chance you have at succeeding in this mode is by gathering your own group and keeping high communication at all times. If you jump into quick play, you will rarely get far.

I really don’t want this review to drag on, and if I explain every point that I dislike this is going to go on for a while. It is just going to be easier to start listing stuff off. Don’t worry this will be quick. Story is non-existent and lore is uninteresting. Extracting MIA operatives is tedious to the point that it’d be easier to wait. There is almost no replay ability. Rewards are lack-lustre and hardly worth going for. Did I mention this was a free game mode before? And finally, Extraction offers almost nothing unique compared to other games in the same genre.

Verdict

Yeah, I really haven’t enjoyed this game so far. I am really glad it’s on Game Pass because I don’t see any reason to buy this over a game like Left 4 Dead 2. I am going to stick to my first point that this was a cash grab. Because Rainbow Six Extraction may as well be a game mode. The changes and additions implemented are extremely insignificant, and most of them aren’t that good.

Overall, I am going to give Rainbow Six Extraction a 4/10. You may be wondering why 4 if I hated it so much? In the end, the gameplay is average and sticks a lot to what was introduced with Siege. If you like Siege, you will like this. But if you are casual player, looking for something new to play or even just keen on post-apocalyptic games. This isn’t it at all. You are better off looking at alternate options.