Ubisoft

Review: Tom Clancy’s The Division Agent Origins – Originating a New Pandemic (Spoiler Warning)

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

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Pros:
+Amazing back story building for players to understand the start of the game
+Smallpox played a dangerous role in the games universe
+Shows how political and social collapses occur for the new title
+New York City’s Ground Zero sets up a dangerous premise
+A short, but sweet film from YouTubers and Ubisoft

Cons:
–More character back story would have been appreciated
–Dark Zone being shown off would have created more interest

Reviewers Note: While it’s easy to see that I’m used to reviewing games, there was a few things that bugged me about the film as listed in the cons and discussed earlier in. The review currently is a “soft review”, meaning it may be added to at a later date once I get to sit down and analyze the film more than twice in one day.

 

When opening up a game series, Ubisoft has been the masters of creating spin-off short films that give us more detail on what’s happening, and why. They first displayed this capability with Assassin’s Creed 2’s short film “Lineage”, which had shown off how Ezio’s family was tied into the “Creed”. Again they had also displayed their finesse for doing this with Ghost Recon: Future Soldier’s short film called Ghost Recon Alpha. This time around Ubisoft has teamed up with YouTube talent Corridor Digital,  RocketJump and devinsupertramp.

Teaming up with YouTuber’s, Ubisoft has been able to reach out to an established fanbase. One that allows the company and the YouTuber’s to put out content to an already established fanbase, which helps bring forth promotional and supplementary content to that fanbase. In doing so we’ve been given a glimpse at what this can do for those wanting to see what such talents can do in order to bring such a world to life.

The Division: Agent Origins tells us the story of the games four operatives that we currently know of such as John (Matt Day), Mia (Amanda Day, The Center, The Seeker) , Everett(Sasha Andreev, See Jane Run and Best Man Down),  and Daryl (Danny Mason, The Club House, Jive Tales). Within the opening seconds John gives us the layout of how the Smallpox Virus spread through contaminated money on Black Friday. Doing this allowed whoever set off the attack to do so without being easily noticed. By the time anyone that could do anything to stop the virus, the death toll had reached epidemic numbers, within weeks it became a full blown pandemic and there seemed to be nothing that could stop it besides setting up quarantine zones for those that had ye to be infected by the virus. Shortly after the explanation, we learn that the United States Government had put in place a secret directive where sleeper agents would come out of hiding in order to calm the chaos and keep peace. While it sounds easier said than done, the show proves just how difficult that actually is as our leading characters quickly come under attack.

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What’s most interesting is not the fact that the show picks up rather quickly with minimal origins behind each character. We learn that John is a family man. One that takes pride in both his wife and daughter, but hides the fact he’s secretly a government agent waiting to be activated. We learn that Daryl is a scavenger, a medic of sorts as he is hunting down medical supplies. Mia fits the role as the teams tactician and sharp shooter while Everett serves as the teams muscle and heavy hitter. But as quick as it sounds to establish all this, we first have to look at the fact each lived their normal lives. Daryl’s being the one we know little about as we know Mia was in hiding with her boyfriend and their conspiracy theorist friend. Everett we learn was a fireman in his mean time, helping with public duty in order to keep people safe, which didn’t seem to last long once the world around him collapsed.

As the story unfolds we get a look at two of the enemy factions. The Rikers from Rikers Island appear rather quickly within the short, but not quite as quick as the ever-so-brutal “Cleaners” who do just what they believe is right. Build everything from the ground up just as it had with time. Their method includes burning everything down in order to do so be it infected corpses, buildings with infected in it or the people that just happen to be around and might be infected. After all, the way the bad guys see it? Survival of the fittest.

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Where this short shines brightest isn’t just in the fact that it doesn’t look like a low-end budget short, the short does a great job at casting actors to fit the roles of the characters that they are portraying, but also matching voices to those said characters. Let alone is their acting spot-on, the tone, the score, but even the overall appearance to the short gave the short the authenticity it needed to bring forth the game. While narrative was lacking in the sense of building a back-story for fans to understand, it does give some idea behind what The Division was meant for as a Joint Task Force in case such an event happened. While it has been troublesome to pinpoint just how much it’ll affect or bleed into the game is yet to be seen as the game is still roughly a month and a half out before we’ll get to walk the streets of a very different and dark New York City. With the direction the short film did go, it fit the role and did its job giving us an idea of how the squad got together and why they headed back out into the streets of New York. We just have to wait and see how well the gaps between game and short film do starting March 8th, 2016.

Our review is based upon the version released via Amazon Prime Video.  For information about our ethics policy please click here.

 Final Score: 7 out of 10

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

 

 

Far Cry Primal’s Story Trailer Arrives Today

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

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If you’ve been following up on Far Cry Primal you by now know that the game has gone back to the tribal roots that the series has explored in multiple entries. This time it goes back to the times when man was not the top of the food chain and mankind had to be in groups to survive. This meant tribes.

In the new trailer released by Ubisoft, we know that the game is brutal, beautiful, and one that we absolutely have been awaiting for as it finally shows the tribes, dialogue and plenty of the scenery. It has also given us a glimpse at what we can expect from the future of the series. Due to the trailer containing violence and blood, we require you to head here and be signed into an 18+ of age YouTube account.

 

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

Report: The Division Beta Sign-Ups are Temporarily Offline (Updated)

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

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Update: It looks like as of earlier today the beta signup reservations went back to functioning properly. Whatever the cause for the outages had been looks to be resolved now. Stay tuned for our hands-on impressions coming soon.

Original:

If you are like many of us out there, The Division is a game you’ve been eyeballing like a piece of candy your parents told you that you can a have at a later date. This time around the parents would be Ubisoft and our “having at a later date” just became a reality as the Beta Sign-Ups have temporarily gone offline.

For those wondering what “offline” means, it means just that. According to the website as seen above, it looks like Ubisoft is doing something behind the scenes to ensure that the beta functions as intended when it launches. So for those of you and us who pre-ordered? It looks like our wait may just get a bit longer to get into the beta. The beta is set to launch on January 28th for Xbox One and January 29th for PlayStation 4 and PC.

We have reached out to Ubisoft to find out what the expected period is before players can once more submit their beta code spots. So if you’ve pre-ordered in the last few days and haven’t registered? Hang onto those codes while we wait to hear back from officials at Ubisoft.

The Division will release on March 8th, 2016 for PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox One.

 

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

Opinion: Why Tom Clancy’s The Division Might Just Be the Pre/Post-Pandemic Game We Need

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

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If you’ve talked to me about writers, games, and genres, you know I’m a glutton for RPGs, for MMO’s, and very much-the-same for online cooperative titles. I’ve taken up games like Borderlands, Destiny, Final Fantasy XIV: ARR/Heaven’s Ward (I know, an MMO). I have also taken on countless Tom Clancy games over the years. But what about militaristic games that portray a future worth fighting for when a world has collapsed? What about a game that shows us that the world can still have hope even as a virus continues to spread and militia’s continue to form?

The Trailers do this Justice

Many of you that have seen the Tom Clancy’s The Division E3 2014 Reveal Trailer were probably grasped instantly the moment the trailer portrayed a mother singing to her dying mother. A husband, a father, a simple man angry with someone for the death of his family before he ends his own life. We see the effects of the world as society begins to collapse in New York City before it does collapse and reveals to us for the first time the agents from The Division as the primary character steps out, gun aimed, and ready to protect a man who is being pursued by a few thugs. Within moments his squad steps out and the emotional impact of the trailer truly begins to stick together.

Within the moments of that E3 trailer, I caught myself, just as I have today, watching the trailer on repeat. Picking it apart piece by piece hoping I could learn more than what I’d already known about the game from the press release sheets we’d gotten. Why? This game had sucked me in, turned me into a little kid with the curiosity of a toddler and the hunger of a full grown being that just wanted to know more than what had already been displayed. Within a year? We got to know more as gameplay finally had begun to show up across E3, Gamescom, and many other places, even YouTube.

After having watched even what little gameplay footage was released back in 2013, the curiosity remained as I kept revisiting the E3 2013 trailer, which can be found below. The trailer simply describes what is happening, how it could happen, and when it could happen. The curiosity behind it all remained:

Many of us know now that Dark Winter has happened, the world has gone quiet due to the outbreak and Directive 51 went into effect. Agents, sleeper cells, and the likes have all come out of hiding while people fighting for survival take to the streets. Society collapsed, gas stopped flowing, food became scarce, power outages happened, and so did the entire social structure as well as government structure that kept the United States running. Scared survivors took to streets as quarantine zones failed them. Now they rely on agents to enter the Dark Zone where the virus still lives and breathes in order to find equipment and resources in order to survive. But what exactly has this as the one game that could break the post-apocalyptic scenario game?

The World Ended Because of a Virus that Didn’t Evolve Zombies

Anyone that knows me, knows that I’m a die hard fan of zombie games. I can never get enough of them, but it’s getting to the point that it’s a trend that needs broke, and The Division is looking to do just that with the games story elements. Focusing on a post-pandemic and still rather alive virus; The Division breaks the narrative chain by focusing on the real-life consequences a “Dark Winter” like scenario would have when entire populations sudden go dark and the world becomes one seeming rather familiar (Escape from L.A. anyone?). With the world ending the way it did, we know that The Division aims to once more bring hope to New York City and the survivors within the city as they grow accustomed to their terrifying new setting.

As the virus spread Directive 51 (from what we know from the E3 2013 trailer) has activated. Over the span of three short weeks the world collapsed and over 8 million New York City residents passed away. Eventually the virus wrecked havoc across the world in locations like London. It’s known now that the virus has gone global, but the question is who, why, how, and what is their ultimate goal? We know the virus was Smallpox or rather a mutated strain of it thanks to the short that was released today, but before anyone knew? It was a Pandemic, and unfortunately one that could not be stopped. This is a major change from most recent end-of-world games unless you count Destiny’s end of humanity through “The Darkness”.

A RPG/TPS/MMO from the Tom Clancy Team(s)

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Sometimes it’s hard to not see where this is going. A part of me has been rather skeptical on why Ubisoft would take this approach, but it’s easy to see thanks to the ongoing trend of online only games that focus on both single player and coop. Tom Clancy’s The Division and the recently released Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six seem to be rather good evidence where this was going.

With The Division focusing on third-person MMO elements, we can only suspect those playing the game will be able to customize not just weapons but armor, gadgets, weapons, attachments to weapons, even abilities that will make their characters all the more viable in combat situations. It almost seems like it would be safe to assume the same when playing alone while traversing the city. While this seems fancy we are also expecting this game to be hefty in content while also being rather hefty when it comes to the games install size. It’ll be a hope that this game is highly optimized and doesn’t eat up much hard drive for those who haven’t upgraded yet.

Will the Game Feature a Tactical Call Out System?

After talking with a reader who has a speech disability, it was interesting to see this idea arise. To be honest, I’d never personally thought of such a thing before until I talked to him, but the idea isn’t that far-fetched due to disabilities that do affect gamers.

Like many MMO’s we’ve seen systems that are put in place to allow disabled gamers in one form or another cooperate so that coordination through the squad isn’t thrown off. That doesn’t limit the game to the inability to provide players with full teams a way to make call outs, but also even a way to help each other understand what’s going on so that mission progressions go smoothly. We do hope this is something that happens soon if it isn’t there on launch.

Character Choices

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Many of us are familiar with character options. It seems that The Division is going to have us choose from a few characters; primarily John, Mia, and a few of the others from the trailer, but the biggest question at hand – will we be creating our own characters? This is something that will be extremely important for many as the game will be approaching itself as an MMO on consoles and something we really hope stays true to the game.

The Short film Sets it Up Perfectly

If you haven’t seen the prequel video that leads up to the game, it’s a good thirty minute watch and a solid one that will leave the fans reeling for more. With the main characters being in display we are first introduced to the collapse of New York while it is happening. We are introduced to the agents such as John who is a sleeper agent that has to explain to his family what is going on, and as he does so he leaves for his mission. The short film is based around John, Mia, Daryl,  the enemy factions, and the complete break down of the city as the bad guys begin to take over.

This short film, exclusive to Amazon Prime members, is called Tom Clancy’s The Division: Agent Origins. The short film takes place over what seems like a couple hour span as it all begins to go down. In the short we learn that each member has a reason behind doing what they are doing and how they are going about it. We already know that gas masks, Division tech, and weapons will play a huge supporting role in this game thanks to the short, but also the gameplay trailers we’ve seen.

Survival Matters

We already know working alone will be an option for players who decide to go through New York on their own in search for glory or simply to complete a few missions. The game as we know will not focus just on a small portion of New York such as “The Dark Zone”, but the game will focus on a much broader aspect of the game where players will be clearing out streets from enemies, undertaking missions in order to provide a safer and close to normal New York that’s post-pandemic.

While it’s nice to hear that gear will play a huge role, it’ll ultimately seem like it’s up to players when to acknowledge that they will need their gear in order to survive. Be it that they need a gas mask, gadgets to distract enemies, or simply their map – gear will be playing a huge role in this game whether it’s knives, pistols, rifles, and or shotguns. We know that players will have to work together, but also keep their wits about them as they attempt to free New York.

Closing Thoughts

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It’s hard to say that I want to put my faith in another MMO to hit consoles. I’ve already spent plenty of time with The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited with my friends, I’ve spent a lot of time in these past few days between a review title, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, and Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn/Heavensward. It’s hard to say that an MMO can or can’t get it right; that’s up to a players perspective on the matter. The biggest question will be in regards of how quickly content will be released. We know that content such as Rainbow Six Siege’s first expansion should be coming soon while The Division could potentially adapt the early-access season pass where players who own it will access content a week, month, or however-long before the rest of the players.

While Destiny has shown potential and Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn/Heavensward has mastered this capability, we know that these games have both failed, and succeeded in multiple areas. We know The Division shows promise, we know where it’s going, the biggest thing to wait and see will be how the game is executed in the long run with its content. Afterall, it is an MMO at heart that will be on consoles and PC. We’ve seen this go numerous places with titles like Defiance that eventually killed over due to having released so close to Next Gen consoles, but also the fact its content was just not enough to keep it alive. We’ll just have to wait and see how Tom Clancy’s The Division does when it releases for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on March 8th, 2016.

Stay tuned for our review for Tom Clancy’s The Division: Agent Origins and our Hands-On Impressions of Tom Clancy’s The Division Beta.

 

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

 

 

Tom Clancy’s The Division gets Live-Action Film on Amazon Prime

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

 

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If you’ve been following The Divison as tightly as many have, you already know the game is going to be massive, and many already know that Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid, Zone of the Enders) stated he was impressed by the game and that it made him feel he had to work harder on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain(via Ubiblog).

To help draw more interest in the game, Ubisoft has announced today that the live-action film was developed by them, produced by Corridor Digital in collaboration with top talen, RocketJump and devinsupertramp. The film will be called Tom Clancy’s The Division: Agent Origins. The show will show the backstory behind the four Division agents and will be viewable on January 19th, exclusively for Amazon Prime members starting today. The show is a thirty-minute short film, as well as five minute exclusive scenes via the Amazon Video app on TV’s, connected devices and even mobile devices. Don’t have any of the above? Just head on over to Amazon Prime Video to get into the show!

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“We’re excited to be able to offer our content across multiple platforms,” said Corridor Digital’s Niko Pueringer. “It has been an adventure to bring the world of Tom Clancy’s The Division to life.”

“Agent Origins and this first of its kind collaboration with Amazon is exciting and we’re thrilled that Amazon Prime members will be able to take advantage of watching exclusive footage that won’t be available anywhere else,” said Adam Novickas, VP of marketing at Ubisoft. “Agent Origins will provide the opportunity to introduce the game lore to consumers and immerse Amazon members into the world of The Division before the game’s anticipated release.”

Tom Clancy’s The Division will launch on March 8, 2016 for Xbox One, PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and Windows PC. Stay tuned for our upcoming review of Tom Clancy’s The Division.

 

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

 

Thoughts about Far Cry Primal

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

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Revealed at E3 2015, Far Cry Primal will become the newest entry to the Far Cry franchise this year, next month to be exact. As we know Ubisoft has announced that Far Cry Primal is taking us away from the streets  of the modern world and into a true survival situation thousands of years ago. Unlike the more recent titles that gained major popularity among fans – Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4 – Far Cry Primal seems to take a bit of a turn in how we know the games will play. With the gaming giving up explosives, vehicles, and even guns; the title seeks to possibly reinvent the series. To be honest? This is a good thing.

How Reinventing the Franchise Could Keep it Alive

As many of us are accustomed to games hoping time lines, i.e. Assassin’s Creed, it’s not hard for us to imagine the fact Far Cry could go down the same route. This time? It did, completely, and from everything we’ve seen from trailers, artwork, commercial spots, and gameplay videos, Far Cry Primal is taking a few notes from where Far Cry 4 took us. Primarily in the fact we are thinking woolly mammoths just might be our primary mode of transportation across this olden world that has become extinct in our modern day. The question here is going to be weaponry, transportation, dialogue, and locations. All of these are viable questions and ones that have already begun to be theorized on in discussions when brought up with other fans. We know you will be taming beasts such as saber toothed tigers who will joining the fray as companions, but what else can we expect. Perhaps a woolly mammoth?

So what weapons can we imagine seeing? As we know in the time frame that the game is in, we know that spears, axes, and even bows were rather common, which is something we know we should be seeing making a major return. We even expect to see weapons as crude as stone knives, bone knives, or other related items making a possible showing into the game. We wouldn’t be surprised if we also see traps from Far Cry 1 making a return as these would be viable forms of survival in the time frame that Far Cry Primal will be taking place. The next question here is – how will we see the map? Will it perhaps be a leather hide that will be lifted up marking where we are at in a rather olden way? Perhaps we will find stone markets that identify where we are at on the games map? Whichever way they do it, we know we are thoroughly excited for the new weapons we could see as the game approaches its release soon.

Change of Scenery

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We’ve all gotten used to seeing tropical islands, foreign lands, and even mountains third world countries where some madman has begun to take over. This seems to be changing when it comes to Far Cry Primal we know you will be taking the role of Takkar, the last surviving member of his group (tribe perhaps?), and he has set off to exist in a world that is cruel, punishing, deadly, and humanity is at the bottom of the food chain. When humanity isn’t trying to survive against things such as woolly mammoths and saber toothed tigers, they are fighting against each other, attempting to gain control of the land and growing their numbers to better their livelihood and their tribes chances of survival. This will be witnessed as players roam through forests, freezing mountains, but also beautiful planes where beasts run rampant.

This setting could possibly provide us with a look at the Ice Age, which is something we do hope happens, but wouldn’t be surprised to see if it is a post Ice Age setting.

Growing your Tribe

Much like the recently released and critically acclaimed Fallout 4, Far Cry Primal is seemingly taking some notes from the game, and ones that we are proud to see. The game is about growing your tribe. This might be completed through story missions, side missions, or simply just over time. At this point? We do not know, but we do hope this brings in a village editor so that we might be able to make a village, set up offenses and defenses in order to protect, or simply just because we want to edit the crap out of this time period we used to fantasize as kids. Regardless, we know Takkar will be playing a huge role as he tries to survive the harsh lands of Oros while becoming the deadliest hunter within the lands.

Multiplayer – Could this Benefit the Game or Harm it?

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Having played Far Cry and other open world adventure games over the years, Far Cry has become by far one of my favourite franchises easily putting it on par with Fallout and The Legend of Zelda. Ranking in as my third all-time favourite open-world adventure franchise, it’s hard to not fall for the creativity behind this franchise. One of the most famed parts about this series is not just the meticulously created story lines, but also the multiplayer portions of the games where fans have come together to bring this part to life.

From things such as fan created maps to co-op, Far Cry has successfully become enjoyable and intriguing in both departments. It’ll be very interesting to see if this latest installment allows fans to return to this time period, edit multiplayer maps, set traps, creatures, and weapons across the map in order for teams to obtain and use against their enemies. The biggest issue here? How do you balance the control of such creatures? Easy, take a look at Ark: Survival and have them in the back ground as volatile creatures that can be tamed.

Closing Statement

As you can see from the trailer above, Far Cry Primal is going to be gorgeous whether or not it has multiplayer or cooperative gameplay. The game, utilizing Cry Engine, will be a game that surely puts itself above and beyond the titles that it has seen before it. With this new engine, new era we are being placed in, and an all around new approach – Far Cry Primal could possibly alter the series in a way we hope it stays since Ubisoft has seemed to have mastered the ability to pick multiple timelines and have them work in a rather amazing and artistically challenging manner.

Far Cry Primal will be available on PlayStation 4 system and Xbox One on February 23, 2016, and available on PC on March 1, 2016.  Stay tuned for our pending review.

 

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

 

 

Jack the Ripper Heads to Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Tomorrow

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

 

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We’ve all been fascinated at some points in our lives with the notorious killer by the name of Jack the Ripper. With many games under the belt of this motivated serial killer, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate brings Evie Frye to his doorstep as she hunts him down 20 years later after the events of the initial story. Releasing on Consoles on the 15th and PC on the 22nd, players will hunt down Jack and put an end to his killing spree to righ the wrongs for which he has committed.

For those looking forwards to the DLC, the content will be available for Season Pass holders for free as well as upcoming DLCs the Last Maharaja mission pack, a Long Night (Season Pass Exclusive) and the Streets of London gameplay back as well as other exclusive items for Season Pass holders. For those who are looking to get this DLC alone? Prepare to shell out 14.99 USD for the added content.

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

Hands-On Impressions – Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege – The Legacy Besieges Next Gen

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

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Editor’s Note: Due to the limited content available on the Beta, we’ve been unable to experience all of the operatives that will be available in the final version of the title. While we would also like to have more pictures, we still have to get them uploaded through both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. Thanks for reading and enjoy the article.

 

With Tom Clancy having passed away what seems just like yesterday, his legacy has continued to live on without him and the legacy seems to be going into the right direction. With his passing we’ve seen one of the most anticipated titles of 2015 coming soon and with it coming as soon as it is, I’ve spent plenty of time playing a game that carries on a franchise I’ve come to love over the last seventeen years. Originally released in August of 1998, Rainbow Six set up one of the most tactical games we’d ever get to play next to franchises such as Delta Force and SWAT. The difference between all these? Rainbow Six has come to be one of the most renowned and long lived franchises in the tactical FPS genre. However, many of you may know that Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege has seem some major changes over the last few years since it was originally announced as Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Patriots, which would feature an ever changing campaign based upon player decisions as well as occurrences that would remain outside of player control or rather as The Doctor would say “fixed points in time”.

So what has remained since the conception of Rainbow Six Patriots to Siege? The multiplayer content, which will feature an always online portion of the game for competitive play. Much like the rather successful Ghost Recon Phantoms, Siege takes on a note that the online modes are where players will be constantly turning to. Unlike Phantoms, Rainbow Six Siege does not feature highly customizable characters, instead players will find themselves decking out operatives who have a special set of skills, specialized weapons and even specialized stats for each of them. Such as Mute who is an important operative to have on TDM – Bomb where players will eliminate each other while trying to seize an objective. This includes Mutes (defender only operative) ability to place jamming devices that disable enemy drones as well as technology so that they can’t use it against the defending team in the manner they choose. On the flipside we have Ash who is a force to be reckoned with thanks to her over-penetrating explosive round that goes through breachable walls only to detonate on the other side and causing havoc around any corner that enemies may be attempting to use to their advantage.

Thanks to these minor changes there are a few things that players will find new compared to past titles, which some of it’s good and some the bad, so let’s take a look at “The Good”, “The Bad”, and “The Ugly” to see what direction this game has taken as well as what could be changed back into it at a later date.

/-/ The Good /-/

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six has seen some major changes compared to its rather successful previous entries known as Rainbow Six Vegas and Rainbow Six Vegas 2. In the past titles we saw heavy amounts of customization as well as unlocks thanks to the ACE system we’d grown to love on those games. This included the ability to unlock varied types of protection via armor, various attachments to each gun. While this has returned in many forms, there is something quite enjoyable and fulfilling about this new system they’ve used in regards to upgrading operatives the way they have. With these unlocks players will be able to unlock operatives starting at 500 renown each per faction (so this seems to be based on each faction, but I have seen this reset from 1,000-1,500 back to 500 after a set time) only to go up to 1,000 renown after having unlocked a second character, which went from Ash to Thatcher. When going to the “Operatives” menu, players can click on their unlocked operatives in order to unlock attachments for their specified weapons, setting them up with unlocks that range between 150-600 renown only to adapt their guns to better stats based upon their play style. This includes reducing recoil, sound, hiding muzzle flash even to grips in order to help stability while firing or scopes to allow for more range as well as accuracy for players who prefer not to use iron sights.

These benefits don’t just work when standing still on a flat platform such as a floor, a ceiling or aiming down from destroyed layers to other players. With Rainbow Six titles we’ve seen subtle changes to reality such as bullet penetration, velocity and range, but now we get to see one of the changes we’d never seen before; locales that can be almost fully besieged. This big change is what has truly fulfilled the games name “Siege”. As players approach through the only competitive mode in the open-beta referred to as TDM – Bomb, teams select a starting locale for both Offense and Defense, this can range from places such as offices, basements or even base-level locations. So lets use the most commonly rotated map called “House”. In this map players can choose a Children’s Bedroom, Master Bedroom or the Garage where players will attempt to lock down these areas as “Defenders”. As “Defenders” there are several things that will play a very integral role into winning or losing such as setting up proper defenses I.E. barricading walls, windows, doorways and setting up improvised traps like C4, electrified walls (Requires Castle) and communication as the biggest part of defense. While players can hide against walls and fixtures that can’t be penetrated by breach charges or bullets, there are other things such as flash bangs, grenades and even C4 sticks that can bring havoc upon defenders that are ill prepared. Thanks to those pesky little drones this can be worse as they can find enemy defense locations if they spot it or even players if they are detected. Luckily these can be jammed by Mute, slowed by barbed wire floor traps or shot.

On the offensive side there are a few things to take note of that can disrupt your luck of winning. Enemy teams, as stated, can prevent your breaching via electrified walls, reinforced walls, windows, traps and even the unmentioned security cameras. All of these play a key role in both attacking and defending since both teams are after the same objective, taking the defense point and eliminating the enemy team at whatever cost possible. The difference here is that offensive players can actually leave the building that they are attempting to invade in order to complete their mission goal of breaching it via any means necessary, finding the enemy objective and stopping it however possible. Many of these points of insertion to the locale to be breached can be rapelled while players can detonate charges on Windows, Walls, and floors depending on the level they are on whether it’s an upstairs room, floor level room or basement entry point. The most important thing to take away from these insertion points if they are reinforced is that characters on the offensive such as Thermite can break through these walls in order to detonate the flooring for players to breach through reinforced walls if they are not electrified.

This biggest change is a huge game changer for those who are veterans of the series.

/-/ The Bad /-/

There’s always things that help improve a game and degrade a series from further progression. As many fans of Rainbow Six are familiar with Rainbow Six Vegas and Rainbow Six Vegas 2 brought in a mechanic that would soon become a phenomenon that many games would begin to adopt later in. One that we’ve become familiar with thanks to games such as Gears of War, Binary Domain and even future entries to games that have yet to release. While this system was not initially created by the minds at Red Storm Entertainment and Ubisoft, many can attribute it to tactical games such as Metal Gear Solid, Splinter Cell and even games such as Syphon Filter or even later titles such as Killswitch among many others that would heavily rely on stealth features. However, with this latest entry we see a removal of this system in exchange for things such as shield placements and tactical kits that would make up for the removal of this system. While this system could seem troublesome with the newer mechanics it is a system that would help during breach situations so that players don’t find themselves so heavily exposed against besieged rooms.

Another ugly part of this game is the removal of character customizations as well as custom kits to fit a player’s setup in the way they prefer such as appearance, gear, primary and even secondary weapons. While it would be hard to implement this feature it is one that is yearned for among the in-game chats that seems to echo out among die-hard fans of the franchise. While it’s one that has been seemingly pushed to the side and forgotten while many players have discussed the idea within game chats that this would be a subtle yet very welcomed implementation through later updates. What makes this even worse through earlier titles? While it is fun to earn renowned and have a lack of a campaign there seems to be no sign of future uses of a Titanfall-esque campaign narrative between matches to give players an idea of what, why, where, when and how they are being deployed on their current tasking at hand. While many of these things are miniscule to most players, it’s something that the game does direly need with talents such as Angela Bassett taking a role as the leader of Rainbow Six. Another issue is how easy renown is to unlock for players who spend a few hour with boosters on the game. While this is nice it will quickly cause the game to run its course and eventually become another game on the shelf in the very near future. While this seems plausible it may not be possible if the game hosts as tactical and enticing gameplay as it does now through the various other modes that will hit when it launches.

/-/ The Ugly /-/

When it comes to ugly there’s always some things that absolutely should not be included within the game and the lack of several features makes this truly problematic. If you play games such as Battlefield or other tactical games, you are used to being able to lean around corner in order to acquire a target. While one would assume this is easy to do in Rainbow Six Siege, it’s quite opposite and seems almost absent from the game that makes it seem almost like a distant cousin to the Rainbow Six series. While this may seem miniscule to problems such as the login delays, party disconnections and even server time-outs, the game presents itself as a troubled title to its initial launch. With having already experienced several server time-outs and even random app-locks, the game finds itself needing a few hotfixes before its launch. Most of these bugs? Seem only present within the Xbox One version in comparison to the PlayStation 4 version of the game. Does this mean that the PlayStation 4 version is flaw free? No, it doesn’t, quite the opposite really. While graphics between the two versions are one-in-the-same the game does see some minor graphical slow downs in regards to FPS during moments of explosions and high particle effects the PS4 version seems to hold steady during these occasions and not degrading any form of performance in that regard.

While I would like to say everything is perfect on the PlayStation 4 I would be lying to you in truth. The PlayStation 4 does carry its own flaws in regards to certain parts of performance with matchmaking. The biggest issue comes down to matchmaking in the networking area. This has to do with the servers being incapable of finding matches when in parties of 3-4. While this would seem to be a minor problem to most this problem does exist and can lead to matchmaking taking upwards to 10-20 minutes before finding a lobby or a partner to fill those open spots. If this problem exists during the game’s initial launch, fans will find themselves a bit disgruntled when it comes out next Tuesday.

/-/ Final Thoughts /-/

While it may be hard to dissect every possibly good, bad and even horrible situation with this beta, the current state of the title, it seems that Ubisoft has been hard at work trying to kink out every single little bug possible before the game’s launch. With many of the subtle changes that could be made to the game post-launch let’s just hope that the Xbox One’s performance issues seem resolved with a Day One Patch or a post-launch patch within the following days.

With the game launching on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on December 1st, 2015, stay tuned for our upcoming review on both the PS4 and Xbox One in the upcoming days.

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege to Feature Premium Content – Post-Launch Plans Announced

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

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With the new Rainbow Six entry being one of the most anticipated games of 2015 as it prepares for its launch on December 1st, 2015, Rainbow Six Siege has been under quite a bit of scrutiny since the developers at Ubisoft have announced the games plan to be an online only title. Following in footsteps of recently launched titles such as Destiny, The Crew, and Need for Speed, which all require a constant online element; Rainbow Six Siege isn’t straying too far from that curve ahead of its launch on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

With Rainbow Six being a franchise that sees games every so few years, Ubisoft’s development teams have released an outline of what the future for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege will see through its lifespan clear into next year’s holiday season. In the video below, you will find Ubisoft’s developers behind Rainbow Six discussing the outlined plans. For those that don’t feel like watching, but prefer to read? Feel free to scroll past the video for more information behind plans for the game.

While many of you that are reading are probably not strangers to FPS titles that are highly competitive, it won’t be unusual for us to see regular patches that will bring in gameplay balancing, feature improvements, detailed patch notes, and small additions to the game that may not already be present at release. Ubisoft has also announced that the team will be a dedicated group of about eighty members who will constantly be looking into fan feedback via forums, social media, etc, while they are monitoring gameplay statistics, and ensure that your experience is the best that it can be when the game comes up to launch. Let alone will these team members doing their duties just mentioned, but they will also be assisting in bringing forth events, competitions, and more as major content expansions for 2016 prepare to launch. These new content expansions will include new maps, operators, modes, and weapons at no additional cost.

So what exactly do these content expansions include during their seasons? Each of these will include one map, two new operators, each with unique gadgets, and a new primary as well as new secondary weapons for players to choose from. These will also feature new modes, cosmetic items and last, but not least, new in-game events that will be released during the year. While maps and modes will be readily available to all players, the new operators and weapon skins will be unlocked through using Renown, which is earned through matches, gameplay time, or even with R6 Credits (real-money currency). Just note that the stuff that requires R6 Credits? Those are cosmetic only and won’t affect your gameplay, so don’t sweat bullets there, unless that changes.

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Want to know more about how these credits and Renown work? Head on over to the official Ubisoft Blog and find out now! Stay tuned for our upcoming review for Rainbow Six Siege post-launch.

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.