In other words: it's going to be their Call of Duty. Let the games begin!
While Rainbow 6 championed realism in its past games, the franchise evolved into a more action-packed series with the success of Rainbow 6 Vegas, which maintained the same tactical combat as its predecessors without getting mucked down in procedural mumbo-jumbo. From the sounds of things, Patriots will follow in this new trend while continuing to put the focus on squad-based combat and tactical execution. In the press release, Ubisoft says that players will be rewarded for working as a team and mastering the game's "new features that enhance communication and tactical execution between teammates." We don't even know what that means, but we want it.
Also interesting is the plot, which should certainly resonate with today's politics. The plotline involves Team Rainbow going toe-to-toe (or gun-to-gun) with a group called the "True Patriots," which manages to sound like a conglomeration of every extreme political movement of the past few years. The group believes that the American government is irrevocably corrupted by greedy politicians and corporate special interests, and they will do whatever it takes to reclaim their country. And those are the villains.
Above: A guy in some tactical gear that you'll likely kill terrorists as. Spoilers!
“Terrorism has evolved, and so has Rainbow 6. In Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Patriots, all the team play, tactics, and realism that fans of the series love have been coupled with an exciting new narrative direction,” said David Sears, creative director at Ubisoft. “This adds an unprecedented level of humanity that will make Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Patriots an extremely tense and immersive experience." If the test footage is any indication they're not joking around when they talk about it being tense. Seriously, we felt emotional just watching it.
Rainbow 6: Patriots is currently planned for a release on the Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3 in 2013, which is actually after the Wii-U is supposed to be launching. Considering Ubisoft has been one of Nintendo's biggest supporters with their new systems, we expect that this might make its way to their upcoming console as well.
In fact, the Wii-U's screen might make for some amazing possibilities for the tactical, gadget-based gameplay of Rainbow Six...
Looks like it's time to speculate!
