"Rainbow Six Extraction" Turns Left 4 Dead 'Left 4 Dead 'Into A Tactical Gunner
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“Rainbow Six Extraction” Turns Left 4 Dead ‘Left 4 Dead ‘Into A Tactical Gunner

"Rainbow Six Extraction" Turns Left 4 Dead 'Left 4 Dead 'Into A Tactical Gunner
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“Rainbow Six Extraction” Turns Left 4 Dead ‘Left 4 Dead ‘Into A Tactical Gunner

Rainbow Six Extracttakes Siege and wraps it up in the flesh of a co-op gunner. Instead of facing real people, you fight against AI-controlled aliens in three-person teams. It’s an interesting changeup, which, despite some downfalls, makes it an extremely enjoyable experience.

As a spinoff from the limited-time Outbreak mode released for Siegeback 2018, Extractionsees Rainbow’s operators travel to various hot spots worldwide to fight an alien invasion.

Extraction is similar to co-op shooters Left 4 Dead or World War Z. It’s designed to be replayable. It doesn’t have a linear campaign. Instead, it offers different locations that you can return to repeatedly, including the Tenderloin industrial area in San Francisco, an Alaskan research station, and a penthouse in New York.

Ubisoft added variety by breaking down each level into three stages with different mission objectives. The first step is to place tracking beacons in alien nests within the park, and then you will be able to fight your way through the various levels of the New York Police Department. In the second stage, you will push into the main offices to try and track an elite alien and get a DNA sample without it being killed. The final section involves fighting your way through the main lobby to the evacuation point at the steps of the police station while protecting a civilian from an alien attack.

Each level feels new even after playing for about 15 hours. This is due to Extension’s destructible environments. The layout can be changed from mission to mission. You might be able to sneak down a narrow corridor on one playthrough, but the next time you visit the corridor, big holes in the walls will allow you to access the alien-filled rooms that it runs between.

You and your squadmates also select Rainbow Six Siege operators to choose from. Each operator has its own set, weapons, special abilities and progression tracks. There’s so much variation from mission to mission.

Each section has an extraction point. This allows you to escape from the mission before it is over. Although it may sound like the easy way out for quitters, my team and I found that deciding to reduce our losses was becoming more important as we played more of the game.

Two very good reasons to extract early are XP and going MIA. You get XP for killing enemies and completing objectives. However, if you can survive a mission, you will also receive a 90% bonus on all XP earned during that mission. If you want to access the more difficult modes, your characters must be levelled up. This unlocks new gear and vital passive buffs like armour and speed.

Extraction is unique in that you can go MIA. It is something I have come to love and respect. It is a driving force in my decision-making while I am playing. Your operator will become MIA if you are left behind during a mission. Your squad may have been destroyed or your character injured, and nobody could rescue you. If an operator goes MIA, they are removed from your roster. The only way to get them back to work is to run another mission on the same level. However, this time one of the missions will be a rescue mission.

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Although it’s a very penal system, it adds great tension to each step of an infiltration. Do we risk our entire XP or extract quickly to retain our full roster? Further pressure on your decisions comes from the fact that any damage to operators will be carried over into subsequent missions until it is repaired. How can you heal operators? Earning XP. Extracting early can keep your operators alive. However, if you don’t earn enough XP on that mission, you won’t do much for your operators’ health back home.

It’s also the pressure, the difficulty that motivates you to play Extractnot Left 4 Dead but Rainbow Six. You will face dumb, but deadly aliens. You can easily sneak past their radar and remain hidden from them. However, if they spot you, they will shout for help. The alien nests are also attracted to the sound, as it not only brings in enemies but also sets them up for breeding. One enemy grunt may quickly turn into a whole army of aliens attacking your position.

My team and I took our missions slower, used drones to look ahead, executed enemies with silent headshots or stabs in the back when possible. We were pushed to this mode of play by the rewards and punishments offered by Extraction. Exctraction is now my favorite co-op game. It fulfills the same need as Rainbow Six Vegas 2’s terrorist hunting mode, which I have felt for many years.

Extraction is at its best when Rainbow Six Siege shines through. You can do this by placing a C4 pack on one of those roots that grow from the alien superstructure. As the bomb countdowns, you must fight off the aliens. They will smash through walls and open locked doors to attack you. To slow down your enemies or redirect them, you will need to use defensive equipment such as claymores, decoys and turrets. This is especially true for higher difficulty levels, where there are more enemy types. These aliens will either use heavy armour or have advanced movement capabilities and can easily penetrate your defenses, forcing you to adapt.

This is Extract at its best. It’s a co-op-game that encourages you to think strategically through the punishing systems and difficulty levels. There are also some frustrations. The aliens’ art design is my main complaint. Black is the main colour of the Archeans. Their skin, armour, and goop are all black. It can be difficult to identify your enemies in the heat of battle. Tormentors, spikers and grunts all look tall, thin, humanoid forms with black skin. They have different body shapes, but they are not easily distinguished, especially when they stand in corridors with black walls and floors.

Some enemies just feel cheap. One of these blobby enemies stomps about on the ground like a Roomba. Because it is so low to ground, it can be difficult to see. It can cause a lot of damage before you even realize it. It splits in three once it is shot, making it more difficult to finish. It is a frustrating way to die and feels out of place in comparison to other enemies.

In the beginning, I was a little put off by the art style and almost missed the fun that Extract was bringing to my gaming experience. But now I’m. It’s a great game and I look forward to it being available on Game Pass. I have many friends who loved Rainbow Six Vegas 2’s terrorist hunting days. It’ll be up to me to trust that it lives up to my promises.

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“Rainbow Six Extraction” Turns Left 4 Dead ‘Left 4 Dead ‘Into A Tactical Gunner
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