Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction is the latest Ubisoft title to bear the name of the late novelist. What’s interesting about the this particular entry is it grew from a limited Outbreak event in Rainbow Six Siege that occurred in 2018. In this event the Rainbow Six Operators were stationed in New Mexico, fighting against an alien invasion. This is not to say Extraction is simply a rehash of Outbreak, which would be inaccurate as it’s its own full-fledged game, but there are traces of the latter’s DNA to be found as the Operators take on the hostile aliens known as Archaeans.
The story in Extraction followss the events of what happened in New Mexico, which was not an isolated incident as the alien threat has popped up in new areas such as New York City, San Francisco and Nome, Alaska. REACT got involved with these events to contain, eliminate and learn about the alien threat. Learning about an alien threat while there’s a mutual attempt from both sides to kill each other is a daunting task, but that’s what the Operators get paid to do.
Rainbow Six Extraction is designed to offer a co-operative experience. Unlike some other Rainbow Six titles where player vs. player events are the main draw, Extraction is about player vs. environment, meaning the game is entirely PVE with no PVP component. This approach will surely garner complaints from players who loved the PVP element, but conversely there are already several games both within and outside of this franchise that provide that experience. What Extraction strives to do is take the Operators and put them in new scenarios where they need to cooperate to take on the different hostile Archaean lifeforms.
One of the interesting environmental hazards to be found during the Incursions is sprawl. Sprawl is this gooey substance that gets left behind in areas occupied by Archaeans. It’s an environmental hazard that can slow down Operators. Sometimes sprawl has other nasty effects like obscuring vision or draining health. Getting through this stuff on top of dealing with the Archaeans can be a lot to take on, but thankfully there are new REACT Tech gadgets that can be used in tandem and separately from Operator gadgets. REACT Tech are new items designed for the purpose of dealing with these specific threats and include devices like Anabolic Accelerants to provide a needed pick me up or the REACT Laser that can switch to a UV light function and remove sprawl without having to waste precious ammo. Parasite mutations can also occur during incursions that can lead to things such as nests developing an armored carapace or blinding spores growing on Archaeans.
Rainbow Six Extraction is played through a series of missions called Incursions. Each incursion consists of three different sub areas on a map, with each area having its own specific objection. The mission objectives are randomly selected so even though they may occur in the same map, the experience will vary to some degree at every playthrough. The squad can extract themselves after successfully completing an area’s objective, though under ideal circumstances they will fight through each of the three areas to obtain greater rewards. Sometimes, however, there’s wisdom in extracting oneself from area without fully completing each objective as failure has a cost. When an Archaean defeats an Operator they’re engulfed in stasis foam. When this happens it’s up to the remaining Operators to carry the mummified Operator to the extraction point. If all Operators are defeated or the survivors extract themselves without the fallen, any Operator left behind is unavailable until they’re recovered and extracted during a future Incursion.
Each submap has a randomly-assigned mission. These missions take on a variety of different objectives and it’s this variety that helps keep things interesting. Biopsy missions require killing Archaeans with take downs in order to extract genetic samples for studying. Nest tracking requires putting tracking devices on dormant nests without destroying them. Specimen missions require luring an Archaean to a containment point to transport it back to the lab alive, while hunt missions require killing several regular Archaeans to summon an elite unit to kill it. These are just a few of the dozen different mission objectives that can be assigned during an Incursion. There are eighteen different Operators to choose from, each one with a different set of gadgets and special talent. Alibi for example can create a holographic image of herself to bait Archaeans while Sledge can get rid of annoying wall barriers.
There are several areas to do Incursions, but like most games only one area is accessible right away. New York is where the initial batch of incursion maps take place. As the player completes Incursion objectives and increases their rank new areas open up to them including San Francisco, New Mexico and Alaska. Completing missions objectives increases the overall rank which opens up more areas. Getting a high enough rank can unlock challenging areas that are designed to test the mettle of even the most battle-hardened Operators.
There’s a single player mode for those who prefer the single player experience to multiplayer, but while it’s good to have this option included it’s just not that engaging. The format of the solo Incursions works the same way as the multiplayer ones but without any coordinating strategy. The solo missions are best served to familiarize a player with different Operators or maps without any social pressure but quickly get boring. Extraction is designed to be played as a trio, and the difference in enjoyment level between c0-op and solo play is tremendous. The randomization of objectives keeps returning to familiar maps interesting, but the real fun comes from the camaraderie. Each Operator has different skills and strengths. Figuring out how to best utilize these skills as a team to meet the current objectives is what makes playing a few matches with friends fun. Building a balanced team where the different Operator skills complement each other is also part of the fun, which can get tricky when everyone’s favorite Operators need to be extracted. Solo play quickly wears out its welcome, but this can be entertaining for a group for several Incursions.
Overall the Incursions can be a good time with friends. Between the randomized mission objectives and parasite mutations the Incursions end up having a lot of a variety. Assembling a team of different Operators and strategizing to figure out which abilities will best complement each other is part of the fun, but the challenge can get enhanced when an individual’s go-to Operator is MIA and they have to wait for a extraction mission to access the Operator again. While playing the Incursions with friends can be a lot of fun, there isn’t really a single player campaign in the traditional sense. Rainbow Six Extraction strives to be a multiplayer online PVE experience, and while it does deliver on that, it doesn’t offer much for single player or offline experience.
Closing Comments:
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction can be a lot of fun with a couple friends, but the lack of a traditional single player campaign and cohesive narrative makes it feel more like a Rainbow Six expansion than a full-fledged game. While Extraction is a collection of Incursion maps, great care was went into ensuring that the parasite mutations and randomly-selected objectives brings enough variety to keep everything interesting even after several gaming sessions. The lack of PVP modes and lackluster single player content may be off putting to some players, but Rainbow Six Extraction is designed for its three player co-op against alien invaders, and does a good job of scratching the team shooter itch.
