Highlights Not From E3: Rainbow 6: Patriots

Rainbow 6: Patriots was not actually present at E3 this year. According to this article, it was because Ubisoft wanted to create focus around their other developments. But the video below, which curiously displays "not actual gameplay footage" in the bottom right corner, is what is currently available as far as gameplay previews go:



 Also out at the moment is this trailer:


I hope you found the first video as disturbing as I did, lest we all become irrevocably desensitized to violence. But anyway, one of the features I find worth commenting on is the apparent ability to see through cars. This felt a bit out of place for Hitman: Absolution; it should have no place in a franchise built upon simulating hostage rescue combat. I haven't particularly liked it when Rainbow Six has taken more arcade-like turns in the past. The Clancy name to me should represent attempts at authentic realism, as Tom himself goes into painstaking detail regarding the technical specifications of aircraft, tanks, submarines, firearms, etc. in his books.


And how about the small bit of plot revealed?


Striking a cord with recent US political and economic turmoil, the legendary counter-terror squad Rainbow 6 returns to fight a new homegrown enemy: the fundamentalist "True Patriots," an organization whose diabolical pursuit for vigilante justice is anything but patriotic.

Shown in both of these videos are armed men strapping C4 to bankers who have apparently accepted government bailouts. I find it interesting that in this, as well as the other new Tom Clancy title, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, the antagonists have understandable grievances with U.S. government policy, but choose to address them through violent means. Perhaps even more interesting is the American player's ability to empathize in this case, as while they may not have experienced a foreign army creating bases within their borders, they have experienced being under a government that will distribute taxpayer money to failing banks. I think this presents an interesting ethical dilemma. No doubt that in your gaming career you have vanquished thousands of terrorists, yet it seldom seems like the reasons they decided to become terrorists is adequately addressed. You have simply had an enemy placed before you who was labeled as a terrorist and were ordered to kill him. I like the idea that this game is taking terrorist motivations seriously (though it would have been more interesting if they had created bad guys with whom it was easier to sympathize; ones that only attacked those individuals with whom they have particular grievances instead of mass murdering civilians. I would love to see something that has the player really question the orders he or she receives). Beyond that, they haven't given us much gameplay to see, but possibly some ethical quandaries one might face when we see this come out next spring.