‘Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege’ Classes Detailed In New Video

Playstation And Xbox Booths At The 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) In Los Angeles — IN PHOTO: People walk past the Playstation and Xbox booths at the 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo, known as E3, in Los Angeles, California June 10, 2014. Reuters/Jonathan Alcorn

Tactical first-person shooter combat has been on quite a hiatus, with the likes of bombastic actioners such as “Call of Duty” and “Battlefield” eating the genre's lunch. With the announcement and reveal of “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege,” that looks set to change. Additionally, a new trailer indicates that gamers will have a number of interesting tactical choices to make when they choose a class.

“Rainbow Six Siege” is the current gen-only follow-up to Ubisoft's long-in-development and ultimately cancelled “Rainbow Six: Patriots.” Built using the AnvilNext game engine that powered “Assassin’s Creed Unity,” “Rainbow Six Siege” offers a strong focus on tactical gameplay, teamwork, destructible environments and Counter Terrorist Operators in attack vs. defend situations.

A brand new trailer hosted on the Arrekz Gaming YouTube channel provides gamers their first good look at the game’s classes. The video is taken from the footage of the ongoing “Rainbow Six Siege” closed alpha. The gameplay in the alpha currently consists of one mode, the Hostage Rescue mode featured during the game’s initial unveiling during E3 2014, when “Siege” first caught the attention of gamers.

Gamers get to play the role of either the hostage takers by barricading themselves in and reinforcing entry points against invaders, or as the rescuers, surveilling and probing for breach points and attempting to get the hostage out alive. At the beginning of a round, each player picks a class, and no two players can pick the same class.

Attacking Team Classes

Twitch: Carries a shock-drone, a remote controlled drone that’s capable of zapping foes

Ash: Uses a breach launcher capable of firing explosives that latch onto surfaces and detonates

Sledge: Wields a sledgehammer used to break down breachable walls and obstructions

Thatcher: Armed with an EMP grenade capable of taking out electronics within the blast radius

Thermite: Uses an exo-thermite breach kit that can burn through reinforced walls

Defending Team Classes

Rook: Possesses a bag of armoured plates that he and team members can use to equip body armour

Smoke: Utilises a disabling gas charge that hinders foes remotely

Castle: Can reinforce walls with his bulletproof barricade, which enemies can’t shoot through

Mute: Uses a jamming device to prevent attackers from using remote electronics surveillance drones effectively

Pulse: Carries a heartbeat monitor that’s capable of protecting players through walls

“We wanted to stay true to the pillars of ‘Rainbow,’ which are: tactics, team play and tension; Rainbow Six has always offered players the experience of playing in a team of counter-terrorist units, or CTU, in both single and multiplayer. We’re staying true to the ‘Rainbow Six’ DNA of letting players control their very own CTU in a real-life situation, but in the roles of both attack and defence,” said “Rainbow Six Siege” game designer Andrew Witts on the Ubisoft blog.

The destructible environments featured heavily in “Siege” are powered by Ubisoft’s proprietary Realblast technology, which allows wood to shred, glass to shatter and concrete to crack realistically amid the explosions and gunfire. Players eager to get their hands on “Rainbow Six Siege” can pre-order the game to get into the currently running closed beta. The game will be released on PS4, PC and Xbox One some time in 2015.