When it launched in 2015, Rainbow Six Siege was a squad-shooter with a heavy emphasis on tactics and teamwork with a foot in the door of realism. Sure, you had a couple of somewhat authenticity-bending Operators –Lord Chanka being one– but, by and large, it was a twitchy and pulse-pounding affair that felt grounded even in its relative silliness.
I say was because I don’t think Siege is that game anymore, especially with the release of Operation Chimera and its two new operators.
The CBRN members, Lion and Finka, are rather uniquely both attackers; a change-up from the 50/50 split that we’ve come to expect with each new content update. With the release of Operation Chimera just yesterday, I’ve been spending plenty of time with both, but mainly Lion — how can I not with that name?
Lion is armed with a deadly V308 with easy-to-handle recoil and a charitable magazine. He’s a middle-of-the-road Operator in terms of speed and durability, but it’s his unique ability that’s the most interesting thing. The EE-One-D drone allows he and his teammates to find defenders for a limited time in the map up to three times per round. It’s effectively Caveira’s unique ability without the hard work.
Meanwhile, Finka has a Spear .308, which, again, has easy to handle recoil and a decent fire-rate. Much like Lion, Finka has standard movement and armour with a unique ability that makes her almost an essential pick for any match. The Adrenal Surge, which can also be used up to three times per round, temporarily boosts her health and also that of her teammates. Better yet, any DNBO allies can also be revived. Finka more or less makes Doc look like a medical intern’s first day on the job.
You might be thinking that two meta-breaking Operators would be fun, to change up the stale strats and throw a spanner in the works. They are for a little while as you rampage through hapless defenders, but it fades away pretty quickly. My disappointment isn’t borne from being on the receiving end of them — whenever I play as either of the Chimera additions I feel as if I’m running scripts that I shouldn’t be running.
In clutch situations, or even when you’re considering breaching, Lion’s drone is far too useful to neglect. It picks up player movement and in a game where tactically repositioning is key, you find a lot of joy with it — some opposition players also enjoy teabagging the air when they’ve been spotted. Sure, players can stop moving or stand by a Mute jammer, but if the opposition is aggressively pushing into the room, it’s hard to sit still. The fact that you can use it three times also seems far too lenient, alongside the length of time exposed players are visible for. It’s so easy: scan, find the opposition, shoot through walls, and get the easy kill.
Arguably, though, it’s Finka that is the more overpowered of the two new Operators. Her Adrenal Surge can be used three times during a round, which is three different occasions where attackers have the upper hand in a firefight. The boost itself isn’t all that empowering, usually giving a buff of about twenty health, but in a game where one bullet can make the difference, that’s a crazy advantage in straight firefights to have.
There’s also just how out of place the two new Operators feel in the big picture of Siege, like the developers ran out of viable ideas. As with every long-running product, new ideas tend to be harder to come by as time goes on. Take The Simpsons, for example, and how almost every animated show owes a debt of inspiration to them for doing it first. There were signs that Siege was toeing the line of realism long ago when fire arrows and cloaked edgelords were introduced, but the Chimera additions look like Ubisoft have been too liberally inspired by hero shooters. If you want to be particularly cynical, Lion has Widowmaker’s ult and Finka has Mercy’s.
Of course, it’s still early days for the season and there’s bound to be more than a handful of counter strats to deal with the superhumans, but with Leon and Finka overpowered to the point where they should be first picks for attackers, it’s up to Ubisoft to balance them out so that each match doesn’t become predictable. The amount of times unique abilities can be used should definitely be lowered and the same goes for the length of time they’re useful for; perhaps just the one usage per round? We’ll have to wait and see what their next move is. Obviously giving Chanka an ACOG is the most important thing, though.
UPDATE 12/03/18: An earlier version of this article (somehow) mistakenly identified Doc as an attacker. Also added more information on Lion’s ability for clarity’s sake.
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