The next entry in the Rainbow Six series, leaked to Kotaku earlier this month, might incorporate the aspect of choice. A new leak, provided to the site today, reveals that morality might play a major role in the upcoming, yet-to-be-titled Rainbow Six.
A more story-driven game than previous entries, Rainbow Six sees a terrorist operation from the United States’ own people. A group within America, fed up with the greed of Wall Street and the government, decide to target New York City.
The morality system, which is currently a debate at the studio, affects the paths players take as they progress through the game. A player will not be able to experience every level in a single play-through, as the decisions they make may lead them on a different course.
The demo shown to Kotaku, visualized in the two screenshots provided to them, first see the player in the role of a stranger, kidnapped and bomb-strapped by the terrorist group. As the stranger, the player is forced to hold down a trigger button in order to prevent the vest from exploding.
Switching perspective, the player is now controlling Rainbow 6 team. The terrorist group is on a bridge connected to New York City, threatening to blow up the bridge with the bomb-vest strapped to the stranger. Rainbow 6 team is forced to make the decision of whether they want to take out the innocent citizen wearing the vest and save the lives of hundreds, or risk everything. One option has you tossing the stranger off the bridge, watching him blow to bits as he falls off, experiencing the memories of his life in the process. Kotaku describes it as “heart-rending.”
A bit on the heads-up display: augmented-reality allows you to see where your team members are and lets you target certain body parts on enemies, giving you the choice of whether to kill or knock out.
The whole morality thing, like I mentioned earlier, is still a debate at the development studio. It’s not final on whether or not they’ll choose to include it. But damn, would it make the game one realistic approach more of a shooter.