Clouded Vision - Rainbow Six: Patriots

The announcement of the distant Clancy-fever-dream that is Rainbow Six: (Angry) Patriots brought back memories of playing the first game in the series, or at least I'm going to pretend it did for the purpose of what I say next. Careful planning, exchanging tactical tips with school chums, watching my elite squad fail to navigate the complex architectural geometry of a door. The memories quite literally did not come flooding back. But when I saw the 'Vision Video' for the new game, which serves as a warning of a dire future that can hopefully be averted, I did find myself retreating into memories of better times.

Meet Heavy Rainbow Six: Queasy Terrorism Emotivator.

The 'dire future' I referred to is not an attempted attack on Times Square, it's a squad-based tactical FPS in which the player not only controls a man forced into committing an atrocity, but first presses square to kiss his soon-to-be assaulted wife. I feel like I'm watching the simulation of a dream conjured up by the collective broadcast-brain that is the Fox News fear factory.

Quite apart from being less PC than Roy Chubby Brown at a nunnery, and I'm not talking about the terrorist scenario it presents anymore, it also seems to be taking an approach to modern warfare that's all too familiar. Less 'Ripped From The Headlines', more hoping to 'Rip Into The Headlines'. The vision for the game doesn't have a lot of game in it, from what I can see, but it does have a concept of vigorous and attention-seeking attempts at emotional manipulation.

This being a 'Vision Video' (a year old, we're told, but just released), presenting a concept of what might be, there's no telling how much it will resemble the final product. But if this is the equivalent of Ubisoft rolling up to a sales pitch, laying out the product and saying, "This is what New Patriot Hair Tonic can do for you", I'd rather wear a somewhat shabby toupee, machine-built in the nineties.