Since it’s a fast-paced, team-based game, you’d think that Rainbow Six would have a hard time gaining traction on mobile devices, especially in the form of a roguelite game with an aerial camera and such cute graphics. But to my surprise, it’s a pretty good combination that Ubisoft created for Netflix in the newly released Rainbow Six: SMOL.
The idea of this game is basically the same as every other R6 installment. A team of experienced agents head into enemy territory to complete a series of missions. Whether defusing bombs, rescuing hostages, eliminating targets or defending a point, the fundamental tactical elements of this franchise remain intact in this game. It differs from its more realistic brethren in its core roguelite system, where if you fail a mission and die in Rogue Legacy style, you must select a new agent who has a slightly different play style and interests than the previous one to continue and try to complete future operations. Of course, since this is a roguelite, you can purchase permanent upgrades that will cause each agent you use to improve their basic skills over time, making future tasks easier as you continue to spend the resources collected in the missions. Although the art style resembles a children’s book, Rainbow Six: SMOL is a full-fledged Rainbow Six game. Just “SMALL”.
One of the main disadvantages of this game is that you don’t take on the role of a well-known Rainbow Six agent. Instead, when you enter a mission (which usually involves about five different tasks that you have to complete without dying before returning to a central location), you can choose an upgrade that might do a little more damage since you can see its footprints enemies, or even get help from another agent like Sledge. Agents offer unique abilities and help you fight. However, these are benefits that are in addition to the other temporary benefits you can collect during a mission to make more demanding tasks more bearable. There are ways to level up and improve agents (of which there are 10 in total to find and unlock), as well as ways to improve the various playable agent classes, complementing the game’s ongoing roguelite elements.
The gameplay is smooth, easy to understand, has a nice pace and is not too difficult, which is ideal for a mobile game. There’s also enough depth to explore gear combination systems and hone your agent, as well as combat a wide variety of enemies and complete various missions across an increasingly complex world map. Rainbow Six: SMOL offers a lot of content despite its small size, so you can enjoy a lot in an accessible way.
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With the name SMOL, you would expect this game to have a more casual theme, and it does. There’s a lot of light-hearted humor to appreciate, and the combination of color palette and art style is very reminiscent of The Wild at Heart, with a bird’s-eye view and 2D main characters that almost look like stuck-on stickers. Thanks to the vivid drawing, the game feels despite more approachable and cute because of his well-known name.
But not everything is rosy. Touch controls can be a bit complicated on older devices small an iPhone 14 Pro, and the game consumes a huge amount of resources that will drain your phone’s battery in a few hours. Additionally, the roguelite features do not allow for rapid progression. You’ll reach a point where every upgrade feels like a chore, and that takes the fun out of it, especially considering that many of the actions themselves are quite repetitive. It doesn’t matter how destructible the world is or how fluid and fast the combat is when the main objectives of the missions are practically always the same. Oh, and controlling the UI and core visualization is a nightmare. There’s so much going on in this game, with explosions and splashes of color everywhere, that it’s a challenge to keep track of the tiny interface elements and all the action happening at the same time. On a larger screen this isn’t as much of a problem, but most mobile gamers will notice some of these glitches relatively quickly.
Despite its flaws, however, I was able to enjoy Rainbow Six: SMOL. To me, this proves that the Rainbow Six brand can offer us more than the typical frenetic multiplayer or squad-based extraction shooters we’ve come to know, and frankly I’m a little disappointed that Ubisoft didn’t decide to do this also to release game for PC or even Nintendo Switch. With more depth, more features and a few tweaks, Rainbow Six: SMOL can be something special. Something MORE FOUNDING.
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