Area F2, which is releasing today, is mobile game that may look a little familiar to Rainbow Six Siege players.
The game pretty much looks and functions like a mobile Siege remake — toting itself as the “first CQB FPS on mobile”. In true mobile game fashion, it has daily login bonuses and different events which can unlock player rewards. Players will be receiving 14 agents at the April 30 global launch.
The operators – err…agents
Speaking of agents, many bear resemblance to operators in Siege. Agents such as Hawkeye, Hammer and Boulder are nearly carbon copies of Glaz, Sledge and Montagne respectively. The main changes between the characters are their names and looks, as many of these characters are pretty different in terms of appearance — except for Flash.
To be fair though, there are a few unique agents thrown in there. The most notable is Spider – a defender who can “detect enemy agents over a short distance”. While that bears similarity to Pulse, the main difference lies in the “set and forget” nature of Spider’s devices. Rather than Pulse’s active heartbeat sensor, Spider is able to stick the sensor to a wall and go about her business.
And I’ll be honest, some of the agents in Area F2 have abilities that seem slightly cooler than what we have in Siege. I’m mostly referring to Black Hole, who has a magnetic system designed to grab and destroy incoming ordinance. Basically, he’s dressed like Jager and his gadget is a mixture of Jager and Wamai – thus proving that we don’t need two operators doing the SAME THING.
The game has a world chat function as well as an in-game voice chat system which I found interesting. There are breaching systems and decent enough controls, but unfortunately no discernible controller support.
I should mention that developers Qooka Games have made it a point to separate emulator users from regular mobile players. They’ve also already implemented an essential anti-cheat system. I say “essential”, because while researching, one of the more popular links was an aimbot for the game.
It’s not perfect, but it has potential
There are some oddities to be found in Area F2. Like how they refer to the drones as “UAVs” even though they aren’t unmanned, nor are they aerial vehicles. The maps seem to be nearly identical to those found in Siege, but the deploy system is actually decently refreshing — and reminiscent of the one we saw in the Siege gameplay reveal back in 2014. I’m also a fan of the barricading animations, which are pretty nice for a mobile game as well.
Honestly, the game does seem like a fun experience for those missing Siege while on the go.
All in all, it’s a satisfactory experience
Rainbow Six Siege clone or not, Area F2 is a decent enough game to stand on its own. It already has a bustling player base and ranked scene. The Siege-like gameplay is a big draw if you’re a fan of sweating and screaming on the bus.
Or if you’re still anxiously waiting for Rainbow Six Quarantine to come out.
