When comparing Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege vs Middle-earth: Shadow of War, the Slant community recommends Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege for most people. In the question“What are the best action games on Xbox One?” Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege is ranked 31st while Middle-earth: Shadow of War is ranked 35th. The most important reason people chose Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege is:
You can choose from 10 characters on each side (total of 20) to find the ones that suit your preference, or to explore new, unfamiliar aspects of the gameplay. As an example, there is Sledge who uses a hammer to break through walls, Flash who can blind the enemy with flash bombs, and Frost who can set up traps to neutralize enemies. Having such a wide variety of classes not only adds depth to the gameplay, but also keeps it interesting for a long time.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Great variety of playable classes
You can choose from 10 characters on each side (total of 20) to find the ones that suit your preference, or to explore new, unfamiliar aspects of the gameplay.
As an example, there is Sledge who uses a hammer to break through walls, Flash who can blind the enemy with flash bombs, and Frost who can set up traps to neutralize enemies.
Having such a wide variety of classes not only adds depth to the gameplay, but also keeps it interesting for a long time.
Pro Excellent slow-paced gameplay
Rainbow Six Siege is unlike most modern FPS games. Instead of a super fast, twitch-based gameplay, it focuses on a very slow, methodical, and tactical approach to combat. You'll carefully navigate a building, peeking around every corner, using gadgets to scout out rooms, rappelling on walls, and listening to every sound around you. It's less about just shooting first and more about finding the enemy while staying hidden yourself, which is a refreshing change in the over saturated competitive FPS genre.
Pro Destructible environments make for a lot of fun
Even though you can't raze buildings to the ground, you can make considerable amounts of structural damage to them. You can destroy walls, floors, and various other objects in the environment using gunfire, explosions, or by just slamming something with your weapon. This is a lot of fun, especially when you're new to this game since everything will seem so amazing.
Pro Rival teams have unique objectives and strategies
Rainbow Six Siege makes players' experience truly unique and engaging by giving both teams different perspective, tools, and objectives. Defenders have to hold their ground against enemy who can burst through walls at any moment. They can fortify the base using barricades and barbed wire, reinforcing doors and windows. The Attackers have to strategize, find the weakest spot in opponent's defence.
Pro Character connections make for a compelling experience
Shadow of War uses the Nemesis system to create a more immersive and alive-feeling world. Thanks to it, orc leaders have names, ranks, titles, tribes they belong to, and most importantly, connections to other orc leaders.
For example, an orc leader might be at war with another orc leader. This conflict won't end until one of them dies. There are also orcs that are considered blood brothers, having unwavering loyalty to each other. Because of this, don't be too surprised if you ever get betrayed by one of your followers that's trying to do right by his blood brother.
Additionally, the leaders you fight will also develop connections with you. Orcs that you've killed or spared, may come back with scars, recalling your previous encounter and vowing to exact vengeance. Orcs that you've escaped from will mock you for being a chicken, and so forth. The gradual creation of this web of connections is very enjoyable and sometimes even more compelling than the game's main story.
Pro Addictive gear collection fuels your thirst for orc blood
As you kill orc leaders, they'll drop random quality gear items, ranging from common rarity every-orc weapons/armor to legendary rarity artifacts with unique names. Each item serves to improve your character, providing various stat increases and damage bonuses. You can also upgrade gear with gems or via challenges that usually involve killing orcs, bolstering your strength even further. On top of that, there are set bonuses for legendary items, giving you special abilities such as your hits applying explosive poison on regular enemies. It's very exciting seeing what gear piece an orc leader will drop once you lob his head off, causing you to constantly seek out new victims.
Pro Satisfying combat
Shadow of War gives one of the better feeling combat systems in recent times, allowing you to be either stealthy or go for direct confrontations.
If you choose to be stealthy, you can skewer unsuspecting orcs from behind with your dagger, drop onto them from a building while impaling them with your sword, or just pierce them from afar with your bow.
If you choose a direct confrontation, it's a really quick-paced and brutal showdown against your enemies with your chosen melee weapon. You weave combos against enemies, dodging, parrying, and countering enemy attacks, which ends in a devastating finishing move, resulting in a mutilated or decapitated orc.
Whichever method you choose, the combat flows really well and you always feel like a force to be reckoned with.
Pro You can lead an orc army and expand your own dominion
As part of the Nemesis system, you can recruit orc leaders after you've bested them in combat. Each one has his own unique strengths and weaknesses, so making the best possible army for conquering enemy territories might take a while.
For example, an orc leader can be completely immune to ranged attacks, but can take increased damage from explosions. You should take such an orc leader on assaults against fortresses filled with archers but be wary of the slightest hints of any bombs.
Once you've finished building a sizeable force, you can assault a fortresses. If you succeed in the assault, you'll take over a territory, allowing you to install your own orc leader as the ruler. With enough effort you'll gradually take over Mordor and its surrounding lands.
Shadow of War makes you feel like a recruiter, general, and a ruler, which is very empowering and a lot of fun.
Cons
Con Ranked play can be discouraging
Not only does Rainbow Six Siege have a very steep learning curve, requiring you to learn map layouts, classes, weapons, and various gadgets, it also has a pretty volatile and demanding community. Even though you can play in ranked matches when you reach level 20, you'll probably get your butt kicked and get promptly flamed by your teammates. This is mostly because of the expectation that you should know everything about the game before you play ranked matches, which is only around the level 60 mark. If you happen to make the mistake of trying them before then, it might leave you with a bad memory that prevents you from wanting to try ranked play again.
Con Lacks single-player content
Rainbow Six Siege is mostly about competitive multiplayer, so it doesn't have a single player campaign, any meaningful storylines, or stuff do alone. If you don't enjoy playing versus other players, Rainbow Six Siege is not the game for you.
Con Can get repetitive
The overall gameplay formula doesn't change much over the course of the game. You fight orcs, take over strongholds, upgrade your character, and collect blips on the world map. After a while it can start feeling like a grind, especially during long play sessions. This is made worse in the final stretch of the game where you have to fight through 20 consecutive stronghold battles without any story segments or exposition.
Con Unskippable cutscenes disrupt the flow of the gameplay
Every time an orc leader enters the screen, there is an unskippable cutscene where he rambles a bit, focusing the camera on him and halting combat until the cutscene ends. This usually happens as you're fighting another enemy, potentially disrupting your rhythm, which can be really frustrating, especially if mess up your combo or take an unnecessary hit after the cutscene.