Much to my chagrin, Rainbow Six Siege IGN Best of Show-winning E3 2014 reveal. So to say I was excited to see it again after a nine-month wait is an understatement. And after getting to spend several hours with the upcoming closed alpha build on PC, my enthusiasm for the tense, tactical, trash-everything first-person shooter has not diminished. But I have a few concerns as well.

3 THINGS WE LOVE

The Operators

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The ‘Plane’ Map is Fantastic

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Possibly the Most Intense Multiplayer Game Around

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Something new for Rainbow Six Siege is the Operator class system. Each player chooses a role with a (mostly) fixed loadout and a special ability. Siege will ship with 20 of them, but the closed alpha only includes 10 . Though I only got a round or two with each one in an effort to sample them all, my early favorite is Sledge, a shotgun-wielding, sledgehammer-toting SAS badass who can bust through destructible doors, walls, and windows like the Kool-Aid Man. What I like about the Operator system is how it limits the number of breach charges and grenades in each match, making them valuable power weapons. Further adding to the randomness and chess-like element of every match, each Operator has an analog on the other team whose ability directly counters yours.When I first heard I was about to play a map called ‘Plane’, I immediately pictured skydiving onto a passenger jet mid-flight, and then being able to shoot holes in the walls to create vacuum pockets that enemies could get sucked out of. Alas, Siege’s plane is grounded and stationary, but it’s nevertheless a thrilling, tight level set aboard a three-story, Air Force One-like jet. It harkens back to classic Rainbow Six, its extreme close quarters complemented by the opposing team blowing holes in the floors below or ceilings above you. I expect this map to be very, very popular – and for good reason.Multiplayer shooters continue to thrive and diversify, offering everything from twitch-action old-school arenas like the reborn Unreal Tournament to asymmetrical hunt-fests like Evolve. But no matter what your preference, I’m not sure there’s another online shooter as intense as Rainbow Six Siege. Health bars are tiny, rounds are short, quarters are close, margins for error are slim, and the added element of verticality – through the harrowing dangers of floor and ceiling breaches – only adds to the joyous stress. A well-coordinated team can practically go all Batman on the other squad, setting off breach charges in multiple places simultaneously in order to terrify the opposition out of their cozy hiding spot and into a more vulnerable area. Siege is a rush in the very best of ways.

3 THINGS THAT CONCERN US

The Hostage Is Basically a Non-Factor

Where’d the Graphics Go?

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Communication Is a Problem

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Attackers in Siege mode (the only mode we’ve seen thus far) attempt to extract the hostage, who is basically a human flag. However, in the dozens of individual rounds I played, the attackers got their hands on the hostage just a few times, and only successfully extracted him a couple of those. The overwhelming majority of rounds ended with one team or the other completely wiped out. It’s a shame, because in the moments that one of the teams did escort the hostage, the ensuing escape was extremely tense and thrilling for both sides. I hope the final game finds a way to surface this gameplay more often.Yes, this is an alpha. Heck, even some visibly unfinished textures are literally labeled “alpha.” And yes, gameplay is king – something Siege has in spades. But after the game wowed us during its E3 2014 debut, it’s hard not to notice how different it looks nine months later. Lighting, character detail, and smoke effects are all noticeably reduced from what we played last June – and even in a vacuum where the E3 demo had never existed, Rainbow Six Siege is not (currently) a particularly attractive next-gen game. Here’s hoping a few of those lost E3 layers of visual splendor are restored before it goes gold.I spent the bulk of my day at Ubisoft Montreal losing to fellow game media members. And though I’m certainly not the most skilled thumbstick twiddler, I’m far from the worst. Instead, I attribute much of our lack of success – and my frustration – to our team’s failure to constantly communicate. While our opponents were laudably chatty, two-fifths of our team barely said a word the entire time. Sure, playing with a group of friends is always preferred to being paired up with randoms, but I’m hoping something can be done within the game’s design framework to address this. Fortunately, Siege game designer Andrew Witts promised exactly that, telling me, “We have some designs and features in motion to address those. The best way to play the closed alpha is with the headset, but that will not be the [only] case when we launch.”So, what are you hoping to see from Rainbow Six Siege? Will you be signing up for the closed alpha? The good news is, seven years and several cancelled projects since the last Rainbow Six game released, the series’ long-awaited return is finally imminent.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews and Xbox Guru-in-Chief. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan , catch him on Podcast Unlocked , and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.