Rainbow Six: Patriots announced - guess who the terrorists are?

The terrorism comes home in Ton Clancy's Rainbow Six: Patriots, as the venerable franchise gets a new chapter in 2013.

Back in my highly nerdy past I ran a Star Wars pen and paper roleplaying campaign. It was full of the usual shenanigans - blaster battles, epic space fights, and dime-store mysticism - but for a touch of realism I also introduced a faction calling themselves the Real Rebellion.

These were a bunch of very hardcore, very militant guys who were more or less inspired by the Real IRA, and where meant to explore the idea that even the best of intentions - taken to extremes - were no good for anyone. We thought it was kind of cleveree, and, it seems, that kind of thinking has inspired Ubisoft's next Rainbow Six game.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Patriots will be out on all platforms in 2013. Rumours started to surface a few days ago, but now it's official, with canned quotes and everything. But what's really interesting is that the badguys are homegrown this time. Players will face the True Patriots, a revolutionary group aiming to take down a corrupt US government; man, it's nice to see an OpFor that isn't Arabic or Russian for a change! And speaking of canned quotes...

“Terrorism has evolved, and so has Rainbow 6. In Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Patriots, all the team play, tactics, and realism that fans of the series love have been coupled with an exciting new narrative direction,” said David Sears, creative director at Ubisoft, in this morning's release. “This adds an unprecedented level of humanity that will make Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Patriots an extremely tense and immersive experience.”

The game will involve all the usual counter-terrorism actin, with a healthy does of co-op and multiplayer action thrown in. Along the way players will be forced to make some tough decisions, too, so we might be able to hope for some kind of non-linear storyline, too - that would be a lovely change from the usual mission-after-mission approach that most shooters take.

We've long been a fan of the Rainbox Six series, so it'll be good to get up to speed with the team again, and find out just how much more awesome Ding Chavez has become. For more info on the game scope out the official site.