Both Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon series have been around for a long time, and as such, have built up reputations and followings for themselves. Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon's older sibling by three years, has seventeen installments in the series while Ghost Recon boasts a slightly more modest fifteen total games. Both series feature top-secret organizations comprising operatives at the very top of their classes, squad-based gameplay, and first-person shooter gameplay that follows a cohesive storyline. They are similar in so many ways, but as for which series is ultimately better? Read the list below and decide for yourself.
10 Rainbow Six: DLC
If there's anything that prolongs a game's longevity for years after its release, it's fresh content. This is something the Rainbow Six series does very well. The latest installment in the series, Rainbow Six: Siege is bolstered by new weapons, operators, and maps four times per year, every year. Even when a new season doesn't necessarily denote a new map, an old map gets a rework. Players can always count on bug fixes and balancing tweaks with each new season, and fresh content keeps the gameplay itself from growing stale over time.
9 Ghost Recon: The (Co-Op) Campaign
If there's anything big the latest installment in the Rainbow Six series lacks, it's a campaign. Ghost Recon: Wildlands has Siege beat in this category by about a mile, because not only does Wildlands have a great campaign: it's a co-op campaign. Wildlands doesn't betray the fun of multiplayer gameplay for the sake of a good campaign; it simply integrates the two for a more social approach to FPS campaigns. If you're somebody who enjoys a good storyline behind their gameplay rather than just PVP gameplay that can grow repetitive after a few hours, but don't really wanna be a loner, Wildlands is a good choice.
8 Rainbow Six: Cosmetics
Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon both boast their fair share of impressive cosmetics for weapons and operators alike, but in Ghost Recon: Breakpoint's case, getting the cosmetics isn't as easy as it should be. Unlike in Rainbow Six: Siege, which gives players the chance to roll for loot in Alpha Packs at the end of every match their team wins, as well as the opportunity to buy Alpha Packs with in-game currency, Breakpoint makes it harder. In order to outfit weapons in Breakpoint, prepare to shell out real money for packs with cosmetics in them.
7 Ghost Recon: Graphics
The latest installments in the Ghost Recon series know a thing or two about breathtaking graphic design. This is thanks in part to the development of new, higher-tech consoles and the reality of 4K games on the Xbox One and PS4. But just a few minutes in the Ghost Recon: Wildlands world makes it quite clear: the map design and graphics are certainly something worth raving about. Big, beautiful maps like the one in Wildlands are reminiscent of stunning open-world games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Far Cry 5, which fans have praised for artistic design.
6 Rainbow Six: Close Quarter Maps
There is definitely a difference between gameplay in Rainbow Six games and the latest installments of Ghost Recon games. In Siege, players are stuck on relatively small maps with either four teammates and five belligerents or four teammates and a seemingly endless supply of AI terrorists. This makes for close engagements with the enemy and a lot of sneaking around. This kind of gameplay is great for those who like fast-paced, high-stakes gameplay realistic to the circumstances of a real siege and who don't like using longer-range scopes on their weapons.
5 Ghost Recon: Larger Maps
However, if you're a gamer who likes the satisfaction of landing those sweet sniper shots through the head, the Ghost Recon series is better for you. Since you play on larger maps with more distance between you and the enemy, long-range engagements are a must. Large maps also mean more room to roam and less structure around actual gameplay. Playing on the same playlist of small maps over and over again can get stale after a while, and larger maps remedy this by keeping gameplay exciting and new. Breakpoint features a diverse map with different climates and terrain meant to be Bolivia.
4 Rainbow Six: Teamwork
Again, this depends on what kind of gameplay you personally enjoy, but if one game series currently focuses more on teamwork over the other, it's Rainbow Six. The whole point of Siege is to work with teammates to beat the enemy team, complete the objective, or battle waves of AI terrorists. The game is set up in a way that even one teammate that doesn't do their job sets their team at a huge disadvantage against the enemy team—and on the flipside, cohesive teamwork makes for some great plays. Ubisoft encourages the use of voice chat and suggests using a full squad to rank up in Ranked PVP matches.
3 Ghost Recon: Solo Playing
Of course, sometimes it's nice not to have to worry about irate teammates screaming down your headset or just having yourself to count on for success in a video game. You can play both Ghost Recon: Wildlands and Ghost Recon: Breakpoint on solo mode without ever being forced into a co-op experience you don't want. The downside may be that some parts of the campaigns are more difficult to do on your own, but this still doesn't mean you have to play co-op with someone else. In a gaming landscape where multiplayer seems to dominate, it can be nice to get back to the basics of story-based solo play.
2 Rainbow Six: Diversity
Rainbow Six has always prided itself on being diverse, given the series revolves around a top-secret antiterrorism unit that employs operatives from all over the world rather than just the United States, the way Ghost Recon games do. This becomes especially apparent in Rainbow Six: Siege, when players can finally choose from a variety of operators from twenty-two different SDUs originating in eighteen different countries. There are currently 19 female operators out of 50 total, and up until recently, the leader of Rainbow Six itself was a woman. How's all that for diverse?
1 Ghost Recon: The Enemy
The villains in the Rainbow Six story have always been terrorist organizations. Some of then are large, some small; the most recent is faceless and consists of men from multiple countries. In general, while the Rainbow Six enemies pose a threat, they are never as well-trained or deadly as Ghost Recon enemies tend to be. In fact, in Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, the biggest, baddest villain is an ex-Ghost named Cole D. Walker who leads a squad of soldiers he calls Wolves. This traitorous act and sense of danger brings an extra layer of intensity to gameplay that Rainbow Six games just don't seem to possess.