despite being fun siege is somehow also one of the worst games ive played.
- TTK is abhorrently low, combines with every headshot being a one shot kill, siege is a lottery.
- spawn peeking is FAR too powerful
-- granted, its rare, and maps have gotten reworks specifically to prevent this, with 2 exceptions. HOWEVER.
- no SBMM. i even prefer cod despite how broken its matchmaking system is solely because it TRIES to have fair matchups, ive gotten nothing but unbalanced stomps in siege outside of arcade and vs ai.
-- from what ive seen in the r6 discord, this is by no means a "just me"/playlist issue and is present even in ranked.
- bit of a nitpicky gripe but they pulled a bungie and removed article 5.
- very beginner unfriendly.
-- ex the reputation system, if im getting told by the reputation system that im griefing despite playing my absolute best, that is going to absolutely kill off any will to continue playing. source: it happened to me. by this point i already remembered the long list of reasons i stopped playing siege so i was debating stopping then and there but also i would like to finish this seasons battle pass and get the beginner challenges done so despite my hatred for this game, i am trudging through.
-- also ex, the aforementioned lack of sbmm. ah yes lets throw beginners DIRECTLY into the deep end. granted training exists but its barebones, although vs ai is getting very promising updates to make it better, and might end up being my main mode for if/when im forced to play this game by friends.
-- also also ex, the operator screen is a mess, a beginner or even a player who only now returned after a few years is going to see all the operators in the game and go "what the [redacted] do half of these guys do?"
- its a ubisoft game. the team behind siege is dedicated, and havent shown signs of typical ubisoft'ery, but its a ubisoft game nontheless so i expect ubisoft'ery.
- i get siege is meant to be "THE" de-facto competitive game but i feel like siege leans far too hard into e-sports, and practically gives itself scoliosis from how hard it leans into competitive, serious gameplay. this creates a interesting 50/50 cointoss within the community, whereas you have a part of the community that are the worst people you will have the displeasure of meeting, and are very sore winners at that, and also you have people who are so helpful that they're the only reason you get a beginner/any challenge done. secondarily it also creates a paradox of the casual mode being anything but.
- what the [redacted] did they do to this game since year 2 oh my god

with the negatives out of the way i shall now list off what i consider to be positives.
- while the recoil is annoying and nigh unmanagable unless you have a flash hider, it makes the guns EXTREMELY satisfying once you nail each ones mechanics
- sieges devs are constantly playing a game of keeping the tables balanced, and they keep succeeding, each new op has its clear advantages, and weaknesses. Deimos' deathmark for example synergizes great with lion or jjackal, but can be countered by the usual suspects (mute, vigil, and anything that disables gadgets in a radius.), or just by shooting the guy since you get a intermittent ping of Deimos' location.
- my prior complaints of spawnpeeks are actively being resolved, with ubisoft having done spawn peek nerfing map reworks in the past, and newer maps barely having any means of spawn peeking
- the priorly mentioned half of the community that is helpful is very much so, pop into the r6 discord when you get a chance, they can tell you about the more nuanced stuff this game has to offer that i had 0 time to get into.

in conclusion: if you value casual gameplay over competitive gameplay as i do, you likely wont like this game! if you are a up and coming competitive player with the mindset to succeed and the will to do so however, then this is the game for you, the tipping point lies entirely with "do you think casual or competitive gameplay is more important?".
and its with that tipping point that i say, while i will continue playing this to get some value out of my several years ago purchase, i cannot personally recommend this to anyone that asks from the sheer perspective of valuing casual fun over competitive gameplay. this review will change as time passes, especially if ubisoft makes changes that pull me back into this.