Siege Operation Steel Wave event
As the lockdown has many people working from home or being creative in the workplace, there still is the issue of doing events. Ubisoft has been trying a few different options when it comes to showing us their newest season, from in-house to the latest ‘play from home’ session. Last week we had our first event over on Discord with members of the press to look at what news Operation Steel Wave would bring us.
We had a short presentation talking about the two new operators: Ace and Melusi. Ace is a two-speed operator and has a special breaching device that can penetrate through hard and soft walls. His S.E.L.M.A. device makes three holes that create a new line of sight which will make a new entry point and can destroy wall-mounted gadgets. Melusi is a speedy three-speed defender that will slow down entries thanks to her Banshee device. Jokingly named the Dubstep Device by the players in our session it feels like standing in the front of an EDM festival. Her Banshee will slow down operators, while emitting a loud sound to let you know that someone is in its range. Next to her Banshee, some defenders will also have a proximity alarm. It works a bit like the Banshee but is short in range, yet ideal for door or small hallways.
During our sessions, we did a 5v5 setup where, thanks to good coordination, each person could have a go with the new operators. The main thing that immediately got clear is that Ace his gadget outruns the defenders’ traps such as Bandit or Kaid their electro gadgets. This makes countering his S.E.L.M.A. quite a job and you might be better off to counter peek the enemies their advances. Same goes for Melusi, when placed right, her Banshee can block off or seriously slow down enemies. As this thing is bulletproof, you must either blow it up or get close to break it. The range of this gadget is pretty long and can go through walls if there are holes, ideally placed somewhere upstairs to cover the complete set of stairs.
The reworked map is House, with some indestructible doors and the construction is finally finished. Many things are changed from the classic gameplay, yet it still feels familiar. Amaru has been buffed, as her older version was not that ideal. Her animations are now streamlined and you get early control before going through the window. She also gets some added stealth, as windows will only breach when she kicks through them. Echo receives an elite skin that makes him a Ninja.
Conclusion
Too bad that we only had a short run with these new operators and the new map, as there was a lot of fun to be had with the two new operators showing what they got. Ace is a very viable attacker that will be ideally combined with a Thermite/ Thatcher setup for even better breaching, while Melusi is a great combo with other defenders to slow down and drive others into a trap (why not place a frost trap in front of a Banshee?). The house rework might be good for some, but others will miss how simple the map was before, yet this one we did get used to much quicker than other reworked maps (looking at you Theme Park).
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