As attackers, that 30 seconds is used whizzing a team of remote controlled cars around, a recon race as you search for the objective and the enemy. As defenders, you're given a window of preparation - 30 seconds with which to board up the windows, to barricade the walls and to lay down whatever manner of traps you've come equipped with. At its core, Rainbow Six Siege is a game of two halves, with teams taking it in turns playing in defence and attack. When it works - with a team of four friends co-ordinating attacks, or whimpering instructions when you're holed up in defence and can hear the foot-steps of a well-tuned squad slowly encroaching - it can be exquisite, a perfect mix of tension and comedy, of horror and high jinks. What's most impressive, though, is how Ubisoft Montreal has managed to take the loop of the originals - considered preparation, followed by execution enabled by a suite of exotic toys, in short - and distil it into a punchy multiplayer shooter. Ubisoft Montreal's multiplayer-focused reboot of a series that's lain dormant for seven years takes plenty of inspiration from all that's happened since 2008's Rainbow Six Vegas sequel - there are traces of Call of Duty in its twitchy shooting, a little League of Legends in its roster of distinguishable characters and a fair amount of Counter-Strike in its breathless pace. I've not won too many matches in Rainbow Six Siege, but I've had an amazing time losing a load of them. Out comes the pin, in arcs the grenade that then rolls straight past the enemy, slowly coming to a stop by the bound feet of the hostage who I'm fairly sure fixes me with one final, familiar look: a mix of fury and disappointment, the same my partner fixes me with when I've accidentally used her toothbrush again. A lucky shot through a flimsy wooden wall a fumbled melee encounter that improbably goes my way - with 20 seconds on the clock it's one versus one, and the winning kill is a grenade toss away.
Padding the corridors with the four other players offering advice as they watch via remote cameras placed around the map, the odds are slowly whittled back in our favour and the three-minute round stretches out into what feels like hours. It makes the divide between the two sides even greater, and makes one half even less appealing. On console, Terrorist Hunt and Situations run at 30fps, while the multiplayer runs at 60fps. One pop of searing white light later they're both blinded: another couple of pops of gunfire and they're both bleeding out on the floor.
Meanwhile, on the perimeter, the other team places a breach and prepares a flashbang that comes bouncing off the freshly exposed door-frame and rolls slowly to their feet. Too late: two quick headshots later and it's three versus five. The pair on the roof are having too much fun rappelling down the side of the building on rope, and a small argument breaks out as they try to figure out who's going through the window first. Availability: Also available on PS4 and Xbox One.
My task, quite simply, is to put the fear into our enemy, rattling my sabre and banging bullets through the windows of the little fort they've built for themselves, making them squirm as they swarm around the hostage being guarded in the middle of the room. There are two team-mates on the roof and another two moving up the stairs, each pair slowly infringing upon the dusty confines of a cult's countryside complex. We're two rounds apiece and heading into the tie-breaker in Rainbow Six Siege's banner multiplayer mode, and every move of our five-man squad has been sketched out meticulously. Making plans is fun, but seeing them unfurl at your feet can be even more thrilling. Rainbow Six is revived as an exciting multiplayer experience that's occasionally compromised by its eSports ambitions.