Random Article


 
Event News
 

REVIEW: Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 + Warlords of New York Expansion — Enhanced Tactical Quarantine Action

 
 
Overview
 

Published by: Ubisoft
 
Developed by: Massive Entertainment
 
Platform(s): Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One Stadia
 
Genre(s): Action role-playing Third person shooter
 
Mode(s): Multiplayer
 
Game Type: , , , , ,
 
FG RATING
94%
94/ 100


User Rating
no ratings yet

 

Raves


Interesting narrative, Riddled with activities, Solid cover shooting mechanics.

Rants


Poor KB+M mapping, Convoluted UI


0
Posted April 6, 2020 by

Tom Clancy's The Division 2 Screenshot 2020.03.29 - 19.39.27.80-min

Before we get in to the review: The device I played this on is a gaming laptop with the ff core specifications:

  • Windows 10 Home
  • Intel i7-8750H
  • 16gb RAM
  • NVIDIA GTX 1060

Note that I did not play The Division. I am unable to compare this sequel from the first game and all my observations are based on my experiences from this game alone.

Tom Clancy's The Division 2 Screenshot 2020.03.04 - 00.23.38.18-min

Washington DC

 

 

The story brings you to Washington DC, years after the government has collapsed. Only a small portion of the population has survived and everything is in chaos. In your first steps into the open world map, you are welcomed with greenery and stray wildlife. Then this short moment of peace is broken when the prompts remind you that you have to fight your way to your objective. The story immediately picks up. You will be asked to save some people then eventually, you embark on missions that will save the country. On each accomplishment within the main story line, a new conflict is always presented. The game will only allow you a few minutes of peace before it snaps you back into reality and remind you that it is not over. It’s effective, as it made me want to progress in the story faster. Only hindered a few times by the lack of equipment or skills. All in all, the story drives you to progress. Storytelling is aided by the echoes and recordings that you pick up along the way. After multiple back and forths with interesting (sometimes suspicious) characters in the game, your heroic efforts pay off. Only before the game throws everything back into chaos, and you’re in the frontlines once more.

Story: 9/10

Tom Clancy's The Division 2 Screenshot 2020.03.07 - 17.10.20.49-min

Open World Environment

 

Like mentioned earlier, there are portions in the game, where everything looks peaceful- and you only get that feeling when you’re immersed in the experience. The graphics on this game is top notch. The lighting effects, the wildlife running around, the people just passing by trying to survive. Paired with proper music and timing as the scenes build up within missions. Into the gunfights where you actually feel that you are actually dealing damage with every explosion and swish of bullets flying past you. The BGM reaches its climax as you complete a mission, you hear that victory tune with the announcement from your intercom and then, Silence. Dead silence that is somehow a consolation after the chaos. You look around and admire the wonderfully reconstructed albeit destroyed structures of Washington DC.

Audio and Graphics: 10/10

Tom Clancy's The Division 2 Screenshot 2020.03.07 - 01.21.41.83-min

The game. Take cover and shoot.

Okay, compelling storytelling and good graphics/audio aside, let’s move to the actual gameplay. It’s an open world, third person shooter with one very obvious mechanic. You take cover behind conveniently placed objects, wait for your chance, then start shooting. It’s the modern take on the old arcade shooters. This may sound like a tired, oversimplified mechanic. But it works for this game. The enemy AIs may feel like they all share a common, almost dumb pattern of moving about and attacking you in the beginning. But when you start to progress, you learn that this is not the case. Enemies will start flanking you. Some will throw grenades out of nowhere. Suddenly there are snipers aiming for your head. Then remote controlled suicide bombers, then AI drones. Positioning is key, and these covers play a big role. Some of the enemies will try to suppress you by firing at the cover where they last saw you. You take advantage of this, you reposition yourself. Now the cover becomes an important part of your strategy.

Tom Clancy's The Division 2 Screenshot 2020.03.06 - 21.15.02.16-min

The game progresses as your character progresses. Important RPG elements were incorporated in this game, mainly: Equipments, Skills, and Perks, and Specialties. These elements interact with each other as you decide on your builds. Equipment can be farmed or looted, sometimes bought. They come with different attributes and would have different rarities. Rarer ones would have special buffs on them called talents. Equipment can be modded. But to be able to unlock mods, you have to complete objectives or clear some areas in the open world. Active skills in this game are your tech. You unlock new tech as you level up. These Skills that will aid you on your encounters. Each Skill will have different variations depending on your playstyle. Some can support you and your teammates, while others can add to your firepower. Skills are also affected by your equipment’s Skill point attribute. the higher the accumulated skill points you have on your loadout, the more effective your Skills are. Perks are your passives, they have different effects to your character like extra inventory space or chance for better loot. Specialties are your character’s class/job/category. When you reach the late game, you are allowed to choose your specialty. For each specialty, you are given a unique weapon. Your chosen specialty can either enhance or complement your playstyle.

Tom Clancy's The Division 2 Screenshot 2020.03.01 - 15.17.35.64-min

 

In PVE, there are the main missions and the side missions. Both are very engaging and are key to gaining levels quickly. You can play these missions solo, or request for matchmaking. You will also find some settlements and control points. This is interesting since your interactions with these landmarks would impact your encounters in the open world. As you gain more control points and help build settlements, you see more allies on the streets. These allies would start roaming and would sometimes provide support during fights. Additionally, more allies on the streets makes the open world feel more alive, lived in. For PVP, they have Conflict. It’s a 4v4 game mode with normalized stats to keep the competition balanced. 3 different objectives are played in Conflict: Skirmish, Domination, and Team Elimination. I won’t be able to rate them properly since most of my games were in Skirmish, everybody’s favorite mode. There are also PVE/PVP areas called Dark Zones. Apparently, these is where players go to farm rare loot. You can enter it solo or in a group to obtain “contaminated” items. These are the rare items that you need to extract from the Dark Zone by killing mobs. You can also get loot that other players obtained, by killing them and going Rogue.

Overall Gameplay: 8/10

Tom Clancy's The Division 2 Screenshot 2020.03.15 - 22.11.32.29-min

Warlords of New York

As the Dark Zone taught us, even the best agents go Rogue. Like the greedy players you encounter on DZ, Keener and his crew has also gone rogue in this expansion. This time, you are sent on a Manhunt for Keener’s men.
The expansion has the same elements from the base game. Only with a smaller map and a very compact mission line. The enemies are tougher, the boss battles are a bit more gimmicky. But more importantly, you can farm very good loot in this map, and also get new tech as reward for capturing a rogue agent.

Getting revenge from rogue NPCs since i got owned by rogues at Dark Zones: 10/10

Tom Clancy's The Division 2 Screenshot 2020.02.29 - 15.51.22.24-min

Verdict

The game gives you the complete open world experience up to the latest expansion. Getting immersed in the game was inevitable after you shot your first shot, which is saying a lot for a game that is mostly cover and shoot. Now, stepping back from the whole adventure, I want to bring up 2 things that I would want to see improved in coming versions.

The cover controls. For the PC, you have to hit the spacebar to get in and out of cover. This sometimes gets clumsy, as double tapping the spacebar also makes your character roll. During difficult situations when you are being bombarded with gunfire and grenades, you instinctively double tap on the space bar to try to roll out of the spot. Time it wrong and you just get back to your cover, or if you are sandwiched in a corner or 2 covers, you just move to that nearby cover and eat a grenade. There are also some objects that you would think are spots for cover but are actually not. Like the front of some vehicles, or a thick enough tree, you come near it but the cover action is not available.
Orange UI is Orange. Menus in this game go with the technologically advanced unit theme of the Division. It is orange, which is fine, but it feels a bit messy. The menu tabs on the top are fine, the key guides at the bottom are okay, but the body of the menu itself looks like a jigsaw puzzle of rectangles. There are times when I try to look for something in the menu and I can’t find it.

Overall, outside of the 2 rather nitpicky complaints about the game, the whole experience is satisfying. I can say that players who reached the late game will definitely spend tons of hours in this game since customization is vast. There’s just a lot to explore in the character builds alone.

[This review is based on a retail copy provided by the publisher. This review was written by Jeoffrey Abad, a contributor from the FlipGeeks family!]


Flipgeeks Contributors

 


0 Comments



Be the first to comment!


Leave a Response

(required)