Impressive effort with a few noticeable problems holding it back. They’ve also “invaded” several missions, although I’ve yet to get a chance to run through these. Offizielle Webseite. During my travels, there were more "last-second saves" than I could count and a hell of a lot of harrowing moments during some killer firefights. Not a patch on the last year of The Division 1, awful exotics, terrible PvP, DZ split into 3 and are worse than The Division 1 DZ, when I reached the end game and realised what it was about I would of had a refund if I could of. There are also an enormity of fun and fruitful Easter egg hunts that I can see taking up the majority of my time in between now and the first update. I was shocked when all of the other places where I would expect these better-than-average rewards to come from, including daily and weekly projects as well as challenge-difficulty strongholds, missions, and high-value bounties only gave me more of the same 450 gear level items I could obtain from much easier sources. For a certain type of player, i.e. Instead, I’m talking about the moments of quality that mark this out as a series contender for the best loot and shoot blaster on the market, despite a series of niggling flaws. There were a handful of times when encounters felt a little spongy, but this was usually a result of attempting content I wasn’t quite ready for in terms of gear score, which is the primary measurement that The Division 2 uses to determine your power after level 30. Map awareness. I found myself frequently asking myself why, and what sort of authority you had. As a result of these factors, combat remained demanding and fun, if a little predictable, throughout my 60 hours with The Division 2. The result is that The Division 2’s once broad and replayable content is arbitrarily cut into two halves – one that advances your gear score, and one that does not. That was a mistake The Division 1 made and, while it's infrequent here, that it's even present at all can be disheartening and eat into the precious hours players will need to simply reach the endgame. A repeat of the first one, this game is basically fascist propaganda that forces the player to murder their fellow citizens. Yet, my concerns regarding the stale narrative were never alleviated. Although there really isn't a moment where The Division 2 drags per se, as I started to work my way up through the ranks and come to grips with its various intricacies, it made it easier to keep playing. It’s easy to find high-end items in World Tier 4 through simplistic means like looting chests, killing enemies, and completing normal-difficulty activities and missions. It’s easy to wince at the idea of an intentionally spongy foe in The Division 2, but these tanky brutes move at a snail's pace and always added a welcome bit of variety. Later, they'll be fun and important. Even so, for a shared-world shooter so early in its lifecycle those problems aren’t too discouraging, and in terms of content, The Division 2 is one of strongest launches the genre has seen yet. To be clear, my issue with The Division 2’s endgame is not that it is too short or lacking in content, but rather that it fails to effectively direct you to the best and most replayable content that’s already there with worthwhile rewards. There are a host of other improvements that make this game a must buy for looter/shooter/RPG fans. Precision and teamwork. You’ll encounter moments of beauty as you stomp through the overgrown Washington D.C., or moments so well designed you almost forget you’re in an online multiplayer RPG. This is the real endgame, and it’s where things start to fall apart for The Division 2’s intuitive and well-communicated progression loop. For example, the turret may seem straightforward, but it can either be equipped with any of the following: a traditional 360-degree spinning machine gun; an incendiary tank that it fires in a cone for area-of-effect damage; an explosive artillery launcher; or a long-range semi-automatic sniper. This sort of behavior makes the Dark Zones (a mix of PVP and PVE) even more interesting, to the point where I actually bothered to do some regularly. network you spend a lot of the game trying to get online to keep fans of Tom Clancy’s particular brand of technological military fetishism happy, but if you stop too think too hard about any of it, it falls apart. Thank you for signing up to GamesRadar+. The Division 2's campaign is full of great gunplay, loot, and missions. Things in The Division 2 seem to pick up right where the original post-pandemic story left off in terms of both plotline and cover-based shooting, but it quickly becomes clear that many aspects of the gameplay have improved in meaningful ways. The politics of blasting through low-rate thugs and looters was all over the place, but at least it made sense. It might look like London’s Belowzero Ice Bar, but the dress code’s a LOT stricter. Release date: March It's the details that matter, and Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment have done a wonderful job of prioritizing them. Whether you're playing in a squad or solo, rest assured: I was hooked from the first mission. Tom Clancy's The Division 2 is a great game. It's a shame, because the NPCs are alive and wander the streets in a way that it's easy to find them worth protecting. Luckily, if any one player steps too far out of line, a DZ-wide manhunt will start, calling active agents from across the map to bring the bad guys to lead-based justice. These feel a lot like some sort of well-equipped mercenary outfit, and as soon as you finish the main storyline these guys appear a lot. There are three in the game at launch: demolitionist, sharpshooter and survivalist. Its wonderful recreation of Washington, D.C. is a pleasure to explore thanks to a generous amount of chests, collectibles, and dynamic open-world activities. A repeat of the first one, this game is basically fascist propaganda that forces the player to murder their fellow citizens. Receive mail from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors? It all comes together to provide a space that makes it okay to stop and smell the roses, I never regretted indulging my inner explorer. So with all that risk, you’d expect a big reward, right? But you often won’t begrudge the time you’ve spent. At no point did I feel obligated to spend additional money since there are plenty of cosmetics that can be found in the world, including some of the best, like masks and backpack trophies. Jake has held senior positions at Pocket Gamer, Esports Pro and MCV, with bylines at PCGN, …, Easy matchmaking (and level up assistance for your friends), Weaponry feels distinct, even within the same classes, Armour modding system has some ridiculous requirements, Lock to cover sometimes gets you hit in the face by melee bad guys. Massive. LMGs, assault rifles, and sniper rifles all perform as you’d expect them to, but shotguns especially felt weak by comparison even after tweaking my build. Preparation. BA1 1UA. The Division 2 is very much like the first game of the franchise. The government has largely collapsed, law and order has eroded. We never, ever accept money to review a product. It's such a genius idea: the western equivalent of a "I was the real Final Fantasy boss pulling the strings the entire time" kind of move. There is one promotional emote you can only get for buying $14.99 of premium currency, otherwise you’ll be unlocking a single store exclusive item for about every six hours of gameplay by my calculation. Its great gunplay, worthwhile loot, and beautiful world brimming with reasons to explore it kept me engrossed for the vast majority of my 60 hours of playtime. Ubisoft made so many big and minor changes that make this game a joy to play. Please refresh the page and try again. I am not saying everyone should feel the same way. The only risk-reward dynamic that’s intact in the Dark Zone at endgame is experience gain and loss, but even that loses its potency eventually. However, the way you lock to cover means that actually evading their attacks is quite fiddly, and it can be incredibly frustrating to be beat down as you flail between cover desperately. It's that it doesn't hold your hand or simply stack you up against bullet sponges. One of the most memorable early moments can be found in running up to a sniper, who will immediately panic and scramble to run away. It’s the little moments that really make The Division 2 pop for me. Mixed or average reviews- based on 402 Ratings, A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote. Make contact, and enemies bleed numbers, letting you know quite how much damage you’ve done. We encourage you to read our updated PRIVACY POLICY and COOKIE POLICY. I also spend my time working my SEO magic to try and coax the Google Juice to flow in our favour. He joined the team in 2018 and has been reporting on games pretty well every day since - except on weekends, where he's typically playing them instead.