The Division 2 preview: A damn near perfect sequel

Yous'd exist hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't agree that Tom Clancy's The Division is one of the best squad-based shooters of its generation. But it wasn't without flaws, and Ubisoft seems perfectly aware of this. In preparation for the launch of The Division 2, there's a lot of evidence to advise this sequel is focused on taking the best things about the original and improving them. Until this point, the big parts of what Ubisoft has been sharing is the online gameplay. In a recent preview event, Ubisoft gave usa a six-hour wait at the 40+ 60 minutes campaign fastened to this story.

And it's good. It'due south and then damn proficient.

Save the Metropolis

Tom Clancy's The Sectionalisation 2

Save the people, Agents. That'southward the mission.

Washington is under assault, and it's going to take every friendly nugget you lot can muster to reclaim information technology. Get together a team, have on a killer campaign fashion, and have fun in some online PVP while you're at it.

Washington DC is in a lot of trouble

My Division 2 preview starts off in what's basically an active warzone in the US capital. I made my way upwards the White Business firm lawn, facing a barely organized collection of assailants armed with whatever was handy. Some would sit dorsum and shoot, allowing me to effectively dispatch them with precision, while others seemed to adopt rushing me to get a petty more physical. The sheer book of combatants made this a claiming, only it quickly became clear I'm dealing more with an angry militia than an organized forcefulness.

Equally y'all liberate more areas on the map, it becomes clear you're really starting to make a departure and taking dorsum the city.

Washington DC is under siege, and you lot spend the entirety of this game rescuing it from these militarized factions. As someone who comes from the DC surface area, information technology's wild to run across how authentic the streets and buildings are every bit I run by. I've had dinner in several of the buildings that are currently on fire. I've walked down these streets a hundred times, and know exactly where I am at all times. It's exciting, just as well tremendously dangerous. Every street has a new challenge, as active squads of military machine roam around looking for a fight. This map is alive, and I'g always on alert.

Some of these areas are shelters, small communities of civilians who just want to survive. As you fight off the rogue elements, y'all collect resources to help them survive. And the more of this you exercise, the more resources you get equally backup you can telephone call on when you really need some cover fire. These are also civilian fighters but they're on your side and really come up in handy when you need them. And equally yous liberate more areas on the map, it becomes clear y'all're really starting to brand a difference and taking dorsum the city.

And then Ubisoft cranks upwards the difficulty dial, and things become serious. Just more on that afterwards.

A unique, squad-friendly RPG

Unlike many of the "RPG-esque" shooters we've got today, where you selection a course and work through a traditional skill tree, The Sectionalisation 2 is entirely modular. Your weapon and skill loadouts are completely yours to optimize. If yous want a unmarried-shot rifle with a nice scope and a pistol every bit your sidearm, do it and customize that to fit your needs. If y'all'd rather spray and pray while relying on drones and grenades to button your enemies into the line of fire, information technology's easy to practice. And best of all, you tin can save your ready as a loadout so you can switch back and forth depending on who you lot are playing with.

This deviation from the standard brackets of "heavy gunner" and "sniper" is applied in a fashion that I securely appreciate.

Instead of a skill tree, you take a drove of power slots you can unlock. If you want more ammo to play with, unlock those outset and relish the bucket of metallic to throw at the enemy. You tin can also opt to unlock better scopes and more than slots for accessories and gadgets, if that's your jam. This deviation from the standard brackets of "heavy gunner" and "sniper" is practical in a fashion that I deeply appreciate, considering information technology means everyone yous encounter in a PVP fight is at least a little bit of a surprise.

Best of all, every character layout and equipment list is highly visual in the game. When someone has a weapon or gadget, information technology'southward visible on them at all times. This gives scoped weapons a tremendous advantage when it comes to prioritizing targets in an active PVP environment, and will brand a huge difference in the way some people equip themselves every bit assault and fifty-fifty griefers. There's a surprising corporeality of flexibility in this system, which forces players to recollect about how they're equipped in a way that isn't traditional in a lot of PVP combat experiences.

Squad up, accept dorsum the city

In the 2nd half of my preview with The Division ii, Ubisoft gave me a peek at the Endgame materials. This experience is all of the things I loved about this game so far, cranked up to 11. The first mission we experienced took us through the Air and Space Museum, which was under siege. Having been in that museum at least xx times in my life, it was HUGE to know exactly what was in the side by side room. Just more than that, the difficulty jumps up in a actually fun way and makes you really want to play this game with a squad. To be blunt, I oasis't wanted a iv-thespian squad throughout the whole campaign this bad since the first SOCOM game, which is a testament to how well Ubisoft made the way y'all play the game with friends that much more than enjoyable.

This game gives dorsum exactly what you lot put into information technology, often in the most vivid and unexpected ways.

And this game is built to last, which is astonishing. It's clear the multiplayer and expansion feel is going to be great for this game. We already know Ubisoft is planning 3 dissimilar map and mission expansions for The Partitioning ii, only at that place's as well some really interesting things happening with the Dark Zones in this game. In the last game, Nighttime Zones started out as sort of the wild w where your skill level had a serious touch on performance. An update enforced Normalization, making information technology so skill mattered more than just animal force leveling and gameplay. In The Division 2, Night Zones are more often than not Normalized PVP zones, but with a fun twist. On occasion, ane of the iii Dark Zones will ditch normalization and get in so you can go nuts and actually lean into your abilities and earned skills.

And actually, that's the overall takeaway from my Division 2 experience. This game gives back exactly what you lot put into it, often in the virtually brilliant and unexpected ways. Instead of a rigid formula with hard spec tables to follow, this game takes the choice-based philosophy we've seen Ubisoft deploy in a agglomeration of games over the terminal yr and apply information technology in an amazingly effective way. With the beta for this game effectually the corner it's articulate Ubisoft is prepare to testify everyone how much this franchise has grown from the previous version, but for me, that thought isn't actually complete until you sit downwardly and tackle this incredible campaign aslope the ridiculously fun PVP experience. Truly, this game is worth more than the sum of its parts, and I'thousand then excited to see everyone else have fun with it.

Save the City

Tom Clancy'south The Division two

Save the people, Agents. That's the mission.

Washington is under set on, and it'southward going to have every friendly asset you can muster to reclaim it. Assemble a squad, have on a killer campaign mode, and have fun in some online PVP while yous're at it.

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/division-2-preview-damn-near-perfect-sequel

Posted by: thompsonmorpegir.blogspot.com

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