Tom Clancy's The Division 2 of Ubisoft is the latest shared world shooter game which is a sequel to the 2016's magnificent title “The Division”. The first title was based across a snowy and post-pandemic New York city, but the TD2 takes place in a warmer Washington DC. The game is set months after the first game ends. The title is available for the PS4, Xbox One, and Windows and has massive improvements.
Players get into the shoes of an agent of the titular Division. The group is trying to bring normalcy to America after the outbreak of a virus called Green Poison. Apart from the effects of Green Poison, the game witnesses the clash of numerous factions who are attempting to seize control of Washington DC. The groups include the Hyenas, Outcasts, True Sons, and Black Tusk.
Visuals
TD2 certainly has brilliant graphics and scenery. The character designing is not that impressive, but blends well with the story and campaigns. Overall, TD2 is a visual feast for eyes with impressive environmental details.
Gameplay
You can spend 30+ hours to explore the gigantic world. Also, transferring to your primary objectives won't be a problem. The less explored roads are paved with crafting materials, item chests, faction keys, or hidden bosses. You will encounter different factions and will be drawn to firefights and explosions as these factions clash. You will also have to eliminate numerous enemies because this is how you'll get good loot materials. These factions look and behave differently from each other.
The game gets intense when the heavy units rush towards you, and you have to damage the armor one piece at a time. The sniper units are sometimes tough to spot and take down as they stay in cover. All the enemies peak from their cover from time to time. They may throw grenades, freeze you a location or even stun you.
The Division 2 emphasises a lot on tactical gameplay. If you run in hot with guns blazing, you might not survive every battle. Players like you have to leverage cover to your advantage. You can easily avoid incoming fire by using TD2’s intuitive control scheme.
Most of the times, you will often find yourself in the middle of fights, surviving incoming enemy waves while completing mission objectives and exploration. If you set the game at high difficulty levels, the AI can be very hard to defeat at times because the enemy gets more creative. This is due to their abilities and gadgets. But even you will have a unique set of skills to take down difficult enemies. You can select from eight main skills to attack or counter enemies. Each skill will have multiple subsets and mod slots for enhancing the damage or healing effects.
The same goes for the weapons and armor pieces, with each one having perks, mod slots, and bonuses based on the manufacturer. The weapon mods may counteract each other’s stats which can be a bit problematic when you have multiple weapon attachments. The TD2’s gunplay is entertaining and pretty well designed. The guns have different recoil rates and have different types of impact. Within a few moments you will get familiar to the cover mechanism and taking down enemies will become easier.
The loot boxes at the Dark Zones brought back from the first game have amazing gears. Once you complete the campaign, you get access to three specializations with unique perk trees and weapon system which are: Survivalist, Demolitionist and the Sharpshooter.
Innovation
The Division was an excellent third-person shooter, but The Division 2 has improved even more. The gadgets and drones in The Division 2 make it much more interesting. You can spend a lot of time tinkering with these so that you can take down enemies in different ways.
The NPC seem to be more advanced than the first title making the gameplay more realistic and challenging. The enemies actively seek out ways to attack from every angle.
The game is well paced in terms of its main story, outposts liberations or even exploration of some iconic places of Washington DC. You will feel more engrossed in the game with time, and every progressing step keeps you wanting for more. The map is extremely detailed, and a lot of effort has gone into it by the developers. TD2 has an immersive and realistic world, which will keep you occupied for a long time.
The PC version of TD2 has lots of options to tweak and customize the graphics. You can control the density of vegetation, sharpening the image quality, and tweak the particle density. You can adjust every aspect of the game quality, resolution, and even set a custom FPS limit from 30 to 200.
Sounds
The sound effects and background scores are similar to most shooter games. The friendly chatter is apt and sometimes has a mix of humor too. The music gets intense with action and firefight, but it is not very distinctive like other AAA titles.
Replay Value
The beta version of the game was laden with many bugs and technical issues but the final version is immensely entertaining and engaging. The Division 2 will take many hours for exploration and completion of the campaign with much feeling of repetition. The gameplay is spectacular, and the top-notch graphics will keep you hooked for days.
The sequel has overcome all the shortcomings of the first game and made it thoroughly enjoyable for a long haul. Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 is a great online game wherein you can explore the world with your pals or even solo.
Verdict
The formidable game content, mesmerizing graphics and comprehensive weapon system makes Tom Clancy's The Division 2 fun to play. Ubisoft has done fabulous work and brought many upgrades from the last game.
