THE DIVISION 2 FEELS LIKE A GREAT GAME THAT’S
YET TO SHOW ME WHY I SHOULD CARE
There’s a lot to like in The Division 2 but we’ve yet to see what the game really has to offer.Leon Hurley
The Division 2
WITHINSECONDSOFPLAYING
THEDIVISION2 ATDEVELOPER
MASSIVE’SSTUDIOSALLTHEOLD
HABITSCOMEFLOODINGBACK:WE
DOJUMPINGJACKSINTHESTAGING
AREA.OURRECENTLYACTIVATED,
HIGHLY-TRAINED,WORLD-SAVING
SLEEPERAGENTSPASSTHETIME
WITHEMOTESLIKETHEMACARENA
ANDSLOWHANDCLAPS,ASTECHY
PEOPLEFIDDLEWITHSERVERSTUFF
TOGETTHINGSSTARTED.ATONE
POINTSOMEONESEESA DOGIN-GAME
ANDWESCRAMBLEDESPERATELY
OVERABANDONEDCARSANDPLANT
COVEREDWALLSTOCONFIRM
THAT,YES,IT’SDEFINITELYA DOG.
TECHNICALLYWE’REMEANTTOBE
RESTORINGORDERTOANEPIDEMIC
RAVAGEDWASHINGTONDCBUT,YOU
KNOW,DOG.
This,alongwiththedirectPvP
multiplayerI’llgettolater,waslargely
greatfun(althoughyoucan’tactuallypet
thedog)becausemessingaboutwith
otherpeoplein a videogameis nearly
alwaysgreatfun.However,therestof
it – themaincityexploringandonline
fourplayerco-oppartofthegame– is
hardertocallrightnow.Notbecause
there’s anything obviously wrong withit – thegunplayandcovermechanicsfeel
greatforexample– but,rather,it wasjust
presentedin a slightlyempty and hard to
getexcitedabout way.GUNGAME
It’smainlybecausea largepartofwhatI
playedinvolvedexploringtheDarkZone:
theseries’highloot/highriskPvEvP
area.It’sa lawlessareawhereyoufight
bothin-gameenemiesandotherplayers
tostealthebestgear,andthenfightto
secureanextractionzonetoescape.
It’sa placewhereyoucango‘rogue’by
killingotheragents/playersand,in The
Division1 atleast,is a terrifyinglyfraught
highstakesexperienceasyougamblethe
riskandrewardofcollectinggoodgear,
againstlosingit allin a shootoutwitha
rivalgroupasa helicopterlowersover
youboth.
MytimeforTheDivision2 largely
focusedonbeingdroppedcoldintothe
DarkZonewithnorealsetup,orreason.
Therewasnocontext,objective,story
oreven,mostimportantly,risk,because
obviouslyI’mfightingtoextractdemo
lootI’llneverseeagain.It’shardtoreally
geta ‘feel’fortheoverallexperiencethis
way.Mechanically,it is allverystrong,
with satisfying shootouts full of chunkycovermechanicsandgreatgadgets
(settinga hoveringattackdroneonone
enemyasyoudealwithanothernever
getsold).Buttheodddecisiontolet
usexperiencethegamebyjustsortof
wanderingabouta bit,triggeringmobs,
lackedpurpose- onceyou’vefought 20
verybulletproofmenin hoodiespouring
outofa doorfornoreason,you’vesortof
foughtthemall.Inthiscasewithoutany
overallpurposeordirectionit allfelta bit
likeanextendedbotmode.
FromthehoursI played,allthelifein
thegamecamefromthepeopleI played
with- shoutingoutthreats,rallyingon
a difficulttokillboss,gettinga downed
playerbackupandallthoselittlehuman
interactions.Thatis a goodsignforthe
Division’sonlineworld,butI wasplaying
withpeopleI knewwhowerein the
roomwithme.That’sa muchdifferent
feedbackloopcomparedtothethree
onlinematchmakingrandosI’mlikelyto
getwhenI playin therealworld.I would
havereallylikedtohaveexperienced
someactualmissionsandtexturebeyond
‘killalltheenemiesin a givenarea’toget
a readonthelargergame.It wasanodd,
unexplainedchoicetoshowtoshowthe
gameoffin a waythatactuallyrevealed
so little. It going to be fun in single