Excellently rendered street furniture.
QUEST LOG #4: TOM CLANCY'S THE DIVISION 2
I have always enjoyed the Tom Clancy games, Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, and Rainbow Six. I’ve not played every title, but a good deal, and every time has been a good time. There are some exceptions, but overall, its always at least decent. Splinter Cell: Conviction, Rainbow Six: New Vegas 2, and Ghost Recon: Advance Warfighter have all been particularly enjoyable for me on PC and have been a great for my inclination to try and use just a pistol when playing these kinds of games, and I still revisit them to this day. So, seeing that the Division 2 was free to play for a few days on Steam, I thought I’d check out a branch of the Tom Clancy tree that I hadn’t picked fruit from before. Terrible analogy, seeing as Mr Clancy has been dead for a decade, but his works inspired the games which bear his name, although I don’t think he had anything directly to do with their production, at least since Red Storm was acquired by Ubisoft in 2008.
Anyway, the Division 2. I have never played the first iteration, and I had no plans on trying the second. I recall from various press events or from E3 the impressive visuals of the games, but I had always written them off. Always-online games are rather irritating at the best of times, and I had always assumed that the multiplayer aspects of the games were rather more central. Now I’ll apologise for making assess out of the both of us here, as it seems I was wrong about that. I also assumed the games would be too graphically intensive for my system, and perhaps that was true when the first released 2016. Regardless, I decided to try it for the free weekend and as my computer got to work downloading and installing the game, I went off to accompany my wife, who is currently getting the joyful experience of watching 24 for the first time. Perhaps it was seeing Jack angrily roaming about with a pistol again which ignited my interest in the Clancy games once more…? Either way, skip forward an hour or two, and I booted up the game. Upon starting you are almost immediately given the opportunity to design your character, and every gamer knows how much of a time sink these options can be. Customisation is always welcome however, and I was quite surprised at the number of options available. They aren’t endless, or as ridiculous as the likes of Saints Row, but they are decent enough. I just made a generic bloke myself, as I was acutely aware of the expiration date on the free weekend. If you care for further customisation, more can be unlocked during gameplay (hats, trousers, sunglasses, boots, and other such items of clothing), but most of these just look a bit silly, or crap, so after finding something that looked vaguely ok, I just left my character as he was. There is a shop too, within which you can buy credits for in game items, but if you waste your money there, that’s up to you - as far as I can see, it’s all just cosmetics anyway, so not the worst example of an in-game shop. I suppose it goes to keeping the game online, but there is more than enough stuff to keep you going without purchasing anything else, and the actual items you need to use in the game look better than the cosmetic only stuff.
After you’ve made your character, you’ll be dumped into the game for a brief bit of action. This served as a tutorial of sorts but ends so quickly that you’ll feel rather jarred. A cutscene starts moments later, followed by the introduction to the game. I’m still not sure exactly what the story is about, but it seems there was some green poison or something, a boring old global pandemic, government in tatters and now the world is fucked up. To be honest, at the time of writing this bit I’m 14 hours in, and I’ve not taken on bit of notice on what the story is. A good story is really important to me in some games, but here, it just feel like set dressing, and I feel as though it says more about the fun gameplay than any negative on the story itself. After the aforementioned cutscenes, you’ll be let loose into the world, and its here that I took in my surroundings properly, there being no time previously, and as I panned the camera about, I was rather astounded by how beautiful the game looks. Sure, I’ve seen other impressive virtual worlds, GTA 5, the Witcher 3, RDR2, Hitman: WoA… Maybe it was my lack of expectations, but the level of detail, and the lighting. OH, THE LIGHTING!
Maybe my photographic background makes me appreciate it so much, but bloody hell, it’s gorgeous. As I wandered about in the starting zone my mind filled with possible projects within my ‘[VR]ography’ series, and I thought to myself that it would be fantastic if the game incorporated a photo mode. Turns out it does, and my character quickly became a documentarian of dystopia as well as a violent killing machine. The photo mode has all the features you’d expect, but unfortunately, it’s a little restrictive. You can only move the camera a certain distance from your character, and as the game is un-pauseable, you’re just as likely to get ambushed while setting up a shot as you are at getting a good composition. Worth the risk though, I reckon. I’ve never been to Washington myself, but if I never get the chance, this’ll do. Quite a messy version, lots of bin bags and abandoned vehicles about, but the recreation feels very authentic, even if I can’t compare it to the real place. It doesn’t feel like a game world, it feels like a virtual representation of a real place.
I mentioned that I had previously been put off the game for its online only feature, and this aspect of the game immediately began to grate on me. Most of my friends don’t have a PC to game on, and as such, I was never going to play this for its multiplayer. PvE is where its at for me, unless the game has cross play with PlayStation or Xbox. This game has neither, opting for Stadia instead… fucking useless. Anyway, it turns out that the game caters very well for the solo player, so that’s ok. Unfortunately, after just getting going in the game, I had to leave my computer for a little bit, and as the game is always online, and that there is no pausing, even when no other player is involved, you’re very likely to be killed while you’re not there to defend yourself. Very inconvenient, especially as you only ever see other players in the world when at settlements or safehouses (unless you’re doing PvP). Had to restart after coming back, and luckily there was a checkpoint, so I suppose no harm was done and I later became adept at finding good places to hide while away from the keyboard. So, coming back, I begin experimenting with the world, shooting everything to see how interactive my surroundings were. Quite is the answer! Bullets impact everything visually, and most of the loose inanimate objects in the world can be moved by shooting them, which is quite impressive considering the size of the space and the number of objects. Most of the wildlife can be gunned down too, although early on I thought rats impervious to harm. Turns out a few creatures are baked in with looped animations. If they aren’t though, it’s huntin’ season! Not that you get anything from killing the eagles, deer, dogs, and whatever other wildlife you run into.
On the subject of shooting, we come to the point of this game, which is firing an array of weapons at humans who disagree with you. The enemies are reasonably varied in their abilities. Some will rush at you with a bin-lid shield, others will toss grenades or Molotov cocktails, some will shoot from afar or snipe, and a few will be armoured up like a tank and will slowly approach, firing heavy weapons. The artificial intelligence for the enemies is decent enough too, they’ll flank you, charge, make use of the aforementioned explosives or ranged attacks, and take cover when needed. You’ll be making use of cover too, as almost everything can be hidden behind. There is little in the way of stealth however, you can sneak up to a group of enemies, but killing one alerts them all. In fighting said enemies, you’ll find that the gunplay is excellent, and thank goodness, as you’ll be shooting almost all the time. Weapons feel weighty, sound accurate (or at least sound how I imagine they should), and there is a very good variety. Bullet drop off and recoil are also a factor, and all of this adds to the realism. This is rather often undone however, as the enemies you face off against equal your skill level (assuming you continue to push out into the world). The problem is the same in all for these kinds of games, such as in Borderlands, and it seems that in a looter-shooter, bullet sponge-itis is inherent. This can be mitigated a little however, as whenever you find a particularly good gun, you’ll be able to enjoy one hit kills if you line up a decent headshot, if only for a little while.
To make use of these weapons, you have three slots for guns, the first two can accommodate anything from submachine guns, shotguns, assault rifles, light machine guns, and sniper rifles, and your third slot is for pistols. More slots would be good, but you can eventually create loadouts, which allow you to switch all your weapons and equipment at once. Useful-ish, but there is no button to switch, and you must go into your inventory to utilise this. Renders the whole thing a bit useless, and it can’t be done during combat. You can manually switch weapons while fighting, but this isn’t recommended unless you need to, as, like I said, there is no pausing. Even if you’re in an instanced location, you’ll have to be very wary when managing your inventory. As well as your guns, you’ll be equipping yourself with backpacks, gloves, masks, holsters, kneepads, and vests. All of which, along with weapons will drop from fallen enemies, or be found within boxes in the world (or from loot crates, awarded when levelling up). The loot level system is much the same as other looter-shooters, with different colours indicating rarity or quality, and its very easy to compare your equipped items with what you find, and the game makes it easy to equip, deconstruct (for crafting supplies), or to mark for sale any item you have. As I just mentioned there, you can dismantle items for supplies, and you’ll also find said supplies in the world in the same way you find everything else. These can be used to create mods for your guns, or to create items like weapons and clothing from scratch. There is a blueprint system for this, and the modding system is rather impressive, similar to that of the Call of Duty games where you can add attachments to certain parts of your weapons, depending on the number of slots. As well as your weapons, you’ll have access to additional skills, these being in the form of gadgets such as mines, scanners, attack drones, deployable turrets, shields, and a variety of other gizmos. I have yet to try them all, but from my experience, the drone and turret make for the best options when playing solo. These can be upgraded too, and just like your damage or ability to survive, their effectiveness can be determined by your skills, which can in turn be influenced by the equipment you use. All in all, the game goes a long way to give you many options in terms of your gameplay, and it makes the whole experience more rewarding and enjoyable.
The world itself, as beautiful and detailed as it is, is intertwined with the gameplay rather well, and has many similarities to the Fallout franchise. The setting is the same as that of Fallout 3, and as you explore Washington DC, you’ll find that the surviving citizens are making lives for themselves in ramshackle settlements across the map. If that doesn’t say Fallout 4, I don’t know what does! No Preston Garvey here though, thank the lord! Although after reaching the White House, the cinematic that plays shows a small figurine that looks a little bit like him. I think it’s supposed to represent you, but that smooth talking Minuteman was all I could think of. These settlements will be core to the gameplay and helping them establish their foothold will constitute much of your gameplay, as well as doing side missions, liberating control points, aiding settlers on the streets, rescuing hostages, and looting various structures, either for weapons, resources, blueprints, or story elements. There are main missions too, which drive the story, but as I mentioned earlier, the story sort of takes a back seat here, and it being loose in this respect is rather good, as so far, I’ve been playing for the enjoyable mechanics, rather than the lore.
In doing the various missions in the game, you’ll be exploring the map – and quite the map it is. As open worlds go, you don’t get many quite so densely detailed as this. You can enter many of the structures, and there are multiple paths around much of the city. You can move through carparks, shoot locks to open doors, run down alleyways, ascend and descend ropes, and climb roofs. During certain missions you’ll enter structures properly, and these can vary from laboratories, prisons, libraries, metro stations, and shops. All of these are designed just as well as the city itself, featuring an obscene level of detail and thoughtfulness. The interior levels loop on themselves too, meaning there is little to no backtracking required. In exploring you’ll find collectables (this is Ubisoft after all), and these come in the form of audio logs and echoes. The latter being a little like the crime scene investigation feature in Arkham games, although not interactive. They aren’t overwhelming in abundance either, and there is no pressure to collect them - if you find them, good, if not, no worries.
So, I made good use of the free weekend, and good for Ubisoft, they tricked me into buying their game in the end. I decided, as I was already enjoying the game, to purchase the everything included pack, which was a modest £10.04 at the time, down from £66.99, which I wouldn’t have paid. Pretty good really, as this includes DLC that I’ve yet to even touch. My pound per hour ratio is already positive. I can’t speak for the multiplayer aspects of the game, which is unfortunate, but for someone who doesn’t care for that part of it, I am happy to say the game caters very well for the solo player. I can’t speak for the late game content either, or the aforementioned DLC, but if they are as good as the rest of the game, I’ll be happy enough. For me, the game isn’t life changing or anything, but it’s a great one to play while listening to a podcast or just to mindlessly play if I have a free hour or so. The mechanics are solid, introduced gradually, has a good learning curve, is deep enough not to be cast aside instantly, but not overly complex as to put off a casual player. An additional plus for the game is the user interface – it’s fantastic (at least on PC), and this is especially apparent after having played CoD:MW2, which has a pretty terrible UI in the menu. The developers included the ability to right click things in the inventory, and another mark in its favour is that few things require the same button presses, meaning that if you’re using a keyboard, you’ll be using more keys than just E the whole time. Aside from the technical goodness, the game offers a variety of things to do, but it doesn’t require all your brain power to accomplish them. You need games like that sometimes. Pop on for a bit every now and then and enjoy the world. For all the effort that went into creating it, it’s worth buying (on sale), even just to explore and to appreciate the effort of the level designers and the artists involved. Hats off to them… and not just because the cosmetic hats look silly - unlike traffic cones, bags of rubbish, and ruined vehicles, all of which look incredible.
It’s a week or so later now, and I’m past level 20. I am happy to say that the game is still pulling me back in. I’m not binging it, but I am revisiting often, and its always enjoyable. The main gripe I have is that the game seems to crash randomly every now and then. No rhyme or reason apparently, but it’s quite annoying. Hasn’t impacted my gameplay too much, but I can image it being far more irritating if I were mid-way through an epic PvP fight. Something to be aware of it you do pick it up… I’m still not sure if I’d ever have paid full price for the game, especially considering the fact that the multiplayer side of it is something I am unlikely to ever even touch, let alone get value from, but on sale, I’d say pick this one up. Hopefully it’ll fill some time until they decide to make a proper single player Rainbow Six game again, or another Splinter Cell title.
There we go, an expensive game got cheap. Always worth waiting for a good deal if you can. Have you played the Division 2? What did you think? I’m looking forward to eventually getting to explore New York in the DLC, but I think I’m a little way off that still.
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