Three and Out – ‘The Division 2’

The Division 2 is a breath of fresh air for a genre that has one foot in the grave. After the lackluster endgame of The Division and the disastrous launch of Anthem, I went into The Division 2 with the expectation that history would repeat itself. But from the immense feedback of the community, Ubisoft delivered a product that isn’t seen very often in the market any longer: a complete game at launch. The Division 2 takes place seven months after the Green Poison outbreak decimated New York. Washington D.C., is on the brink of collapse and war has erupted in the city. It is up to the Division to restore our government and prevent another catastrophic outbreak. The story itself is rather easy to follow, and it maintains a consistent quality throughout the game, except it didn’t leave the impact that I thought it would. There is practically no emotional connection to any of the characters that you meet. And during the cutscenes with these people, your character stands in silence with absolutely no contribution to the situation, essentially giving that feeling you are simply just a tool to bring order to a now chaotic world. Even still, there is story to be found in the streets of our nation’s capital. Spending my time exploring the lush, overgrown state of Washington D.C. was absolutely delightful. I found collectibles in the form of discarded smartphones and surveillance footage. Through this data, I was able to experience the moments before and during the initial outbreak. Many did their best to aid those in need, yet some thrived in the chaos: killing, stealing, and plotting for control of our government. Seeing this backstory provided me with the satisfaction that is missing from the main storyline, once again proving that sometimes it is okay to stop and smell the roses.

Despite having an unfulfilling narrative, The Division 2 stands leagues ahead of its competition with phenomenal objectives and an overwhelming amount of endgame content. Objectives can be broken down into two categories: missions and activities. The mission design is one of the strongest features in The Division 2. Rather than exploring some nondescript building, each level has its own brilliant design that makes it unique to the rest of the game. One moment we are in a gunfight at a Mars exhibit in the Air & Space Museum, the next we are channeling our inner Nicolas Cage as we steal back the Declaration of Independence. At no point did I ever feel like I was just marking something off a list. Accompanying the missions is a plethora of activities dotted across the map of D.C. Control points are one of my favorite activities. Serving as enemy bases of operation, you light a flare outside and begin liberating the control point with friendly NPCs. These activities provide fun, tactical combat scenarios that never feel repetitive.

Everything changes once you reach level 30 and complete the main storyline. The endgame is a key factor in the success of this genre, so much so that it is often the selling point for most players. Fortunately for us, The Division 2is filled to the brim with its endgame content. The first noticeable change is the introduction of world tiers. You automatically start out in world tier 1 and progression through these tiers is achieved by increasing your gear score and finishing the four main strongholds. For each tier increase, the loot drastically improves and enemies get stronger. The game is currently up to world tier 5 and gear score is capped around 500. Nevertheless, I expect it to increase with future updates. The most impressive change comes with the invasion of the Black Tusk. The Black Tusk operate as a highly coordinated private military contractor that swarms Washington D.C. By sheer size and power; every individual activity, mission, and stronghold is recaptured. However, it isn’t a simple reskin. Everything is redesigned from the ground up to provide new level design, an expanded story, and real-time activities that are always changing under different enemy control. This is just the tip of the iceberg for The Division 2. With an eight player raid just released and more scheduled content throughout the rest of 2019, I have complete faith that The Division 2 will reign supreme as the best looter shooter on the market.

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