Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 is gearing up for its second beta as a follow-up to last weekends Private Beta, fans of the series will be able to get their hands on the upcoming game through its open beta weekend. Continue reading
Tom Clancy’s The Division
The Division 2 pre-orders now available, launch editions announced
Since its announcement at E3, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 has become one of the most anticipated titles of 2019 thanks to Ubisoft’s dedication at providing a true successor to their loot-focused shooter franchise.
The Division 2 gets its first gameplay and release date announced
Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 has officially been announced by Ubisoft during the Microsoft E3 showcase. Ubisoft has also revealed the release date for the upcoming game, set for March 2019. Find out more starting now.
Opinion: Destiny 2 can Learn from Tom Clancy’s The Division
At their core, both Destiny 2 and Tom Clancy’s The Division are hardcore shooters underneath the RPG and MMO elements. Both games are always online titles where players can group up in order to face down AI-controller enemies in cooperative play. Toss in the RPG bit where players are leveling up their characters and grinding for loot and you have the MMO-hybrids fans have come to know and play.
Tom Clancy’s The Division Kicks off it’s Two Year Anniversary Today
Today, Ubisoft has begun celebrating their release of the ambitious third-person shooter MMO hybrid title Tom Clancy’s The Division. Since its release, the game has hit its 20 million players worldwide milestone. Since the game’s launch, millions of players on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One have stormed the streets of New York City during a global pandemic known as “The Dollar Bill Flu” also known as “Green Poison” in order to bring order to the chaos that ensues.
The Division’s “Undergound” Expansion is Now Available for PC and Xbox One
The wait is finally over. You’ve seent he dangers that lurk deep below the streets of New York. You’ve seen the enemy threat that is preparing to take over the subways, the tunnels, and now sewers. Here Agents will find themselves trekking through each randomly generated dungeon together as they explore their way through these tunnels in order to stop the new and powerful enemy threat. With this threat? Comes new loot and the Hell’s Kitchen Incursion named “Dragon’s Nest”. This new incursion seeks to offer up the most threat for players as the new and most difficult one as enemies will show off their largest as well as single-most deadly threat yet.
Additionally, there’s a little surprise in there for those of you without the season pass or having purchased the content separately for $14.99. So lets take a peak at the official notes.
Additional Free Content Also Coming with Update 1.3
Additional Expansion I: Underground Feature
– New Gear Sets
• B.L.I.N.D. – Control the battlefield with an improved Pulse skill and flashbangs with this hybrid gear set.
• DeadEYE – Dictate long-range engagements with powerful critical strikes or accurate headshots.
• FireCrest – Set enemies ablaze with this offensive gear set.
• Reclaimer – Boost the entire group with this ultimate support set.
In addition, starting today Update 1.3 will add new free content for all players on Xbox One and Windows PC, and will be available on July 5 for the PlayStation®4 system.
Update 1.3
• Find and equip 9 new weapon types.
• Experience Hudson Refugee Camp and Queens Tunnel in Challenge mode for better rewards.
• Play the new Heroic difficulty to unlock top-tier rewards in incursions and select missions.
• Get the all new Alpha Bridge gear set.
• Discover the Terminal, a new shared social space inside the Base of Operations.
Is it enough to make you wander the streets of New York a bit more starting now? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
About the Writer:
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.
Ubisoft Announces The Division DLC 1: Underground
The Dark Winter crisis is in full swing, with it the storms are getting worse, and the chaos is about come crawling from the underbelly of New York City. In this new world as dangers rise, players will dive into the underworld of New York in order to stop this new threat. In doing so, players will find new loot, new weapons, gear, and more as they scavenge through subways, tunnels, and sewers that teem with deadly enemies at every stop. With this content drop, there will also be free content for players without the season pass that will include more challenge mode missions, a new level of difficulty for main missions and incursions with the “Hero Difficulty”.
The new Underground Mode will be claustrophobic, it will be fierce, and it will push players to their limits as they fight on through every enemy force. The new mode will feature randomly generated subways, mazes, tunnels, and the aforementioned sewers while players hunt down the previously mentioned new gear. With the new challenge modes and difficulties, players will fight like they never have when entering into the new mode, “Dragon’s Nest”. This is the biggest incursion to release to date, which will feature the cleaners as they prepare their ultimate weapon in order to cleanse the streets of New York despite survivor’s being around. This new mission will take place in Hell’s Kitchen, and the necessity of them being stopped is more important than ever. The incursion will be included with Underground.
The new free Heroic Mode will allow players to take on both Falcon’s Lost and Clear Sky in the hardest challenge to date. Those of you who have Underground will also get to experience Dragon’s Nest in this difficulty. The new Challenge Mode missions and items will be available as well when players experience Hudson Yard and Queen’s tunnel in the new challenge mode, these will feature better rewards than before. The new DLC and free content update will be available starting June 28th, 2016 for PC and Xbox One while launching on August 2nd, 2016 for PlayStation 4. Stay tuned for our hands-on impressions of the content.
About the Writer:
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.
Review: Tom Clancy’s The Division – Dividing Players from Each Other
Pros:
+Well developed story and world that are truly believable
+Manhattan areas can be visited in real life if players took a map of the game
+Itemization plays a key role for players looking to play
+Customization options for clothing are intense
Cons:
-Streets of Manhattan at times feel rather empty
-Dark Zone can at times feel a bit overwhelming
Editor’s Note: Due to the game being an always online title, we’ve decided that the review will be considered in-progress until we are comfortable enough to state this is a finalized review. This means with added content and fixes, we may or may not change this review. If it is updated, we will have an “Updated” section that will compare both new and old content or bugs or what have you in the long run of things. Thanks for your understanding. As this review is in progress, it’ll be edited in the near future to add in true-end game and post-Challenge mission thoughts in the very near future.
When we think of New York, we think of a city that is strong, that can stand back up after taking a rather large blow to the chin before standing back up straight and spitting a few drops of blood out. In turn the city has been famous for returning back to its normal habits shortly after. The city is known for its tragic events such as 9/11, Hurricane Sandy, Kew Gardens Train Crash, and who knows what else to come in the long run of things. However, what would happen to New York if a virus that was altered by man had ravaged through their city streets during the peak of holiday shopping? On Black Friday, for the story sake, this designer virus has been set free on contaminated money. With the virus having been created for its highly infectious rates, but also it’s severity once the infected host is hit by it.
Much like any Tom Clancy story, The Division follows a rather familiar path for any who have played franchises such as Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell, and or Rainbow Six. In this title a secret agency has been created just for such an event where both local law enforcement and even the military have fallen. In turn The Division agents would be activated in order to help maintain peace, but to also bring forth the chance to give the world its former glory once more. This goal rings true for much of the game as fans have already taken off across the virus ridden streets where enemies such as Rioters, the Cleaners, and even the Riker’s have taken to the street in order to claim territory and survive the outbreak the best they can. Your goal? To rebuild the city, to rebuild the city your characters knew and loved. To stop a virus that has gone out of control and once more help the city stand for what it did before the weaponized super virus had been unleashed upon the world.
As our game gets underway the narrative opens strong. The virus is introduced to us, Black Friday is given as it is, and eventually the danger of the virus is stated. Shortly after we are introduced to The Division agents who can be your friend, your partner, your husband, your wife, your son, your daughter, your co-worker, or even quite literally your best friend. Once activated, the agents were trained to drop everything and head off to do their task. Their goal is unique, but at the same time quite simple as we are introduced to each of the members over time as well as the idea that the first line of agents are gone and now the second wave are going in. This is where your character comes in and plays a rather pivotal role in the restoration of Manhattan.
Much like any game recently, the story isn’t the best. Unless you find hidden cellphones, situation files, echo’s and even survival guides, your story is convoluted and troubled. Enemies will have a poor backstory meaning their history will play almost no role to you and will be rather dull. They’ll seem weak and underdeveloped, which is a problem with the game from time to time, but eventually it’ll flesh itself out. However, our first goal in New York wasn’t to discover all the collectibles as I had before the game was over, but instead did so as the game progressed, which even made establishing a home base as our first task take a rather seemingly long time. Once established there are a few things that become a drastic requirement: find a doctor to setup a medical wing, find a technician for the technician’s wing, and even find a man for the tech wing in order to get the ball rolling on restoring the city.
In this base of operations, players are able to do several things. Purchase equipment via in-game credits, sort through their stash to obtain Dark Zone equipment that has been decontaminated from the virus, and even craft items as wanted. Though that is not all that can be done in this base later in. As players progress through the game each wing can be upgraded through gathering supplies from encounters. As these wings are upgraded, new abilities and modifications for abilities begin to unlock. This includes talents and perks that will allow players to become more powerful with time in order to approach end-game content where the will truly challenge themselves through both the Dark Zone and Challenging Difficulty for missions. These new attachments also open up vendors where players can spend their Dark Zone credits and even a weapons vendor for advanced weaponry. Note that these weapons are not cheap and will require a pretty penny if you are one that’s low on credits. Farming will then become your best friend in order to buy any of his exotic gear.
While I could continue on about both progression and the base itself, the game is much larger than that, and because of that there is much more to focus on, which can lead to some issues with the length of the review, but hopefully you’ll hang on.
A Large City, a Play Void of Life, and an Empty Place to Visit
We all know that trekking through Manhattan is not an easy task by now. We’ve all possibly ventured through the cities streets in search for resources, combat, and helping take out any enemies that may be around. This includes the idea that the city should be under constant siege as enemies such as Rioter’s continue doing their jobs as street thugs. Their control of some of the cities streets is inevitable, which means they should be at every corner, around every turn, and even in waiting for Division agent’s in order to stop them while they can. Sadly with any of the games factions this does not remain true, which paints a glaringly large picture for a city in that has been ravaged by such a devastating virus, and one that is sadly falling apart at the seams.
Instead the city streets are rather empty for those wandering outside of the Dark Zone. Sure a few enemies are here and there at “Encounter” spots, but outside of that, the world is dead, void of life, and feeling rather empty outside of the few survivors that are mindless wandering around. Some of them even asking for things as simple as soda, water, and or canned food only to reward players with a reward they may have already obtained a time or three. Unlike games such as Destiny, Borderlands, and or even Firefall; The Division suffers from a problem that leads enemies to be removed as players progress through the story. While a few players have managed to see enemies out in the “wilderness” that hasn’t been the case for two of our reviewers here at B.A.T.G.R. Hopefully this is just a bug and not done intentionally in the scheme of things.
While the city, as stated, is quite beautiful, the city itself feels voids. Many buildings will be passed by and can’t be entered, but to make up for that Massive Entertainment has created new ways to enlarge their world, which includes subway systems, and even sewer systems that are largely connected to the rest of the world. As stated, however, these areas are still void of life for the most part and will leave players disgruntled if they are simply looking for a small encounter post-campaign. Something Destiny did leave intact for players post-game so that they can seamlessly encounter enemies in order to grind out bounties and secondary objectives. This is thing that The Division could take into consideration for fans wanting some replayability outside of story mission’s on challenging difficulty and the Dark Zone.
End Game Content Grinding is Present
Much like any game of the genre, end-game content as mentioned will be a big thing for those looking for replayability. For some it has been the never-ending grind in order to get the best of the best gear available through the Dark Zone before heading into the games hardest mission difficulty for each story mission only known as “Challenging”. In this mode the grind becomes even more real as players will find themselves fighting super difficult enemies, which are all legendary enemies with their yellow health bars and insane amounts of health. Let alone are they the elite of the elite, they are also ones that hit like trucks, and will wither teams of four down to nothing if players are not prepared to take them on. This unfortunate difficulty can almost be said to be as hard as the Nightfall missions on Destiny as endgame players find themselves
While I would say this is unfamiliar territory to some, the game doesn’t lighten down on the idea that was originally created by Diablo II where players would find themselves constantly in the grind to get the best gear possible, and this meant by taking on some of the games hardest bosses around. Even some of the elite enemies would become adequate targets for players to take out. This rings true for The Division as many players are farming for both exotic blueprints for armor and weapons, but also gear from Challenging missions in order to show they have what it takes to be the top dogs within the game.
The Dark Zone is Where the Game Comes to Life
When thinking of a city that has been ravaged by a virus, we constantly think of areas such as quarantine zones and biohazard labs. This rings true for The Division as players will constantly find themselves diving into the games most dangerous place to me: The Dark Zone. The Dark Zone is one place where the baddest of the baddest come out to play, but at a high risk since the virus is present, and this zone comes with the risk of dying. While those who were there when the outbreak have passed, the Dark Zone’s baddies don’t care as this is where they roam the streets, and find themselves being the kings as well as queens of the DZ. These enemies will provide a chance at some of the best game once players hit level 30.
This is also a place where Division Agents will find themselves going as they hunt down the best of the best gear possible when not diving into the missions mentioned earlier. Here players at level 30 will find themselves utilizing their mastered abilities and even grouping up to increase their chances of survival. The difficulty in this game is present around the corner, but what makes this experience all the more unique is that it is an open PvP zone. Here players who suspect you may just have what they want, or just because they can, may rain a few bullets down on your team while using their abilities to their advantage. This means one player may run a medic build while the other three run a combination of things just to up their chances at survival. While the A.I. is lethal, the thing that is more lethal are those around you as they can turn on you at any minute, and steal your loot. Let alone do they steal your loot, they go rogue, which marks them for all agents in the area to take out, increase their gains, and even run off with the loot from those rogue agents.
While the Dark Zone sounds as dangerous as it can be, the Dark Zone comes with its own set of in-game rewards through Dark Zone vendors. This can include exotic weapons or armor, legendary weapons or armor, and even some awesome apparel changes that can be found int he open world. Let alone is the experience worth having, the Dark Zone provides a unique twist to grinding out named bosses, much like in titles such as Destiny, Borderlands, and even Diablo. It’s here where the end-game comes to life as well as the PvP aspect of any game. While one would hope for modes like what Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six or even Ghost Recon have to order, we’re down for what this game has to offer since it’s a unique experience, and one that’ll keep the game around for a while.
Cover to Cover and Closing Thoughts are Here to Stay, so is The Division
While it would be easy to carry on about what makes The Division unique for hours on end, it’s not something I’d like to do. As the game carries very familiar tactics such as cover to cover, pulse to see enemies, and team oriented mechanics, it’s hard to say that The Division isn’t unique since it takes some of the best things about previous titles by Ubisoft and uses them quite well. While the story itself is weak at certain points along with its character development, but overall? The experience itself speaks louder than those few minor flaws that can be improved with upcoming content and a few game updates.
Tom Clancy’s The Division – PC, PlayStation 4 (Reviewed), and Xbox One
Developer: Ubisoft Massive, Red Storm Entertainment, Ubisoft Reflections, Ubisoft Annecy
Publisher: Ubisoft
Cost: 59.99 USD (Base Copy) | 99.99 USD (Gold Edition)
Release Date: Now Available
While The Division is weak at certain points, it’s easy to look past its weak points to find its strong points to keep the experience alive, and because of that it’s pretty easy to say that Tom Clancy’s The Division will be here to stay thanks to the loot system as well as the future content that’s on its way sometime soon. We just hope sooner than later as fans will consume the content that’s there pretty quickly given enough time as this one of the best new franchises to exist in the current state of gaming.
Our review is based upon the edition of the game we purchased ourselves. For information about our ethics policy please click here.
Final Score: 9 out of 10
About the Writer:
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.
Where’s Our Tom Clancy’s The Division Review?
Many of you know we’ve been excited, and not just excited, but highly anticipating Tom Clancy’s The Division. Like many great online only games, there’s always a limitation to when a games review can be readily made available for readers. This time around Tom Clancy’s The Division will be one that we will be starting our review work for today. Due to the game not having closed review servers as we would’ve hoped, we know there’s a lot of time we have to make up for since the game has been one of the most anticipated by fans this year.
Much like our progress we did for Destiny when we covered it, The Division will get a very familiar treatment where we will progress through it, and putting in a review as we go since the review will indefinitely be in progress since The Division is an online game and could see small changes over its lifetime. We want to thank you for your patience and understanding and we will have that review up for you soon.
About the Writer:
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.
Tom Clancy’s The Division Open Beta Starts Now
Interested in some Tom Clancy’s The Division? Check out our video for some information!
The Division launches March 8th, 2016 on Xbox One, PC, and PlayStation 4.
About the Writer:
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.