The Division 2 Is More Of The Same, But Different

For me, The Division started out as a decent game with some glaring issues, the lack of content and direction being the two main ones I had. However, thanks to Ubisoft’s dogged support of their games, most of those issues were dealt with. In the end, The Division shaped up to be a great game, especially in co-op.

The hope is that the sequel starts from a better position but still retains the support and updates that the original received. After playing the open beta over the weekend, I am very hopeful that this is the case.

In the sequel, we leave the snowy streets of New York for sunnier and warmer areas around The White House in Washington D.C. The change in scenery has really improved the game’s overall presentation. Not that the first one looked bad, it is still one of the more impressive looking games out there, but the environments became a bit drab and boring after a while. Turns out, city streets are actually just wide corridors with cars in them. I can still to this day not understand why Ubisoft decided to leave out Central Park, as it would have given the first game some much-needed variety. Luckily, The Division 2 seems a lot more well balanced in this regard. Sure, D.C still has a lot of streets but the city is more diverse compared to NYC.

There is the wide open National Mall and the luxurious districts around Georgetown and Foggy Bottom to lend the city some more character and flavor. D.C has also been reclaimed by nature in many parts; vegetation is everywhere and you encounter deer and other wild animals running through the city.

In terms of gameplay, it is still largely the same type of game as the last one was, though improved in a lot of ways. I have always had a big issue with enemies that are bullet-sponges, they are just not that fun to fight in action games. Especially if said enemy is human and can still take 900 SMG rounds to the face without flinching. The previous game was a great offender in this regard, a lot of enemies and bosses simply took too many shots to bring down.

This beta has me hopeful that this will be less of a thing. I felt like I was able to deal a good amount of damage to every kind of enemy, but, granted, I aimed well. Of course, there are still bosses that can take a lot of damage, but now they are wearing visible armor, which can be damaged and shot off, leaving the enemy exposed or forced to replace it.

Speaking of which, your own health system has also been changed and improved upon. Previously you had to carry medkits to recover from damage taken. This time around, there is a greater emphasis on your armor. Basically, you have two health bars. One for armor and one for health. The armor can be replaced and repaired mid-fight, while your health damage will stay with you for the duration of the battle. Unlike the first game, your health and armor will be restored after an encounter ends. It is a small but nice quality of life change which helps the gameplay flow better. The fact that you must sit and replace broken kevlar plates to regain health, instead of magical sprays, also helps ground the game a bit.

The most promising aspect I saw in the beta, though, was that the world feels a lot more interconnected and well put together. Throughout D.C., there are places called settlements which work much like an expanded version of the safehouses of the previous game. These settlements will periodically send out their own people to gather resources or help each other out, at which point you can choose to help out. Helping a settlement will unlock new missions and also give you resources and personnel for your main base. Just seeing NPCs out and about with some sort of purpose other than aimlessly wandering around, like in the first game, goes a long way in selling the setting and premise.

Graphically, The Division gains a lot by the change of setting and timeframe alone. There is a ton of vegetation, wild animals and flooded areas. The game looks especially sharp on PC with some really neat options to set draw distances and smoke effects that can make the game look fantastic. All in all, though, in terms of technical fidelity, it is not that much better than what we saw last time. Some things are of course a lot better, lighting and shadows stand out and some of the smoke effects look great. However, it hasn’t changed much otherwise in terms of graphical fidelity. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, The Division was a stunning game when it came and still holds its own against many of its competitors. I also played the beta on PS4 and while you lose a lot of the sharpness and draw distances, it still looks decent. HDR options on the console also go a long way in giving the graphics a little bit extra oomph, if you have a TV that can display it.

For the most part, I haven’t encountered much in the way of technical jank in this beta, which, this close to release, is promising. However, the PC version has had some odd stuttering problems and some issues with the gamepad for me. Though, at this point, it is hard to tell if it is the game or my machine that is the culprit.

In the end, this short beta has made me excited to play the full game in a few weeks. Division 2 seems to address many of the issues I had with the first game. After spending some time with it, I am cautiously optimistic about how The Division 2 is shaping up. Still, the beta didn’t let you explore the whole city and it has very little in terms of story or plot setup.

There is also the issue of late-game content. Ubisoft has stated that they will have raids and more missions ready at launch. The quality of these things is, however, yet to be determined. To some extent, Ubisoft has earned the benefit of the doubt just by how they have continued to support their games this past couple of years. Let’s just hope they launch with a fuller package this time around.