Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 Review

Let me start by saying I don’t normally play first person shooters anymore. Maybe it’s my ever advancing age slowing my reflexes? Or the fact that as I get older I become more aware of my mortality and the level of excitement these games generate tend to make my heart beat faster than I would like. So let’s get started with my Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 review.

Then again, maybe it’s just that most FPS games are MMO focussed these days and I prefer to potter around RPG open worlds on my own taking things at my own pace rather than screaming into the mic for a medic because my team attacked target Alpha instead of Bravo leaving me alone to face 10 enemy combatants on my own. Phew.

Regardless of the reason I was a little tentative about whether or not I would enjoy Tom Clancy’s Division 2. I hadn’t read any pre-release articles or watched anything online so I was going in blind.

The game started with my favourite part of any game, character creation! Okay, so it was mostly cosmetic but hey it’s still fun to create a character of undetermined race with a full sleeve tattoo, a wicked white beard and aviators.

Once you have your look sorted you are launched into the backstory of how the world has fallen apart, civilisation has devolved and while small pockets of civilians and military struggle to survive and maintain some form of civility a big gang of baddies (called Hyenas) have decided to take over the world that remains, and make it a violent and unpleasant place.

The graphics speak volumes: Washington DC has seen better days and you explore streets that are still strewn with the remains of a decaying civilisation. Amongst the crashed cars and debris you see rats, raccoons, dogs and deer as well the odd patrolling Hyena. (The human ones, not the animal).

The scenery I saw during this Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 review made me think of The Last Of Us, which straight away was a big tick for Division 2.

Your first mission is to rock up to the White House, defeat the attacking Hyena gang members and find out what’s going on.

Seeing the pond of the Washington Monument strewn with refuse and the White House in a sad state of decay was more chilling than I thought and really added to the atmosphere of the game.

The tutorial is non-intrusive and takes you through the basics as you head towards your first rendezvous point to determine what has happened to the HQ at the White House.

Of course you run into the bad guys and you learn how to neutralise them all with extreme prejudice.

Once at HQ you are given more of an explanation as to what your goals will be in the game. Anyone who has played Saints Row will be familiar with the following format:

• There are different sectors that need to be liberated from the Hyenas.
• There are safe houses, side missions, collectables and main story missions to complete.
• Eventually you need to do the boss mission to free the sector from the bad guys.
• Rinse and Repeat… kind of.

Now, don’t let Number 4 put you off because the variety of missions and NPCs you meet makes the whole experience worthwhile. There is no feeling of ‘here we go again, same old mission different background’. You really get caught up in helping these people and restoring order and sanity to the world, and part of your goal is to upgrade and rebuild the sectors you are liberating.

The story is truly a highlight of this game and with the expected high quality graphics, voice acting and the many gadgets, weapons and cool stuff your character gets to use, this game is really good.

Now I don’t want to give too much away but let’s just say that as you progress and kick the Hyenas out of DC you almost wish you hadn’t. Once you have successfully dealt with these miscreants a new more dangerous faction emerges, The Black Tusk.

This changes the whole ball game and the shake up that occurs is a small stroke of genius, as it is what prevents the ‘rinse and repeat’ aspect. You now have to find a way to deal with this new threat and the way you did it before may not work as well.

This small twist gives the game a breath of fresh air and will make you want to keep going to the end.

One thing I will say is that once I had finished this Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 review, I cannot see me replaying it. It’s just too big and will take a bit of time to do so. I am sure there is a 12-year-old who will complete the whole thing in a day or something, but I have a mortgage so I’ll just take my time.