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Tom Clancy’s the Division 2 review

Before we get into the nitty gritty of our Tom Clancy’s the Division 2 review, it’s worth noting that this is one of those sequels that can still be enjoyed and understood even if you haven’t played the previous title. The Division 2 expands on the first game in a massive way, but newcomers to the series won’t feel left behind having to catch up on how the first game ended. Now that’s out of the way let’s dive head first into what the Division 2 does so well, in addition to some of the areas the game could potentially improve if another games follows.

Tom Clancy’s the Division 2 review – the story and gameplay

I wanted to start our Tom Clancy’s the Division 2 review with the story as I felt it was on of the weaker points of the title, fortunately though things only get better as you scroll down the article, so keep reading agent!

The latest instalment to the series is spent in Washington D.C, which has come under siege by three different faction groups. Your task as the Division agent is to help the civilians that are left in the city take back their home by taking down a mass of control points, strongholds, side missions and main mission objectives to slowly take back the city. Although that sounds quite straightforward, you’re going to need to follow a level-tier system to ensure the higher rank enemies are within your power to eliminate.

I found myself progressing through the story missions and often it felt very much of the same that we’d seen in Division 1, and more than one occasion saw me skipping through cutscens as they simply didn’t grab my attention.

Much like the first game players will need to collect a variety of gear upgrades such as weapons and armour to increase their overall gear score, and as a result stand a better chance of actually surviving an ambush by one of the notorious groups that aim to stop you in your tracks.

Tom Clancy’s the Division 2 review – co-op is key

Even if you’re the type of gamer who loves to go it alone, there’ll be occasions where you struggle to take down the enemy faction and simply feel like you’ve hit a brick wall. If this is the case then matchmaking is your friend; a mechanic which was already available in the original. Players have a couple of options here; there are matchmaking points in the various safe houses which will team you up with others to tackle activities you’re yet to complete, or at the start of a missions you can match make so that others can help you tackle the mission. It has to be said that having at least one other person with you when tackling a main mission heightens your chances of completion first time, and in addition often sees tyhe ability to complete the mission faster than going solo.

If a player is of a higher level than your agent and you tackle an activity or mission, the enemies you fight will be raised to match the toughness of the highest player. The good aspect of this is that you’ll get much more xp than you would if simply tackling enemies of your own level.

Tom Clancy’s the Division 2 review – cover is king

One of the lessons I came to learn was that learning how to use cover is absolutely vital. Sure, you’ll learn this at the very beginning of the game, but you’ll soon come to realise in certain scenarios that it’s a real necessity. Cover was a frustrating aspect of my Tom Clancy’s the Division 2 review, as you’re often behind cover and need to move to another cover source, but if the direction isn’t quite accurate it will bring you out of cover completely – it’s a little finicky. Of course this results in you getting shot to pieces, not great when dying means having to start the whole activity/mission all over again.

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Tom Clancy’s the Division 2 review – collectables galore

It has to be said that the original Division game was by no means short on collectables, having players collect objects such as drones, phones, and echos – the Division 2 has totally expanded on that content. In addition to the above agents will need to collect SHD tech cache’ in order to unlock and upgrade their skills such as turrets and drones. Taking over control points will see players being able to fast travel to other points in addition to safe houses and completed missions. Projects will play another key role, as you progress you’ll be able to assign yourself projects at the various settlements (where you’ll hire new staff, buy weapons etc.), and projects could include collecting all SHD cache’ for an area or donating body armour.

Once you’re done with the standard collectables you then have secret side missions to discover, Ivory keys to unlock a special chest, and twelve masks which will be obtained by solving a series of puzzles.

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Loot is still a massive part of our Tom Clancy’s the Division 2 review as obtaining, crafting, and equipping the right loot will be vital to your success. Gear will range from common of blue and green colour, to higher end gear of purple and yellow.

Tom Clancy’s the Division 2 review – endgame

Once you reach level 30 and finish the final mission you will officially be in endgame territory, at which point gameplay will get a little more difficult and specialisations will be introduced. Simply pit the Demolition specialisation will provide an appropriate weapon and will open up a completely new skills tree to the one prior to level 30.

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Tom Clancy’s the Division 2 review – DLC for all

At the time of writing, E3 2019 hasn’t been such a distant memory and one of the Ubisoft announcements was that of three new missions, split over three phases coming know as Division 2 expeditions. These missions are going to be free for all players regardless of which version of the game they purchased and are set to see agents explore areas that were previously locked down prior to the DLC content being released.

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That wraps up our Ubisoft Tom Clancy’s the Division 2 review, a word of advice for the new agents: when starting out it’s not a bad idea to complete side missions first to level up to make main missions easier to achieve. Stay frosty!

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Written by
I've been a gamer ever since I was old enough to hold a controller, early 90's to be exact. My first console was a NES, with my favourite games ranging from Super Mario to Duck Hunt. Fast forward almost 30 years and I'm now a PS4, PC and Switch player. My ideal genres are RPG and RTS titles, so Assassin's Creed, Kingdom Hearts, Viv 6 and Two Point Hospital are included in my mix.

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