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Division 2 Review Thread

ethomaz

Banned
keyart_the_division_2-740x328.jpg

Metacritic: 82 (PS4) / 85 (PC) / 77 (XB1)
Opencritic: 82

ARTICLES

Eurogame Italy 9/10 “Ubisoft has succeeded in making The Division 2 contents so long and deep to keep us entertained for the whole length of the main campaign, and even after that. The end game is what you could expect: shoot, loot, rinse and repeat, but at least there are many ways to approach it.”

Destructoid: 8.5/10 "Despite my misgivings with the narrative, The Division 2 is a polished shooter and that counts for a hell of a lot. Mission variety is on point, there seems to be a decent amount of progression available, and there's a lot to do."

Gamersky 9.1/10 “With a decent end-game experience, The Division 2 becomes much better than its prequel, and I believe it's even better than Destiny 2 and far superior to Anthem. However, the PS4 version has suffered a serious Bug which repeatedly crashes the game since its initial release day.”

Cheat Code Central 2.8/5.0 “I never once thought I was experiencing something exciting, unique, or creative when I played this game, yet hours of my life seem to have vanished. Loot shooters are an increasingly crowded space, and The Division 2 is fighting a losing battle for my attention.”

GameStop “"Encouraging" is generally how I feel about The Division 2 at this point in time. It's got a fantastic sense of place and progression, and the combat scenarios and skills continue to be interesting. There's a lot of love, especially among the minor improvements--the small design decisions that make the act of finding and equipping loot so snappy and convenient, or the smart integration of per-mission multiplayer matchmaking that even lets you call upon other players in the middle of a mission. I haven't personally hit any server issues or major bugs, just some humorous oddities, like a floating iPad entertaining two excited children.”

IGN “The Division 2 has already succeeded in many areas where the original faltered, and as a result my impressions so far are largely positive. Gunplay is punchier, enemies are more mechanically diverse, loot is generous and interesting, and its wonderfully realized recreation of Washington DC is sufficiently populated with fun activities and hidden goodies. Based on what I played of the private and open beta tests, I’m still concerned that the combat may revert to its spongy state in the endgame, but for now, The Division 2 feels very good.”

TheSixAxis “After half a dozen hours, The Division 2 doesn’t yet feel like a remarkable, revolutionary sequel, but more of a logical, considered follow up that builds on all the hard work that went into improving the original. The downside is that it’s maybe not that exciting, and the early story beats don’t really help that, but then we’re marching through to the end game where most of the time with The Division 2 will be spent.”

Metro “Ubisoft has clearly looked at the problems suffered by its rivals and successfully identified where they’re going wrong and how to counter it. Unlike Anthem, we don’t think anyone’s going to be complaining about a lack of things to do or a disappointing endgame in The Division 2. Instead the main question now is how entertaining the grind is to get there.”

GamingInstincts 9/10 "This is a world that demands your attention. This is a captivating, ocean-deep experience that harks back to the Skyrim-days of open-world games. The Division 2 improves vastly on its predecessor, and the games that make up its competition. Those games should be shaking in their boots, because The Division 2 is coming, and it isn’t going to stop until it sits atop the throne."

GameReator "Tedious repetition has also been alleviated by a wider variety of enemy types. Each faction has a few types that require wildly different approaches. Where the Outcasts' suicide bombers will draw your immediate attention and force you out of cover, the True Sons' snipers will make you think twice before leaving your safe hiding place behind a police car or conveniently placed roadblock. Encountering two of these factions at the same time really highlights these differences and will truly test your tactical awareness and nerves. Having great weapons and gear also helps, obviously."

Forbes "Simply put, there is a massive amount of content here, the game is not (as of yet) broken so you can easily play through it, and at its base, it’s very fun. No, I don’t prefer gameplay to other titles in the genre, but releasing a full, coherent, working game goes a long way in this day and age, and it appears The Division 2 has done just that."

PC Gamer "I've not even had the chance to dive into The Dark Zone yet, or the Conflict PvP content. This is a big game, with a potentially long tail, driven by a year of free updates to come. My sense so far is that this is a very complete-feeling follow-up to The Division, from a team that clearly learned a lot about its audience after a series of successful, high-value updates. Those players probably know they want this already—for anyone else who's curious about The Division 2, this may end up being the right looter shooter at the right time."

Telegraph "Maybe it is just the disappointment at Bioware’s sci-fi scramble of incessant loading screens, connection issues and disparate adventuring talking, but I half expected to go into Ubisoft’s game facing a clutch of the same issues. But that hasn’t happened; I fired up The Division 2, crafted my macho bearded soldier man and sent him into the post-apocalyptic capital to shoot bad guys and find sweet new kneepads. And several hours later, I’m still enjoying a compelling, mechanically satisfying --if aesthetically uninspiring-- shooter. And that’s with very few technical hiccups, aside from the odd floating corpse and texture pop-in. "

Spiel Times 8/10 "The Division 2 is a breath of fresh air in a crowded genre. It’s not trying to reinvent the loot shooter, and it doesn’t need to. Instead, Ubisoft has focused on carefully refining and polishing the base elements of gameplay. The excellent shooting and dynamic cover system. The wide variety of enemy types. The diverse and thrilling encounters with effective level design. When you add it all up, you get a truly special game. It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination: they need to work on its technical issues, and the story is barely there and completely forgettable. But its story isn’t what The Division 2 is all about: it’s about exploring this destroyed city with friends and blasting your way through tense, challenging battles. Expect to get around thirty hours from the main campaign, and dozens more from endgame. Ubisoft has made a game that’s jam-packed with content, and they should be rewarded for it: The Division 2 is worth playing for anyone even remotely interested in the genre."

VIDEOS



 
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bati

Member
Much lower than expected, at least if general player impressions are anything to go by. I reserve judgement (of both the game and reviews) until I hit the endgame myself but so far at level 23 I'd rate it 85+ easily.
 

ethomaz

Banned
Much lower than expected, at least if general player impressions are anything to go by. I reserve judgement (of both the game and reviews) until I hit the endgame myself but so far at level 23 I'd rate it 85+ easily.
The impression I have with reviews without play it is that so many mistakes that they did with first game are fixed/improved in this sequel.

That is really good.

Looks interesting but I don’t have time to it right now.
 
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wipeout364

Member
The quotes the OP put up certainly don’t make it sound like a mid 70’s game. Sounds like it improves upon the first in everyway and that got an 80 on metacritic.
 

ethomaz

Banned
The quotes the OP put up certainly don’t make it sound like a mid 70’s game. Sounds like it improves upon the first in everyway and that got an 80 on metacritic.
Well 78 is near 80 :D

There is a 2.8/5 score that probably put the Meta below 80... maybe it could be at 82-83 without that one.
 
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I’m 40+ hours in. Gear level 325 on World Tier 2 so I still have a long way to go and I haven’t eve.mn messed with Dark Zone or Conflict yet

I give it an 8.9. My only cons are a watered down story and im encountering more bugs the longer I play. Needs some patches ASAP
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
I was expecting around 80 metacritic. It's lacking the narrative side, but excels at gameplay, music, and content.
The current meta is based n 4 reviews, 3 positive and one negative. I'm sure that the game is going to go up a few points once more reviews land.
 

CrustyBritches

Gold Member
The current meta is based n 4 reviews, 3 positive and one negative. I'm sure that the game is going to go up a few points once more reviews land.
That's probably that trash Cheat Code review. What a fucking tool that guy is.

I have about 40hrs into the game, and aside from the skills glitch, it's solid gold. If gamers are looking for incredible gameplay, music, and content then this game will make them happy.

People looking for a walking sim, sjw tear jerk cinematic story with cutscenes out the ass will be disappointed.
 

Solarstrike

Gold Member
The level detail and overall graphic quality are excellent. Everything else is a festering repetitive mediocre drivel fest, lacking creativity in what the player can do. A running simulator infused with too much voice-over from that guy that does every single Ubisoft game voice-over. Too many fetch and errand quests. Terribly repetitive music. Not enough survival elements. A lack of atmospheric and audio detail quality. Too much fog and not enough rodents running around the streets . None of the trash being burned in the streets either? There's gas tanks everywhere. The games difficulty makes it far from fun and ends up just being a pain in the ass to play.

The series needed mutants, giant abominations, destructable buildings, creepy crawlies and hive-infested subways. Junkyards in which to scavenge and build your own base. Animals in which to hunt. A grappling hook in which to climb onto a roof with backpack en tow, for a nice meal, shelter and campfire. Ubisoft is afraid to go the monsters and ghouls route it seems (for a third-person game using the Snowdrop Engine). Someone out there will pick up what Division created and make something even better. Not battle royale bullshit. Something totally unique.
 
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ZehDon

Gold Member
After Destiny, The Division, Destiny 2, and Anthem, I think reviewers are beginning to become wary of GAAS. That some reviewers gave Destiny 2 a 9/10 at launch is an example of reviewers just completely misunderstanding the game. I don't think they're eager to be suckered in again.

I'm expecting a final score in the mid 80s for Div 2, which feels about right from my five hours or so with the game. The story is kinda terrible and its also poorly presented. If it had a rock solid campaign and narrative, it could push the whole game into the 9/10 and 10/10 zone. In any case, it's got a near perfect launch; in a month or two, we'll know how it really stacks up.
 

Psykodad

Banned
The level detail and overall graphic quality are excellent. Everything else is a festering repetitive mediocre drivel fest, lacking creativity in what the player can do. A running simulator infused with too much voice-over from that guy that does every single Ubisoft game voice-over. Too many fetch and errand quests. Terribly repetitive music. Not enough survival elements. A lack of atmospheric and audio detail quality. Too much fog and not enough rodents running around the streets . None of the trash being burned in the streets either? There's gas tanks everywhere. The games difficulty makes it far from fun and ends up just being a pain in the ass to play.

The series needed mutants, giant abominations, destructable buildings, creepy crawlies and hive-infested subways. Junkyards in which to scavenge and build your own base. Animals in which to hunt. A grappling hook in which to climb onto a roof with backpack en tow, for a nice meal, shelter and campfire. Ubisoft is afraid to go the monsters and ghouls route it seems (for a third-person game using the Snowdrop Engine). Someone out there will pick up what Division created and make something even better. Not battle royale bullshit. Something totally unique.
Joke post? Honestly can't tell.

The first part I get, but that second part...
 
From a lot of what I've seen and read, it seems like Div 2 is being viewed very positively because of how atrocious Div 1 was upon launch. Credit to Ubisoft and the teams that kept going on to improve on their fuck up, but beyond Div 2 being viewed as a big improvement over the first game, I wonder how good the game truly is.

I've never played either btw, been clicking on the Ubisoft store page a couple of times now but I kinda know that Div 2 isn't my cup of tea.
 

ancelotti

Member
That's probably that trash Cheat Code review. What a fucking tool that guy is.

Wow, the first half (in particular) of that review is really something else. And what the hell is the point of rating various elements of a game if you're going to then hand-wave it all away and give it a completely distinct overall score. It's like they learned completely the wrong lesson from the reviewer's tilt on other sites. However, reread as a satire of a modern game reviews it becomes both funny and well executed. Anyway, I agree with general sentiment that it deserves a little higher, although I must admit to being fatigued on UbiShooters, GAAS, RPG-Lite mechanics, and what not.
 
I would like to see the score 80+ for Massive's benefit. But...

I don't think there is any genre where reviews are more useless than the one that comprises Destiny, Division, Anthem, Warframe and so on.

And the reason I feel that way is that most reviewers (there are exceptions like Skill Up and the Forbes contributor) interact with these games in a completely different way than the core.

I can't express enough how happy I am with this game. Massive has raised the bar for the genre with The Division 2 imo.
 
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klosos

Member
well i played a couple of hours of the beta , it was very fun , am not really interested in the review scores to be honest. this is a game i will pick up in a year or two from now and enjoy it . its never going to be a day one purchase for me.
 

manfestival

Member
The ps4 version is having more issues than the PC version. Also the PC Metacritic score is higher.

Either way, I think this might be one of the few times when it feels the consensus is so wrong. The game is oozing quality from all aspects so far. I haven't gotten to the end game but I was reading how people are gushing about the sheer amount of end game content. The story content of the game is OK but that is usually how these games go. Destiny 2 was just OK for me, warframe was meh, and it looks like anthem was blah. This game was not on my radar. A friend coaxed me into buying the game and I have 0 regrets. I look forward to my next login.
 

wvnative

Member
It's low because there's only 4 reviews and that 1 cheatcc review fucked it, why are they even considered professional critics?
 

ethomaz

Banned
The ps4 version is having more issues than the PC version. Also the PC Metacritic score is higher.
Open Critic combined PC, PS4 and PC and it is lower than Metacritic.
I just used the most reviewed platform on Meta but I can add the PC meta if people wishes.

It's low because there's only 4 reviews and that 1 cheatcc review fucked it, why are they even considered professional critics?
Check OpenCritics.

It's 81 on PS4 now, and 82 on PC.
Updated.
 
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Great game but it's one of those you either love it or hate it. So I bet there will be quite the division on scores.
 
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Solarstrike

Gold Member
Joke post? Honestly can't tell.

The first part I get, but that second part...


What i'm saying is that it seems Ubisoft is "afraid" to add any sort of mechanic to where the virus could cause genetic mutation. I mean, imagine if the game had roaming mutants or something of the like. I thought after Division 1, the obvious sequel would be the snow thawing, flooding problems along with all the trash becoming a cesspool and breeding ground for the alteration of the virus. Ultimately the virus, mutates into something horrific. Maybe another type of "Dark Zone" or something? This doesn't mean a "zombie game". Something(s) to throw off the monotony and to add cause and effect to the whole story. To throw off the expected and add the unexpected. Maybe things start growing in the festering trash and filth amongst the environment or places in the underground. Whereas you, the player have to manage your communities from infection, build the proper defenses, seal off entry points into your camps, do controlled "burns" of areas, NPC's in your camps "turning" and causing havoc if not cared for.

I'm a fan of Alien, The Thing, The Blob, Dying Light. If none of the above are coherent to the story , then i really wish Ubisoft could attain the Alien license to do an incredible Alien 3rd person game. There's areas in Division 2 where my brother ultrazilla ultrazilla and i were playing in coop and said "man, imagine if Ubisoft made an Aliens game or The Thing game". Would be amazing with the Snowdrop engine.
 
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NickFire

Member
I am very disappointed in some of these reviewers (not necessarily listed above). Way too much personal politics being interjected into reviews of a game that everyone seems to agree is pretty solid mechanically and content rich. I get that reviews are just someone's opinion, but enough is enough with the tired "one man's opinion that the game is not left enough politically". If you are going to avoid recommendations of a loot based shooter that most people seem to agree is mechanically solid and content rich, all because of personal politics when reviewing a post-apocalyptic loot shooter, I just cannot look at your websites or even profession seriously anymore. Your priorities are all wrong, and I sick of the tired saving the world trope while really causing profitable division among your audience.
 
What i'm saying is that it seems Ubisoft is "afraid" to add any sort of mechanic to where the virus could cause genetic mutation. I mean, imagine if the game had roaming mutants or something of the like. I thought after Division 1, the obvious sequel would be the snow thawing, flooding problems along with all the trash becoming a cesspool and breeding ground for the alteration of the virus. Ultimately the virus, mutates into something horrific. Maybe another type of "Dark Zone" or something? This doesn't mean a "zombie game". Something(s) to throw off the monotony and to add cause and effect to the whole story. To throw off the expected and add the unexpected. Maybe things start growing in the festering trash and filth amongst the environment or places in the underground. Whereas you, the player have to manage your communities from infection, build the proper defenses, seal off entry points into your camps, do controlled "burns" of areas, NPC's in your camps "turning" and causing havoc if not cared for.

I'm a fan of Alien, The Thing, The Blob, Dying Light. If none of the above are coherent to the story , then i really wish Ubisoft could attain the Alien license to do an incredible Alien 3rd person game. There's areas in Division 2 where my brother ultrazilla ultrazilla and i were playing in coop and said "man, imagine if Ubisoft made an Aliens game or The Thing game". Would be amazing with the Snowdrop engine.

I feel you. It would be cool to see more abstract and creative enemy encounters built into this engine.

I would say the Z word but don’t want to get dogpiled mercilessly
 

MastAndo

Member
If you disregard the drivel that is the Cheat Code Central review, the score is probably around where it should be. I'm expecting it to find its way into the mid to high-80's when more reviews come in. The game is very solid, and a whole lot of fun - though admittedly, some of the bugs are pretty tragic right now.

EDIT: Scratch that first comment, didn't realize there were more than 4 reviews now.
 
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zeorhymer

Member
I'd say it's about right. They massively revamped the gear system which helped a ton and added much more things to flesh out the world. I did like the survival mode in the first game because it was fresh gameplay. There's still that major bug that deployed skills disappears after a couple of seconds.
 

HotPocket69

Banned
What are the complaints about the lack of politics?

They certainly didn't shy away from diversity, namely massive female inclusion. Is there any praise about that? Ubi's agendas are no longer surprising. It cracks me up that the majority of people giving me orders have been the womynz. Not one white male leader to be found as of yet :messenger_grinning_squinting:
 

MastAndo

Member
They certainly didn't shy away from diversity, namely massive female inclusion. Is there any praise about that? Ubi's agendas are no longer surprising. It cracks me up that the majority of people giving me orders have been the womynz. Not one white male leader to be found as of yet :messenger_grinning_squinting:
I would imagine in a lawless post-apocalyptic world, the male population would be on the front lines and the first to dwindle, so it kind of makes sense in the context of the story. That's probably not even an actual reason, but it kind of helps make the whole thing seems more plausible, and less like a social justice message.
 

iHaunter

Member
Having played other looter shooters, this looks less inspired than the others. Maybe it's the setting?

The Demo was fun, but I feel like that's kind of it. Saw some streams, same game over and over with no interesting story to cover the samey gear.
 
Having played other looter shooters, this looks less inspired than the others. Maybe it's the setting?

The Demo was fun, but I feel like that's kind of it. Saw some streams, same game over and over with no interesting story to cover the samey gear.

Setting is fantastic. World is fleshed out. Outstanding detail. Exploration is rewarding.

Samey gear? There are wildly different builds you can shoot for.

This game is great imo and I can’t wait to see what gets added. It’s solid amount of content for a launch looter.

The story is non-existent. I’ll concede that
 
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Game is good -- much better than the first, which was decent. I can't be bothered to read their reviews, but I'll just assume it's mostly nonsense.
 

zeorhymer

Member
Having played other looter shooters, this looks less inspired than the others. Maybe it's the setting?

The Demo was fun, but I feel like that's kind of it. Saw some streams, same game over and over with no interesting story to cover the samey gear.
Not quite sure why you say less inspired. Sure it's in the same area, but different neighborhoods. Probably all the areas look similar, but you can't do that within the same city. Unlike Destiny or Diablo where different chapters were on different environments, but the enemies and premise were the same.

Also not quite sure why the game loop be any different than Destiny where all you do is go from story point or from public event to another public event to get more gear. Overall I think it's the samey environment makes the game feel the same from low level to high level. There doesn't seem to be a visible progression outside of each neighborhood and their level gate.
 

Eotheod

Member
That cheat code review is something else. Literally spends half the review lamenting the story then the rest is left to barebones review the content which they most likely never got higher then 10 to do so. It came out on launch day with a score, which I know Gold edition had 3 extra days to play but boy it's clear they didn't.

The reviewer literally says there is a lack of content and then only mentions "dungeons" and missions. Oh wait they then say dark zones once. Don't even talk about character upgrading, skills, itemisation presentation which is top fucking notch and you know the side missions to resupply settlements that are actually fun. Instead he blabbers on for almost all the review about the fucking story in a loot shooter.

I give the review a 1/5 but my average is actually 0.5/5.
 
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