Multiplayer Tom Clancy’s The Division 2. Full chaos, but I want more

In December, I went to the Swedish city of Malmo to in the studio Ubisoft Massive look at the multiplayer new Tom Clancy’s The Division 2. Although the game session was quite short, and access was given only to part of the PVP-mode, this was enough to understand in general what the continuation of the post-apocalyptic cooperative.

No more stone jungle

If you played the original The Division , Then remember that, according to the game, the end of the world began with the Banknot Oxpes infected by the virus, which the biowerrhists were not allowed to circulate, but on Black Friday. It is not difficult to guess the consequences: in a few days the epidemic destroyed millions of residents of New York, the city was in quarantine, and scattered gangs came to change centralized power. But some part of the old government vertical still survived-and it was on her face that the hero of the first part tried to eliminate the consequences of the disaster.

In The Division 2, we have to continue this difficult work, but already in Sunny Washington, about seven months after the events of the first part. Naturally, the change of scene also influenced the mood of what was happening: gray, winter New York with its skyscraper pressing from all sides, gave way to the solar capital, where there is much more greenery, and the development is far from so dense. Shelters are now less, more freely shot space, but the variety of locations has increased significantly. Washington will be able to run through NonStop Casino sister sites a variety of “biomas”: from the classic office center to the island of Roosevelt with real jungle, full.

For sorties in dark zones and other dangerous events, players will be able to form their own clans

The move from a monotonous New York to eclectic Washington significantly untied the developers from the developers Massive , And at the same time, the number of combat tactics affected the best way: the difficult thickets differ from the quarters of the rich Georgetown not only atmosphere, but also by gameplay.

There is safety in numbers

The presentation showed only one dark zone of those three that will be available at the start of the game, and, perhaps, the best characteristic of what is happening in this mode is “very dynamic chaos”.

Dark zones are isolated parts of the city where complete lawlessness reigns, and you are allowed to break away on living players no less cruel than local gangs

The thing is that it is even easier to die than in the first part, and there are much more active elements on the maps themselves, now and then distracting attention. Perhaps a quick change in the scene is affected: if Manhattan could be running among the same neutral buildings for hours, then in Washington wild thickets and urban concrete are jumping before my eyes. You just fled through the forest, after a minute you find yourself almost in the city center, and then you get on a litter highway at all – and in all this mess you need to not only navigate, but also manage to discover the enemy in time.

The government controls only a few groups of people, others survive as they can

One has only to join the battle, as everything around begins to explode: bullets whistle over his head, one of the partners calls the drone, at the same time three grenades fly out of the nearest house-and now you are already fantastically quickly rushing into the nearest shelter, behind which Another enemy awaits half of cases. Of course, The Division did not even allow you to take a break during the shootings, but the continuation sets some completely new bar of the dynamics. Probably, this is an extra pathos, but this is how I imagined the work of a real special forces detachment: when the movements of the operatives from the side merge into a vague spot. That's so fast.

Members of criminal groups are more like professional mercenaries than simple bandits with machine guns

It’s not easy to survive and not to fill up the task – but, of course, everything rests on experience in many ways. At first, chaos cannot be avoided, but as soon as the communication between all members of the team is getting better, the sortie turns into a worked out dance of death, where each has their own role and task. Massive openly bet on the team game and the coherence of the actions of the players: one in the field is not a warrior, and in the half -exhausted Washington of the near future, only those who managed to agree with the Sopartians will survive.

That is why in The Division 2 it is best to go with friends: it is much more difficult to achieve this level of understanding with strangers, and it will be very easy to get lost on the battlefield.

Out of law and morality

But the main thing is my impression of dark zones is the delight of how elegant Massive managed to mix PVE and PVP. Here is your main task – the destruction of local groups and the production of Luta, which is then useful for other tasks. And for the time being, you can really relatively calmly cut the bandits, affably waving to run past colleagues. But you just have to go to Rogue mode-and you are a target for everyone. In it, you, relatively speaking, declare your betrayal of ideals of restoration of the world and fall into real jungle, where the strongest survives.

You will have to fight in different surroundings: from city quarters with red brick houses to the parks overgrown with sprout

True, to launch the regime, you must first collect special glasses – they are given out for sabotage and other morally dubious actions. In addition, the transition to the “dark side” is a collective solution, and here again it is better to coordinate in advance with the team.

However, Rogue is not a direct synonym for hardcore: in one dark zone there can be only three teams of four players at the same time, so that the enemy will not wait for you at every angle. But even without hassles, of course, it will not do – just if you suddenly have to retreat, then at least there will be where.

Special skills play an important role in The Division 2 tactics. Self -leading mines and drones will spoil you (and your opponents) a lot of blood

And the sweetest, as always, for a snack: it is not enough to collect the whole loot on the map – you also need to send it home. To do this, a helicopter flies to the point you specified, but does not sit down: instead, you are dumped from there a rope, which you need to literally load with bags in battle. At this time, you are extremely vulnerable: not only are your hands busy, but everyone will also come on the map that you are loading prey. In a word, you will have to fight back violently – and at once from NPC waves and from greedy to the profit of the players.

After the first such a mess it becomes clear how important it is to think and discuss with the Sopartians not only the place of evacuation, but even the location of individual partners behind shelters: one weak place in protection – and the works of the whole team will go around the drainage. At these moments, it is especially clear how much more factors have become in The Division 2, which now needs to be taken into account by the leader of the detachment. Well, or anyone who helps to build competent defense.

In addition to dark zones, there are also a conventional stagmine for four people, but so far it is felt as a scaled massacre of more massive modes in a single quarter. Skirmish is even more than a dark zone, demanding against tactical maneuvers and personal skills: there are few places, and we must be sophisticated in every possible way to go to the enemy in the rear.

Of course, in this mode you need to constantly move and crush. And, according to my impressions, the risk often justifies itself – especially if you are noticeably less experienced than the enemy. But The Division 2 gives a significant space for tactical delights, so you just need to find your style and use the class tools to the maximum. Many initially forget that they have both drones and an effective heavy weapon-however, it is difficult to blame players in inattention: in general chaos, judging by some of my journalists-journalists, you can even forget to breathe.

Less than a year after the start of the crisis, Washington built in the swamps has already begun to flood

This is the same The Division?

After a tour of The Division 2, several thoughts are spinning in my head. Firstly, this is the same The Division. I can’t say that this is good or, conversely, bad – you just need to consider that you are not waiting for cardinal changes, but rather a lot of work on errors. Given that the claims to the first part concerned mainly content, and not a mechanic, the developers can understand: they clearly hope to make continuation and more diverse, using the already proven gameplay skeleton. They will get it or not – we will see after the release.

Secondly, the multiplayer is very peppy and exciting, but there is some strange feeling of empty repetition from him: the same “progress for progress” without additional cost. But, I think, this is all the same question for endheim content, but you can’t answer it for now, no matter how much you want.

Be that as it may, in one thing I am sure now: a couple of dozens of absolutely wonderful watches, the multiplayer The Division 2 will give you exactly, and this is already worth a lot.