Seeing as The Division 2 is coming out next month. I’ve been hesitant to pre-order that game, not because I didn’t have fun with the first one, but because… well. I got a decent amount of Amazon money for Christmas, and maybe I’ll get enough for my birthday next month to justify that PS4 that I’ve been looking at. Can’t justify it as a house purchase. Just can’t. But Christmas/birthday money’s different, right?
I also hear that The Division got updated a lot since the last time I played, and it’s just a whole different game now. So there’s that. Guess we’ll see…
The Division curbstomped my willing suspension of disbelief.
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In one of the early missions, I successfully tracked down and ambushed an (unarmored!) murderer.
I hit her with a grenade, a sticky bomb, and three headshots from a .223 before she even had a chance to react.
And then she straight-up destroyed me.
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If you’re going to make realism your schtick, I’ve got no problem with that.
In fact, it’s a selling point.
But if you do that, you don’t get to have bullet-sponge humans.
You just don’t.
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Did you try out the Anthem demo this past weekend and get your Iron Man on?
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The story remains to be seen, but the bits we’ve seen look serviceable enough. I’m not sure it’ll be a strength, but I’m convinced it won’t be a weakness.
Combat is decent. I’d like it to be a bit smoother, but the launch version should tighten it up from the Alpha build of the demo. (And even then, it’s already on par with most of the Mass Effect series.)
I’d like to see them improve sound design a bit, as the guns and abilities feel and act more powerful than they sound. I think they could stand to tweak melee aim assist just a smidge, as third person melee is necessarily a bit clunky, and the Interceptor class built around chaining melee attacks can sometimes wander off in random directions. (But as noted, these all might have already been addressed.) The tactical depth when combining abilities is simply outstanding. The maps have excellent amounts of cover and the ability to flank is very nearly a constant. Despite my nit-picking, it is truly enjoyable.
Which brings us to the movement mechanics… Quite simply, they’re brilliant. You can seamlessly go back and forth between ground-based movement, water-based movement, and air-based movement. Generally, all occurring at a high rate of speed.
I’m skipping Anthem until it’s on sale. Bioware might get me to buy their games, eventually; but I’ll do them no favors. 🙂
Your story reminds me of the end boss in Fallout: New Vegas. I shot that Caesar guy in the face with a rocket launcher. Then, he punched me to death. While I was wearing power armor.
That still bugs me.
Tac-nuke the f*cker next time. I mean, just on general principles.
‘s the major weakness of the ‘on rails’ aspect of Fallout et al, though .. if you vary from what’s expected enough, you can never actually win.
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Mew