The Division: “The Last Stand” – add-on review. Tom Clancy's The Division: Underground - Reach the Bottom A New Way to Fight
If up to this point Ubisoft released only free add-ons to TomClancy'sTheDivision, and, accordingly, we did not evaluate them with all seriousness, then for the DLC "Underground" the developers are already asking for money, which means it makes sense to expect more, much more quality content. The add-on adds new underground missions, a new raid and new armor sets and weapons to the game. All this, according to Ubisoft, should be enough for – and I quote – “infinite replayability.” Let's see if this is true.
Having established some kind of order on the surface of New York, the forces of the Special Forces discovered a new danger, this time coming from the endless labyrinths of the subway and catacombs underground. To explore the depths of the earth, an underground headquarters was built at our main operational base, where we select operations, look for players for the team and trade with local merchants. Underground missions are a separate, independent game area, much like, only without PvP. This is also indicated by the new type of rating that has appeared in the game - underground. We increase this rating by performing operations underground and collecting new audio recordings. The higher the underground rating, the more complex operations we can choose and the more valuable things we can buy from local merchants.
The most interesting thing is that all underground operations are randomly generated: both the goal of the task itself and the map on which the actions will take place. We can only choose the complexity of the mission and how many stages (from 1 to 3) it will take place. There are also directives - special conditions designed to make life more difficult for your team, but at the same time the reward for completing the task will also increase. This is what is meant by “infinite replayability”. When starting an underground operation, you find yourself on a unique map every time(!). Yes, sometimes there are similar sections, locations with the same scenery, but still there are no completely identical levels.
As for me, this is more interesting than repeatedly performing the same raids, when you run the same route for the eleventh time and listen to the damn message on the radio, which you have long since learned by heart. True, not everyone will like to run for dozens of hours through catacombs and tunnels alone, but this is a matter of taste. By the way, I was again not very lucky with the selection of the difficulty level. My character and I (equipment level 211) were given tasks of high difficulty quite easily, but missions on the “Test” difficulty were practically impossible to complete. Only when playing with a cool team, and this is not always the case. But if all team members die during an underground operation, then it will be impossible to replay it or start from the control point.
With addition "Underground" A new, third raid was added to the game - the Dragon's Nest. Since in the previous two invasions we opposed the forces of and, we decided to dedicate the new raid to the Cleaners - crazy fanatics who decided to fight the virus with radical methods, burning everyone and everything with flamethrowers. Not surprisingly, it turned out to be the most incendiary raid of all. It's funny that it takes place in the Hell's Kitchen area (how symbolic), where the Purifiers store some powerful weapon that threatens all of Manhattan.
The first half of the new invasion takes place in the open air: after a small skirmish in the tunnel, four groups of opponents must be eliminated. These are hefty machine gunners and flamethrowers, accompanied by a smaller retinue. A new source of irritation will be mechanics who have learned to make incendiary bombs attached to radio-controlled cars. So you decided to catch your breath a little in the shelter, and then one such “death on wheels” comes around the corner - and boom! These cars drive fast, explode when approaching you almost instantly, cause enormous damage, and in addition leave behind a burning area of the ground. And a burnt, sorry, fart...
But the open-air skirmish is just a warm-up. Pitch hell awaits ahead. After descending into a certain underground room, we are faced with the main enemy - a fire truck. It becomes no laughing matter when you realize that she doesn’t put out fires at all, she starts them. The room soon turns into a giant burning frying pan, and in order not to burn to a crisp, you have to move often. Shooting at a car, as you understand, is useless. You need to drop a suspended container onto it by activating the cargo crane several times. Everything would be fine, but the tap turns on only if you press two switches at the same time. This cannot be done without adequate teammates who know exactly what needs to be done. In general, the raid turned out to be difficult, but interesting, it is clear that the developers approached its creation with imagination.
Simultaneously with the DLC, a new patch was released, which introduced a bunch of other little things into the game. For example, the size of the cache has been increased, a new range of TK ratings has been added for players with an equipment score above 231, and at the recalibration station you can now even change one of your weapon talents. Yes, the game is famous for its bugs and glitches, even the launch of this DLC and update was not without serious problems... But Ubi is constantly working on this, many of the errors have already been fixed.
Generally, "Underground" is a good addition that adds to the game not just a new set of missions, but a full-fledged mode, a separate gaming area. We did not receive anything radically new, although we were not promised this. The generated maps are a little inferior to those created manually, but they are not boring at all. If you don't mind the prospect of spending a lot of time in dark catacombs and underground tunnels, then you'll likely enjoy the DLC.
The Last Frontier is the next expansion for The Division, and according to the developers, it focuses on organized PvP in Dark Zones 7-9.
Before we dive into information about The Last Stand, there are two important things I'll say first: there will be no Gear Score increase in this content, and there will be a new Invasion included in the expansion. It will be available along with The Last Frontier on the Public Test Server, which will be open to Season Pass holders.
Official unveiling of Expansion 3: The Final Frontier
“When the situation in the Dark Zone escalated, everything got out of control and the semblance of civilization collapsed, OTG was forced to leave the TZ area, leaving important tactical terminals in the zone; Important information remains there. Now renegade agents are close to obtaining this vital information, which will lead to catastrophic consequences for the Special Forces and for the mission to save New York. Your task is, together with a group of 7(!) Special Squad agents, to prevent enemies from obtaining important information.”
A new way of fighting
The Last Stand mode is a session based on player versus player (PvP) combat mixed with a strong PvE approach and a completely new way to experience the Dark Zone, separate from the regular game. It pits two teams of eight players against each other on a random map to control the aforementioned terminals until one team transmits enough information to win the competition. While participating in the Last Stand, the game will always assume that your team is Division agents, and the enemy team will be treated as Renegades (note that they are labeled as Renegades for distinction only, as the actual Renegades mechanic will not apply in the Last Stand) . In other words, you will always be a good guy when playing The Last Stand. When the match ends, you can go back to the queue and do not have to return to the main game to queue again.
Each side of a Last Stand match is made up of eight players, divided into two teams of four players. You can queue alone or with up to three friends, but you cannot queue in a group of eight people. To play The Last Stand, each player must be level 30.
In The Last Stand, the Dark Zone is divided into four different maps (about the same size as TZ01-03, TZ04-06, and the new areas TZ07-08 and TZ08-09, respectively). Each match can last a maximum of 20 minutes. Each map has three tactical locations - A, B and C - which in turn are divided into three encryption points, all of which must be controlled in order to initiate data transfer. Over the course of the game, you will try to control as many of these locations as possible, neutralizing any points held by the enemy team.
Capturing a terminal will also activate a revive option, which will give you more options for getting back into the fight if you're killed. You will choose a location to spawn on a mega map instead of a list like in a regular game. And you can automatically respawn close to your teammates.
The Last Stand does not use the Renegade mechanic, and you can fight other players without fear of punishment. Here you will not lose anything - neither the Dark Zone experience, nor the keys, nor the trophy, nor the currency...
Similar to Dark Zone ratings, matchmaking is based not only on players' current gear score, but also on how well they've played recently. The server will aggregate the recent work of all players in the group to ensure that everyone stays in the right game together.
The Last Stand introduces a new form of player stat balancing that limits the impact of Gear Score and Stats Randomness. This system will first be tested on a Pre-Test Server (PTS) to gather feedback.
To start playing in the Last Stand mode, head to the Terminal at the Base of Operations near the recalibration station. It's hard to miss!
PvP and PvE merged
Just like the regular Dark Zone, there's more than just player versus player combat - NPC enemies still roam the streets, and the usual Landmarks are all there. These NPCs also guard checkpoints, the central checkpoint is always guarded by elites, who, one way or another, will have to be dealt with before you can gain a foothold there.
Killing NPC enemies will reward your team with Special Detachment Vehicles (SHD) - this is a team resource that allows you to unlock tactical squad upgrades and fortifications left behind by the OTG and special agents of the first wave. At your “home base”, where you appear at the beginning of the match, you can activate automatic turrets that will help defend the base, or a pulse installation that will warn of enemies approaching the base.
During the match, tactical support stations are launched. Using Special Forces vehicles as currency, these stations will give your team various bonuses, such as faster loading speeds or more points for killing enemies. The station can be activated with one command at a time.
These improvements are not permanent, they only last for a certain time until the stations become neutral again. This means that you will need a constant flow of special forces equipment, but you will also need to plan ahead for upgrades that enemy teams will manage to activate for themselves.
Tactical upgrades are a key part of The Last Stand, meaning there is a symbiosis between different types of players. Some players may go to tactical locations, actively seeking out PvP fights, while others may go to PvE-focused games and farm special squad vehicles for their team away from control points. If you play smart, you can use enemy NPCs against the enemy team...
NPC enemies, except those guarding tactical locations, continuously respawn during the match and Landmarks reset faster than in a normal Dark Zone.
Awards
The Last Stand introduces a new progression system similar to Underground. As you play, you acquire special experience points and increase your rank, up to a maximum of 40. For each rank achieved, you will receive a sealed container with items, and at certain stages during progression you will open exclusive items that cannot be found anywhere else in the game - the mode comes with two unique, complete sets of clothing and two sets of weapon skins. At the same time, even after you reach the maximum rank, you will continue to earn experience and receive new containers. Last Stand ranks do not work like Dark Zone rankings, so you will never lose them. They are also taken into account when arranging matches.
You will receive additional rewards each time your team wins, but over the course of a match there are over 30 actions that you could perform that are tracked. At the end of the match, a personal achievement score will be shown and rewards will be given out.
In conclusion
The Last Stand adds a dedicated, standalone battle arena for The Division, a feature that players have been wanting for a long time. Compared to the regular Dark Zone, this mode offers a clear goal and victory conditions. The Final Frontier is an important part of bringing player-to-player combat to life in The Division.
Now, when there is less than a month left until the end of 2016, we can say with confidence: The Division- my personal game of the year. Even though it's one of the most controversial games I've ever seen. At one time it was said that The Division team did not really understand how an online game should work, and it seems that there was some truth in this. Ubisoft Montreal did a great job of leveling up to level 30 - a kind of expensive co-op shooter that is very interesting to play. But the endgame added after this looks extremely strange: just a vinaigrette of many tasks, seemingly of different types, but very similar to each other and not united by any common idea.
After release, players waited for Invasions, hoping to experience something similar to raids in other online games - higher level entertainment, with unique features and requiring a larger number of players. Instead, invasions turned out to be just another set of missions for a standard four-player group, just more challenging and not at all dynamic. It happened similarly with the first addition “Underground” - it was again a set of missions, but in new scenery and with many difficulty settings.
However, every few months I return to The Division with my friends for a couple more fun weeks. There are plenty of reasons to return - an excellent combat system in the style of Gears of War, atmospheric and detailed New York, original PvP. Well, now the “ Survival”, which became the central theme of the recently released addition of the same name.
The events of the regime unfold in a new area of New York, where, according to rumors, a medicine is stored that will help cope with the epidemic. The helicopter on which a group of fighters flew out in search meets with a disaster - as a result, the main character finds himself in the middle of a city in which a snowstorm is raging, with the simplest weapons and equipment. The task is to break through to your own people, trying to find and take the medicine along the way.
The new mode is a classic survival game in miniature. Each match is designed for 24 players and lasts a maximum of one and a half hours. The main problem is the cold. On the street, the hero begins to quickly freeze - you can, of course, move in short dashes between burning barrels and buildings, but it is better to try to find clothes or at least the resources to produce them.
The search for useful goods is generally one of the main activities in “Survival”. You need good equipment (forget about what the hero is wearing in the “main” game - during the DLC all these things disappear), water and food (you can’t die of hunger, but you can really lose some opportunities), as well as resources - in addition to clothes and weapons, they are needed in order to return special abilities to the character, as well as create an air filter and a rocket launcher for evacuating from the zone. In addition, it is very important to find medicine - otherwise the hero will die before completing the task. Items are scattered throughout the rather large location, so at first “Survival” is very different from the usual gameplay of The Division - players rush around like crazy in search of loot, trying to avoid shootouts with enemies, which are difficult to defeat in the starting equipment.
As with any survival game, the biggest surprises come from other players. You can be shot in the back for the sake of valuable property, or vice versa - saved and called into the group. At the same time, the balance is perfectly maintained: although a large group gets an advantage in PvP and against NPCs, it is also much more difficult to supply it: three or four players need more medicine and resources, they must be able to correctly distribute weapons and equipment - and all this in a ticking timer . Sometimes it's easier to split up to comb several blocks at once - but here a huge burden falls on the group leader, who must understand how to react if the group is in danger.
But the PvE version of survival is frankly disappointing - the participants here are completely fixated on collecting things, which sometimes leads to ugly and comical situations: while the group is dealing with NPC enemies, a single person runs up to them from the other side and takes the loot. In principle, the developers themselves position PvE as a warm-up mode - for example, it has less reward.
For “Survival” you get quite familiar chests with equipment: a couple are given even if you die in the middle of the journey, but to get the maximum, you need to find a cure and sneak out of the zone, having first fought the boss near the helipad. There is nothing unique about the items - the same ones can be obtained in any other game activity by choosing the right difficulty level. In general, the approach to things in The Division looks different than in other online games: now you can simply collect equipment of the maximum level in a couple of days, but then the selection of a set with the necessary characteristics and bonuses begins (they are assigned to things randomly). And there is no limit to perfection here - as in any great online game, you can “grind gear” in The Division for months.
The Division currently lacks at least a simple story that unites the events taking place in the city after the end of the main campaign. “Survival” does not contain such a story - and this is perhaps the only drawback of the new DLC. Otherwise, we have an excellent game mode, unlike anything that was in The Division before, able to keep you in suspense and forcing you to rely on luck and your own skills, and not on the quality of the collected equipment.
In order to use this content you will need the main game. This content is available with the Season Pass.
Description
When the situation in the Dark Zone got out of control, the Joint Tactical Group (JTF) had to quickly leave the area. There was real chaos all around, so important data on special technologies and operations were lost during the retreat. Now renegade agents are approaching the terminals with this information. If the data falls into the wrong hands, the Special Forces will have almost no chance of returning New York to normal life. Now you, acting in a team of 8 special agents, must do everything to return the data.
But it's not just renegade agents you should be wary of. The prisoners took hostages in the studio of TV channel 93. According to unconfirmed reports, the bandits organize cruel entertainment: they force the unfortunate to parody the popular shows of this channel. Your task is to save the hostages before it's too late.
Peculiarities
LAST FRONTIER MODE
This game mode will give you a new experience in the Dark Zone: you will be able to participate in battles between two squads of 8 players, while the renegade agent mechanic will be disabled. Each battle takes place on one of four maps, the goal is to capture the terminals. The first team to download enough data to complete the decryption wins. But in battle, it’s not just the enemy team that poses a threat: other groups of opponents may lie in wait for you in different parts of the map. So agents will need to carefully strategize to take advantage of any situation and win.
8 BY 8
In the “Last Frontier” mode, two teams of 8 players fight for victory, each of which is divided into 2 groups of 4 people. The mode is available to players from level 30.
STRENGTHENING POSITIONS
For killing opponents, the team receives special technologies - a resource with which you can unlock fortifications left by other OTG units. Automatic turrets will prove to be very useful for defense, and the use of impulses will allow you to quickly notice approaching enemies.
STRENGTHENING THE TEAM
Activation of tactical reinforcement points occurs at certain moments of the battle. Using special technologies, you can unlock various bonuses: for example, accelerated data loading or additional points when eliminating opponents. Only one team can activate a boost point at a time, so special attention should be paid to protecting these objects.
AWARDS
This game mode has a level system, the maximum is level 40. Each time you gain a new level, you receive a reward - an exclusive decorative item. In total, there are two unique complete sets of decorative items and two sets of weapon skins in The Last Frontier. Even after reaching the maximum level, you will still be able to receive Last Stand experience, which means new items or skins. In addition, if you win, you can earn additional rewards, depending on your personal success.
INVASION "STOLEN SIGNAL"
In this world, control over information can be a matter of life and death. Captain Benitez sent communications experts to investigate what happened to Channel 93. Reopening the studio would help keep residents informed about the situation in Manhattan. But the building was seized by prisoners. They barricaded themselves and are holding civilians and OTG employees hostage. According to unconfirmed reports, the bandits organize cruel entertainment: they force the unfortunate to parody the popular shows of the channel. Together with three other agents, you will have to work out a strategy and stop 4 stages of the invasion. Each time, the goals and conditions will change, and interaction with allies will become a key condition for victory.
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