mardi 21 février 2017

What Am I Playing NOW - February 2017

For the past month or so, I've been going through Tom Clancy's The Division. I bought it on a whim during the holiday because it was about 20 bucks (CAN$), shipping included, even if it came from the United States with their silly expensive dollar. I'm usually not big on Tom Clancy's games. I liked the past two Ghost Recon entries, but I could never get into Rainbow Six or Splinter Cell. Fact is, one of the main reasons I went for it is because a gaming journalist/expert I really trust had mostly nice things to say about it. And he's not the type of dude, as far as I know, who is easily impressed.



Anyway, so I bought this game and have been playing it a few times per week, constantly, for about five weeks. I think I'm about 65%-75% of the way through, if the map and remaining missions are any indication.

I did not know that much about this game. I knew it was an always-online type of deal, you can level up, it has some sort of loot and it's set in New York City after some dramatic Black Friday event. And that's basically it, really. It's a tad like Destiny in its online-ness (fantastic word, I know, I have the best words). You're always online, but you never see anyone except in safe houses around the city and when you matchmake for missions or for fun. In my case, I only matchmake with other players for Story missions. Side missions and "Encounters" (frankly just another word for smaller "Side missions") are quick and easy, and they can usually be done alone without too much problem. The Story missions are quite longer, harder and can truly be a pain in the ass, even with three other competent "Agents" - the name given to other players.

The story itself is mostly uninteresting. The City has been overrun by criminal gangs and you, along with mostly incompetent and clueless policemen types known as JTF (I'm guessing Joint Task Force), try to wrestle back control away from them. Most of the indications and story elements are given over radio waves, and it quickly becomes white noise in your ears. The missions themselves are mostly straightforward. You go ahead, you take cover, you clear areas of enemies, you hack a computer there or activate a pump here, then it's on to other bad guys. Eventually you get a boss dude or lady who is extremely resistant and tough to kill (more on this later). Dispatch him and whoever is around and mission is accomplished. It sounds boring, but it works because the gameplay is freaking stellar. Cover mechanics work well, your gadgets (turrets, shields, healing stations, etc.) are usually helpful and fun to use, the shooting is very fun, different gun types do actually shot differently. All in all, it's very fun to play.

The RPG-like looting and leveling up leads you to better guns, better gear and basically higher numbers in categories like DPS (damage per second) and toughness (defense). The guns/gear look and sound the same, but the stats vary with the item level so you continually change your setup. For a guy like me who loves the likes of Diablo and Borderlands for the looting/leveling aspects, it's pretty fun to manage that stuff.

Enemies also have levels, they get progressively tougher to kill, do more damage and all that jazz. Exactly what you would expect, right? At level 21, level 21 enemies are a good enough challenge for you, they have more health and deal more damage than the now-easy-to-kill level 16 or 18 enemies. In a video game, this makes perfect sense, it's precisely how these types of games work.

But, it doesn't feel as right as it should. The problem is, for me, it doesn't fit with the vibe of the game. It's so realist. It's set in an actual, well-known city. The guns are actual guns used by the police or armed forces (SCAR-H, MP5, SMG-9, etc.), not magical shotguns that shoot rockets (I still love you, Borderlands). The enemies are humans, not monsters or fantastic beings. Everything is so grounded in reality it's tough to reconcile the fact that you need dozens of bullets to take down a nondescript gangster dude from a few meters away. And I'm not talking about higher-ranking enemies (usually highlighted with different colored health/shield bars), who might take, even if they're at your level, hundreds and maybe even thousands of bullets to take down.

As I said, explain that to a fellow gamer and it makes sense. And it would for me too in another setting (like Destiny, Borderlands or Diablo). But here I can't stop thinking about it.



Somewhat related to the insane tenacity of the enemies is their efficiency at killing you. They will take damage off your health bar waaay faster than you would expect. And they can do that from frankly quite unrealistic distances. And they don't miss often. You are seen, you will start losing health fast if you don't take cover. At one point - and I'm not kidding - one dude started shooting me and I took damage before the shooting animation from that dude kicked in! I was zooming with my sniper at said enemy, and he saw me. Since I was zooming in I could see every one of his movements with accuracy, and I heard shots fired at me and I started losing health BEFORE he grabbed his gun and shot. Granted, the amount of time between the first shot and him grabbing his gun was a fraction of a second, but you would still expect it to be the other way around: grab your gun before you shoot me.

What else to say about this game... Oh, it looks very pretty and I think the sound design is on point. I don't know New York City that much, so I can't speak to the accuracy of the recreation of the city, but it looks awesome. Even my wife was staggered at how great it looked, saying things like "It's crazy how they created that whole city, all the details and everything." And she's right. The map is not as big as other open-world games like The Witcher or Skyrim, but it's dense and very detailed. It really feels as if it was inhabited days before the game takes place (and it probably was).

All in all, it's a great game. I'm not done yet, but it's pretty good so far. I just have to talk myself into the way they mixed RPG-elements with sheer realism.

I have played other stuff these past few weeks, but this is, as you will have guessed, was my go-to game during that time.

I will try my best to update what I'm playing more frequently for the next few months, see how it goes.