In a game, which mixes terrorists, secret organizations, rogue military groups, thriller action, and Tom Clancy in it, nothing can go wrong, right?
Well, somehow Ubisoft actually screwed it.
The Michael Bay Effect
“Plot? Who needs plot if we have EXPLOSIONS!”
On Black Friday, a pandemic sweeps through New York City. The disease, known as "Green Poison" or "The Dollar Flu", causes widespread chaos, and Manhattan is placed under quarantine. The U.S. Government activates sleeper agents in the population who operate for the Strategic Homeland Division or simply "The Division", to assist emergency responders, in restoring order.
So is the game intro. And then, the game goes into a very good first chapter about this sleeper U. S. agents shooting and fighting through Manhattan, blowing things, killing those who oppose them (like everyone in the game) with the mission to protect innocent civilian (which are none in the game), stop crimes like murders, destruction of property and looting (which the Division does all the time), finding the origin of the pandemic and restore the order. It is really an appealing plot.
What makes it so annoying is the fact that all combat is against foes with supernatural resistance (I mean, come on, how can a normal human withstand 3 magazines from an M-15 and still walk?) even for video game standards. Second, all boss fights are the same. Third, rewards are lazy and sometimes useless, inside and outside the game. The only way to obtain really good gear is from the Dark Zone and, guess what? You can`t use that gear outside the Dark Zone. And do not make me talk about DLC, because that will take me an entire book.
Is Ubisoft Living in a Different Reality?
Even after hundreds of gamers, YouTubers and critics claimed the game is lame, Ubisoft said the game broke record sales and is one of their most successful products. There is even an upcoming movie about it. How is this possible? Who is lying? Do so many people hate Ubisoft and spread misinformation about this game, or is it Ubisoft refusing to acknowledge its mistakes?
Let's Go Sherlock on This
“After you remove the impossible, what remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth”
You can`t argue against the facts. And you certainly can`t argue against the income this game generated. At least in Japan, The Division outsold Zelda Twilight Princess for more than 30K units. And Metacritic ranked it an 80%, even after critics claimed it was flawed. But then again, Bungie's project, Destiny" received the same backlash and still was a commercial success. Probably, the main reason for this is the marketing.
Before their release, both games were highly promoted with amazing cutscenes, great visuals, and so many promises. Most sales were on preorder, but when the final product came out, there was too much disappointment about them. And the probe is, after many complaints, both Ubisoft and Bungie are working to improve their games with new content, and patches and balancing. All this, of course with a cost to the people who already bought a flawed game.
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