Tom Clancy’s The Division 2: Can it Dad?
Can nap happen while saving America?
Short-answer: No.
Why?: Between the near constant swearing from enemies, as well as allies, and the violence on display there is no telling what your kid’s ears will hear as you walk into a safe house to save only to have shouted from behind you, “F&%$ing, Hyenas! I hope they all die.” Even if you catch a lucky break and are not in combat when nap time is over, you may stop in front of the remains of human target practice on a major cross street.
All that said, when they are asleep, it is a blast to play. Combat is fun, especially with friends, and the game actually understands what “Looter Shooter” means as in you are constantly doing both.
Why doesn’t it Dad?: It’s the fact that you should have time allocated to yourself when the kid is asleep for the night and your partner isn’t going to be pissed when you mention the trigger word “video games” because playing a mission or simply getting from point A to B takes time. Time is that non-existent element in the realm of Dadhood that vanished as soon as you had a child.
While I am still enjoying The Division 2 I am going to have to say that it requires too much time and has too much explicit content that stops me from recommending it.
Really though?: Yes, really. I say if you have a designated game night or time that is set aside weekly, then get it. If you don’t, then don’t bother because you won’t progress fast enough to keep up with your friends (I am barely keeping up). That being said, the game does allow for gameplay to scale up and down, so if you are within a few levels of one another, it can work. Just make sure you have time for this sink in your life before buying it.
The reason I stress the time part is that mission redos are common in D2. As the difficulty curve in this game can go from potato to banana (because one is flat and the other curves sharply) then you will see the same mission repeatedly. And if you need to bail mid-mission to attend to Dad duties, e.g., a puking child, kiss your progression on said mission good-bye.
Those are some sweeping statements: Yes, but they’re warranted because there is nothing more infuriating than having to replay a mission again and again because of life. I am not going to ask that designers and programmers make a feature that allows me to save content mid-mission. That would be insanely complex and expensive and still wouldn’t change the fact that D2: The Mighty Agents isn’t a good naptime game or game for when the family is up and about because of the time commitment needed to engage with it.
All that being said, it’s extremely fun, you just have to plan for it.
Are you sure?: If the story were any good, I’d say get it and chip away at it, but that isn’t the case. The one thing I hated in the first game that translated into this game is that you are THE AGENT and that means you’re a hero. You go into safe houses and are greeted like a demi-god whom no one actually knows the name of as they say:
- “So glad you’re here, agent.”
- “Without you, we would be lost, agent.”
- “HAVE MY BABY AGENT!”
Maybe not that last one, but the writing is cringeworthy at its worst and unintentionally hilarious at best. The setting, combat, and the missions themselves are fun, it’s just a shame that they’re trying to service a story that has nothing really going on in it.
Not to rant here, but the main reason I really was looking forward to the first Division was the idea that you are a part of a larger picture to rebuild New York. You’d be fighting and completing missions and such, but they would be smaller, building toward a bigger, better picture, with story missions that interacted with key characters coming into play occasionally. And those missions would feel like you’re helping, again, something bigger.
Instead, you’re just the hero who saves everyone and is just the best.
Remember, you’re the best because you saved America.
You saved America.
Only you, agent.
This game does not Dad.
