GameSpot's The Lobby: The Division vs. Ghost Recon Wildlands

[MUSIC] First of all, gentlemen, we talked about the division last week. We had a great little chin wag about how that game was turning out, and [SOUND]. [LAUGH] And the beta which is starting eminently as well. Bernice sheng thing apple went to this statistics meeting on Monday morning as we do here in Game Spot and for some reason views on Ghost Recon Wild Lands has just like spiked last week. That got us asking the question. "Was the gameplay that we were sort of hoping for?" For the division. This partying up, open world, sprawling. Find your own adventure experience. Was that actually more of what's going on in Ghost Recon Wildlands than in the Division? So, we saw Wildlands at E3 last year. I'm kind of just interested in your guys' perspective on what Wildlands is, cuz a lot of this has to do with Perception. Like what is the game. Peter, to you, what do you think goals, goal streak [UNKNOWN] is and what do you think the division is? Is it hard for you to like devise which is which? Because both the Ubisoft games both were third-person shooters. In your head, game play wise, how do they seem different at this stage. Hard for me to offer too much because I haven't really thought about that game a lot since, but reading a bit about it before. The show this morning. I mean, it sounds like it's a game that focuses on the tactical aspect of teamwork and solving an issue. And from what I understand about the division, that's not so much the case. There obviously is some tactical considerations at hand. But it's also I don't know how to characterize it. But it sounds like maybe there's more substance to the tactical side of a game like Wild Land. Right. Yeah, because what we've sort of seen from the division since they've been showing a lot of game plays is that it's quite a wave based. It seems like they're [CROSSTALK] Yeah, it's a cover shooter sort of. Yeah. All right, we're looking at Wildlands here, which is a game that's set in Bolivia your sort of set of US [UNKNOWN] as Ghost 10 to be or going in to kill a bunch of cartels. Ubisoft powers are making this who did the old generation or versions of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. I think, that was around the same time that they acquired Red Storm who made like the proper brawl experience. But they worked on that sort of stuff [INAUDIBLE] aren't involved in it. They're actually working with Ubisoft Massive on The Division. But yeah, as we're seeing on the gameplay here, you have to be super careful here because this is all pre, you know, this is representative of the final product. Which has gotten Ubisoft into trouble with watchdogs and you could say to the division sort of feels a little bit different as well. But what we have learned from it, is you can go in all guns blazing. You can use sniper rifles. You can use stealth. You can level up your character. There's an element of customization. There's stuff like friendlier hostile MPCs in the world and you can get into conversations with, and apparently that's. It's going to, like, change your stake within the wider world. And then the other thing, and this is sort of, I feel like a lot of games are trying to throw their hat in on the co-op side of things. And then there are folks like me who are loners, who prefer to play games on my own. I got a [INAUDIBLE] And a Witcher Maker solid. And there are games you play on your own. This game you can play on your own. The Division, also, apparently you can play on your own. But all we ever see in these games when they're showing them off and we saw with Wild Lands when they showed at E3 and we've seen it with every division piece of game play as well, is co-op experiences. Why do you think that is, Mike? Are you interested in co-op games? Does that turn you off or does it actually make it more interesting, because I guess there's big money in games like Destiny, right? Yeah, it's not my preferred way to play speaking of co-op. I also prefer single player experiences, but I really do like when things can take co-op and make it something special, like Left For Dead, or I like Destiny's co-op features. That's the thing about Wild Lands seems like, I'm hoping it's what Pete said. It's more of the tactical side of things. You can go in, the trailer showed Going in with a Jeep and everybody just firing off rounds. Then the stealthy one was kind of just having a sniper trained on the main guy they were trying to extract and everybody going in stealthily, but what I think they might end up going for and what it appears they're going to go for is more of a cooperative third person Far Cry. Right. Because Far Cry itself, the way they describe the open meadow world of wild lands is kind of more they said there would be outposts from what I believe. Like this might have changed since E3, but it'd be more like, kind of commanding certain parts of the map, and then teaming up with people, and then kind of you know clearing it out and finding new missions around the world. Yeah. I mean that sounds UbiSoft, the formula right? That sounds like the structure they always kind of go with yeah. I'm hoping they go with what Pete said because that was the main draw of Ghost Recon to me. I really like that tactical side of things. The co-op really worked out with those. I actually really like Feature Soldier Yeah. My favorite thing I thought they nailed, especially in the campaign, the co-op campaign, they nailed that kinda of teamwork. So I hope that's what they go for as opposed to the division of teams which are more RPG-focused. more of these And that seems like why people are a little bit disappointed as well, because They thought that the division was going to be a little bit more nuanced that way, but it seems like it's just a cover shooter, just a basic cover shooter. The thing that got me excited about the division was the setting, you know? I mean the fact that it's in New York City, it' winter, I love snow, a lot fo people love snow. And it was dealing with an outbreak that has sort of caused this hysteria But when you're describing with the laundry list of features that they're going for with Wildland, I kept thinking to myself like you could apply that list to so many games in the past five years and maybe just take one feature out and switch it with another. I can't get really excited about these games and maybe that's just me because it's not really my thing. It's not my taste. But I just, I don't know. The Division seems to offer so much more in terms of an interesting world than something like Wildlands. I mean, is the functional gameplay aspect of it, the little things it's bringing to the table that interesting to get back into experience that on the surface level to me seems so predictable and like other games? What is really differentiating this? Is it just that it's new? And that they add in one other feature that maybe the last game like it didn't have. Is that it, or is it that it's a co-op experience? The thing about- That's just it. Is co-op enough for them to spend millions of dollars making [CROSSTALK] Yeah, I mean, it was for the crew. Right, that was basically a driving game like so many other driving games. OK well that worked out. I know right? It tried something at least with the maps, but that what it was, it was open world, and it was co-op. And that was basically it. You can actually say the same thing about Far Cry 4. Far Cry 4 Also Open world, spaces, all that stuff. Like, that's what FarCry 3 was. FarCry 4, also. [LAUGH] I played the crap out of FarCry 4. Did any of you do co-op in that game at all? Yeah. I did co-op. Did you? Did you give it a go? Yeah, cuz then you could do what they called the vertibirds or whatever. That's like Resistance. I don't know, you could use those little gyrochoppers. [CROSSTALK] Yeah, and then you could with a grenade launcher. Yeah. Yeah, we're getting everything mixed up now. You can do one person a grenade launcher going over the base. But those were cordoned off instances where you could co-op you couldn't do that in the whole. I thought you could, I thought you could There was like a certain actual, Huck. His missions were only coop. Right, okay, okay. Yeah. So Farcry 3 has a coop mode which was instanced. Right, that was more of a linear shooter, which that was kind of a disappointment. But yeah, Farcry 4 incorporated it pretty well, because I know for awhile that's what I was hoping for from a game. Was to have open world coop where it wasn't sectioned off into it's own thing, and Farcry did that well but I don't know It's as enticing as it used to be. I'm really interested to hear what folks have to think about this actually, if there's one or the other that they're kind of looking forward to. I wanna throw it out there, can you release both these games the same year? Cuz they seem like they're doing similar, even if, like Peter what you were saying, was the contemporary setting of The Division was definitely something that sets it apart from other games as probably one of the most notable differences. The new [UNKNOWN] game also set in sort of contemporary times. It's not future like Future Soldier, but it's set In a sort of a tropical, Bolivia. It's interesting in its own way, as well, looks different. Can you really see two games in the same year, considering they're both essentially third-person co-op shooters coming out of the same company? Different studios, but it's not all that different. But the thematic things that sort of define the world might speak to a certain demographic. Where Ghost Recon is sort of going for that military feel, So people who actually [UNKNOWN] that stuff will say, yeah the division's fine but military ****, that's where I'm at. Like it's more legit. Yeah, I feel like with the division it's sort of a wider gamut of who can get into it, because it is more like a slice of life in this sort of fantastical scenario. Versus the military covert op in Bolivia, I think that really speaks to a certain type of person. I could give a **** about What guns they're using. Like, yeah, they actually use that. Right. Some people do and that's cool for them. But I don't think they're gonna be the same people who fawn over the division just because the base game play may have a. I think we identify with a lot of games because of the world they present us and the story they tell us, whether it's overt or just suggested. And those games both tell very different stories overall. So I think it's okay. I don't know that it's going to ride or die based on whether the game play is similar or different than another game. Right. And a lot of people on the charts saying the same thing, Sparks V, Red Animator, while delayed to Spring of 2017. Sure, you haven't heard about the game since D3 knowing Ubisoft and how they tend to market these Things like, that says something. Even if it's just that they can't afford to, maybe back to your point, they can't afford to confuse the market with too much advertising around different games, or too much different preview events. Not so much the games are competing because they're in the same similar genre, but because we only have The audience only had time for so many games. Yeah. I'm more looking at this as a snapshot of what we know right now at the end of January 2016, this conversation a month ago would have been so different, this conversation six months ago would have been different. So last question on this, I kind of want to gauge interest in your guys, if you had to pick one of these games right now, cuz this is kind of something I want to revisit maybe in the future. Which one are you more interested in, and for what reason, Mike, first of all? Yeah. Ever since the E3 last year, I've been really interested in Wild Lands. I think that would have to be my pick, although we don't know a ton about it. But if they do what they appear to do in E3 with that tactical bent and that really more Can find, like four-person kind of game play, as opposed to you know, the division which seems more MMO-ish, I'd definitely have to pick Wildlands. What about yourself, Pete? For the division, for the reasons I mentioned earlier, I like the setting, and the themes and the story, but I also like, kind of the openness where the people can cooperate and turn on each other, if they want. I think that will create some interesting dynamics when it comes to... A group trying to succeed or survive. Hopefully, we won't have beg from these games. Hopefully, both will come out with a little bit of space around and they'll both be interesting in their own ways. But right now if I had to pick probably because I'm a massive Ghost Recon fan and I enjoy the sort of Being out in open, I guess. The city, itself, is interesting, but I enjoy being out in the wilderness a little bit. You're a nature boy. I'm a nature boy. I play games like the long dark, and I go off and ball out, and rummage in bushes when people aren't looking. And that's what I want to do in Bilevere. Finally, let's go to Le Paz and act like a crazy, weird U.S. Marine shooting up Cartel people I don't know. It seems more interesting because of the videos they've shown. And that's kind of what I'm worried about. Is that the division more of scene it's like the glass is coming off a little bit. If they can do something interesting with Bolivia that's kind of cool. And I know the team went there for a few weeks to talk to locals and figure stuff out. The extent I don't know, but I think if they can tell an interesting story. I hate to keep beating that drum, but that can actually make me really interested in that game because I like Metal Gear, which has a lot of military-esque stuff going on, but I don't really like military stuff. Right. Right. Is that because of the other stuff surrounding it? Yeah, devil's in the detail. I guess we'll find out soon enough. Let us know what you think. What are you looking forward to more, if you had to pick? Thankfully, you don't. But the division [UNKNOWN]. Let us know in the comments below which one you're looking forward to, which one you hope comes out in 2016.