Tom Clancy's The Division

Ubisoft Massive first showed off The Division during Ubisoft's E3 press conference in 2013 and after two delays, released the game three years later in early 2016. Massive was not the only developer on this title as more and more developers were added to this enormous project over the years. These developers included Ubisoft Reflections, Red Storm Entertainment, and Ubisoft Annecy. The point of this is that with this many developers working on the game, people began to expect massive (pun intended) things from this project. I count myself as someone who had big expectations based on what had been shown through its time in development and even from what I played in the beta. However, after getting my hands on the game and playing through it, The Division suffers from some of the same problems that Destiny had when it launched and, in my opinion, still does.

Don't get me wrong, The Division does a lot of things right and I enjoyed my time playing it way more than I did Destiny. I'm going to be making comparisons between these two games a lot as they're similar in a lot of ways and there isn't much else, if anything, to compare them to on consoles. For reference, I enjoyed the gunplay of Destiny but that's as far as my enjoyment went as there wasn't a story to keep me there and the loot didn't come fast enough to keep me hunting for more.

I'll start with what I think The Division does right, which is a fair amount of things. Firstly, there's an actual open world to explore. While it's not an open "world", it's a big open environment that requires no loading if you're willing to walk everywhere. There are load times in the game though and when they crop up, they are very long. However, these are only when starting up the game, going into the Dark Zone, joining teammates, and fast traveling. Fast travel loads are too long, but it still beats walking between distant locations as the environment is quite large. This lack of loading when entering your base, any building on the street, or beginning a mission isn't done in many games and really adds to the immersion of the game.

The game takes place in Manhattan. While it's not a 1 to 1 recreation of the city, it's a believable environment that looks stunning for consoles. There is garbage strewn all across the street, people milling about, an unusually large amount of stray dogs, and rats galore. All of the little aspects make the game seem more realistic, which is a welcome touch. The environment feels believable enough (more on that later) and graphically it's a very sharp looking game. Considering all the NPCs, streets packed with abandoned cars, and litter everywhere, it's amazing that the game is able to look this good running on consoles. It's not going to blow you away like The Order: 1886 or Uncharted, but it does look great considering it’s a console MMO.

Helping to add to the amount of stuff packed into the game is a small element of base building. This isn't like Fallout 4 or Sim City style building though. It's more like the Assassin's Creed style of buying upgrades to make everything look better. Doing story missions or the side activities gives you three different types of currency: Tech, Security, and Medical. You accumulate these and head back to your base of operations in order to buy an extension for one of the respective wings. Upgrading these isn't purely just a cosmetic change, however, as it adds to the environment and atmosphere too. Building a virus check-up station in the medical wing will have people lining up to be checked for the virus. It's still cosmetic in nature but it adds more than just a new look; it adds believability.

Not only does upgrading make the base of operations and environment more aesthetically pleasing but it also grants you skills, perks, and talents. These are all a part of the RPG mechanics in The Division. It's not fully featured like a traditional Role-Playing Game but it doesn't need to be for the shooter genre. Just like at your base of operations, there are three skill trees to go into. Getting new skills requires you to buy associated upgrades at your base which is extra incentive to do side content. This is a smart move as you're not forced down a certain path that requires you to make multiple characters in order to try new things (Destiny). You can freely go back and forth between setting your two skills. Since there's only twelve to unlock, you aren't overwhelmed with choices either. The skills all feel very different and cater to a certain type of play style but it's easy to mix and match to fit what you like best, especially when you add in modifications that change how each skill behaves. They all have their usefulness too so there isn't any skill that never gets used like in most games.

The perks that you unlock are all passive bonuses that you get to keep such as more experience per kill or more currency and crafting materials. They're nice little bonuses to have especially as you get higher level and are facing increasingly tough enemies. The talents are another story though. Talents you unlock the same way as your skills and perks but these you can only equip up to four of. This is fine by me except that they don't contribute much to anything. Some just give a minimal boost to headshot damage or a boost to a modded skill that you may not use. I found myself not even remembering to equip them as I never felt like they added anything meaningful.

I'm conflicted on the loot in The Division. I like the system they have set up for it but the loot itself leaves much to be desired. You are constantly getting loot in this game and it always feels good seeing the beacon of light pop out of a dead enemy that signifies they dropped something. You even get items and weapons that are better than your current equipment at a steady pace so you always feel like you're progressing.

On the other side of that, the guns all feel the same. Yes, there are different types like marksmen rifles, assault rifles, and shotguns but they all feel the same in that they aren't differentiated in how they handle. Shotguns don't feel like they have a weight to them and assault rifles and submachine guns are the exact same except one has greater range. Picking up different versions of each type of gun doesn't do anything either except potentially have better stats. Ubisoft Massive could go a long way in making the loot feel much more differentiated.

Another problem with the weapons is how the game conveys their stats to you. Shotguns aren't given a fair shake in calculating DPS. Shotguns do massive amounts of damage but because they have a low clip size and slower fire rate, the game's User Interface will say that they're worse. The DPS is what initially shows on screen unless you look deeper so this could cause many people to immediately sell or dismantle their shotguns and marksmen rifles because they're never going to have a higher DPS than an assault rifle. Also, the game doesn't take into account the mods you have equipped on your gun when showing if something is better or worse. I found myself having to constantly strip my gun of its mods in order to accurately assess what guns in my inventory are the best and then go back and re-equip everything which is a hassle.

Armor pieces are an even worse offender of not being different enough. The only cosmetic difference between any two pieces is maybe a different shade of a color. That's very upsetting considering the amount of armor that is actually in the game. The cosmetic gear are the big pieces of clothing that you wear like pants, jackets, scarves, etc. but they don't add any bonuses so it's unfortunate that the gear that actually matters, barely has an effect on the fashion side of the game.

The most important part of any game is the gameplay and on that note, The Division is a lot of fun. Like any game, it has a couple things wrong, but the loop is addicting enough to keep me engaged despite doing the same thing over and over again (again, more on that in a bit). There are four types of enemies that you'll find yourself squaring off against throughout the game. The four groups are Rioters, Cleaners, Rikers, and The Last Man Brigade. As you encounter each new enemy type, you'll notice their patterns and tactics will change. The LMB are the toughest as they're military trained individuals that will pin you down, flank you, AND send guys running at you with shotguns. The increasing difficulty and advanced tactics that come with the higher level missions keep you engaged and constantly moving. It's fun to have to react differently to each enemy type. They run into problems however in that each enemy type follows the usual MMO trope of having a hierarchy of classes. It's disappointing that they're the same in that regard but each enemy type behaves so differently that I didn't mind. Enemies are the most varying of anything in the game, surprisingly enough. The enemies may take many clips to take kill which is at odds with the realism created by the rest of the game, I felt that it worked fine for me. I didn't mind the bullet sponge enemies. It fits for the type of game that The Division is.

The Division is a 3rd-person cover shooter so when it comes to taking cover, it should feel natural and smooth when transitioning from point to point. Most of the time, the cover system feels good and works. However, when it doesn't work, it'll quickly get you killed. Moving from one cover to another requires you to hold a button which isn't too bad but when you're in the heat of battle and need to move to survive, holding a button takes too much time. Getting off of cover is also a lot harder than it should be. After playing through the game, I'm still not sure how to get off of cover consistently. It's something that has gotten me killed time after time. The cover feels too sticky which isn't good when the AI is gets more advanced. Gears of War set the cover standard many years ago so it's surprising that a game released a decade after that feels as clunky as it does.

As far as the story goes, at least there is one in The Division unlike Destiny. The story has been done before and is normal fare for something that would appear in a Tom Clancy product but it's nonetheless an interesting way of looking at a virus outbreak. While I enjoyed what story, there wasn't enough of it and it was told in a way that detracted from my full enjoyment. The only way you get any story is from audio recordings, surveillance video, and high production cutscenes. The latter of the three is by far the best and most interesting because it deals with the creation of the virus. However, there are only four of these which is very disappointing. The video and audio recordings are cool and offer some story elements but with having to wait so long between each of them and the fact that they aren't directly connected but instead random bits of dialogue that deals with three separate plot lines is confusing and underwhelming. If The Division stuck with just the virus plot thread and made everything about solving that mystery, it would have fared much better in my opinion.

The fear for this game that I had ever since it was announced was the amount of content that it was going to have in it. Destiny had that problem out of the gate and even with a few expansions, still has run out of content. The Division faces the exact same problem. There isn't enough to do and what is there is A LOT of the same. No matter what you're doing, it involves killing a bunch of enemies. Whether you're repairing antennas or collecting virus research, you're killing enemies at some point. I didn't mind that I was doing the same thing over and over again as the gunplay is fun, but it makes me not want to play anymore now that I've finished what there is to do.

Hitting the level cap opens up daily challenges which only involve you beating story missions on a harder difficulty. It's nothing fun or special after spending thirty hours doing the same things. The only other things that are left to do is collect the nearly three hundred collectibles (no thanks) scattered about, and enter the Dark Zone. While the Dark Zone is fun and you can have some really intense moments in it, there's no structure or reason to be in there as the loot you find isn't too terribly much better if at all. Other than killing random players for fun and fighting some insanely difficult NPCs for no reason, there isn't anything else to do which is a letdown as the Dark Zone has huge potential. Hopefully it is expanded in future content updates. The one thing I do have to say about the Dark Zone is that it reminded me a lot of Player Killing in Runescape. You can team up and hunt other players only to either betray or be betrayed later. It's lots of fun and always a thrill. If only the loot was better.

All in all, The Division is quite a feat. It has more mechanics shoved into one game than some game do spread across an entire series. Plus, they all work for the most part. The game looks great, and plays great most of the time. The story is interesting for the brief moments that you get details and the enemy AI is top-notch. However, there is a lot of repetitive content that gets old despite having addictive gunplay and a great loot system. Load times are rare but very long when they do happen. There also isn't much of anything to keep you around once you reach the level cap as you've experienced everything the game has to offer and better loot comes at a much slower pace. Future updates will no doubt add more content but they add more replayability in some regard, that'll be just as fleeting. The Division is fun don't get me wrong. If you're on the fence, you should definitely play it. Just know what you're getting yourself into and be prepared.

Score: 7/10

Trophy Difficulty: Medium - Playing through the story missions will get you several trophies as will just playing the game and using skills. However, there are trophies related to playing with people online and trophies related to the Dark Zone so you will have to interact with the online portions of the game in order to get the platinum. Also, there's a lot of collectibles so that's a daunting task as well.

Recommendations: If you love 3rd person cover shooters, you'll enjoy this game. If you like Tom Clancy stories, you'll enjoy this game however if you're used to the realistic and grounded gunplay of prior Tom Clancy games, this is not at all like those so I wouldn't recommend unless you're fine with bullet sponge enemies. If you like collecting lots of meaningless things, you'll enjoy this game. If you like killing lots of dudes, gosh darn it you'll love this game.

*Note: This game was reviewed on the Playstation 4 but is also available on the Xbox One and PC.