Tom Clancy's The Division (PS4)

Tom Clancy’s The Division, one of the most highly anticipated games of 2016, is now out, targeted especially at online gamers. The title was launched just a few weeks ago, and has already been a major commercial success for Ubisoft. But in stark contrast to current trends towards the purely multiplayer experience, seen in games like Star Wars Battlefront and Rainbow Six Siege, The Division is a game where even those who prefer single-player can get their money’s worth.

Big Trouble in Manhattan

On Black Friday, the traditional start of the Christmas shopping season in the US, a devastating pandemic breaks out, caused by dollar bills infected with smallpox. People die, and traffic and commerce come to a standstill, with hastily abandoned vehicles blocking the streets, and garbage piling up everywhere. There’s so much looting of stores, shopping centers, and homes that they’re left almost completely empty, as if they were swept clean. And yet, outside of the quarantine zones, there are still disoriented civilians all over the place, desperately searching for supplies or lost relatives, even going to far as to loot corpses or fight other survivors over the scraps of this once bustling metropolis, now cordoned off from the outside world.

Instead of the walking dead, New York has been taken over by violent gangs of criminals and terrorists. The government decides to activate the “Division”, a unit of sleeper agents living among the population, to help restore order and to save whatever there is left to save. Despite all the efforts made by the developers, storyline and characters are not among the game’s strong points. With few exceptions, even with such an interesting setting, there isn’t much life or emotion in the dialogue or cutscenes, which is something that’s been noted in other games with the “Tom Clancy” brand. On the other hand, in contrast to other catastrophic scenarios like those of The Last of Us, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., or Fallout, the situation doesn’t seem to be quite so hopeless, though this probably has a lot to do with the fact that you’re playing immediately after the disaster in question.

A Tactical Advance

Enemies are tough, and will keep coming at you, using cover, flamethrowers, rifles, and grenades to their advantage as well. They’ll also try to flank you, getting an extraordinary number of shots off, and their shooting is pretty accurate too. In certain places you’ll have to face against extremely well armored enemies, who you’ll only be able to defeat with lots of stamina, skill, and firepower. And the best part is that in the countless exchanges you’ll get into, you’ll find that your opponents rarely, if ever, make mistakes, which adds to the suspense and makes for a greater challenge. The only thing that kind of detracts from the experience is that the hit feedback is a bit sub-par – if it weren’t for the life bar showing that your target has taken damage, it would be really hard to tell if you hit them or not.

What really separates The Division from other games in the genre are the well designed and well implemented RPG elements. This is even noticeable in the way they divided the in-game environment into various Manhattan neighborhoods/districts. Each section has a recommended level, and there’s really no sense in trying to take a level-10 character into an area that’s marked for level 20.

Flexible Specialists

Since character development isn’t really tied to any set class, you could call your character a “flexible specialist” of sorts. You level up by completing missions, which also unlocks more weapons and gear. All items are gathered in a tidy Inventory screen, whether they come from enemies, crates, or backpacks. Item quality is color-coded into Worn, Standard, Specialized, Superior, and High-End. The rarer an object is, the better its attributes and bonuses. Firearms, Stamina, and Electronics are an agent’s three primary attributes, influencing weapon damage, health, and skill power. The search for new weapons is an especially motivating task, and you’re going to constantly be checking stats like accuracy, reload times, range, and stability. Weapons can be modified to give you a decisive edge, whether it’s better sights, a bigger magazine, or whatever. You can even create your own weapons and equipment by collecting blueprints and crafting materials.

Typical for the genre, you get experience points mostly by completing missions, and most of the ones in The Division are really entertaining. The main objectives move the story forward, and there’s a diverse range of side missions that you shouldn’t pass up either, especially since a majority of the main missions require a certain experience level. You can get all the experience points by rescuing hostages, securing supply lines, hunting down certain targets, stopping arms deals between gangs, etc. One thing that deserves a special mention are Echos, which tell interesting stories via depictions of past events. Another really useful feature is that you can mark the path to each operation on the map, which is then visually displayed as GPS line in the actual game world.

If you decide to complete all the objectives, it’s going to take you quite a while. Then there are also daily objectives for fully leveled agents. Players who purchase the Season Pass are supposed to receive even more content later on – after all, Manhattan is just one part of New York. Finding other players is a pretty simple affair, and decent matchmaking can bring up to four players together. You can also invite other agents into your group by going up to them and pressing the button indicated on the screen. You can add friends via the group management menu, or they can join up themselves.

Welcome to the Dark Zone

Gorgeous Scenery