Tom Clancy's The Division Review

As you travel through Manhattan in The Division, you'll hear the cries of desperate citizens, gunshots, and the wind passing through empty buildings. The laws that once kept society stable have crumbled, and now power is left in the hands of those with the most guns, food, and people. As a Division agent, you're charged with restoring order and, in your journey, will collect a series of powerful weapons and armor to eliminate the gangs that now hold power. The Division is Ubisoft's latest new IP, and unlike Watch Dogs, you'll hear people talking about it for months to come.

The Division is the last line of defense between total anarchy and order. As an agent of The Division, you're trained to handle apocalyptic situations, just waiting for the executive order. You create your own agent from a series of customizable options. The creation system is impressive, but when compared to other games, such as Bethesda's Fallout 4 or The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, its options are lacking. 

A new virus called the Dollar Flu has ravaged the country. You've been charged with aiding the restoration of Manhattan by returning an order to the government and eliminating all hostile threats to the mission. The narrative is strong, with banter on the radio continuously explaining your current objective and side missions fleshing out your goal. Even when I strayed from the main objective, the goal of rebuilding Manhattan was constantly being updated.

The developers of The Division have crafted a full recreation of Manhattan that surpasses Radical Entertainment's Prototype version of the Big Apple. It's dense and detailed with an original, distinct style. The streets of Manhattan are filled with abandoned cars, dead bodies, and homeless dogs. After living in NYC my entire life, it's shocking to see so many familiar locations animated with such detail that easily rivals other open-world games like Grand Theft Auto's Los Santos or environments in The Witcher 3.

The enemies that populate this world are dangerous. Enemy fractions generally share the same enemy types, consisting of snipers, grenadiers, close-range fighters, and heavily armored enemies. The Rikers are escaped convicts taking advantage of the anarchy. They're willing to kill anyone and destroy anything to keep their position of power. The Cleaners are a fanatic group that believes that they must burn every trace of the virus to save humanity. 

Enemies are smart and will effectively use cover, flank, and attempt to push players out of cover. Each enemy has detailed weaknesses, such as exposed explosives, pregnable fuel tanks, and bright visors that expose their location. Strangely, Ubisoft chose to implement a temporary 5-second marking system, but once engaged, enemies are generally displayed on the screen.

However, it's frustrating that enemies are gifted with impeccable aiming, and even when they are in covenant, enemies are able to target players effectively. This becomes more infuriating, considering some enemies act as giant bullet sponges or cause vexing amounts of damage regardless of level or gear.

The Division doesn't have an ideal tutorial system, so expect to learn a lot from other players or online tutorials. For example, I wasn't told that I could slide down ladders, that bleeding prevents you from sprinting, or how to switch explosives.

The gameplay in The Division is satisfying. Instead of fully regenerative health, players are given a three-segment health bat that regenerates depending on which part their health meter is on. Since players cannot crouch or remain prone, remaining covered is essential to survival. Special abilities are separated into three categories: medical focuses on healing, security centers on defense, and technology offers more offensive attacks.

Perks are earned by upgrading each wing of your Base of Operations, and passion and abilities are gained in conjunction. Players can switch between any one of the three classes, including perks, but upgrading each of the three wings to gain access to new abilities requires specific resources that can be obtained from completing encounters, which are random events around the city and story missions.

Side missions and encounters don't share the same thrill as story missions. These minor tasks are mostly recycled missions, requiring you to locate a missing person, return power to radio towers, or kill a high-value target. The campaign missions are varied, offering thrilling objectives in well-designed levels that feel dynamic throughout the game.

While story missions can be replayed at any time, even on hard or difficult, experience is only earned for the first completion. This requires players to play through the repetitive side missions and encounters to acquire resources and experience. The bright side of playing repetitive missions is that you'll end up exploring certain parts of the city you probably would've never seen before.

At the end of each campaign mission, players are given more context. These rewards range from surveillance footage to audio tapes, each providing more insight into the world and its people. The campaign alone will take around 25 hours to complete, and with collectables and the PvP area called The Dark Zone, players can find themselves playing for hours after beating all the main missions. 

Looting is the main reason for completing anything in The Division. Guns, armor, cosmetic items, and modifications all have different variants and rarity. Players can equip two primary weapons and one sidearm. Each weapon can be modded with scopes, paint jobs, grips, and barrels. Most Division agents will eventually look the same, but Ubisoft's attempt to give players the ability to feel unique is commendable. 

You can play The Division either alone or cooperatively. Difficulty depends on how many players are in your squad, but for those looking for the best experience, playing with a full squad is a must. With a full team, fights blossom into amazing hellish battles, and the adrenaline for triumphing over a difficult encounter is second to none. The game requires an online connection at all times, and with the exception of launch day, the Division servers have held up to the high traffic of players.

The Division doesn't have traditional competitive modes such as Capture the Flag or Team Deathmatch; instead, all PvP combat takes place in The Dark Zone. Here, players will encounter the toughest enemies in the game and potentially hostile players. It's here that the loot system shines.

Players can only carry a specific amount of items in The Dark Zone. Once collected these items must beextracted via helicopter before they can be used, players always run the risk of being killed and having your gear stolen from you. If killed by another player or NPC, you lose everything you've collected. If you choose to kill another player, you'll be marked as a rogue agent and highlighted on everyone's map as a target. At any moment, potential allies can turn rogue, even if they're on your team. This tension of risk versus reward constantly made me question whether I should continue forward or extract my gear.

The Dark Zone also hosts an entirely different currency and leveling system. Your Dark Zone level grows based on how much experience you earn from killing enemies. Currency earned in The Dark Zone can only be used on items from specific vendors who offer the best purchasable items in the game. If killed, you not only lose your loot but a portion of the experience and money you've earned.

Whether in The Dark Zone or completing missions I always felt like my agent was getting stronger with each new piece of gear however it also revealed a large issue in The Division, what was the point? Gathering powerful gear is enticing, and taking chances in The Dark Zone was exciting, but without a selective PvP playlist or a powerful boss to test it on to obtain new items, it began to lose its appeal.

Currently, The Division's end-game content consists of players collecting increasingly powerful loot to use against other players to test in the hard or challenging variations of the campaign missions. It's up to the player to determine how long they wish to keep up the grind.

The Division impresses on many fronts. The engrossing world is teeming with areas to explore, and the campaign is too enticing to walk away from. The lack of mobility is upsetting, but after playing for hours, this fault began to bleed away. The Division satisfies, and those wishing to explore the destroyed city of Manhattan will find plenty to do. Once you start playing, it'll be hard to stop.