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Will Tom Clancy's The Division Deliver?

Will Tom Clancy's The Division Deliver? - Preview

by Brandon J. Wysocki , posted on 07 February 2016 / 6,412 Views

Tom Clancy's The Division has been a long time coming. Its announcement and reveal trailer garnered a lot of interest back in 2013, but as with a number of other recent Ubisoft titles it's had a bit of a storied developmental process. With its launch now roughly a month away I wanted to share my experiences, expectations, and concerns about the anticipated title. 

I’ve had the opportunity to play both the alpha as well as the closed beta for The Division on the Xbox One. I’m not usually one to read the pesky fine print of user agreements, but I'm led to believe that my discussing the alpha version too much would put me at risk of grievous bodily harm, so my focus here will be on the closed beta.

A View of The City

The closed beta is of course more relevant anyway, in that it represents a more recent build of the game. It also boasts a number of improvements over the alpha. That's not to dismiss the alpha entirely - I was pleased and entertained by it, but after finishing most of the story content that was on offer (which wasn’t much), I opted to go back to playing Rainbow Six: Siege and Phantasy Star Online (I still love that game!).

I can’t quite put my finger on why I got hooked into the beta so much more than the alpha, but that is nonetheless what happened. Even knowing that all of my progress would be lost, I was quickly engrossed in exploring the game's beautifully rendered New York City. The desolate, post-pandemic city looks great and has a terrific atmosphere which is somewhat reminiscent of the 2007 film I Am Legend

Just like I Am Legend

The beta allows you to explore a large part of the city, at least in comparison to the alpha. As with most open-world sandbox game worlds, you cannot explore the interiors of most of the buildings, but the more massive buildings of New York prove to be welcome exceptions. Along with the alleys and sewers, it feels like there is going to be a large game world to explore. Indeed I find myself wondering what I failed to uncover in my time with the game, which is always a great feeling to have in a game like this.

While the setting and graphics are great so far, the story remains up in the air. Not much has been revealed outside of the fact that the world has been ravaged by a pandemic - even in the beta - and while there is certainly potential for a solid narrative, in a game like this which is designed to keep you interested beyond the completion of the main story, I fully expect that The Division's main pillars to be gameplay, presentation, and loot, not story.

Talking of presentation - The Division boasts a sleek, streamlined, augmented reality interface that compliments the game well. And that's more important than it may initially seem because there’s a fair amount to manage, so having an interface and menu system that facilitates inventory management rather than making the whole thing a chore is crucial. 

Discovering Locations

The gameplay itself is about as good as I’ve experienced in a third person shooter that is open world-based. It has a good method for switching between cover locations whereby aiming at the piece of cover and holding A will cause your character to automatically run towards the designated area. Releasing the button at any point stops the process, allowing you to change up on the fly. That said, the game does still feel clunky at times. 

The AI is impressive and oftentimes challenging, but I feel like part of this difficulty comes from the AI's ability to move around the environment more efficiently than users can.

Another concern I have is that when I first started playing The Division enemies seemed to be bullet-sponges, making the weapons and gunplay feel a little unsatisfactory. This has been improved slightly in the beta, but it's still quite common to have to use the better half of a magazine to kill a single enemy at first. Fortunately as you acquire better weapons things improve immensely, such that by the end of the beta higher level enemies tended to be pretty well balanced compared to my own firepower.

AR Example

Loot-wise I’m very pleased with what I’ve seen. There's a good variety of clothing, armor, and weapons to find. Better yet, your weapons can be customized with accessories which really makes them feel like they're yours. It's still early days, but with color-coded rare weapons to find and lots of accessories with potential for extra perks, I found myself wanting to keep playing the beta simply to see what else I could conjure up.

An interesting area of the game called the Dark Zone is supposed to be the best area to find new items. This part of The Division takes the already impressive game environment and makes it feel grittier. It was genuinely exciting to enter the Dark Zone for the first time and it includes “contaminated” rare items that have to be extracted before you can make use of them, which naturally provides an opportunity for computer-controlled enemies to show up and try to throw a wrench in your plans.

It's not just tougher AI enemies you have to worry about in the Dark Zone, however; it also allows for PvP action. If you die while carrying contaminated items you drop them and anyone can pick them up. It's not at all unusual to see firefights erupt between human players as an extraction helicopter shows up. It’s the perfect time to ambush opponents as you can potentially grab the loot from your victim(s) and still extract it on the helicopter they triggered.

Rogues on the Run

The Dark Zone is an interesting and fitting concept given the premise of the game, but I have concerns about it. I’m afraid that, although the Dark Zone is where a lot of the game's longevity will come from, it will punish beginners, solo-players, and less-than-full groups as they'll easily fall prey to larger, more experienced groups. 

A lot of the time you'll see full groups constantly on patrol trying to kill other players, even when they have no loot. Occasionally, though, you'll encounter strangers helping clear groups of AI enemies from an extraction zone, or even rogue players, and these make up some of The Division's best moments. Unfortunately, at least as often, you'll witness betrayal and people losing their hard-earned items. It’s fun and unique, but I worry about whether the game will strike the correct balance, because if it doesn't then it's easy to see most players quickly feeling rather alienated.

Dark Zone Picture 2

It's also inconvenient that your levels and money are completely distinct between the Dark Zone and rest of the game. The perks and gear you've acquired from the rest of the game help you in obvious ways in the Dark Zone, but you no longer gain normal XP, just Dark Zone XP, and the same goes for money. The items from the Dark Zone can be used in either part of the game, but again the progress you make there in terms of XP and money really only benefits you in the Dark Zone. 

The Division is off to a great start based on my time with it. That is perhaps most evident in how eager I am to get my hands on the finished product.  I’ve seen people compare The Division to Destiny, and for good reason. They are both hybrids of sorts that seem to cater to largely the same audience. But while I had high hopes for Destiny, which started off strong, it ultimately disappointed me. The same could well prove to be the case with The Division - it will take some time after launch to really judge the game properly - but so far it shows a lot of promise and I can't wait to play it again.

_____________________________________________________________________

Brandon J. Wysocki is a writer for VGChartz.  You're invited to contact Brandon (username SpaceLegends) in the comments below or through private messages on VGChartz, or even at his barely ever used and effectively dormant Twitter account @BrandonJWysocki


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20 Comments
Sixteenvolt420 (on 07 February 2016)

It looks cool, but i'm gonna hold off for a few months, until more of the game is released. I also have way too much stuff to play already.

  • +2
Mr_No (on 07 February 2016)

With the lots of things people have been saying lately, my excitement for this game is weaning. I'm still on board due to its exciting gameplay, but there's this feeling that Ubisoft still hasn't learned from their and others past.

  • +2
OneKartVita (on 07 February 2016)

Haven't played the beta but the open beta will make or break my decision. I'm definitely interested in an open world game I can enjoy with friends. It's firmly on my radar. Hopefully reviews but more importantly my impressions are good enough to buy.

  • +1
SpaceLegends OneKartVita (on 08 February 2016)

I'm a huge fan of betas and free trials for a game. One, I think it shows a certain confidence in the game makers; more importantly, it allows you to form you own thoughts and opinions of the game.

  • +1
SpaceLegends OneKartVita (on 08 February 2016)

your own

  • 0
OneKartVita OneKartVita (on 08 February 2016)

Well said. Plus it will give them a head start on fixing online connection issues.

  • +2
Chazore (on 07 February 2016)

Well the fact it requires Uplay and being an online based sponge shooter, I can't say I'm thrilled with joy. From a visual standpoint it's more or less meh to me.

  • +1
S.Peelman (on 08 February 2016)

Honestly?

  • 0
SpaceLegends S.Peelman (on 08 February 2016)

Honestly what?

  • 0
TallSilhouette (on 07 February 2016)

I've really cooled off on it. I expect it to have a similar reception as Destiny.

  • 0
SpaceLegends TallSilhouette (on 08 February 2016)

I fear that it will be similar to Destiny not just in reception, but in quality and its ability to captivate me and gamers like me. I hope its better, and am beginning to feel that it will be. I'm eager to find it.

  • 0
Mystro-Sama (on 07 February 2016)

At the very least the performance options on consoles has me interested.

  • 0
Wagram (on 07 February 2016)

It's going to be a divisive experience based on what i've seen.

  • 0
StokedUp (on 07 February 2016)

It felt a little bland and shallow to me. I won't be buying it after what I played.

  • 0
kooltrex (on 07 February 2016)

Looks good but

Ubisoft
lol no

  • 0
Shiken (on 07 February 2016)

I hope it is at least worth the purchase and a fun time even if it doesn't live up to the hype. This is the type of game most of my PSN friends and I actually connect with (example we loved Destiny together, even if it sucked solo). If this one doesn't hold up we are SOL till Uncharted 4. I passed on BO3 this year, so thats out as well.

  • 0
SpaceLegends Shiken (on 08 February 2016)

So far it seems like it will at least be that. I could be wrong though.

  • 0
Killy_Vorkosigan (on 07 February 2016)

UPLAY = UDONTPLAY. I'll pass, I'm fully on XCOM2 / Helldivers

  • 0
Gamemaster87 (on 07 February 2016)

Nah, it won't.

  • -2
Semmie (on 07 February 2016)

This game is a fraud

  • -8