This cover-based 3rd person shooter is addicting, immersive, and time consuming in all the best ways. The story is based around the pandemic of “the dollar flu” or “green poison” released on Black Friday in New York City. Those remaining are either too weak/unwilling to escape the quarantine or have taken things into their own hands.
This is where you, the player, come in. You are a Division Agent, a secretive police force that is heavily armed and trained for situations like this one. Your job is to maintain peace in the city while finding as much information about the virus as possible. This also includes setting up three major “wings” of a base of operations (technology, security, and medical. This of course is where the mission/quest/objective aspect of the game comes into play.
Tom Clancy’s The Division – Screenshot of team street encounter – from Ubisoft
Getting to explore a city that is typically filled with millions creates an eerie and exciting backdrop for this story line. The developers made NYC very realistic and accurate, I have been there many times myself and can identify a lot of the locations, which is awesome! Some people said the game leveling can be a bit of a grind. I completely disagree. Some of the missions can be difficult even with at the proper level which makes it feel like more of a challenge than a grind. Also you are consistently increasing your gear level either by drops or by crafting.
Another aspect of the game that helps the grind feeling is that it can be played both individually or with others. The main mission area is challenging but not impossible as a solo player. I would however definitely recommend playing with other players. Not only are the missions easier that way but the strategy aspect can be fun as well. This is especially helpful when you enter the dark zone.
Tom Clancy’s The Division – Concept Art – from Ubisoft
The dark zone is an area that is PvP and an exciting one at that. You can just grind for NPC drops or you actually go “rogue” and attack other Division Agents. To me this was probably one of the most exciting differences between this game and Destiny. The dark zone is a war zone with NPCs and other players. The best gear is dropped here and is also available for purchase. That is if you can keep yourself alive long enough to extract it. If not the gear is lost or picked up by other players.
Of course not every aspect of a videogame can be perfect. There were some bugs with NPC’s getting stuck and scenery coming into and out of view. The content purchase directly from U-Play or Steam is not interchangeable, so be careful to order from the same one twice when ordering a season pass or DLC. The location mapping can be a little tricky as the route shown isn’t always the most direct or the most clear to follow. Also, like most other games, when taking the multiple floors into consideration in NYC it can be hard to determine what level the markers are trying to show.
Tom Clancy’s The Division – Screenshot of Echo mechanic – from Ubisoft
One last thing I would like to bring up before stating my overall opinion is that the clothing customization makes little sense to me. As someone who always looks for better gear the clothing item drops confuse me. They are dropped quite often by NPC’s but don’t improve your player’s stats. This is probably something I would personally change just to make finding “the best” gear a little more challenging than just armor.
Overall this game is worth its price tag! You can even keep an eye out for sales as they have been very frequent since the game dropped about a week ago. The missions are challenging and the game play is user friendly. I also must admit as a native New Yorker, they have gotten the NY accent and attitude almost down pact, we probably curse more though, or at least I do. This is a game many people will continue to talk and rave about. I can’t wait to see how they continue this storyline next year. Until then I foresee many more hours of The Division coming my way.