The Division

It always shocks me how fast people turn on popular titles. 

Movies, TV shows, games, music -- all are susceptible to this apparent new trend to belittle and hate on things that have a generally positive reaction. 

Most recent case in point is The Division, Ubisoft's new online, mulitplayer role playing game based in the world of Tom Clancy. I'm here to dispel those complaints and prove that the game is very nearly a masterpiece and a fantastic addition to any gamer's library. 

I'll start with saying this: I am addicted. The Division has its hooks deep within me and I don't foresee it letting go anytime soon. So much so that I, for the first time in my gaming career, purchased the Season Pass several weeks after I got the game. With fingers crossed the Ubisoft means to release some additional beefy content, I can confidently say that there is plenty of initial content here to warrant a purchase. Direct comparisons to Destiny are obvious right of the bat and, despite how much I liked Destiny, I almost immediately liked The Division more. Aside from the personal preference of third person vs. first person and the more realistic approach as opposed to space opera, it's very readily apparent that there's more initial content with The Division than there was with Destiny. Granted, Destiny eventually rectified this through way of expansions and such, but the initial release was bare bones, as fun as it may have been. The Division feels beefier, meatier, and more complete the first time you log in and after 30+ hours of gameplay (probably more actually) I'm still not done with everything, nor have I super-extensively explored the Dark Zone. At the end of the day people can bitch and moan all they want about being "bored" with The Division, but I just dont see it. I've gotten just as many hours out of this game than other $60 purchases and there's still more to come. 

Gorgeous and painstakingly realistic-looking.
Even when you're under heavy fire...

The Silver Fox lives forever!!

But anyway...on to the actual game. The Division has had a tumultuous road to release. Couple its multiple years of production, several lengthy delays, and Ubisoft's rough past couple of years with gamers and this game was truthfully a potential recipe for disaster. Luckily, Ubisoft (who is sincerely one of my favorite gaming companies) knew that this had to be their big game. This needed to be their new Assassin's Creed or Splinter Cell (back in the day). A few hours into playing The Division, I was chatting with my group of friends that I often played with and we all unanimously agreed, 110% that the delays were great choices because of the superb final product that was achieved. One of the incredibly subtle things you'll notice about The Division (or maybe you won't until now) is how seamless it is. Sure, that initial load time is a little lengthy -- often 60 seconds for me -- but after that the game flows with you with hardly a loading screen or slow down. Fast traveling only takes a handful of seconds and is one of the few places you'll see a loading screen. Everything else? Immediately accessible to you should you want it. Vendors, missions, specialized wings, safe houses, loot chests, the Dark Zone, gun modifications, character customization, etc. They are all only a few buttons away and free of a loading screen. For a world this large, that's insane.

Grand Central Station never looked so good! Except in real life I suppose
but after this game, who needs real life?

And the world, while maybe small on paper, is impressive. It's a 1:1 recreation of a specific portion of New York City. Saying that it's only a "portion" of NYC makes it seems smaller than it really is, but keep in mind I said 1:1 recreation...that means that streets are identical in location and length, actually making a map that's significantly bigger than one might anticipate. Seeing some of your favorite New York sights is marvelous in The Division in part because it feels real. Times Square is massive and lit brightly, the Empire State Building towers over everything around it, and the Flatirons building is instantly recognizable as you round the corner into the Flatirons District. Your favorite shops and features won't all be there -- mainly for copyright issues -- but the amount of detail in the world is staggering, probably the most significant since Grand Theft Auto V or The Witcher 3. I remember seeing that initial debut gameplay video a while back (you know, the one where the character closed the car door while taking cover and everyone lost their minds) and I have to say, even though it was a year or more back, the actual game is nearly identical. For Ubisoft, this is a huge win after some disappointing decreases in quality from Assassin's Creed Unity and Watch Dogs when compared to their game trailers. It helps too that the game is generally gorgeous. All of the little details add up to a immersive experience that looks like your legitimately running around a mostly deserted New York City. Light filters between the building rows/columns, snow falls gently at times and blizzards at others, character models look great and also pack a lot of detail, and in general the game is just disturbingly gorgeous to look at given that almost everyone is dead. It's a big game so graphical hiccups and glitches every once in a while are a given (and often hilarious) but they're few and far between to where it doesn't ruin the experience at all. Combine all of this with the fact that the transitions between everything are seamless and it's a world that feels "real" and lived in. Or at least, used-to-be-lived in...

Shootin' bullets and killing foes with mullets!

One area where The Division blows Destiny out of the water, and what was one of my biggest complaints about that game, is that the story is great. At times it seems a bit misguided, but the overall premise and main plot points are fantastic and intriguing. So much so that I plan on reading the prequel novel that I just discovered! Having finished the game I can tell that there's a lot more places where it could go and I ended with a solid balance of questions left unanswered and answers that were provided. Unfortunately, as is the case with most videogames, there aren't really memorable characters. In this New York apocalypse, where a deadly virus that broke out on Black Friday has decimated much of the city, I didn't find many characters to care about other than myself and my friends mainly because I didn't know anyone's name. Part of that is my fault for not paying outright attention, but the game does such a good job making you interested in the mythology of the city's downfall and the virus itself that most of the cast is forgettable. 

Gameplay is strong in The Division and I can tell that Ubisoft borrowed a lot of the gunplay from Watch Dogs, arguably that game's strongest aspect. Cover-to-cover maneuvers are the best in any game I've ever played because of how logically they appear on screen, and the gun mechanics are realistic enough to frustrate, but arcadey enough to where you learn and adapt. Each gun class handles dramatically different and as a player, you're fairly mobile. Rolling became a favorite pastime of mine, as did climbing obstacles to get the vertical advantage. If you don't like running and shooting dudes, there truthfully isn't much for you to do here then and I suppose that's a bit of a complaint. There really isn't too much variety to the actual gameplay...no lockpick minigames, no driving missions, etc. Personally, it's the game's tremendous RPG elements that keep me going. Skills and talents and perks have wide varieties that take a decent amount of time to unlock, but unlocks happen quickly along the way. Leveling up your gear and finding new gear is fast and furious...in the first 10 hours of my gameplay I was swapping out a piece of gear (guns, body armor, holsters, backpacks, etc.) almost every 10 minutes. Clearly, the addiction is strong with this one and I succumbed to it. Picking up loot and finding it was and still is exciting...it just happens rarer when your high level. As I mentioned before, each character model has an impressive amount of detail and along with actual, functioning gear, you can choose aspects of your character's appearance. Among my group of friends, my character became iconic (or infamous?) as The Silver Fox. He was a badass, good looking older gentleman with a thick, slick backed head of grey hair, a tribal neck tattoo, and aviators. He sounds douchy but looks awesome and I became, as silly as it sounds, highly attached to him and his appearance. 

Missions within the NPC portion of the world are memorable and I really liked a few of them...a particular all out warzone at Grand Central Terminal probably being my favorite. Once you're brave enough, you can then enter the PvP arena known as The Dark Zone, and this is truly where The Division provides something next-gen. The Dark Zone has the best loot, but the most dangerous enemies. You can kill other live players to steal their loot, but for a penalty. It's a high-pressure and high-tension environment with some truly memorable gaming moments. Encountering another group of players when both groups have full gear that they're trying to extract is an odd but incredibly fun balance of humor and intensity. Both groups are ready to "start beef" at any moment but the question is whether or not either one wants to take the risk. It sounds like there may be a lot of loopholes to this formula for people to act like annoying tools and truthfully there are still a few. But for as many ways as the Dark Zone could have gone wrong, Ubisoft did a hell of a job asking "what if" and closing many of those loopholes. 

Incredible detail throughout

As a whole, The Division will be a lot of different things to a lot of different people. I could easily find players, mainly those who are playing alone, getting tired of it and thinking it's boring. I can also see some getting highly addicted and losing themselves in it. But for this player, The Silver Fox of New York City, I was very, very impressed at what Ubisoft was able to accomplish and provide on Day 1. For a game like this, that's huge, and it speaks a lot to their long term goals and the longevity they hope to achieve. Sure there are issues here and there and, generally speaking, once you hit the level cap the excitement wanes a bit, but even if I were to be done with The Division today, I still got tons of quality, exciting playtime out of it. It brings a decent amount of new ideas to the table and really creates a gaming world that's convincing and compelling. Every game like this will have its haters, but this amateur game review certainly is not one of them. 

The Division is a marvel and it seems as if all those delays truly paid off. 

CONS:

• Once you reach Level 30 and clear out all the side missions, there isn't much to do (yet!) other than hitting up the Dark Zone or your daily missions. This is where Ubisoft will need to focus its attention with the expansions
• Forgettable characters in a compelling story. Not sure I could tell you any of their names but I sure as hell could tell you the plot
• The gameplay does have a certain repetitiveness to it. This is a run-and-gun cover based game. If that's not your thing, then I find it hard to suggest this one to you
• Really intimidating system and interface when you first start out. It's not all that intuitive until you've played around in it for a while and hell, there's still stuff I don't know what it does and/or means
• I feel like it could have used a few more story missions
• Gameplay suffers in really tight corridors/environments

PROS:

• All the delays paid off. The Division Day 1 content is superb and provided me with numerous hours of gameplay
• Completely seamless environment after that initial load screen. Mightily impressive, highly unrecognized, but very much appreciated
• This creation of New York City stands as one of the best ever. Because of its 1:1 scale, the attention to detail is staggering and the graphics prove that this is a truly next-gen game
• I know I literally just mentioned the graphics, but seriously, this game is gorgeous
• Stellar user interface that flows nicely with the world and feels natural once you learn how to use it
• Intriguing story that has a very scary premise
• Solid gameplay with a few really fantastic areas (cover-to-cover movements)
• Deep RPG elements with frequent rewards keep this game highly addicting. Upgrading your gear and weapons is constant and character appearance is fun as well. #SilverFox4Lyfe
• Each gun type feels drastically different from one another. Really fun because it leads to different play styles for all
• Great options when it comes to perks, talents, powers, etc. Some are rather useless, but others are fantastic and truly...even the great players can make good use of the weaker powers
• Single player missions that run from great to borderline-iconic and are even fun to replay
• Tons to do, see, and collect on a map that is bigger than you might expect
• The Dark Zone is a brilliant idea executed almost as brilliantly. It will frustrate all at times, but ultimately Ubisoft gets props for trying to think through the logic and closing a lot of its gaps
• So far, the post game support has been stellar, and thus far, free
• Fun game to play by yourself, but becomes an absolute blast when playing with friends
• The Division is a perfect example of a game that a company took their time on to get right, and mostly knocked it out of the park. This is how console massive online RPGs should be done 

Rath's Review Score: 9.5/10