Tom Clancy's The Division Reviews
Smart, stupid and scrappy, The Division is an ambitious online RPG that delivers strategy and spectacle in equal measure.
The Division is a challenging co-op cover shooter and a gorgeous open world diminished by bloated and unnecessary RPG tropes.
There's definitely some decent meat to chew on in The Division, but it's usually surrounded by too much gristle to enjoy it for long. Both in combat and out, there are some clearly good ideas, especially the tense and dangerous Dark Zone. But they're not spread evenly or interwoven cleanly enough to form a cohesive, consistently enjoyable loop. Ultimately, The Division's overly busy, conflicted design philosophies drown its best ingredients in a bland slurry that never quite comes together into a cohesive dish.
Repetitive by design, and at heart a fairly pedestrian third person shooter, but the online co-op and promise of never-ending rewards is hard to resist.
There's a definite delight to claiming the spoils of your killing, though. The Division scratches that 'gimme slightly better loot' itch, hard and fast. You're constantly bagging vaguely superior gear and flicking into the menus to equip it and make your character slightly more powerful or useful.
The spongy, fantastical gunplay stands at odds with the Tom Clancy brand, but The Division features some great combat arenas and a well designed loot system that keeps you coming back for better gear
The Division's MMO aspirations get in the way of its shooter fundamentals
Despite oddly overpowered enemies and repetitive level grinding, The Division succeeds thanks to its rich world, strong campaign, and impressive online functionality.
The Division's mechanical underpinnings are sturdy enough to make me forget how much of a bummer its story can be; its shooting and looting are slick enough to make me wonder if it still might evolve into something more inspired.
The side content is too repetitive, but The Division's main content and exciting multiplayer component stand out and make this thing worth seeing, provided you've got some like-minded friends around.
Featuring one of the most remarkable and realistic video game environments ever created, The Division offers a disturbingly dystopian take on a ruined Manhattan. Its action is similarly brutal. Although much of it boils down to firefights and shoot-outs, most are very well executed to deliver truly exciting and thrilling gameplay. Add layers of RPG-like complexity and a really solid storyline, and you have a game that, while occasionally flawed, really does deliver the goods.
The Division is more fun with friends, but lets face it, what game isn't? After my group logged off and I was left alone in the world, the veneer started to wear off, and I was left facing the blemishes all on my own. The long term plan is to pump out more content. I'm unsure of its efficacy but for now there's more than enough there, especially with the organic PVP.
They say to avoid the pitfalls of the future, we must look to the past. At the very least for Ubisoft, this mantra could have been thought of a lot more in creating The Division. Like BioWare and Rockstar Games, the French-Canadian publisher has proved time and time again that they are near unbeatable when it comes to hatching up brilliant new IPs. Sadly, they are just as frustrating in what exactly these grand idea games add up to. Watch Dogs, Assassin's Creed, and now The Division are all the kinds of worlds I love to lose myself in. But I think we're at impasse. Entertainment is ever evolving, and that goes double for videogames. It's just not enough to make a game that is big and richly-detailed, only to then tie down players by saying "look at all this, but seriously just do this… pew pew pew!"
By and large, The Division lives up to the years of hype and high expectations. At its core, it marries solid cover-based shooting with a loot heavy RPG and an enticingly beautiful setting, but it really comes together when you can team up with friends and take on enemies, whether rebellious AI factions or other agents in the fraught and tense Dark Zone.
Frustrations with its servers aside, The Division is what I wished Bungie's Destiny would have been. It has an engrossing and fascinating story, a wide variety of loot to collect, and collectibles and side missions that help give a much clearer picture of the terrifying reality of what would happen if New York City was hit with a deadly, flu-like virus.
Featuring one of the most remarkable and realistic video game environments ever created, The Division offers a disturbingly dystopian take on a ruined Manhattan. Its action is similarly brutal. Although much of it boils down to firefights and shoot-outs, most are very well executed to deliver truly exciting and thrilling gameplay. Add layers of RPG-like complexity and a really solid storyline, and you have a game that, while occasionally flawed, really does deliver the goods.
The Division takes a stab at the Destiny formula with new strengths and weaknesses, as well as some familiar ones. Try it.
The Division is a wonderful mix of genres and styles, resulting in a beautiful, fascinating and addictive game.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Taking the loot-based shooter to a new level, The Division features a gorgeous world to explore, full of interesting items to collect, and tons of players to team up with. The enemies are still bullet sponges, and the missions can get repetitive, but the social elements allow for a lot of fun to be had once you get a good group together. An engaging story and enjoyable characters are just icing on the top of what will likely be one of the best shooters of the year.
One of the most promising new IPs of this generation so far. Massive, clever and addictive, The Division is Ubisoft at their best.