Something great that just fell short of true greatness.
Some key points that this game offers:
- Authentic Open World
- RPG meets Realism
- Tactical Gameplay
- Brilliant Story line
Review Update:
TC’s The Division has been out for quite a while now and the developers listened to issue’s the gamers had with the game. Through numerous updates, new content has been introduced into the game. There are no more things to do post game, such as incursions. A lot of the mechanics have been tweaked and improved to better the overall experience. The Dark Zone, general exploration, and pretty much everything else got some improvements to ensure that the entirety of the game offers the best possible experience that it can.
For a full list of Patches and Updates, click here.
Gameplay & Controls:
The game can be played with keyboard and mouse, or with a controller. It has been beautifully optimized to play comfortably on either, it comes down to your preference.
The game handles smoothly, it is fun and very responsive. We have a large open world environment that can be explored. There are numerous structures and other objects that can be climbed, jumped over, or leaned against for cover. Exploration is a fun experience that does not just reward you with loot, but also with incredible beauty and memorable scenery.
Welcome to the Apocalypse; you are a sleeper agent who got activated when all else failed! You are about to step into a nightmare! A deadly bio terror attack has left Manhattan shattered and it is up to you to secure, salvage and ensure a sense of order amidst the chaos. Equipped with state of the art equipment and skills you will set out on a mission to bring back law and order.
There are a number of powerful abilities that you can make use of; such as the portable turret that you can deploy, or the sticky bomb. These abilities really allow you to take tactical combat one step further as you take on the gangs of Manhattan. A lot of strategic options are available to you, it is pretty much entirely up to you and how you choose to tackle each situation.
Take on entire factions that will do everything in their power to stop you from taking away their ill-gotten power. The mission is to find out, what happened, why it happened, and what can be done to put a stop it. To accomplish this, you will set out on some serious exploration, solo, or with friends. The game can be played entirely cooperatively with up to three other players. Albeit that the game was meant for Co-op play, it can be played entirely solo.
Whether you play solo or with friends the one thing that you will have going for you is tactical options. The game relies heavily on making use of cover to cover mechanics as you take on enemies. Its guns meet RPG meets MMO, a fresh and rather unique mixture.
Just like you would ‘hack’ away at enemies, here you will fill them up with bullets until they eventually die. To make this more eventful, the game introduced tactical options such as cover to cover mechanics, along with suppressing enemies to get you squad mates to flank the enemy. There are quite a few unique elements present here that makes for a rather unique experience.
Graphics:
The game world has been designed to authentically represent a scaled version of Manhattan itself. They did this rather beautifully. The insides of buildings look and feel like real buildings shaped and sized to real life versions of buildings we make use of in most of our everyday lives. The streets are broad and the alleys narrow, perfectly sized to add to the realistic look of the city.
The same can be said for almost every aspect of the game, everything has been made to represent real life sized versions of it. To further build upon this marvel is the incredible detail that went into all of this. Not only do they look the part in size, but so does everything in fine detail and beauty.
Exploring this city is truly a memorable experience. The level of detail for a massive Open World environment like this is truly remarkable. Another impressive feature is the weather system that the game has. One moment it is sunny as you are strolling down the streets and then you are hit with a blizzard, and there is snow everywhere and visibility is zero. The realism of this is further increased by the gorgeous day and night cycle that the game has.
There is so much beauty present in this game that you will be in awe most of the time. Character detail is just as spot on, there are a wide range of characters that you will meet, all vastly unique with impeccable and impressive appearances.
The cinematic scenes are quite fantastic to watch again and again.
Under the settings, we have quite a few options to fully customize how our game runs.
Sounds:
Simply marvelous does not begin to cover it. The soundtrack is an absolute masterpiece. It brings life to this game in a way that words cannot describe. It is further enhanced by the brilliant background sounds that further liven up the individual aspects of the game.
Then there is the voice over artists that took it a step further by bringing life to the characters in such a way that you can’t help but pay close attention to every conversation that takes place. There is so much emotion behind every tone that it adds to the seriousness of what the game’s plot is about.
Under the settings menu, we have full volume control.
Replayability:
The game world is filled with collectables that you can go in search of, these all grant XP as you find them. There is also a rather large amount of side quests that you can interact with and then encounters. Encounters serve a rather unique role since a key reward is a resource that is used to improve your base of operations.
Then there is also the means to replay the main missions on a higher difficulty, which also increases the rewards earned. Unfortunately, for a game that presents itself as an MMO, there is not much in terms of an MMO experience. One would think that the game would have more activities and other to dos, unfortunately, there is not much else.
The game does have The Dark Zone; a PvP/ PvE area that you can explore. It scales to your current level. It is rich in rewards but also in danger.
MGR Gaming’s Conclusions:
Spoilers Ahead:
As far as Tom Clancy games go, this is a brilliant new Gameworld. Even though this is the first one where weapon damage is less realistic than the others. It still gives you that fantastic Tom Clancy experience.
The game paints a very visual and vivid picture of how bad things have gotten, as services failed things piled up and the situation got much worse. It paints a very realistic picture of what such an event or any world level catastrophic event could cause.
The gameplay is both good and bad. The enemies really are “bullet sponges” and that isn’t just due to the game being an RPG; The games combat mechanics really need some balancing. The end result isn’t really that rewarding, to be honest. For an RPG one would expect the DPS to be comprised of some unique modifiers and other contributors, unfortunately, that is not the case here. It basically comes down to finding gear with better stats, and no unique modifiers. It is quite difficult to accurately measure your combat strength and prowess due to how the system was set up, further bringing down the ‘wow factor’ here.
The above does bring the overall long-term joy down that the game offers, especially when it comes down to end game grinding and playing, however, I am hopeful that a future patch will rebalance this.
The gameplay is fun and rather memorable; however, it also gets lonely quite fast. There are, unfortunately, no random occurrences or even scripted occurrences for you to come across whilst exploring Manhattan. There is the odd chance that you will run into some JTF troops randomly patrolling the streets or engaging enemies. That however is it, which is disappointing, especially since this is considered an Open World MMO. One would expect there to be plenty more to see and do.
The Dark Zone is a rather unique aspect. You get to explore a brand new zone that is ready to face you. Enemies scaled to your level and to make matters even more challenging, rogue agents. You will meet fellow agents whilst exploring the Dark Zone, and things can go either way. They might aid you or they might attack, kill, and rob you of your hard earned loot.
The Division has a lot of potential and it is fun as is. It can be better for sure, once a few updates fix the current problems that exist and perhaps add some new features.
The Official trailer for Tom Clancy’s The Division™.
By: MGRza
Date: 15 March 2016
Additional Info:
Platforms: PC: Xbox One: PlayStation 4
Genre: Action: Adventure: Atmospheric: Co-op: Massively Multiplayer: MMORPG: Multiplayer: Online Co-Op: Open World: Post-apocalyptic: RPG: Singleplayer: Stealth: Survival: Tactical: Third-Person Shooter
Censor Rating: Blood: Intense Violence: Strong Language
Age Rating: 17
Developer: Massive Entertainment
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: 8 March 2016
Due to a Data Loss, new images were used to update the Review.
MGR Gaming Steam Curator:
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32364038/
