The Division - A 2019 Perspective

Introduction

Tom Clancy's The Division was one of the first mainstream looter shooters that grounded the formula in theme, gameplay, and art style (or at least crammed in as much graphical detail as possible to achieve realism).  Finally, we could shoot and loot in New York, not some fantasy world or far-future Russia.  During 2016, the year of its release, The Division was about as successful as most triple-A games that year.  The era was that of mildly broken games released with large day-one patches that only ever fixed some issues.  As of 2019, that problem lingers.  It's better, but it creeps up occasionally.  Still, it gained a large audience that was vocal enough to have the developer, Massive Entertainment, delay production of post-launch content to fix bugs and mechanics that weren't functional.  The procedure went well enough for a sequel to have launched to quite the acclaim for a publisher, Ubisoft, that gets its fair share of online vitriol.  So, does it hold up now and should you bother to play through it before the sequel?

Future technology from the future (the government)

Play it with Friends

If you're going to do the whole thing in co-op, the short answer is yes.  At worst, all the sections that I walked through in silence wishing someone would shoot at me would be quelled by company, or your friends asking you dumb questions for the stream.  And then everything else is shooting, looting, upgrading, and choosing how to approach enemies, the core fun in itself.  Most of the main missions were linear hikes through enemy bases, random buildings, and some notable NY City areas.  I found the enemy variation combined with the map design engaging and literally rewarding in terms of weapons granted.  I'm sure every moment that I was bored running through empty streets on the way to excitement would be better with friends. 

A World Connected in Important Ways

That NY humor

In terms of company, I played it both ways.  At random, I would ask other people in safe zones to save New York City with me.  I was surprised at how often I found people to play with three years after the game came out.  Three years.  Yes, I understand people still play games like Halo: C.E. from 2001.  I'm one of them.  But the Division didn't prove an entire genre could work outside of its established market and platform.  It didn't turn games on their head and prompt the rest of the industry to chase it.  But, the game did refine the genre as its biggest examples of success at the time were pretty raw.  Borderlands, now billed as the original looter shooter according to the third game's trailer was a very stretched out game.  It had personality, but it took a lot of hours for the gameplay to change up, and even when the aliens showed up late-game, it wasn't very different.  Still, it was fun and I played through the main iterations many times.  Then there's Destiny, a game plagued by corporate interference that gained a following anyway because Bungie's gameplay mechanics are extremely tight.  Again, the mission design was disliked enough for them to overhaul it.  And again, I played Destiny a lot.  Edit, I play Destiny a lot.  There was also Warframe.  Try it, its fanbase is precious.  Finally, Tom Clancy's The Division showed up and unleashed a super-virus on the planet as the winter approached and you were tasked with saving New York City.  A looter shooter in which the map wouldn't require driving forever to find enemies to shoot.  Probably the most impressive new feature at the time was that there were no loading screens between the social area and the game.  Borderlands was old, and it had you invite the old way.  That's not bad, and it's not useless now either, but it didn't fit the mold.  Destiny had you watch your ship endlessly fly during a loading screen to go back to the tower, find out if the weapons you picked up were trash or average, and then go back to the game.  I've waited for so many collective hours in that game over the years (again because the mechanics sunk their teeth into me) that the home backgrounds of my consoles that I played that game on are screenshots of my ship flying so that I never get surprised again.  Reminder: that first game wasn't on PC.  Anyway, The Division showed up and said no, walk into any one of a dozen safe houses and you're immediately around other players.  Or agents.  Then go on missions together, happy day.

Additionally, the Dark Zone, a self-contained zone in the middle of the map that has multiple access ports, is the only Player v.s. Player area in the game.  It's big.  Like the safe zones, it instantly transports you to a game the includes other players, which can be terrifying.  The enemy NPC's are all stronger than usual.  Then you have the added pressure of worrying about some higher level jerk sweeping through after you've done the hard work and taking your high-level loot.  It's exhilarating.  It was fun to just be at a safe zone near the dark zone and encounter high-level players knowing they might kill you in a couple of minutes.  

Wish there was a battle here

Back to the campaign, the missions I did go on with other people were generally great.  Sometimes, I was the one with the experience, so I had to help more.  Other times, my mic-less partners picked me up constantly when I got too bold.  Mostly, it was just nice to have someone watch your back.

Without help, the game was lonely.  I used a portable turret to pretend I had a friend.  I think the most critical light under which the game can be examined is solo play, in the middle of a snowstorm, surrounded by five guys with flamethrowers.  Or, alone in the middle of a snowstorm, looking up at the buildings wondering why all this verticality was wasted.  That's all to say that I had fun playing this game alone, that the main bits hold up and piece together like a game should.  They get more challenging as your level goes up.  They include multiple enemy factions from thugs with bats to a trained militia.  And the story was organized into chapters that included diversely written characters where it could, not exactly a far cry from Ubisoft's novel-like quality of its more story-driven games, Valiant Hearts, Assassin's Creed, etc.  Everything in between the main missions stood out to me as an opportunity.  That's not a terrible thing, most games with a world outside of their main missions get a little repetitive, shoot enemies in waves, track down a boss-type character, or track down a collectible.  Consider the number of games that offer average racing side missions simply because the mechanic is in the game.  Not every game attempts to recreate and utilize the unique features of New York City without making a hyperrealistic GTA-style game or throwing a superhero into it.  Every time I walked down an empty road, I wondered why there weren't side missions that included all of those fire escapes.  It happened once by the end, but snipers or flame throwers on more fire escapes seem like missed urban potential.  Plenty of the buildings require you to go inside.  I wondered why there weren't any shooting gallery moments that pitted the agent against a literal wall of enemies staring through broken windows, WWII style.  Sewer missions actually happened often enough and a DLC really pushed those, so great job on that one.  One of my favorite moments was when an outside encounter's enemies followed me inside of a building where I was doing a different side mission.  My once peaceful tracking mission turned into a dark hallway corridor shooter, shotgun against flamethrower on multiple floors.  That's the kind of experience unique to an urban map that would have been awesome to see more of, outside of my accidental fusion of them.  Far Cry 4, for example, makes the optional caves different to explore and packs them with treasure chests for your efforts.  That Ubisoft published game capitalizes on the furthest reaching parts of the map for even the player, (apparently myself) that wants to go spelunking.  In terms of The Division, there's no denying that taste aside, the missions were crafted with care and filter the gameplay a little differently every time.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and critically speaking, the game could capitalize more on the unique parts of the map, but what I think it lacks does not detract from what is presented.  It's worth the time if you like to both shoot and loot. 

Progress info in the style of Splinter Cell: Conviction's floating text concept

A Sense of Reparation

As much as I don't want to dive into weapon stats and perks, I do want to make note of this sense of reparation that comes with upgrading the equipment.  Usually, I lament games that put three walls between direct game progression and rewards.  I also understand that long games like these are mostly made of that style of game-mechanic.  The Division organized the missions into three groups.  They are three concepts to help improve the city and they correspond to the three wings of the headquarters.  One of them is medical.  So every mission that is classified as medical is green on the map, has a story reason for involving the head-of-medical character, and rewards you with medical points for completion.  Take those points, upgrade the base, and you get to watch it change for the better, which is a nice touch of peace in such a large shooter.  New and functioning facilities replace piles of boxes and dust.  Upgrading the base visibly makes the people happier and seems to drive the hopelessness out of the air.  These same upgrades grant you with equipment to use and perks that rebalance your stats.  So it's not a big wall between gameplay and rewards.  It's more of a choice that rewards you with as much in atmosphere and theme as it does firefight efficiency.  Next thing you know, you're tracking the enemy with a scopeless hunting rifle, flamethrowing auto turret watching your flank before charging the last guy with a ballistic shield and a pistol.  Save NYC if you've got the time.  

- Ben R.  
Player of Games

P.S.

I did not include Anthem because it wasn't released then.  Below is one of the most gruesome scenes from the game.  Proceed with caution.  See you in D.C. for the sequel.