Why I Can't Stop Playing The Division

I've never really been one for online multiplayer shooters; the post apocalyptic approach to storytelling is beginning to wane on me and I've got to have my arm twisted and be in the right mood to jump into the complicated systems of an RPG. Yet somehow, the combination of the three in Tom Clancy's The Division has me hooked like a common carp. While it might seem like a no brainer for someone who has been (lovingly?) given the name UbiDom by his colleagues, there is reason, and it's not just a glaring case of fanboy-itis.

I dabbled in Destiny and it was nothing more than a solid chunk of hours spent with mates trying to out-loot each other; all while discussing how a “real-world Destiny” with “army bases as your tower” and “hench dudes in body armour” as bosses would be a dream come true. Check box one! No matter how gruesome or original the design of an alien, I’m a human and therefore can relate to human-y things, I know how gravity works and that if I fall, I can’t be saved by the boost of my futuristic armour. A lore that I can understand is nine-tenths of the battle with an RPG and The Division gets it (for me, at least) bang on.

The Base of Operations is The Division's Hub World. Easy to grasp!

The same can be said for the for the bread and butter of RPGs; the repetitive and soul demoralising grind. The endless cycle of completing missions, ramping up the difficulty and doing it all over again is more rewarding when you are striving towards something you actually understand. A flamethrower turret? I get that. Portable cover system? Go on then. Power orb which harnesses The Will of Oryx? I’m sorry, what were those words? I’m certainly no stranger to the fantasy side of things and I’m far from loathing it, but it’s always nice to have a change from the obscure.

Last year I wrote an article about how much disdain I have for playing online competitively; that the pain of logging into servers and waiting for your friends to be online is too much of a hassle when there are plenty of offline, single-player experiences on the market. While I still stand by this, the old fireteam has been reunited in post apocalyptic New York. When the team aren’t around to back me up however, The Division becomes strangely single-player inspired. Granted, there are still all the server gripes that any online game has to overcome, but out in the open world, you won’t see a soul; just you, NPCs and a handful of scavenging dogs, just the way it should be. There's no possibility of stumbling across someone’s party or getting involved in a higher level encounter, the world is entirely yours!

One man and a dog. Online multiplayer at its finest

Well, it's entirely yours until you hop the fence like a rebelling teenager and end up knee deep in rogues and hard ass enemies in The Dark Zone, that is. This sectioned off part of Manhattan, as you are probably aware, acts as the game’s competitive multiplayer zone, and is one of the most high-octane and heart-stopping online experiences I’ve had. It’s an entirely new approach to multiplayer and one I could find myself pouring far more hours into. A million miles away from matchmade team deathmatch, capture the flag or variation on search & destroy, The Dark Zone is about as real as online gets.

Pinned in a corner and approached by a dozen heavy armoured flame throwers, a team of friendly Division agents came to my aid, cleared the streets and together we went on a purge of gangs consuming The Dark Zone. As we called in the extraction, my quarantine bag dripping with high-end loot, we cleared wave after wave of rioters for what seemed like an eternity, before the satisfying sound of helicopter propellers echoed between the high rise buildings. I turned to face the muzzle of three assault rifles, all aimed between my eyes. Before I could even realise my former companions had turned on me, I was gone. Back in a checkpoint and loot less. In just a few minutes I experienced the elation and threat that The Dark Zone offers, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Can you trust those around you won’t shoot you when your back is turned? Do you fancy becoming the hunted? It’s the frontier of The Division, and while it might not be quite as dramatic as Ubisoft had perhaps planned, it's a massively innovative step forward in MMORPG-style online combat and one that could certainly see me dipping into multiplayer more often.

That big, scary red place? Shit gets real in there

Is The Division a perfect game? Far from it. Will I play The Division indefinitely? Probably not. Are there better, more enjoyable games out there? Definitely. But when it comes to this RPG-lite shooter, the planets just seemed to have aligned and I’ve been enjoying every second of a torn and destroyed, festive New York City. The loot cycle is fun, missions are meaty enough to replay and multiplayer is something entirely new. In my gaming career I’ve saved the universe dozens of times and I even made sure the ‘one with the blood of elves’ didn’t fall into the wrong hands, yet when a small chunk of New York gives a cry of desperation, I’ve found it far more satisfying, rewarding and close to home, than any number of hardcore RPGs I’ve played previously.

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What I've said might well be enough for you to bring up your most recent meal, but as I've said, something about Ubisoft games has always clicked with me. Nevertheless, if you're looking for a more grounded and solid discussion of Tom Clancy's The Division, you should definitely check out our full review, where Tom says “I don’t see it carrying the game for months to come. A standard Ubisoft AAA game that may not live as long as intended."