Gaming review: Tom Clancy's The Division

Fairy lights are hanging from buildings; Christmas trees burrow in open doorways; small Santa figures and decorations are left lying in and around shopping malls all as the snow gently falls from the sky, just to give it that traditional Christmas magic.

But unfortunately there's no-one celebrating in The Division. New York City isn't preparing for any festivities here, instead - it seems that the big apple is in the middle of a crisis after a pandemic swept through the city. Some clever dick thought it would be a great idea to sanitise the city with the smallpox virus on Black Friday, spreading it on bank notes - thus earning it the nickname the Dollar Flu.

Welcome - to Tom Clancy's The Division.

As a covert government agent trained for judgement day like scenarios, you must create a new safeguard in the city that never sleeps. Alongside trying to discover the origins of the virus, and you are also tasked with finding out what happened to the first wave of agents that suddenly vanished from existence. Rebuilding the city won't be easy, the likes of escaped convicts, an epidemiology union gone rogue, oh and privatised military contractors are all operating with licence to kill in the abandoned streets of Manhattan. You're basically the city's last hope.

That daunting task is apparent from the off as you walk through deserted streets, with endless abandoned vehicles, garbage lying carelessly across the roads as you spot a civilian hunting for scraps. The fact you're more or less wondering the city on your own is intimidating in itself, but couple that with the heartache and misery of a Christmas that will never be celebrated and the silence of the falling snow, and it all gets a bit eerie.

Despite all the anguish in this review so far, one thing that is beautifully poetic about the game is how stunning it looks on PS4. The glistening snow that dwindles down on to my shoulder as i make my way down empty streets, the slight beam of sunlight reflects off of a car that is parked across the way and as I turn, a broken supermarket sign grabs my interest. The game does truly look remarkable and with each of the main NPC's looking incredibly lifelike, it's as if they're real people that I would bump in to in reality. The facial expressions, the movement, the vocal performances and the way they are portrayed is nothing short of impressive from the team over at Ubisoft.

Your agent will look solid, but don't expect him or her to have too many characteristics similar to your own. The character creation suite is pretty basic here.

You have up to eight face presets to decide from, then once you pick your chosen appearance you can't really tweak individual features. Hair styles are also kept to a minimum (I'm really picky with my hair in reality, so this killed me inside), and the finishing touches that will set your agent apart from others will be the likes of sunglasses, scars, neck tattoos and other accessories that you model them with.

But we all know that beauty is on the inside, right?

For those of you (myself included) who have been comparing The Division to a certain space shooter from Bungie, allow me to just state one thing to you - stop right now. The two games might share similar DNA in the form that they're relentless online multiplayer shooters with RPG and MMO elements as well as hub type areas, but I'm going to spend a lot more hours playing The Division than I did Destiny.

For starters, The Division has a lot more of a tactical play style to it's formula. It brings a numbers game to the likes of it's RPG element, proven by higher level enemies taking endless thousands of points to drop them to the ground, it requires very careful planning, a load out that is well thought out and careful use of your skills to take on a campaign mission.

It all kicks off with you building your Base of Operations, this contains three wings - Tech, Security and Medical. As you then form each wing, you will then be given a ton of content that opens up as you progress, for example - campaign missions, side quests, various encounters and other random activities. In typical RPG fashion, the more you complete, the more you'll expand each section, of course the better the perks and talents you unlock - the better prepared you'll be to fight to take back New York.

This captivation was further enlightened by the setting itself. I have been to New York many times in my life and it is a very breathtaking city to take a holiday or to reside in. The Division's haunting recreation of midtown Manhattan has to be the most impressive and realistic urban world map outside of a Rockstar game. Its incredibly detailed environments feel strenuously assembled rather than any cut-and-paste job. Each neighbourhood has its own unique feel, and no matter where you take route, you're bound to stumble into a breathtaking complex or a tragic disaster site. The diversity and authenticity of the world invite you to explore and search every building, every corner and to pick every locked door to discover what loot is on the other side and how valuable it could be to your current setup.

The majority of missions in The Division can be played alone, however, the difficulty level takes a huge leap in later levels to the point that I often felt overwhelmed without an accomplice around to revive me, or watch my back when I am being overhauled with spraying enemy bullets. That said, this game is at it's utmost best when you team up with other players. Massive Entertainment has designed one of the most effective and faultless bases for locating different players to join I have seen in any game, you can access your friends list straight from the menu and hook-up with them in seconds. These missions change based on the amount of players that are in your group, adjusting the number and different type of enemies you face as players who drop or join to keep the challenge at an appropriate level. Whether I had one or three players alongside me, I always felt as if the level of opposition was well suited.

And that is also the case in the Dark Zone - that's the big red bit in the middle of the map. This is The Division's take on PVP, where teams of Agents can square off and go head to head if they desire to do so. The main aim of the Dark Zone is to get yourself some of the more rare loot that can't be found in the main game. However, you'll have to collect it first, then extract it by calling in a chopper, then you'll have to wait for it to arrive before you leave again, all the while fighting off an abundance of AI troops and potentially other players too. Working out whether the other players are going to jump you or what they're thinking makes the Dark Zone a very anxious place indeed.

Just before i started gathering my notes to sit down and write this review, I was in the Dark Zone with some friends and fellow players who seemed as though they just wanted to make use of the extraction point. So, as we were just about to ready ourselves with our bag, we had been taken out at the very last second and all of our hard earned loot had gone with them. Although this can be an incredibly frustrating time whilst playing The Division, these little troll like creatures are few and far between.

The Verdict - So, how good is The Division? It's good, no - it's great. Is it perfect? Not quite, despite it's occasional frame drops and weird menu glitches and slightly under-powered weapons, it's damn close.

When it comes down to it, The Division is the best open world that Ubisoft has built, it's captivating, immersive, enthralling and harrowing at the same time. The tactical gunplay and deep RPG elements will keep you entertained for a very long time and wondering what you will find as you walk the streets of a very broken New York.

Both tense and thrilling sums up much of my time playing The Division. From its undeniably scintillating missions through exploring its vast and detailed environment to delving deep in to its plethora of side missions and wonderful encounters, working my way through this game has been a truly enjoyable experience. Sure, the action can be accused of being repetitive, but for me - I just want more.

By Simon Hill