We take a gluttonous bite of the division’s rotting big apple and leave beaten, bloodied, and hungry for more
The first thing that strikes us during our extended hands-on session with Tom Clancy's The Division isn't an enemy sniper's bullet or brutal melee attack (those come later), but the game's absolutely stunning visual presentation. A real apocalypse wow.
Unfolding in New York City after a population-wiping plague has been unleashed via contaminated banknotes, the open-world online action-RPG drops its heroes in a scarily real post-pandemic Big Apple. According to associate creative director Julian Gerighty, getting the setting right was key to staying true to the Clancy universe. "One of the values we have as a Tom Clancy game is that it has to be grounded in reality, so we really wanted to create something that was a living, breathing mid-crisis NYC... a city that is reeling from this catastrophic event. We've built what we think is the closest thing to a one-to-one representation of New York that has ever been seen in a videogame."
TIS THE SEASON... TO DIE
Of course, because the story's city-crippling attack takes place on Black Friday - the US's busiest shopping day of the year - The Division's dystopian setting is creepily contrasted with the heartwarming detritus of the holiday season. Our demo, for example, begins on a decked out West 24th Street; Christmas tree lots line the pavements, festive strings of lights snake around trees and lamp posts, and a large neon "Happy Holidays' banner looms overhead. Most unsettling, though, is a fat-faced decorative Santa that perpetually smiles despite a manky corpse being looted just a few feet from where he stands.
It's this disturbing juxtaposition that snaps us out of our sightseeing tour and straight into city-saving action. As we approach the two thugs pillaging Santa's rotting friend, we don't receive a holiday greeting, but a pair of handguns aimed at our face. We react accordingly, taking cover behind an abandoned taxi cab, arming our assault rifle, and scoring headshots on the low-level threats. On top of giving us a feel for the game's crunchy third-person combat, the swift encounter offers a taste of its satisfyingly sticky cover system and RPG-style levelling; the former quickly removes us from harm's way with an intuitive "A" button press, while the latter introduces itself via a gratifying "+40XP" that pops out of our victims' bleeding noggins. It's very Borderlands.
Described as "rioters or looters" by Gerighty, the hoodie-wearing thugs are among the game's weakest enemies. As proven by the reckless street punk charging us with a baseball bat, though, this group is as unpredictable as they are dangerous. As we approach a yellow taxi cab that apparently crashed onto the pavement in the midst of the crisis, two more corpse-ravaging criminals attack. Again, the encounter concludes with a bullet to each baddies' brainpan and 80 tasty experience points for our efforts.
Eliminating these early threats with ease isn't totally unexpected, as The Division places you in the boots of highly-trained, self-supported sleeper agents. Working for the "Strategic Homeland Division", these operatives are activated after conventional methods of law enforcement and military have failed to bring the city back from the brink. Players are able to personalise their agents at the start of the game, choosing their sex and customising cosmetic features from a modest selection of options. Our stylish agent sports a grey faux hawk, aviator-style sunglasses, and a prominent facial scar suggesting that she probably saw some action before waking up on the
wrong side of Armageddon.
YOU'VE GOT MAIL
We enjoy teaching feeble low-life looters some manners while we get comfortable with the game's basic controls and mechanics, but our agent has much bigger fish to fry if she's to pull New York City from the edge of extinction. As we soon discover, the first step in waking up the city that never sleeps is establishing a base of operations at the historic post office sitting across from Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden.
As we begin our trek to 33rd Street, a light snow adds to the blanket of white already covering the large piles of garbage, abandoned vehicles and corpses littering our path. Save for the occasional rat scurrying by or stray dog approaching us, things are eerily quiet... until gun shots ring out and a desperate cry for help fills the airwaves. It seems the post office is close by, but it needs to be secured before we're able to enter, set up shop, and hopefully grab a hot cocoa.
Armed thugs have taken a stand outside the federal building, but unlike the previous crew we encountered, these stragglers are corralled by a big bad named Poole. Save for the chunky shield meter hovering above his standard health bar - suggesting he won't go down as easily as his henchmen - the leader looks just like his underlings. Complicating matters is the fact the inclement weather has picked up significantly, creating near-whiteout conditions. On the plus side, two other live players have joined our party to help thwart this new threat.
LOOTING AND REBOOTING
While our co-op partners keep Poole busy, slowly siphoning his miserable life, we seamlessly navigate cover points to sneak up on his rabble. Combined with this tactic, our agent's ability to vault provides her with an unexpected nimbleness that puts her in melee-striking distance of the targets. Feeding foes the butt of our shotgun is, unsurprisingly, spectacularly satisfying. The jaw-shattering act also reveals The Division to be equal parts shooter and RPG. Enemies don't crumple to the ground when we cave in their skulls, but drop when the game's behind-the-scenes stats say that they've endured enough. Similarly, bigger bads like Poole don't go down with a precision headshot - or even two or three - but instead absorb bullets much like Destiny's spongy aliens.
Of course, lead-eating enemies aren't the only thing The Division has in common with Bungie's shared world shooter. Loot is the name of the game, and there are plenty of shiny goodies to go around following this heated conflict. Upon stuffing our backpack with health, ammo, body armour gloves, and enough weapon mods to make a gun-nut blush, we turn our attention back to the post office. Ironically, its famed inscription "Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" is nowhere to be seen. What with the plague eating most of NYC's population you can't blame posties for binning all those birthday cards and bills.
When we enter the historic landmark, creative director Magnus Jansen describes its importance in shaping your character. "A lot of progress is tied to the base of operations. It's almost the second character in the game. When you start the base, you go out and do missions and all kinds of activities to get the ability and the personnel to be able to invest in it. In turn, you get more powerful because you then unlock new skills, abilities, perks and even new sections of the base where you can shop. So the base of operations is really a central part in progressing your character."
The Division does a fantastic job weaving this progression through the narrative by tying these various character-moulding traits to the base's medical, tech and security wings. Building out each section, by completing missions and investing resources in them, opens new enhancements and goodies specific to each wing. Concentrate on sprucing up the tech wing, for example, and you'll unlock the seeker mine skill, which unleashes cool little spheres that sniff out targets before going boom. These looter-worrying upgrades can also be modded, so your deployable turret, for example, can be outfitted with a baddie-barbecuing flamethrower.
Exploring the base immediately reveals a trio of story missions, which Gerighty describes as being key to opening the rest of the game to the player. "These three missions are critically important because they have the staff that you need to bring basic services back online. The three characters and these three threats are critical not only for the story, but also for gameplay. Once you have rescued them, the whole city map, and all of the missions, will be open to you and you will be able to choose absolutely the way you want to play."
While these initial tech, security and medical missions can be completed in any order, we begin with the latter because we assume it's going to take more than bandages and Savlon to keep us breathing in plague city. Before venturing to Madison Square Garden, where a doctor's being held hostage, we gear up. From our inventory, we choose primary and secondary weapons, a sidearm, and various armour pieces, from vests and knee pads to gloves and holsters. Ubisoft is also kind enough to grant us an empty skill slot, which we enthusiastically fill with the sticky grenade ability.
PEW PEW PEW YORK
We're anxious to unleash our new toys on the scumbags that have taken over the famous venue, but we're again stopped in our tracks by The Division's breathtaking ability to effectively portray The Capital of the World mid-crisis. Madison Square Garden has been recreated down to the last detail, but now serves as a field hospital rather than a premier destination for concerts and gangly ball-throwing behemoths. Billboards advertise now-forgotten basketball and hockey games, even as a desperate ticker tape above the main entrance scrolls "HELP IS COMING - STAY OFF THE STREETS - REMAIN CALM."
Accompanied by our two teammates, we cautiously enter the building's lobby and draw our weapons. Good thing, too, as we're immediately greeted by six gunmen pouring down the inoperable escalators and opening fire on us. Upon slamming into cover behind a makeshift first aid station, we begin blind firing to keep the baddies at bay. The distraction allows our fellow agents to flank the attackers and fill the improvised hospital's morgue with a half dozen fresh corpses.
We're not so lucky on the second floor, however, where we find ourselves like sitting ducks in the centre of the Garden's basketball court. Foes drop from the surrounding bleachers in droves, and it's just seconds before the screen blurs red and another agent has to race over to retrieve us from death's door. Once revived, we arm our new sticky grenade and launch it at a cluster of adversaries. With a number of targets unknowingly standing within the indicated area of effect, we detonate the explosive remotely and watch chunks of health immediately disappear from their life meters. While we wait for the skill to recharge, our allies keep the threats suppressed long enough for us to rinse and repeat the strategy until the arena's clear.
After equipping a looted utility vest capable of absorbing more damage and tweaking our hand-cannon with a new scope, under-barrel, magazine and muzzle, we utilise similar tactics during the mission's final two protracted battles. The first, which unfolds in a VIP lounge high above the arena, puts us face to face with the good doctor and her captors. While the former flees to safety, we keep the latter busy with bullets, flash-bangs and more sticky grenades. With another room full of bleeding meat-bags in our wake, we head to the landmark's roof for one final showdown with the squatters.
On top of waves of enemies and a steady snowfall, the battle brings a seemingly bulletproof boss named Hutch. With resources nearly depleted and trigger fingers sore, we're able to silence the last threat, secure the roof, and collect our mission-capping rewards. In addition to a big stack of XP and credits, we're granted a new burst rifle, an extra skill slot, and supplies to invest in the medical wing. We're also bumped to Level 5, prompting us to confidently rappel down the building's elevator shaft and head back to base to admire all our goodies.
Our celebration is cut short, however, when a wrong turn on the way to the post office puts us back in the line of fire. And we mean that literally, as a long column of flame stretches from the ground in front of us back to a fire-squirting group of goons. Dubbed "Cleaners" by Gerighty, the pyromaniacs set us ablaze with their flamethrowers and begin tossing bombs that make Molotov cocktails look like scented candles. Down but not out, our agent frantically attempts to snuff out the flames engulfing her even as the Cleaners continue roasting her like a marshmallow.
BACK TO BASE
While these firebugs seem like a lovely bunch, we forgo their, er, warm welcome in favour of hightailing it in the other direction. We finally manage to lose them and find our way back to the base, where we immediately head to the medical wing. With our recently acquired supplies, we open a clinic and a decontamination unit, both of which unlock character-building abilities. Specifically, the new additions grant us a first aid skill, a medkit perk and an adrenaline talent.
We're also granted a meeting, via cutscene, with the doctor we just rescued. Upon thanking us for saving her bacon, the virologist - sporting a bloodstained smock and no-nonsense attitude - lets loose a few choice expletives when discussing the former colleague who may be responsible for the outbreak. The meaty scene feels like something ripped from a dedicated story-driven game, rather than a lazy attempt to lend some narrative weight to a multiplayer-focused affair.
Additional story elements come courtesy of the base of operations' transformation, as it directly reflects players' personal choices and progress. As Jansen explains, it's a sort of physical representation of the player taking back the city. "When you invest in the base, you get upgrades, but there's also this emotional aspect to it. It starts out dirty and unlit, nobody is there, and people are sick and unhappy. But when you complete missions, the lights come on, it's cleaned up, you get musicians, and life comes back... you get a Christmas feel going." After completing a single mission, our base isn't exactly prepared to host a Dickens-themed holiday party. That said, minor positive changes, like patients arriving for treatment, has us anticipating its continued transformation as we progress through the story, upgrade our character, and gradually breathe life back into the Big Apple.
Our demo barely puts a dent in The Division's sprawling, plague-ridden New York City. We don't get the chance to dig into its PvP-focused Dark Zone, test out its crafting system, or unleash one of those fire-spitting turrets. Based on our brief time spent as an agent, however, we're already counting the days until we're able to douse the Cleaners' flames, delve deeper into the RPG elements, and discover who's really responsible for passing around those deadly dollars.
Well, all that, and we can't wait to play with all the adorable pups we're hoping will show up when we finally get around to opening the security wing's canine unit.