Over the past few years, The Division has made some lofty promises: a seamless, intricately-detailed recreation of New York City; RPG systems on top of traditional shooter mechanics and incredibly deep customization options are just a few.
However, if there's one feature that seemed too good to be true, it was the game's 'Dark Zone' multiplayer mode: instead of offering up standard player-versus-player matches, all of The Division's multiplayer takes place inside a quarantined section of the city known as the Dark Zone. Here, players are free to go up against one another for a chance at extremely powerful loot. The twist is that players are never forced into fights - if you want to ignore the other human players (or work together) to take down A.I. enemies, that's your call.
Thanks to the closed beta, players are finally able to put the Dark Zone multiplayer through its paces - and, while we've been happy with our time in the darkest alleys that Ubisoft's virtual NYC has to offer, there are also some serious drawbacks to The Division's multiplayer offerings.
The Pros
Let's start with the good stuff: first and foremost, Dark Zone multiplayer works.
For a long while, Ubisoft's promise of a seamless transition between single- and multplayer seemed like a fever dream. Given the size of the world in The Division, loading screens seemed like an inevitability - and yet, somehow, Ubisoft was able to come through on its promise. Not only can players easily transition between the core campaign and multiplayer, but we never saw any sort of connection hiccups whatsoever. The only loading screens you'll ever see are during respawns, and they're surprisingly quick.
But it's not just the functionality that makes the Dark Zone so much fun to play. As is the case with Bungie's Destiny, teaming up with random strangers to take down threats is consistently fun - whether it's a fight against a random patrol of A.I. soldiers or other players gone Rogue, impromptu alliances can make for some extremely tense (and highly rewarding) moments.
Even the act of securing loot - which is done by calling in helicopters and defending a small zone for a short time - can be thrilling. Successfully holding a position with the help of a temporary alliance and extracting some high-end gear feels fantastic...as does turning on your new-found friends in order to steal their loot (even if it's a losing effort).
When you're in the thick of The Division's multiplayer gameplay, it's a blast...it's just finding said gameplay can take quite a while.
The Cons
Simply put, the Dark Zone is more about walking around than anything else.
In the main game, the map is littered with missions and encounters - even in the beta, there was plenty to do once the main quests were cleared out. The Dark Zone features no such activities - basically, the only thing to do in the massive PvP arena is explore. While said exploration can be fun on its own - unexpectedly running into a random group of high-level enemies can be exciting - these quiet moments last far too long.
As previously mentioned, the Dark Zone is based on PvP combat...but, since it's never forced upon players, there's a good chance that no one will want to start a fight. In our experience, players were willing to work together more often than not - and, while some players were more than happy to go Rogue, they weren't nearly as common as their cooperative counterparts. While it's great to see random alliances come together to overcome a threat, it can also result in long stretches of peaceful silence...which can quickly turn into boredom.
To be fair, there's a good chance that Ubisoft has locked most of the Dark Zone's content away (this is a beta, after all) - but, in our experience, The Division's player-on-player combat involved far more aimless wandering than it should. There are definitely fixes that Ubisoft could make - more A.I. enemy patrols, random Encounters, roaming boss fights - but, as it stands, the Dark Zone doesn't offer enough for players who aren't looking to go Rogue.
The Dark Zone may not be perfect - adding another currency and experience system is a strange choice, and the mode's longevity is definitely questionable - but when you're running from a pair of Rogue agents with a satchel full of high-end loot, or helping a low-level player take down a boss, it's a ton of fun. Hopefully, Ubisoft can figure out what the Dark Zone needs to make the experience a bit more consistent - if they can, The Division could end up being the first big hit of 2016.
The Division is set for launch on March 8.
