Ubisoft has a lot riding on The Division: not only is the game the first in a brand-new IP, it's the publisher's first shot at the "shared-world" genre. With Destiny becoming one of Activision's biggest franchises ever, it's no surprise that Ubisoft would want to throw its hat into the ring — but, after nearly three years of development, can The Division possibly live up to the ridiculous success of its competition?
As it stands, there's really no way to answer that: The Division is supposedly the first piece in a much larger puzzle, and Ubisoft has plans to support the game for years to come. That being said, many argued that Destiny, which was marketed in much the same way, wasn't necessarily worth buying when it first launched.
Thankfully, that's not the case here: while the publisher's take on New York City certainly has room to grow over the next several months, Ubisoft has made sure that The Division is a fully-realized experience that can go toe-to-toe with just about any other open-world game on the market.
Unfortunately, it's clear that story was never meant to be the focus of The Division. Players start the game by customizing their very own Agent, a member of a secret government directive designed to maintain peace and assure the continuity of government should society collapse. Following a massive biological attack on Black Friday (and a brief tour of duty in Brooklyn), your Agent is flown into Manhattan to re-establish order and track down those responsible for the city's descent into chaos.
The main problem with The Division's attempt at storytelling is that, by the time the credits roll, nothing really seems to matter. Completing missions doesn't change the world in any way, there's never a shortage of random thugs wandering the streets, and the game even admits that its conclusion doesn't wrap anything up. Optional story vignettes help flesh things out a bit, but it's almost too much — trying to make sense of the story without these optional videos is next to impossible. It's a mess, even by Tom Clancy standards, and it's clear that Ubisoft wasn't really concerned with crafting a gripping narrative.
It's not all bad, though. Many of The Division's side missions act as their own self-contained stories, and those that do can be surprisingly emotional. It's world-building on a level that few other studios would even attempt ... it's just a shame that The Division doesn't focus on these moments more often.
As with any online-only game, network connections can make or break the experience. In our experience, playing on the Xbox One has been relatively smooth — save for a single server error and a few short bouts of lag, The Division has held up surprisingly well during its first week online. Other glitches (such as clipping and awkward enemy A.I.) are a bit more prevalent, but it's nothing that'll ruin your time with the game.
The Division may not look as good as the first few tech demos made it seem, but Ubisoft's take on a nearly deserted New York still looks great. It's the attention to detail that really sells the game's atmosphere — piles of trash litter the street, snow turns to slush near drainage pipes and particle effects (particularly fire) look fantastic. Even ECHO playbacks, the holographic recordings touted in the game's first trailers, manage to make an impact.
The Division's sound design isn't nearly as memorable, though it does a perfectly good job of selling the game's world ... though you may want to avoid the game's voice acting as much as possible. Save for a select few NPCs, it's generally pretty terrible.
Does The Division feel like the start of something bigger? Yes: its world and mission structure are ripe for expansion, and there's a very good chance that the game will feel like a very different experience in just a few months from now.
Is The Division worth picking up now, even before its inevitable expansions? Yes: Ubisoft has managed to craft a stunningly detailed world with a ton of content for players to work their way through. Sure, it's not perfect — the story's a letdown, there's some serious repetition and the Dark Zone doesn't feel quite up-to-snuff yet — but what's here is a surprisingly fun open-world action game with a more tactical feel than most. Better yet, it's a full game — not just a tease for an expensive Season Pass.
So far, Ubisoft's shared-world shooter is off to a great start — with any luck, The Division will only get better from here.
This review is based off an Xbox One copy provided by Ubisoft.
