The latest Tom Clancy game from Ubisoft is a small departure from what fans of the series are accustomed to. Instead of being a straightforward shooter, The Division is now an online tactical open-world game with quite a few RPG elements. Think of it like Ghost Recon but in a massively multiplayer online world where you’ll group up and interact with other people on a regular basis.
There are no character classes in The Division. Instead, the items, weapons and skills that you choose will define your character. You can make an offensive build that uses powerful weaponry to decimate enemies, a front line build that is well rounded and can hold against other players or a support build, which can heal your teammates and provide various benefits.
There are plenty of quests and objectives that you’ll come across as you play through the game. While The Division is a multiplayer game, you don’t have to play with friends. If you happen to lack the social skills to find people to play with, the game has an intricate matchmaking system that will find people for you to group up with. You never have to worry about adventuring alone.
In the demo, we joined two other players and saved a few cops from a police station where they were imprisoned. When you start an extraction mission of this nature, it’s visible to anyone else in the area. Because of this, as we approached the police station we were attacked by another group. We had to take cover, ducking behind cars to avoid heavy fire.
Once the other players were taken out, we headed into the police station, freed the officers and were rewarded with new weapons and tech for our troubles. It’s about as close as you can get to a small-scale raid in an MMORPG, while still retaining the look and feel of the tactical shooters in the Tom Clancy series.
One of the more interesting aspects of The Division is the added value of people playing on tablet devices. There were quite a few next-generation titles at E3 that allowed for players on tablets to get in on the fun, but The Division’s tablet usage really shined above the rest. If you have a friend playing on a tablet, you get a huge advantage over groups who lack a tablet player.
While on a tablet, you take control of an “unmanned” drone flying above the action. You can mark enemies hiding behind cover to make it easier for your teammates to take them down. During our short demo, the tablet player also removed armor from enemy forces and gave a damage buff to his group. He also had the ability to heal his teammates. Once he performed a few support tasks, he gained the ability to go on the offensive with missiles fired from the drone.
Tom Clancy’s The Division is currently slated for a 2014 release on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. While there are no other versions currently planned, Ubisoft is open to a possible PC release if fans show enough support. Stay tuned, as we’ll have more information on The Division in the coming months.
