Tom Clancy’s: The Division
Putting Tom Clancy’s: The Division on a list of 2016’s most disappointing games is perhaps slightly at odds with its immense commercial success, but the game’s critical reception simply didn’t reach the same heights. Ubisoft’s brand new IP marks another attempt by a major publisher to crack the console MMO scene, and even after 5 hours of playing The Division it’s quite obvious the imperative behind the game’s design.
The Division is very much a “shoot and loot” style online RPG, mostly comprised of grind-heavy side quests that reward players with additional weapon and armour upgrades. The gameplay loop is initially quite pleasing, and The Division’s opening story promises to give context to its superb dystopian vision of Mid-Town New York. Sadly, the later stages of the game descend into repetitive and monotonous missions that are only moderately interesting when played with friends, and decidedly boring in single player guise.
The Division just isn’t compelling as a single player experience, and that’s a real shame given how detailed and dense its open world environment is. The game’s multiplayer Dark Zone is also poorly balanced, and its end game isn’t entertaining enough to keep players interested for long. Of course, it has been patched and tweaked since its initial launch, with new daily challenges and missions uploaded for its Dark Zone, but the game’s initially poor balance has seen a mass exodus of early adopters.
Ubisoft’s intention for The Division seems to have been to create a foundation for a title they hope to build upon with DLC and new multiplayer gameplay modes, but that’s not a good enough excuse for the shortcomings. The final version of The Division isn’t necessarily a bad game, it’s just an average one, and that seems like a frustrating waste for what could have been a much more compelling title.
