Tom Clancy's The Division
Overview -
'Tom Clancy's The Division' has been generating a great deal of hype since its announcement way back in 2013. There have been some rocky turns with the development, with delays and a launch night that could be charitably described as spotty. Ubisoft’s Massive studio did a significant portion of the development work, with assistance from Red Storm (a very Tom Clancy-centric studio), Annecy, and other Ubisoft holdings.
Video Review
Ubisoft’s Snowdrop engine puts on a good show. The level of detail is high, lighting is brilliant, and the framerate is strong. The night/day cycle and dynamic weather in particular offer an air of subtle authenticity to the abandoned wasteland of New York - there are no zombies here, no aliens, just a ghost town, but it is a beautiful ghost town. As mentioned, Massive perhaps went overboard with the huge amount of text data and little onscreen blips. I experienced occasional aftershocks from Ubisoft’s midnight launch snafu, but nothing more debilitating than a few disconnects.
Audio Review
'The Division's high production value shows through in the audio. Voice acting is typically excellent. Between ISAC’s constant computery updates and the high-tech gadgets at the agents’ disposal, there is a discrete, layered level of science fiction at just the right amount of Tom Clancyness.
Final Thoughts
'Tom Clancy's The Division' has the fingerprints of many other Ubisoft properties: 'Ghost Recon', 'Rainbow Six', and even non-Clancy stuff like 'Watch Dogs'. It combines some of the best features of those games into a highly enjoyable MMO slash shooter. I would not say it’s the best shooter I’ve played on the Xbox One, nor is it a huge leap forward in video gaming as a whole, but I’ll be damned if I’m not having fun with it.
