Watch out for Tom Clancy's 'The Division', a multiplayer shooter setMumbai, Mar 21(AZINS) Tom Clancy's 'The Division' is a third-person massively multiplayer shooter set in a post-pandemic New York City. The world you enter is one without basic services and one engulfed in chaos. You play as a member of The Division, an autonomous unit of sleeper agents, that have been activated to act as the city's last line of defense.

Story

The chaos in New York City has allowed various hostile groups to thrive. The main storyline revolves around eliminating these groups. The first of these hostile groups are the Cleaners, dressed in hazmat suits and wielding flamethrowers, they want to clean New York and eliminate the virus by burning everything and everyone they encounter. The thugs make up the second hostile group known as the Rikers, they are a gang of convicts that escaped Rikers Island when the chaos hit and want to take control of the city. A private military organization known as The Last Man Battalion is the third and most powerful of the hostile groups who's job was to protect the interests of the rich and powerful of Wall Street. As the chaos grew, they found a new purpose in setting up a new world order controlled by force.

While the story itself is a decent effort, the effect of your actions cannot be seen in the persistent world. It does not feel like my actions as a player influenced the world around me and that was a bit disappointing. While the amount of change possible is limited by the fact that it is a persistent world, separate worlds before and after the story would have been a neat addition.

RPG Elements

The Division brings in RPG elements such as leveling up and loot to keep things fresh. The loot you get in the game is of varying levels of rarity and power, so getting the best gear in the game gives you an upper hand in combat. You also have stats that increase depending on the gear you equip. Another RPG element can be found in the form of your base, which you can upgrade to get access to gear upgrades. Gear upgrades are divided into three trees - medicine, security and tech. All these elements ensure that you have a lot to do even once you have finished the main storyline.

THE MULTIPLAYER

Dark Zone

The Dark Zone is a multiplayer open PvP zone in the middle of Manhattan where the most valuable loot in the game was left behind when the military evacuated. Due to the nature of open PvP, this area is also the most dangerous area in the game, you can join your friends or venture solo to find the best loot while protecting yourself from enemy attacks. As it is a quarantine zone, you must extract your loot via helicopter. It's also the time when you are most vulnerable as everybody around can see you signaling for a helicopter and can attack you in the process to steal your loot.

Playing Solo

While it is true that The Division is a lot of fun with friends, I have found that playing solo can be a rewarding experience as well. The campaign is equally fun if you play solo or with friends and I did not find the experience to be very different. The Dark Zone, however, is a very different experience when playing solo and in a group. When playing with friends, I would confront other groups head on for the best loot. However, when I played solo, I would look for spots where I could surprise rogue agents and take them out. It was also equal parts challenging and fun to try and take out two or more players solo and helped me improve my game because I had no one to back me up.

Verdict

The Division has a lot going for it and that becomes evident from the moment you begin playing the game. The ever changing dynamics of the dark zone and an enjoyable single player make this experience one that anyone that likes shooters will enjoy. I have been playing this one since the closed Beta and I can say without a doubt that this game will be a game of the year contender.

Reviewed on

Asus GL552JX Laptop

Processor Intel Core i7 4720HQ Processor

Operating System Windows 10

Memory 8GB DDR3L 1600 MHz

Display 15.6" 16:9 IPS FHD (1920x1080) anti-glare

Graphic card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M with 4GB DDR3 VRAM

Storage 1TB HDD 7200 RPM

Security Kensington lock, BIOS Booting User Password Protection, HDD User Password Protection and Security and Pre-OS Authentication by programmable key code

Optical drive DVD writer