When Ubisoft unveiled Massive’s open world RPG, Tom Clancy’s The Division at E3 2013, it shot to the top of my most anticipated games of the then-coming generation. After nearly three years since it’s initial reveal, the much-promised beta weekend has come and gone, and after many hours playing both the PS4 and Xbox One versions, I have come away more excited than I have ever been. So much so that it has jumped to the top of my list for the game to beat in 2016.
If you haven’t been able to play it, The Division Beta only offers one story mission, some side missions, and smaller “encounters” that usually involve taking out some enemies and maybe rescuing a couple of hostages. What is already promising is how the story plays into the actual progress of the world you are inhabiting and serves the actual mechanics of the game. By completing the story mission in the beta, I was able to open the medical wing of my Base of Operations, which takes shape inside of the post office in the heart of Manhattan, NYC. By completing side missions, encounters, and more story missions, you will be able to upgrade each wing and thus open up mods for your abilities, like the Pulse which sends out a ping to locate enemies within range. The upgrades let you expand the range while also detecting loot locations, or will allow you to do more damage to the enemies you’ve located in the ping.
You can upgrade your weapons with mods as well, which increase the damage, range, and recoil of your guns. You can buy better weapons and gear from vendors, dismantle your items for crafting items (which isn’t even featured in the beta so there’s a whole other mechanic we know nothing about), or sell your unwanted items to vendors. There are also a TON of cosmetic items such as hats and beanies, puffy winter coats, leather jackets, scarves, and shoes, plus practical gear that boosts your health and armor. And that’s just what was available in the beta.
Like most RPGs, there is a lot of loot, and taking cues from recent similar games, gear is color coded. Green, blue, yellow and purple (so far) with the respective rarity. I can’t tell you how many times I would get giddy when I saw those colored drops after firefights. It has already tapped into my loot obsession, and I can only imagine how much more it will do so in the main game.
The Division Beta also keeps a lot of things away from the player, such as most of your abilities, plus talents and skills, all of which I can’t wait to learn more about. By the time I hit level 8, I had only 6% of the Medical wing opened, and judging by how progression seems to be tied directly into the story missions, I expect there to be quite a lot more to do. And that has me beyond excited.
And then there is the Dark Zone, the PvP area of the game which is like the wild west. Tons of players occupy this zone and could either be friendly or rampant assholes looking to start shit with others simply because they can. While I feared this would be mostly the case, I found that it really wasn’t. Many times I saw teams go “Rogue” by shooting or killing another player, and the rest of the teams would descend on them with the quickness and fury of God and cover the floor with their blood and loot. While I’m sure the asshole population will grow exponentially with the final release, I also expect the cooperation to grow as well.
The Dark Zone is where you will get the best loot in the game. Either from AI enemy drops, Dark Zone loot crates, various vendors, or from fallen players who didn’t manage to extract their loot before they either pissed off the wrong team or fell victim to a Rogue goon squad. And that’s the key. Anything you find (not purchase) in the Dark Zone is “contaminated” and must be extracted from specific locations in the Dark Zone. Once an extraction begins, tension mounts as the countdown begins and your team waits for the helicopter to arrive. At any time during this countdown your team can be attacked by assholes looking to ruin your good time or other players with no ill intentions can show up and it becomes a matter of “do I trust these folks, or not.” It’s brilliant stuff, regardless of the outcome. Especially when a team does decide to try and grief you and you shoot them dead, extract your stuff, and then extract theirs during the same extraction.
Much has been made of whether or not players can enjoy the game playing solo. Fear not ye antisocial! After playing most of the beta alone, I quite enjoyed myself. Even on the first and only story mission, I was able to get decent loot drops. From what I’ve gathered, purple loot will also be available in the PvE portion of the game, so those that want to avoid other players will still have a good time.
The presentation of this game is fantastic on consoles. While not as jaw dropping as the initial reveal, the game is still absurdly gorgeous and has no loading screens once it begins proper. Weather affects visibility and makes combat even more exciting in the moment. More than once my squad found themselves in an intense fire fight with Rogue agents during a snowstorm, which, in my experience, was highly original as I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything like it. Even neat little graphical touches like snow resting on my head and shoulders as it fell from the sky. Despite the more fantastical RPG elements of the game, visually it all adds to the realism Massive is going for.
Finding and joining up with other players or friends in the world couldn’t be easier. In the map, you can highlight someone you want to team up with and simply select the on screen “invite” option without being brought to another menu. As the player receiving the invite, all you have to do is click in the right stick to accept the invite and you’ll be whisked into the other player’s game. You don’t even have to leave the player screen. It’s one of the most intuitive and unobtrusive ways to accept a game invite I’ve ever seen.
While only showcasing one story mission, a handful of side missions, and some brief “encounters,” The Division Beta managed to whet my appetite in a way that very few betas have. The beta barely scratches the surface of how you can spec your character, tons of cosmetic options, and the draw of greater and greater loot. I became obsessed with it. Thinking about it when I’m not playing it, not wanting to stop when I was. That’s the sign of a great game. If the rest of the game manages to maintain the high quality and gameplay loop that already exists with the main game, I think the bar will be set for the rest of the year.
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