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Tom Clancy’s The Division: EVERYTHING You Need To Know
The big ‘ol pile of EPICNESS otherwise known as Tom Clancy’s The Division DETAILED
If you caught the hype around E3 then you’ll know that we’ve got a pretty amazing few months ahead of us in terms of new games. We’ve been taking a look at some of the event’s biggest titles, and now it’s the turn of the much-delayed shooter Tom Clancy’s The Division – a game which was originally supposed to hit store shelves almost two years ago.
What’s the deal here?
Famed author Tom Clancy worked with Ubisoft on a wide range of military action titles prior to his sad passing in 2013, but the publisher is keeping his name alive with this brand-new offering, which sees the player thrust into a crippled North America which is collapsing following the outbreak of a deadly virus.
The only people who can fix things are The Division – a group of secret agents who have been living normal lives prior to the outbreak. This is an entirely new sub-set of the Tom Clancy brand, which includes Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon.
What type of game is it?
The Division will mix single-player action with a Massively Multiplayer online component which sees you facing off against a combination of AI and human opponents during the game’s narrative. There are RPG elements thrown into the mix as well, with the player able to level-up their character, acquire loot and develop various skills.
What makes it so special?
We’ve seen other shooters try to fuse together a narrative with online play – Titanfall for example – but The Division is taking things to the next level. You’ll be able to tackle missions with a large amount of freedom, working your way through the game as you would any other open world action title. However, here you’ll be able to team up with other Division members – secret agents tasked with restoring order when the world goes belly-up – to meet your goals. In fact, collaboration could be instrumental to success; the game has been designed with co-op in mind and offers a dynamic and persistent world to explore, so to best meet its many challenges you might want to secure living, breathing human allies.
As you fight your way through the ravaged and disordered streets of New York city, you’ll find items which can be used to make your chances of survival better. You’ll also see your character grow in stature as the hours tick by, with RPG-style levelling and skill trees to unlock. Your enemies are varied and diverse; some stalk the streets with flamethrowers attempting to burn away any trace of the deadly virus – that includes people, unfortunately – while others have descended into anarchy, such as a group of escaped convicts which has chosen this moment of tragedy to take control of the city and cause mayhem.
In a neat touch which calls to mind the seminal S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, you’ll find that friends can become enemies when you enter the Dark Zone, a walled-off area in the middle of the city packed with discarded loot that tends to bring out the worst in fellow players. Do you work together to grab the best items and share them, or do you stab your allies in the back and walk away with everything? The choice will be yours.
What kind of online modes are there?
The Division has a strong narrative running through it, but the entire game has been designed around online co-op. You’ll be working alongside fellow players as you try to find out who released the deadly virus, but there will be times when you’re not on friendly terms with your allies. Ubisoft is billing this as a Massively Multiplayer experience, and it looks set to deliver.
What formats is it coming out on?
This is a next-gen only offering, with releases happening the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Windows PC.
When does it come out?
March 8th, 2016. It was originally supposed to come out in 2014!
Damien McFerran
13:55, 19 Jun 2015