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The Division reviews round up

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I’m still very much busy in Ubisoft’s The Division – clearing out side missions, engaging in the odd encounter and slowly working through the missions at a bit of a snail’s pace. Though I team up with friends on occasion, it’s mostly been solo – and I’ve had a good time. There are, of course, issues with the Division and its repetitive grind, but it’s an engaging shooter RPG, with just enough of that Diablo-styled reward keeping me looking for better loot.

We’re still busy with our review – because we want to make sure we’ve covered everything that The Division has to offer, especially once players have run out of actual missions to do. Others have already blasted their way through the game, gone rogue in The Dark Zone and survived to tell their tales. Here’s what critics think of The Division.

Gamespy – 5/5

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But, there’s no getting away from the fact The Division is the best open-world that Ubisoft has ever created, while the gameplay is consistently entertaining and cohesive. The deep RPG elements and tactical gunplay just add to that. Plus, the fact you can get so much enjoyment out of being a solo player, with that experience heightened by buddying up, is quite a feat.

Playing The Division is a bit like having the flu – you can’t get it out of your head and it doesn’t ever want to let you go. But unlike the flu, you won’t mind at all.

GameSpot – 8/10

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Still, no matter how frustrated I grew with the game’s semi-indestructible enemies or its repetitive leveling structure, I absolutely could not stop playing. The world was too engrossing, the loot was too enticing, and the campaign was too gripping for me to simply walk away. I stopped caring about the game’s flaws after the first few hours and proceeded to lose myself in obsessive stat optimization and cooperative gun battles. The problems (and frustration) never disappeared, but I was more than happy to play through the pain.

The Examiner – 5/5

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Despite the cynics who might try to marginalize what this game truly is, it’s something you must experience, whether that is with friends or on your own. The Division shows you can have both an incredible online multiplayer experience, while staying true to the roots of an immersive campaign. The Division is a magnificent revelation and one that was well worth the wait.

The Jimquisition – 6.5/10

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Tom Clancy’s The Division is overwhelmingly okay. It will drown you in its abundant okayness, so okay is it in terms of playability and content.

It’s a game of just enoughs – it’s just exciting enough to avoid being boring, just polished enough for the numerous glitches to be less offensive, and features co-op just fun enough to make the whole thing relatively worthwhile.

Destructoid – 6.5/10

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The Division is more fun with friends, but let’s face it, what game isn’t? After my group logged off and I was left alone in the world, the veneer started to wear off, and I was left facing the blemishes all on my own. The long-term plan is to pump out more content. I’m unsure of its efficacy but for now there’s more than enough there, especially with the organic PVP.

The Division then (and gosh, I hate myself for saying this) has critics divided. Some are riding the hype train all the way to hyperboleville, while others are a little more muted in the critique. I’m probably somewhere between the two right now; despite the game’s obvious flaws, I’m enjoying my time – and that’s what’s really important, isn’t it?

What do you think of The Division, fellow agents?

Last Updated: March 15, 2016

53 Comments

  1. Morne Nell

    March 15, 2016 at 10:36

    8/10. Destiny in a different skin. Destiny had a better story and much more main missions. Still tons of improvements. The question is how long will the game last. Content after level 30 very limited.

    Reply

    • Sageville

      March 15, 2016 at 10:40

      “Destiny had a better story…”

      “…had a better story…”

      ???

      Reply

    • Jonah Cash

      March 15, 2016 at 15:10

      I’m also not as angry at Destiny’s story as you are. But I was hoping that they would start plugging some of the stories from the base game by now. I have more questions than answers from playing Destiny. The Division has a clear story and I am more happy playing that than the promise of the story Destiny has. Don’t think I will sink 500+ hours into The Division like I did with Destiny but I don’t think I will ever do that again…

      Reply

  2. Sageville

    March 15, 2016 at 10:46

    I’m enjoying it.

    The dark zone is my favorite, especially with mates. The bracket system is a problem, if I’m level 17 I can’t team up with level 12 mates in the DZ, they could have avoided this with perk normalization or restriction. So now I’m not leveling past this bracket till my mates have leveled into my bracket.

    I haven’t seen the end game content, which is apparently limited… a problem with all games frankly. I’m wondering if the season pass would be worth it…

    So far this is my goto game… it’s gorgeous…

    Reply

    • Ir0nseraph

      March 15, 2016 at 10:51

      I am enjoying the game , still a while before I get to the end game , as I am also waiting in the DZ for guys, as far as the story goes it’s not bad if you listen to the recordings etc, not every game needs a super bad guy at the end 😛

      Reply

      • Morne Nell

        March 15, 2016 at 10:54

        Its leaving nothing to the imagination and that might be the problem, how do the game grow from here? That’s why I believe Destiny is better the “story” is still untold

        Reply

        • Ir0nseraph

          March 15, 2016 at 11:00

          Taken king felt like the end to me , who’s next the grandfather ?
          Look I enjoyed Destiny and spent well over a 100 hours in that game, but as they say different strokes for different folks, I personally enjoy the game more as the outbreak could really happen.

          Also we haven’t seen the free DLC yet and any of the expansions, Destiny on launch was on best average, but Taken King took it to the next level so I will give ubisoft the same chance.

          Reply

    • Morne Nell

      March 15, 2016 at 10:57

      This only apply for Character level less than 30. So the alternative is to go to level 30 then we all hit the dark zone together were it does not matter anymore.

      Reply

    • Darren Peach

      March 15, 2016 at 13:40

      I have yet to buy it.

      Reply

  3. VampyreSquirrel

    March 15, 2016 at 10:48

    8/10… story is awesome and SP will keep a completionist busy for many hours. Better with friends, DZ NEEDS a 4 player group (2’s ok).

    DZ needs some work, but is still fun. As Morne says, not a lot to do after lvl 30, but I personally have lots of collectibles to find and missions to finish on hard.

    Reply

  4. Morne Nell

    March 15, 2016 at 10:48

    My honest opinion yes, and the storie is still not completely told. There is so much left. Division story can be summarized in less than 20 words. In fact the division trailers had the complete story

    Reply

    • Mark Gunning

      March 15, 2016 at 16:10

      But so far the Division story has centralised around Manhattan (apart from a tiny training area in Brooklyn), there is still plenty of room for this to grow – the other boughs of the city, other cities on the continent or was the contagion spread as by a wider group (I’m still in the ‘teens’ level-wise so haven’t got the full scope of the story).
      Also you have all the smaller personal stories within the game – the Journo trying to break the story, the frantic calls for family to get out before they shut access to the island, the fact that the lawlessness is causing people to barricade themselves in their own homes from the advice of the government…. there are stories melded into the game if you look around.

      What happens if another country believes this weakens the US to such a point that invasion is now considered? Canada invades could be a future DLC! Mexico builds the wall to keep the contagion (And Donald Trump) out…

      Can you imagine doing this happening in somewhere like Tokyo? Sydney? Rio de Janeiro? Moscow? it’s all plausible given how long the virus could stay on the currency and how it flows through the global economy….

      As for the Destiny story – well it was never it’s strongest point, whilst it improved with the Fallen King it was always one of the weakest aspects of the game..

      I’ve enjoyed my experience in the game so far and enjoying the stories within the game,.

      Reply

  5. Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

    March 15, 2016 at 11:16

    A lot of different scores. But in all honesty I am leaning toward the 6.5/10 reviewers. You can easily speed level to max. To story is very basic. And I am not really looking forward to spending the rest of my days in the DZ just because the PvE side is lacking content and story.

    Reply

    • Captain JJ the Isolated

      March 15, 2016 at 11:32

      How many good hours do you think you can get out of it? Being a R600 game.

      Reply

      • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

        March 15, 2016 at 11:33

        20 hours to level to max with skipping here and there, around 30-35 hours to finish all side missions. And probably x amount of hours for as long as you can mentally handle human beings in a PvP environment 😛

        Reply

        • Captain JJ the Isolated

          March 15, 2016 at 11:36

          So, say for someone like me who tends to take these things slower. 30-35 hours…plus having to use Uplay.
          It’s also not entirely something that interests me very much regarding gameplay, environments etc.
          So I’m still not sold on this game.

          Reply

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 15, 2016 at 11:36

            Maybe hold back and see what the “free” DLC brings to the table.

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 15, 2016 at 11:38

            Sunday night I almost lost it again when uPlay just would not log in. First and last uPlay game for me. Thank you very much

          • Captain JJ the Isolated

            March 15, 2016 at 11:40

            Yea. Not a fan. I had so many issues with The Crew not wanting to connect that I just downright avoid anything multiplayer focused on Uplay now.

          • Darren Peach

            March 15, 2016 at 13:43

            That makes perfect sense. Burn the internet…….with….acid !!!!!

          • Captain JJ the Isolated

            March 15, 2016 at 14:09

            But….but I need the internet.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 15, 2016 at 11:40

            The “other game” was DDoS’d to hell most of this weekend as well. They’re going to repeat the event this weekend again in case you missed it.

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 15, 2016 at 11:40

            I dropped out of the void twice because of that crap 🙁

            But managed to finish the alert.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 15, 2016 at 11:43

            Yeah I was trying to ducat farm as well. When Baro popped up I was like, I’ve got 850 – let’s buy this sucker! ……. well, shit – I’m going to need more ducats.

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 15, 2016 at 11:44

            Luckily for me I had all the Slash mods he was selling already so that saved me a pretty penny in ducats

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 15, 2016 at 11:45

            Me too, but I wanted everything else. That sentinel mask is 500. :/

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 15, 2016 at 11:46

            I do agree the mask looks epic, but it would not look good on any of the sentinels that I am using 😛

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 15, 2016 at 11:56

            At least the event was cool, had fun repeating the last mission a couple of times yesterday. Leveled Inaros from 13 to 30 playing it, never went down once. Had 13 revives to my credit in one of the missions heh. Those Rhinos were made out of tinfoil.

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 15, 2016 at 11:58

            Took valkyr out when I hit the 4th mission with an efficiency build. With only 25 energy I still laughed at their feeble attempts to take me down in groups.

            But on another note. Did you notice how much bloody knock-back the enemies had in this event.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 15, 2016 at 12:05

            Yip. Rollers & Flameblade’s ground slam stagger you, Scorpions hook you, and the other guys knock you flying. I had sure footed & handspring equipped – even if they got me down it didn’t last for long.

          • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

            March 15, 2016 at 11:41

            As far as the beauty of this game goes, graphics wise, it’s stunning, really, I walked through a few of the areas, just gobsmacked, it is though, very Tom Clancy-ish, I’d say the TC based RPG we all could have imagined, but not much more, if you’re expecting something like Splintercell, you would be heavily disappointed, but if you came looking for a tripped out Ghost Recon pre open world, then this would be the game for you, I’m quite happy to sink in some time, but they’ll have to up their game, pun intended, to get me investing more time into the DLC

      • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

        March 15, 2016 at 11:35

        Well, I’ve spent close to 23 hours in game, about 50% done with the main story sitting at level 20 on the PvE side and level 12 in the DZ, I’d expect to finish the PvE side of thing at some point around the 30s, but then having to grind through the DZ for about another 8 hours to get to lvl 30 so maybe, just maybe around 40 hours, without getting to repeat anything…

        Reply

    • miaau

      March 15, 2016 at 11:35

      I like PVE.

      Played Neverwinter a crap load (for me) and I always preferred the PVE. the PVP is not fun for me, the players are very competitive and wax me so quickly I am a massive liability for the poor shmucks forced to be on my team.

      I WAS very intrigued by this game, but, thanks to various reading up on it. not for me.

      Your post was the catalyst. Officially still interested to read about it, but now even a far distant thought of playing is out, until or unless they focus on the PVE side.

      Reply

      • Captain JJ the Isolated

        March 15, 2016 at 11:37

        I want to actually get back into Neverwinter.
        I don’t the 38 hours I put into it was enough.

        Reply

        • miaau

          March 15, 2016 at 12:59

          I have not the strength, to be honest. I tried. But now, on the Xbox One version, ALL the expansion packs have been loads. I am just overwhelmed by content and do not care enough to look up guides. Seems like effort.

          Was vaguely interested in the Strongholds. Played that Neverwinter Strongholds?

          Reply

          • Captain JJ the Isolated

            March 15, 2016 at 14:10

            Never tried that no.
            Just put about 30hours into Neverwinter quite a long time ago, but always played alone.

      • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

        March 15, 2016 at 11:51

        I too favor PvE over anything PvP. Take Warframe for instance, I have 555 hours playtime on record, zero of that was spent in PvP. WoW I have 120 days play time (2880 hours). I have one character on a PvP server and probably only around 24 hours of play time on him.

        Reply

        • Spy Master Tokashi

          March 16, 2016 at 07:12

          haha I am completely different…

          I have 128 Hours on my Rogue (That was only in vanilla wow) just because I spent hours in world pvp, killing those pve noobs running to molten core!

          Over time as I got older, I got more lazy in grinding games, so now PvE is a lot more fun for me and I play so many single player games now… funny how life changes your flavour about games.

          Reply

  6. Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

    March 15, 2016 at 11:40

    Probably the most entertaining part of the game is when loot drops and someone gets to it and has garbage stats and go’s “HUUUUUUUUUUUUUU” in skype

    Reply

  7. Guild

    March 15, 2016 at 12:14

    I’ve only spent 15 hours playing but so far love the game. I’m level 13 in the normal PVE and level 15 DZ and that’s where I find a lot of my entertainment 🙂 My main issue with the DZ is the risk of going Rogue and potential loss I can incur vs the reward received is unbalanced. The lose is too high so majority of the people play nice although it is fun when shit hits the fan and everyone starts going Rogue had that a few times.
    So for me it’s an 8/10 dependent on tweaking the DZ so Rogue loses aren’t high and how much I can do in the end game. But currently I just want to get home so I can play more and look for better gear.

    Reply

    • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

      March 15, 2016 at 12:18

      One thing that needs attention is when you have to shoot elites in the DZ that take a lot of bullets, other players on purpose walk in front of your gun to force a rogue status and shoot you for loot with no consequence

      Reply

      • Guild

        March 15, 2016 at 12:24

        Ya I had that a few times. I’ve survived pretty much most of the encounters but it is a stupid and dick move. One guy last night wanted make friends after he killed us at extraction. Thankfully spawn was close by to get revenge. If you go Rogue it’s better to be in a team of 4.

        Reply

  8. Fallenlords

    March 15, 2016 at 12:14

    I had a good time in the closed/open beta. But with the full release I am plodding through it, I just can’t get into it at all. I like the setting, I like the look and feel to it. But whatever ‘wow’ factor it had seems to have worn off quite quickly. My fault I think for playing the beta. At the same time enjoying Far Cry Primal a lot more than I thought, so swings and roundabouts I suppose.

    Reply

  9. Darren Peach

    March 15, 2016 at 13:35

    Gamespot are controlled by the FBI and Microsoft….I don’t trust em. Especially after that one dildo started a war with the developers of War fighter but left COD alone. What a tooooool.

    Reply

  10. UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy

    March 15, 2016 at 13:35

    I am still enjoying it, but being in the end game now I need to group up with people. So it gets difficult finding people who are worth grouping with.

    Is anyone playing on PC and looking for group buddy people things?

    Reply

  11. Darren Peach

    March 15, 2016 at 13:43

    Where is Hammersteyn ?

    Reply

  12. Jonah Cash

    March 15, 2016 at 15:01

    Oh wow I actually enjoy the PvE side of this, I am only level 11 and I have put in quite a few hours. Don’t see the point in speed leveling, but that is maybe just me. I take each section and do all the side missions, encounters and then I do the mission. It is taking long but I am still enjoying it enough playing it like that. Definitely a 8 out of 10 game for me.

    Reply

  13. Gavin Mannion

    March 15, 2016 at 15:31

    6.5… that’s utter crap.

    Yes the game has faults but it’s not even close to a 6.5 game, clickbait review bullshit

    Reply

  14. chimera_85

    March 15, 2016 at 15:43

    0/10. Too poor to purchase

    Reply

  15. Francois Knoetze

    March 17, 2016 at 08:19

    can’t wait for the long weekend. have to pour in a couple of hours into this. Love the game so far.

    Reply

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