At last year’s E3 Ubisoft’s third-person shooter The Division wowed audiences. The trailer showcased a supposedly open and online world of decrepit urban landscapes populated by AI and other players. This year, Ubisoft showed more gameplay of The Division, starring a squad of players directed by another player over the game’s chat system.
The game takes place in the United States after the outbreak of a highly infectious disease causes the entire country to shut down in just five days. The player characters are members of the “Strategic Homeland Division,” or “The Division” for short. This group is given authority by the President of the United States to do whatever it takes to salvage what’s left of society. This is the setup for the online world you will enter, populated by hostile NPCs and players.
The idea of a massively multiplayer online tactical shooter role-playing game invites skepticism, especially with the wonderful aesthetics that screenshots and gameplay videos have shown, but Ubisoft seems to be pulling it off. The gameplay video shows the group walking through an abandoned subway station and then initiating a shootout upon reaching the surface.
Players are able to take cover behind waist-high objects and vault over/climb objects to gain a more advantageous position. The game looks like a mix between Uncharted, The Last of Us, and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter due to the way the player moves and the high-tech sci-fi element introduced–including personal drones.
The Division Promises to Be More Than Just Another Cover-Based Shooter
Players are also able to trade with others online, loot enemies for materials to build things with and customize their character with different weapons, skills and gear. There’s also a smartphone app planned that allows you to join friends in real-time and assist them with a birds-eye view of the battlefield by attacking enemies and marking targets, as well as enhancing the capabilities of your friends.
Overall, Tom Clancy’s The Division seems to be an extremely ambitious title that could be a huge hit. The online open-world coupled with RPG skill progression, tactical shooter elements and heavy emphasis on player interaction make for a fascinating title. Only time will tell if The Division lives up to the hype. If it does then this could easily be one of the best games of 2015.
