Review of the game Tom Clancy's The Division. Review-opinion The Division

Among the gaming snobs in Lately it is customary to speak about the publisher Ubisoft exclusively in a negative way - for the brutal exploitation of profitable franchises in the laziest way for the creators. However, Ubisoft had enough determination to perform on the same field with Activision and her Destiny, and most importantly, there were enough creative resources and imagination of the tutelage studios (Swedish Massive Ubisoft, authors World in Conflict, And Red Storm from North Carolina who worked on Rainbow Six) do this at the highest level, unattainable by many competitors.

Last sale

MMO enemies can sometimes withstand a couple of clips from a machine gun, but the game still remains incredibly entertaining

The RPG part also offers a very clear and down-to-earth set of actions. The player naturally grows in levels, gains new passive and active skills, collects materials, crafts new pieces of equipment, improves the center of operations, cooperates with other players and explores increasingly difficult and enemy-filled zones. It sounds quite ordinary, if not boring, but in reality all this is much more interesting than on paper - the developers have very clearly adjusted the rhythm of the game so that completing routine tasks does not result in stupid hopeless farming and grinding, which manifests itself only at the highest levels of pumping .

The fears of many about the amount of content in the game were not justified - even taking into account the fact that Ubisoft while they've squeezed in Brooklyn for us (which was in the trailers and which is guaranteed to return in future DLC) content The Division Enough for two to three weeks of very active play. And if you are not used to binge playing for hours, then Tom Clancy's The Division In general, it should last at least a couple of months.

As for the network part, the initial problems at the start disappeared quite quickly - both matchmaking and the servers themselves are now working quite stably, at least on the PC version. The same applies to optimization - the game confidently showed from 45 to 60 frames per second even in the most brutal messes.

***

Tom Clancy's The Division- an ambitious MMOFPS that was able to combine the mechanics of an excellent shooter and a thoughtful RPG, placing this mixture in the scenery of an incredibly detailed and believable Manhattan. Yes, there is no full-fledged PvP and weak social interaction between the players, but given the vigorous start and upcoming additions, it seems that the fate of the project should be quite bright.

And it’s not at all, thank God, that the recent “DLC at AAA price” died down. But the player is ready to forgive his beloved company for any sins, if only it will give him another project dreams. Such a project could be, for example, . Could. Would.

Dying, so beautiful!

Marketing geniuses started for good: the debut video presented back in 2013 gameplay It was not just breathtaking, but naturally mind-blowing. IN in a good way, of course. But the time of protracted development passed, and progress did not stand still - the next generation of games smoothly turned into the current one, jaw-dropping when watching trailers The Division no longer fell to the floor, and the project’s scheduled release date was added one year after another. Three years have passed - even the most avid fan will get tired of waiting. Be that as it may, the release took place on March 8, 2016. Of course, with a horizon of additions for the next foreseeable year.

Unless, of course, there is a pandemic in the said coming year. deadly virus, but this is exactly the outcome that is prophesied The Division. Everything happened almost in the blink of an eye: yesterday there was the first infected person, today there is a world on the verge of an apocalypse, where a few agents are trying to save the remnants of humanity from extinction. There is also plenty of all kinds of scum on the street - every surviving scum wants to snatch his piece from the decaying Manhattan.

COOPOMMORPG. New York impresses with its attention to detail. And we’re not talking about ubiquitous game objects like bags, cars and other things. Ecosystem The Division lives its own life: a crow hunts a mouse, dogs sniff each other when they meet, a few residents are engaged in various matters. Little things like this really bring the picture to life. The atmosphere in the game is Ubisoft’ovskiy vanilla: despite the extinction of all humanity, there is not even a hint of the hopelessness of what is happening here. Everyone is cheerful, playful, witty and very unnatural, although the team was aiming for naturalism, trying to show the skeletons former life in the form of empty apartments and shops. If anyone wants darkness, welcome to Dark Zone– a place of danger, PvP and good loot. This zone is also dark only in words - here, as in all of pre-apocalyptic New York, everything is fine and bright.

Details, more details. Again.

But the variety of details that seems at first glance quickly disappears, like sand slipping through your fingers. The crow hunts the mouse again and again, the parents again and again comfort each other after the death of the child. Even the shootings repeat themselves exactly. Ten hours of gameplay is enough to fully feel main problem The Division- blatant repetition. The same operations are accompanied by the same radio messages, the same bandits shouting “They killed Alex” again and again. At the same time, the diameter of the cycling wheel is very small - “We are being attacked from a small caliber. These are looters! sounds every ten minutes.

A world of open corridors. The open world discredits itself with constant invisible fences and rails. In fact, New York appears to be a set of corridors, movement between which is sometimes blocked in the most ridiculous way. The missions are full of monotony - the notorious “defend while the timer runs” is all over the place. For some reason, looters are constantly coming in to shoot at humanitarian supplies - this, too, will have to be stopped at every step. And this monotony would not bother me in any way if the shooting mechanics were at least somewhat interesting.

Tom Clancy's The Division is a tactical third-person shooter that incorporates the progression mechanics of MMORPG games. Increasing levels, class abilities, dividing the map into level zones, loot and dungeons - all this would be perceived as incredibly enchanting, but the shooting process itself, the holy of holies of the shooter, does not give the player any fun. The agent will have to run through the entire game on all fours, hiding behind covers, participating in shootouts of medium and low dynamics. Things are a little better in local dungeons - separate operations where only groups of players (up to 4) are allowed. If you get hold of like-minded people, you can put various tactical schemes into practice, but with random colleagues in the craft, the game action always turns into a chaotic mess, some members of which constantly run to the embrasure, unable to get used to the need to sit in the trenches. At higher levels this, of course, is not the case. But solo play at these highest levels is almost impossible.

Not Hell's Kitchen.

God be with them, with their crazy partners. In principle, there are more inept players, and it is not surprising that shootouts in the early stages of the project’s existence do not satisfy everyone with their sluggishness. Over time, everything will level out and undeniable tactical maneuvers will become established, since there is a field for them. Movements and locations, technical and logistics support, ambushes and encirclements - all this can be worked out if a number of conditions are met. Firstly, strictly a conference with your friends. Secondly, purely in individual operations (dungeons). Traveling through a relatively open world is more of an entertainment for your loved one, since you won’t be looking for spare parts and diaries of missing agents with your team.

Operations have a number of unpleasant aspects in terms of organization. Of course, their density is not that great; in search of better loot, you will have to replay the tasks again and again. Selecting a random team is far from the most efficient task, and at the same time it cannot proceed in the background: you start the search for partners and sit looking at the screen with the gaze of Alyonushka from Vasnetsov’s pen. Well, they don’t let you go there alone, and without a full quartet at the highest levels they very quickly lather your neck. It will not be possible to ignore operations, as the progress of various MMOs often allows: for the resources received in them, station modules are developed that provide access to new skills.

Beautiful. Boring. Monotonous. The skills, divided into three groups, can be combined in any way, provided there are slots for their placement. Offensive, defensive, engineering - the combination of active and passive abilities makes each player unique. All for the best equipment– the holy of holies of RPGs. But it’s not enough to knock out a decent machine gun from a boss different from ordinary enemies just the amount of health. The weapon also needs to be customized by installing various upgrades: sight, clip, butt, and so on. Not that these elements would have an impact on the flow of the gameplay. It’s just that life is in motion, and so at least some sense is drawn in all the monotony.

Take , change the setting to boring modern realism, remove all the fun like dynamic shootouts and bikes, turn open world to the collection of corridors and you will receive The Division. MMO components in a solo/co-op shooter look great, but are limited by inexpressive shooting mechanics that risk getting boring at the most short time. When you play The Division with friends, you don't want to turn it off. But when you're not playing The Division with friends - I don’t want to turn it on.

The world is in complete chaos. Post-apocalypse everywhere. People are afraid and don't know what to do. The struggle of small fry for power is everywhere. It would seem that this is excellent material for creating a bomb game, but no - Ubisoft again buried all the fans’ hopes to the very top.

(Where are modern games without customization?)

On January 28, closed beta testing of the game from Ubisoft studio - Tom Clancy's The Division started. It's hard to call the beta closed. Keys were sold everywhere, even Yubi themselves snatched them for a small loot. The beta, to put it mildly, turned out to be unsuccessful. Starting from problems from entering the game and ending with bugs in the game itself. The review Division:

(The holiday is coming to us, the holiday is coming to us.)

“Division” greets you in full glory. First, you choose the appearance of the character you will play, and then there is a video in which you and your combat friend fly to the nearest outpost so that your friend can be helped. After the end of the video, the whole batch actually begins. More precisely, half a batch. Or more precisely, nothing. You run like mad from one point to another, while performing simply boring missions, from which you get minimal pleasure. Another thing that can, and even needs to be highlighted is the gameplay itself. The gameplay is implemented disgustingly. You don't get any pleasure from shooting. If a weapon shoots in Call of Duty without recoil, it’s the same here. You point the weapon at one point and shoot without moving even an inch. Running, walking, rolling, hiding - all this is implemented horribly! The gameplay, by the way, is an improved version of Tom Clancy's: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.

(Is it because he's black?)

Good in a small way.

Separately, we need to think about the “Dark Zone”. Judging by the beta, this will be one of the most interesting places where the players will spend time. The essence of the Dark Zone is to really cause a massacre between real players. After a certain time, a helicopter flies into this zone to pick up the loot found by the player. And while the players are waiting for the helicopter, this is where all the fun of the Dark Zone begins. Little people with their farts are coming from all sides and starting to start all sorts of shootouts. Whoever survives this chaos is considered lucky.

There are still no reviews, and certainly not everyone decided to buy a new creation from Ubisoft on the day of release. Perhaps I can help you decide.

Graphic arts

The graphics in the game are excellent, very beautiful and atmospheric. One of the best graphics this year. No, not as good as it was shown at E3, but still very good. There was no tragedy with the optimization either; it works quite well on my bucket, but judging by the reviews on the network, some players still have problems.

Plot

The plot is interesting, topical, but somewhat unsuccessfully presented. Mainly through dialogue in which our hero impersonates Gordon Freeman. The rest of the story takes place through lore. The characters are also not particularly memorable, just like that, only our pseudo-partner Fei Lau, Doctor Kendel, and Pierce’s substitute immediately pop up in my head.

But they worked very hard on the lore, a lot of all kinds of recordings of phone calls, feeds from surveillance cameras, recorders and other things. And ECHOs are made absolutely gorgeous, though they don’t look entirely realistic from a technological point of view, but it’s a game.

Gameplay

The Division is clearly made according to the mold of MMO games with all the inherent shortcomings of this genre, such as an unclear narrative, a strong bias towards grinding experience and items. But at the same time, the game does not feel like an MMO, because it plays like a regular cooperative or even solo shooter with very thick-skinned opponents. You see other players only in special hubs or the Dark Zone. Fortunately, at least for each “story” mission they made a special menu for quickly finding partners.

Technically and gameplay-wise, there is not much difference in how you play the game, in co-op or alone. Undoubtedly, playing with friends is almost always more interesting, but in the game there is no need to interact with each other in any special way, think through tactics, or combine your skills in any way. Apart from the fact that outside the Dark Zone, only members of your party can raise you. It’s enough just to take a better position, and don’t forget to lay out the healing aids.

The missions are not particularly inventive. Both plot and side. Standard go kill, save, blow up, don’t let blow up, pick up, bring and press the button. There are no changes in gameplay or mechanics during the passage.

The map, by the standards of MMOs and all sorts of online survival games, is not very large, but it is quite densely packed with all sorts of goodies. But if you complete all the main missions twice, close the side effects, incidents and collect all the lore, then the old locations simply die. The only thing left to do is to replay missions if you are addicted to grinding, and collect supplies if you are obsessed with crafting.

Yes, by the way, there is crafting, but this element of the game is very optional. It can be ignored without much damage to the pleasure of the process and the passage, because while wandering around New York often enough items are already found High Quality and level, especially in the Dark Zone. But if you are a fan of crafts, then you will have an additional advantage in the game.

And, probably, not a single modern game can do without modifications and customization. In the “Special Squad” this is also in complete order. You can modify both weapons and equipment. And with a certain skill you can even change some basic characteristics items to better suit your playing style. The appearance of your special agent can be completely customized using clothes scattered everywhere. Everything changes, from scarves with hats to boots. They didn’t even forget about the now fashionable skins for weapons.

The artificial intelligence is very good, the enemies actively use cover, move intelligently, enter from the flanks and rear, use grenades, and at high levels even additional gadgets. But the game doesn’t particularly offer a variety of enemies and bosses. Plus, you feel quite uncomfortable when you have to put half a clip in the head and 2-3 in the body of an ordinary bandit. This of course depends on the choice of weapon, but in general this is approximately the case. Although, this is a purely personal quibble.

The locations are also thought out quite well. This is not just a collection of guts or, on the contrary, open spaces with randomly scattered boxes. There is almost always somewhere to turn around; often there are several paths with competent shelters. So the battles are quite dynamic and interesting. This is also facilitated by pleasant shooting mechanics, where each weapon differs from each other not only in characteristics, but also in sensations.

RPG elements

What about pumping? Is there an RPG without leveling? And if it does happen, is it good then? The Division is still not only an MMO, but also a bit of an RPG. Leveling up here is quite simple, although it doesn’t seem like it at the very beginning. By completing missions you receive experience, it only affects your level, which in turn will allow you to use cooler weapons and gear that directly change the characteristics of your character. That is, you cannot directly change anything about yourself.

In addition, by completing tasks and extinguishing various incidents, you receive points that are spent on upgrading the three main wings of your base. And for each improvement you are given certain skills, talents and advantages.

In short, skills are active skills, of which there are not very many, but in general they are quite enough. Talents are passive skills that provide a certain boost to your character under the circumstances specified in the description. And the benefits that generally work are always giving you some bonuses.

There are no rigid classes in the game, so you can essentially change your layout at any time while out of combat if something doesn’t suit you or doesn’t suit you. Very comfortably.

This all probably sounds quite complicated, and the description required as many as 4 paragraphs and 19 lines, but everything is actually simple. You'll figure it out quickly.

Dark Zone / Multiplayer

The dark zone is essentially the same PVE, but with the risk of being killed by another player who, other than boredom, has no particular motive for this. Because loot is still being extracted from slightly thicker-headed bots, just like in PVE. And the penalties for death during a successful or, conversely, unsuccessful and, most importantly, not particularly necessary raid on other players are very strong. Personally, I would prefer either a standard Destiny-style cartoon. Or even seamless multiplayer with PVE itself. Where 10-40 people on the map are running around, completing missions, grinding or trying to hunt other players. Would be better. By the way, evacuating collected loot has become much more difficult compared to the beta. Even at low levels.

Localization

Localization is not bad, it would be even good to replace “Special Squad” with “Division” and force the NPCs to open their mouths. But for more spoiled players who have at least a little command of the language, and who also managed to appreciate the original voices, it would be nice to be given the opportunity to choose the original dubbing with Russian subtitles. It would be, because Ubisoft followed the path of Activision and at least threw out all other localizations from the PC version in the Russian region. If only they had hidden the menu with the choice then, otherwise it looks a little like trolling.

Problems / Cheaters / Trolls

There aren't too many problems with the servers. In 10-20 hours of play it crashed only twice, and then it immediately came back. And on the Internet, people are not complaining as actively as they could.
Remember how much turmoil there was when the “always-online” system was introduced into one of the Assassin units.

I didn’t have a chance to meet any cheaters who were in betas; perhaps the developers were able to finally close the holes. But we should not completely exclude the possibility of their appearance in the future. But instead of cheaters in full version trolls appeared, blocking the entrance to some locations and a simulator of queues for a laptop.

What does Mass Effect have to do with it?

By the way, some sound effects during loading and in the menu are strongly reminiscent of sounds from Mass Effect. So, by the way.

Results

IN overall game very good, but whether it’s worth spending 2 thousand you’ll have to figure out for yourself. In addition, it is better to immediately decide whether you need a Season Pass, because the game with it costs 4, and the game and the Season Pass separately cost 2 and 2.5 thousand, respectively. 500 rubles difference is not small. Eh, salaries would rise as much as prices.

If you are not sure that you will like the gameplay and the basic mechanics of local battles with shelters, then you can try the free-to-play Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Phantoms. There, all the basic mechanics and 1v1 combat are almost the same. And in general, it is more like a multiplayer mode The Division than this mixture of PVE with PVP in the dark zone.

Personally, I really enjoyed the game, although I would still prefer a classic single-player/co-op story-driven RPG with separate multiplayer like Phantoms or survival modes like DayZ/H1Z1.

Today we would like to present to your attention a cross-platform computer game in the TPS genre, developed by Ubisoft and Red Storm, a game that has received wide attention from gamers - Tom Clancy's The Division. Let us remind you that the game was officially announced just recently, on March 8, 2016. Let's get to know Tom Clancy" s The Division is a little closer.

Plot component

Once again, we are faced with the story of a viral infection that hit America. A group of scientists together with politicians launched a project called “ Dark winter" Its purpose was to test how quickly society could respond to attacks by bio-terrorists, but all their efforts led to only one thing - the collapse of the entire society...

Black Friday, a great day for shopping, when stores have incredible discounts, it was on this day that it all began, because the virus began its journey with the help of banknotes, after which it spread to people, etc. In the first days, it seemed that everything would work out and the city would cope with the surging wave of the epidemic, but after a few hours it became clear that this was a disaster.
There is no electricity, no water, shops have been robbed, in other words, every person who is in the affected area is a danger to everyone and only an elite squad of fighters who have been waiting in the wings can help civilians who are still hoping for the best, but the city streets are teeming with various gangs formations, cleaners, etc. The fate of the city is in your hands...

Tom Clancy's The Division

The game takes place in New York, but the main action will take place in Manhattan, but not for long, because as soon as you gain experience, the explored territory will increase.

The game was developed precisely so that players could create their own teams and interact with each other, completing missions all together, but this does not mean that it will be very difficult and boring for one here, but the beauty is that the overall picture will depend precisely from the actions of all the players who are in the game.
A well-designed open world will allow you to become completely free from the main storyline, for you can do anything. Fulfill side quests, immediately rush to complete the main tasks, or simply run into the dark zone and start smashing and throwing, but there is one thing, in order to destroy everyone, you need to acquire patience, because for this you need to be well armed and discover many abilities, but about that a little bit later.

Classic controls will allow players to jump right into the game and get down to business. Any object on the map can become an excellent defense against enemies, because you can hide behind them, and with the help of short runs to other objects you can quickly change your position.
As for the game engine, Tom Clancy's The Division uses the latest generation of SNOWDROP, which made the game more vibrant and realistic. It is here that you can see this incredible city, which is presented in its full “glory,” ravaged, burned and destroyed...

Let's start from the very beginning, first you need to create your own character, by the way there may be several of them. In our understanding, this is necessary so that ultimately you can create from each of them a separate class of fighters, whose skills and abilities are directed in a certain direction: sniper, medic, attack aircraft, etc.

Base of Operations

In the game you have a main base called the operating room. Here you can feel safe and replenish your ammunition, plus all this you can move here automatically. You will constantly replenish your base with new employees, who will subsequently work on improving the city and researching the virus to create a vaccine.

In addition to the operating base in the game, you will open certain strongholds, which are also a completely safe zone in which you can replenish your ammunition, buy and sell things.

The base of operations is divided into three blocks: technical, power and medical. Technical department is responsible for providing your base with electricity, water, heating, communications and other solutions necessary for survival. As for the medical unit, it is necessary for the victims and the creation of a vaccine against viruses. The power unit is responsible for weapons, supplies, etc.

You probably already guessed that since there are only 3 blocks, it means that to improve them you need to earn special points. That is, the tasks are also divided into three parts: technical, strength and medical. By completing these tasks, you will accumulate special points that will allow you to improve this or that block in your operating base. Improvements will allow you to gain new knowledge, skills and unlock abilities. However, more on them later.

Armament

The beauty is that there is simply an incredible amount of weapons in the game that you can get different ways. The first method is the simplest - kill enemies and pick up loot from them. The second method is quite complicated, this is, of course, crafting, you will find various materials, which are scattered around the map, from killed enemies, etc. They will allow you to create various things yourself. Crafting in the game is a rather boring thing, although sometimes you can get very interesting things.

The game has several important character indicators that can be increased using weapons and various things: basic damage, health and skill power. It is according to these indicators that you will have to create your special agent. If you prefer ranged combat more and like to be a sniper, then of course the best thing for you is to increase the damage, etc.

Each weapon can be strengthened with special modifications. For example, install a grenade launcher, silencer, sight, etc. You can also purchase these modifications from merchants, or knock them out from enemies.

In addition to improving their combat performance, players are given the opportunity to change appearance, wear different jackets, hats, shoes, etc. In other words, the developers made sure that you don’t get bored in the game and don’t have to spend days and days completing missions where you only need to shoot and kill. Skills

As we have already said, by improving your operating base you will unlock various abilities: skills, talents, advantages. The skills are also divided into three blocks, which are repeated from the base. There are 12 of them in total, and you can use three of the selected ones. You can choose a special shield, install a turret, open the ability to scan the area, etc.

As for talents, there are only 24 of them and subsequently you can use only 4 at the same time, which you choose for yourself. These are some kind of buffs that will strengthen your abilities, in other words, you also need to build on the style of the game, increase damage, or your medical abilities, etc.

Advantages are passive skills that will unlock as you improve your base of operations. There are 40 of them in total, that is, the faster you upgrade your main base, the faster you can discover an advantage over your enemy.

Multiplayer mode

In Tom Clancy's The Division, there is no need to separately launch the multiplayer mode, because the game is initially online. At strong points now there are often other players with whom you can find mutual language and gather one group to complete tasks together. You can select a group yourself by viewing the player’s profile, but to do this you need to be close to him. But there is a simpler solution, for example, you approach the next mission and before starting the operation you are given the opportunity to assemble a group. You just have to go to a special menu, after which the search will begin for players who are ready to join the group, but today, as it seemed to us, most players complete all the tasks on their own, or their group was initially formed from friends. It is also possible to join someone’s group yourself; just press the “G” button, after which auto-selection will turn on. Carrying out tasks with a whole group of players is much more interesting and the game reveals all the delights when one can help another, heal him from wounds, support him with fire when the second breaks forward, etc. In other words, if you want real spectacles, then be sure to at least look for a partner.

Dark Zone

The game has a special area where ordinary “mortals” are afraid to enter, called the “Dark Zone”. This is where the most dangerous opponents are located, from whom you can knock out something interesting and cool, but do not forget that the enemies here are much more dangerous than on ordinary city streets, sometimes they can shoot you with one shot.
Another beauty of this territory is that only here you can fight against “live” players, that is, this is a kind of PVP and PVE zone. But I would like to say right away that if outside the dark zone you can calmly kill everyone alone, then inside it is better to stay in a group.

Moving around the map

Since our city is quite large and has a huge number of streets, in order not to get lost in these slums, you can simply click on the map and select the necessary operation that you would like to perform, after which GPS navigation will build the necessary route, and for convenience, since Sometimes it is necessary to visit the base of operations, you can move there using “fast travel”, in other words it is a kind of teleport.

Graphic component

As for the graphical component of the game, the developers should give a big, bold plus sign to all objects, people, the environment, weather conditions and other solutions are drawn simply superbly. Even the light that changes when leaving a dark tunnel to open space, it just blinds the eyes. Broken cars, fire, blazing fire, special effects, all this is at the highest level.
Special attention should be paid to small videos that can be viewed after completing the main plot component. Personally, it seemed to us that these particular video inserts could have been done in a more realistic format.
Of course, players who have not yet managed to acquire a powerful computer will not be able to play on maximum graphics, and streamers with insufficient hardware will not be comfortable enough.

Sound component

It seems that everyone will like the fact that the game is completely Russified, and this is not unimportant for many. Excellent voice acting, dialogues, gunshot sounds, environment, there are no annoying music tracks that blow over your head, everything is done so believably that sometimes you start to think that this is all a real situation. It is clear that the developers did their best.

Results

To summarize, it should be said that Tom Clancy's The Division, as it seems to us, has become one of the most anticipated games of 2016, and what to hide, judging by how quickly it was bought up in stores, we can assume that it is still and will be able to win the title best game of the year. Excellent graphics, well-developed gameplay, multiplayer mode, a lot of features, a well-placed emphasis on group play and much more. Tom Clancy's The Division exceeded all our expectations and deservedly receives the “Gold” award from our online resource..