Tom Clancy's The Division Previews
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Following last week's E3 event, there are a number of new hands-on and hands-off previews to report about for the forthcoming third-person shooter/RPG, Tom Clancy's The Division.
PC Gamer:
This demo focused on the last part. I was in a group of three, against two other sets of three players in the Dark Zone, a gated off area of Manhattan where all the PvP takes place in The Division. We start outside of that in a deserted street of Manhattan. To my eye The Division doesn't look as good as that astonishing reveal demo from two years ago, but it's a really handsome game, for sure, helped by maintaining that washed out blueish colour palette and the corridors of skyscrapers stretching off into the distance.
The thing I always remembered from that 2013 reveal was being able to shoot out individual bits of glass from cars, and you can still do that here. I do just that as I get used to the controls, and jumping on a car prompts a contextual suspension animation, and the water effects look fantastic, too; all the details are high-end. It doesn't feel like a completely different game to that reveal right now, though I only really see isolated parts of Manhattan in my demo and one slightly larger open battle zone.
Jumping into The Division's seamless arenas (for want of a better word) revealed the scale of the destroyed New York: an impressive rendering both vertically and with regards to density of detail. The world is well realised, from the stage dressing of human detritus (broken down cars, destroyed barricades) to a physics engine that enables you to shoot wing mirrors off of cars. It's not quite as impressive as that first demo, but it's not far off and certainly captures the spirit of that early footage.
It's also a game where being first on the trigger doesn't guarantee victory. The Division seems like a shooter, but in actuality it's more like an RPG with real-time combat. The screen is rammed with HUD - which can be annoying, and works against the superb environmental work - but it's all there for a reason. This is a game of stats as well as shots, and players are encouraged to level before they pull the trigger.
Gameplay consists of third-person shooter combat with a heavy dose of cover. Most combat takes place with both parties behind objects, so deliberate ability and grenade usage is critical to making progress. I played with a load-out that allowed me to fire an explosive charge which could then be detonated, as well as a land mine that could be thrown from a moderate distance. I would use these two abilities frequently to break foes from their cover. Those who chose to ignore my aggression would be punished accordingly.
The shooting mechanics worked relatively well, but persistent input lag made aim more difficult than I'm used to. What appeared to be a 30 frames per second cap didn't help. Speaking of the presentation, the game looked downgraded from what I remember seeing last year, but still had a good presence nonetheless. I did keep in mind that this is a game with more than six months of development left, so it still has plenty of time to receive visual polish.
The key takeaways from this video were numerous. Ubisoft was clearly designing a hybrid 4-player team RPG/action hybrid. Sound familiar? Unfortunately Destiny came out between this videos release and today, and it seemingly treads upon some of the same gameplay elements.
Key takeaways from this video include the notion of (roles): engineer, healer, tank and a scout of some kind. Yes, The Division is first and foremost a roleplay gaming. Gameplay otherwise seems to be action oriented and the hybrid of these two isn't unique. Mass Effect/Deus Ex did this as well.
There were some cool abilities showcased that can help you play, such as a pulse to sense enemies around you, a turret for remote damage, and a group healing ability for your teammates. The blending of the genres is a very interesting idea that just may work when all is said and done. In fact, it's part of what has had me so hyped about this game. It's hard to gauge based on a brief demonstration though, just like sitting someone down with any MMORPG (or other game that is heavily dependent on building out a specific class) for 15 minutes and trying to convince them of all of its possibilities is an impossibility within itself. My expectation of how a third-person shooter would feel got in the way of enjoying the hands-on demo and its surprisingly vast and tactical MMORPG aspects.
Conceptually, The Division is an incredible game with a ton of potential. In practice, it still feels like there are a few tweaks that could be made to improve the final product when it finally releases, though getting my hands on the character builds and understanding my selected skill tree and class may give a better idea of how to play instead of just approaching it like a third-person shooter.
We were able to dispatch the opposing team and were ready to call in our evac when I fell victim to a snake in the grass. My partner, another player who stood next to me both in-game and in real life as we fought through the zone, engaged Rogue Agent protocol and shot down the two of us, stealing our loot and making a break for it himself. The Dark Zone can and will bring out the worst in some players, forcing teammates against teammates all for the allure of whatever that person picked up. We never knew what the others picked up from that loot box, we never discussed it between one another, but that other player shot us in the back and took it anyway. I hope he enjoyed that rifle, if he even got to use it before the demo ended.
The Dark Zone in Tom Clancy's The Division is an appropriate name not only in description but also in experience, as darkness can seep into a player's mind at any time while traveling through these desolate areas. No one is safe, no one can be trusted, and no one should think himself above becoming a victim of friendly fire. If this is but one section of the overall Division experience, I'm very intrigued as to what comes next.
And Twinfinite:
When you choose to attack another player character that is not acting hostile, you are marked as going rogue for a period of time. This gives other players a heads up that you're someone to watch out for. Also, your respawn timers are dramatically increased, making life more difficult for you, and increasing the risk that if you are killed, that you'll lose whatever loot you're carrying.
The urge to just be a jerk and player kill everyone is strong, but cooperation is probably safer and in your best interest if you can find a way to make it work. The way this is set up could lead to some very interesting, player-driven online experiences. One game could have a friendly group of people cooperating to explore and defeat the AI together. That same group could then get interrupted by a more experienced team that wants to disrupt everything. Or it could just be a complete free-for-all which is what I experienced and kind of expected.
