Does The Division live up to its promise?

[Administrator]

Following the widely perceived Watch Dogs downgrade from its spectacular E3 2012 reveal to its eventual release last month, there's been much attention on Ubisoft's wider line-up - and whether, following its similarly spectacular reveal at last year's show, The Division will follow the same trajectory. A first look proper, away from the blinding testosterone levels of an E3 conference, gives something of a mixed answer.
What The Division has in abundance is atmosphere - a cold, bleak atmosphere that's creaking in the grim frost encasing its abandoned New York. The backdrop is pure Clancy-universe hokum - diseased dollar bills creating chaos on a near-apocalyptic scale - but it makes for what could be one of the most memorable video game locations in quite some time. There are stories embedded across the city's architecture; a dead policeman slumped down the side of a car telling of a firefight that passed some days ago, or bloodstains on the walls of an apartment hinting at a more domestic tragedy.
The streets are dense with detail that stretches far into a cold mist, the Snowdrop engine doing a fantastic job of painting a viral spread of urban decay that's taken down an entire city. It's a spread, though, that can be slowly reined in, and that's where the dazzle of The Division settles into something a little more familiar.
Read more…


More...