Clearing The Dark Zones Of Tom Clancy’s The Division

Announced at E3 in 2013, The Division was arguably the most impactful game of that year’s conference and even through its several lengthy delays has remained a poster child for the new generation ever since. The apocalyptic open-world squad-based shooter has showcased a deep level of teamwork and cooperation as players attempt to prevent the fall of society, working as a small fireteam in a hostile rendition of New York.

During our brief hands-on with the game we were able to get our teeth into a round of multiplayer, with three teams of three human players venturing into the PvP “Dark Zones”, setting out to extract a package from a damaged cityscape. Communication is obviously key, with a Ubisoft guide in the comms with us and taking time to ensure that we could all hear each other in our headsets before we began.

Our team was briefed on our mission, as well as being given an explanation of the different loadouts each member of the team had. On top of your standard weaponry – in my case an automatic rifle and grenades – we each had two skills, the first being a pulse enhancement that allowed me to tag all of the enemies in a small radius, albeit with a cooldown to prevent over-use. I was also the team medic, with a dedicated med pack and health grenades, though it other players could still revive fallen teammates. Amongst the other abilities on offer to my team were a highly useful throwable turret and a seeker mine. These skills will apparently have different upgradable tiers in the final game, but there was no sign of that in this restricted demo.

Setting out through the abandoned streets, movement was fluid and robust, and the setting makes for a great backdrop to the action. Shells of forgotten cars, shipping containers and concrete barriers litter the streets, providing plenty of cover which you can attach to with a press of a button before similarly vaulting over it with the press of another. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before in third-person shooters, but it generally seemed solid, despite the odd bit of control layout confusion that had me standing up rather than hunkering down behind cover.

The Dark Zones blend AI and human players, and as we ventured in, we came across the first gang of computer-controlled adversaries. We remained hidden while agreeing on our method of attack and who was taking who down, but after this brief tactical chat we engaged the enemy in a loud and bloody attack that took them out without any problems, grabbing the information we needed. We swiftly moved on, following the waypoint for our helicopter extraction, still yet to see any other human players. Our PR rep remarked that we were doing well, though we were soon set to be challenged.

Arriving at the extraction point, we came across another group of computer-controlled enemies, some of whom were kitted out with flamethrowers. Once again our team was in the process of agreeing on our approach when I accidentally shot at one of the enemy group, causing a frantic gunfight to break out. Fortunately we were still able to take them all down and called in the extraction, with the timer starting to tick down. Fleetingly it looked like we were easily going to win our encounter and escape, and we set up the automatic turret and hunkered down in the centre of the square to protect our loot and wait for our transport to arrive.

For thirty seconds it was all quiet, but then the first members of the rival squads appeared and within seconds they’d started trying to take us down – you can, of course, co-operate with other teams of operatives, but with nothing to gain or lose combat seemed the inevitable course of action for this demo. We were able to stave off being wiped out for a short while, reviving each other when we fell, but it was short-lived. I soon found myself respawning just outside the extraction zone, and it was now one set of our rivals who were waiting for the extraction – though they had had to initiate their own extraction with a flare and start the clock afresh.

The next several minutes were spent in a tense gunfight, as we tried to take down our foes and recover our lost loot, though multiple respawns caused breaks in the action as we failed to revive one another. I have to admit to ‘going rogue’ at least a couple of times as I lost track of who it was I was supposed to be shooting, but the deadlock was ended by the demo timing out, with nobody successfully extracting.

Though we’re still months away from release everything felt tight and playable, with the only question mark being whether the visuals will approach what Ubisoft originally showcased a couple of years ago. On the strength of our hands on the graphics were attractive, but far from stunning, though everything moved along very smoothly, and perhaps some concessions have had to be made in order for the online action to hang together properly.

Certainly, we lost some of the backstabbing and mindgames that were showcased when the Dark Zones were revealed at E3, but our first encounter with The Division certainly shows the potential to be a great squad-based online shooter when it arrives next year, and I look forward to seeing more.