Third-person shooters have become a bit more nuanced and in-depth since Gears of War first launched way back when, however the genre as fallen somewhat out favour for a variety of reasons. It's a little repetitive, it's essentially the same bit over and over and more often than not, there's tricks to ensure you clear every encounter. Gears of War had it that you could dive forward and dodge bullets. Aside from the mechanics, the format's remained largely the same.
However, The Division is looking to infuse elements of RPG into the third-person shooter. You begin as an agent for the Strategic Homeland Division, a government agency comprised of sleeper agents who are activated when the unthinkable happens. New York is attacked by a biological virus that's spread through the use of money. As these things happen, society breaks down pretty quickly and the city is under quarantine. Your job is simple - protect what remains, restore order. The game does have a linear narrative, but the various modes mean that you can follow off on your own path pretty quickly. Not only that, various factions in New York have sprung up that mean business - including insane bin-men (really), escaped convicts from Riker's Island and a shady private-military outfit.
The real star of The Division, however, is New York. The city is fully realised, beginning in Brooklyn and spreading out to encompass the entire city. In fact, the centre of Manhattan serves as the Dark Zone, where players can square off against one another and basically everyone is either a friend or a foe. As well as this, the matchmaking element will have you with a squad of other players pretty quickly taking on more enemies of varying difficulty and exploring the city even further. There's also a ton of customisation options for weaponry and armour, which means you'll be looting enemies to get the bigger and better stuff.
The servers, for the most part, seem stable and we haven't encountered any issues with it so far. You've also got a huge map to explore, that's good too. So why is it that The Division feels a little bit repetitive and samey? It's hard to say, really. It could just be that third-person shooters don't necessarily lend themselves to a MMO setting like this, but it's hard to even class The Division as an MMORPG. It's more closer to a straightforward third-person shooter that has elements of the MMORPG genre than anything else. There's fun to be had, for sure, and the squad-based gameplay can be a lot of fun. It's when you're left to play by yourself that the flaws with The Division become readily apparent. Our own experience was, admittedly, more on our own as opposed to being part of a squad. Maybe that's why we saw so many flaws with it.
However, when played with a few friends, The Division is a lot more fun. Then again, what game isn't? As it stands, The Division is worth the experience. The looting / shooting aspect can get pretty addictive and the modding system can produce some satisfying moments. It's just a shame that the combat system is a little dated and underwhelming.
