Welcome to OMG’s Quick Byte Reviews, where we provide smaller reviews for those that come to PlayStation Plus, Xbox Games with Gold and smaller titles on Xbox Game Pass.
Tom Clancy’s The Division
Tom Clancy’s The Division is an online open world third person action role playing game, developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft. It was released March 2016 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows and releases today on the Games with Gold program.
The game is set in New York as a viral epidemic sweeps over the city via banknotes to transmit the virus during Black Friday. The disease, which is named “The Dollar Flu”, produces mass panic, chaos and causes major cities to be placed under quarantine. The U.S Government activates sleeper agents that go under the namem Strategic Homeland Division or the Division within the population to assist emergency responders, the National Guard and Joint Task Force (JTF) to restore order. 
The game starts the player off in a tutorial area where the player customises their character and while there are not a wide variety of options, there is adequately enough. The player learns the basic controls, how to shoot and are sent off for a few quick quests to get started. After completion the player is then transported to Manhattan (the main map) and is to make their way to the maps base of operation to being the fight to restore order. The base of operation has three wings, medical, tech and security. As the player plays through missions and side quests, they earn particular points for one of the three wings to upgrade. Upgrading these will unlock skills and perks for the player.
The map is divided into 15 areas that the player progresses their way through the story, unlocking safe houses, which are then used for fast travel points. The player can play the game solo or with up to 3 other friends. Matchmaking is available for all open world activities and missions. The player gains XP, gear loot, weapons and currency for completing these activities and missions. The loot has seven levels, from worn to high-end gear set items and also rarer exotic items. All loot has their own colour depending on rarity.
In the middle of the map is a large area called “The Dark Zone” and this is where the player vs player aspect comes into play. The Dark Zone is separated from the main campaign and has its own progression system in place. The Dark Zone is contaminated, so any gear or weapons you find needs to be extracted by helicopter for decontamination before you can equip or use it. Once you loot the contaminated gear it goes into a bag the player carries awaiting extraction, with the bag being able to carry up to 9 items at a time. However, dying by a NPC or another player drops all items in this bag on the ground and you will need to return to the place of death and retrieve the items if they are still there. Other players can come and take the gear you drop on death or just come up and kill you to take all your loot. Like the open world outside of the Dark Zone, the player can be solo or in a team with up to 3 others. Match making is also available for the Dark Zone.
The game runs on the impressive Snowdrop Engine. The day and night cycle comes with a weather system that can go from a bright sunny day to a blizzard where you are unable to see what is in front of you. The sound of blizzards is great and very atmospheric. The guns sound like they pack a punch. Although there is an issues here, as the sound can sometimes drop in and out, however this does not take away from the gameplay as it comes back quickly.
The Division takes between 20 to 30 hours to play through, offers a unique PvP experience and a campaign that could be played solo or with friends. After the campaign, the player can enjoy endgame activities and harder content such as legendary versions of missions and incursions. There are many ways that the player can play and have different builds to make, whether it is a all damage build, skill build or a tank type build, it is all up to players choice.
Final Verdict
+ Interesting story.
+ Player can play the build they want.
+ Great gunplay.
+ Endgame acticities.
– Always online and no offline mode
Score: 9/10
Jen for One More Game
Tom Clancy’s The Division comes to Xbox’s Games with Gold today.