Game review: Tom Clancy’s The Division is set in a New York you have never seen before

Team up with other agents to take back The Big Apple in Tom Clancy’s The Division. Ubisoft

Tom Clancy's The Division (Ubisoft) PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC Two and a half stars

New York City: It’s dirty, noisy and crowded, and everyone who has lived there has occasionally wished everyone else would just go away.

Tom Clancy's The Division grants that wish via the "Green Poison", a smallpox mutation that wipes out most Manhattanites and sends the survivors packing. Of course, the adage about being careful what you wish for applies: Once civilisation has been dismantled, criminal gangs rush in and take control.

Your character is a Homeland Security agent assigned to help restore order on the island. You get to choose your gender, race and other physical characteristics – but the one trait that’s going to help you survive is your ability to handle a gun.

The initial section of The Division involves setting up a base at the landmark Postal Service building close to Madison Square Garden. Your first challenge is to rescue three experts – in medicine, technology and security – and then find the supplies they need to expand their facilities inside the post office.

Unfortunately, every expedition leads to a run-in with troublemakers. Most encounters involve one of three gangs: the ­Rioters, who were already in Manhattan when it collapsed; the Rikers, who escaped from the nearby prison; and the Cleaners, sanitation workers who want to finish the job by burning down the whole thing.

There is an awful lot to do in The Division – but the missions boil down to a few types: rescue a hostage, recover some valuable resource, or crush a particularly heinous criminal. Forget about trying to negotiate your way out of difficult situations, because the only way to solve things in this version of New York is with your trigger ­finger.

Still, taking out the rubbish does have its rewards – typically, more effective armour and more powerful weapons. You can also spend whatever loot you scavenge to improve your base, which gives you access to useful battlefield devices such as turrets, shields and healing stations.

If downtown Manhattan isn’t rough enough for you, there’s the Dark Zone, where you aren’t just dealing with computer-­controlled villains. Instead, you have the added threat of fellow online players, who may turn rogue without warning. Teaming up with other agents is essential – in this neighbourhood, lone wolves get chewed up fast.

I've only experienced a few glitches during this ambitious project's first week online, sometimes losing access to Ubisoft's server. But for the most part, The Division presents its grim vision with vivid detail and the occasional flash of beauty. There's something undeniably haunting about exploring a New York that's been abandoned by all the people who make it such a great city.

At the same time, it’s somewhat dispiriting that the only way to take back Manhattan is through the barrel of a gun. Real New Yorkers know it takes a lot more to make it in the big city.

Associated Press