Although it still has the potential to see Ubisoft get all money-grubby in the coming years, The Division is one tasty package right now. Many weeks have now passed since launch and Ubi's Massive studio have been on-hand to field queries, issue patches and fixes where necessary - essentially, they're single-handedly rebuilding the titanic developer's tattered reputation, one megabyte at a time. That said, right now is a crucial time for The Division and Destiny, as the two shooters share a common lifeblood; loot-grinding and group-based matchmaking. Both games were touted to be enjoyable as single and multi-player experiences, both feature open-ended worlds and weapon customisation that favours grinding and visiting vendors every few hours, and both have appeals rooted in exploration and replayability. In short, there's a good reason Destiny's ailing fanbase have jumped ship to post-apocalyptic New York in search of getting their fix, and with Bungie now rolling out copious updates and content packs to retain their users, it begs the question; which game is actually better?
8. Story Setup
As a consequence to gutting the vast majority of their work and starting over only a year before launch, Destiny's initially-epic story emerged as a scattershot mess of a thing, barely relating to the trailers that preceded it and featuring voice acting that was flat to the point of being truly off-putting. "I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain" was a terrible line that became the fallback for assuming more fulfilling content was coming, and although The Taken King added cutscenes and a pretty slick villain in Oryx, it's not enough to really give you a solid reason to fight. On the other hand, The Division apes the same pitch of you being a cog in one giant, interlocking workforce going up against unstoppable enemy forces, but backs it up with mountains upon mountains of dialogue. Every mission has an introduction where goals and character involvement is outlined; something Destiny swung for and missed as it introduced certain figures and motivations, only to do nothing with them. The Division - however ludicrous its 'hoo-ra!' plot may be - makes rampant consumerism a great catalyst for the downfall of New York, and delivers on this setup with much more confidence throughout. Winner: The Division
