A game worth buying

Despite nasty reviews, The Division is actually a nice game.

Just moments after its release Steam was flooded with horrible reviews of The Division, ranging from asinine to the downright abysmal. It was baffling to see that an MMO which boasted of hours of fun getting such horrible reviews. Well, after having spent about 30 hours in game, one thing is for certain, those reviews were absolutely wrong.

Ubisoft’s fastest selling new IP deserves a pat on the back. While it is not the best game to have released recently, it certainly is a great game in its own right. Set in a post-apocalyptic New York, The Division really sets the grim atmosphere that has settled over the city. An unknown, mutated strain of the small pox virus has been released in the city and it has been quarantined in an effort to stem the spread of the deadly virus. As a member of an elite martial team, The Division, it’s your job to uncover the mystery behind this act of bio-terrorism and to restore some semblance of order. The world that Ubisoft has crafted may not be the largest, but it is certainly one of the most immersive and quite gorgeous with its weather effects. The city of New York emanates a sense of despondence that really settles on you as you walk through the filth ridden streets. The pain and melancholy in the voices of the people you meet adds to the feeling of sorrow and manages to create a drive in you to genuinely help them. Essentially this game epitomises immersion.

Not just that, the sound, music and gun play is extremely solid. Yes, the game tends to get a bit repetitive towards the end if you’re soloing through it, however it is easily solved by partying up using the excellent matchmaking system that Ubisoft has in place.

Where the game falls short is in the story, voice acting and character creator departments. The character creation is simply atrocious. You know you’ve messed things up when your Beta has a more robust character creator than your final release, and for an MMO in which you are supposed to spend hours doesn’t have a robust character creator, well you’ve just lost a significant portion of your prospective audience.

The best part of the game however is the Dark Zone. New dangers lurk around and you never know who can be trusted. Farm up on some high level NPC’s or go Rogue hunting Division agents. The sense of dread and despair in the Dark Zone is only matched by your fear of what other agents might do at any moment. In conclusion, The Division is definitely a game worth buying. You can explore the beautiful world that Ubisoft has created and get lost in it, or you could spend hours grinding in the Dark Zone owning people and trying to find the sweetest loot the game has to offer. The choice is completely up to you and you will have a blast regardless.

Strengths Immersive open world. Great gunplay. Dark Zone experience is amazing.

Weaknesses Average story. Abysmal character customisation. Can get repetitive towards the end.