The game might have its flaws but it is nowhere near as much of a downgrade as most gamers seem to be complaining about
Tom Clancy’s The Division has been the talk of the town of late with the launch just over a month away, however given Ubisoft’s missteps with new IP’s in recent times gamers were still not convinced about The Division. Thankfully most concerns have been laid to rest after an immensely successful beta this past weekend.
The Division, despite only revealing a small portion of New York by no means feels small as travelling takes time and can end up being eventful with mysteries, side missions and random events popping up from time to time. The game is divided into two major segments, regular New York where players roam around together completing story and side missions and exploring new areas co-operatively and the Dark Zone, where the fun really begins.
The Dark zone is a unique blend of PvP and PvE and along with a separate currency and skill level than the cooperative and friendly segment of New York. Everyone enters as a Division Agent however if you attack or kill another Division Agent you become ‘Rogue’ and anyone who kills you gets a significant XP and credits bounty, not to mention the loot you acquired on that particular trip. Did I mention its not just you that turns rogue, your entire division gets disavowed for a certain time or until death should one of you decide to turn rogue, so choose your battles wisely.
In terms of special Dark Zone loot, you can’t simply walk out with it; it must be extracted, an event that triggers a sort of wave defence where 4 players (an entire division, AKA your party) can send out their loot for permanent banking into your stash, however nearby players are notified of this event and they can either come to help you, take your slot on the outgoing transport or just kill you and steal your loot; this makes player interactions in The Dark Zone way more intense than you can possibly imagine. You never know who you can trust.
In terms of visuals, I personally feel the game will look better in its final form and will possibly receive a texture update much like Rainbow Six Siege. However its nowhere near as much of a downgrade as most gamers seem to be complaining about. In fact a lot of the weather effects and details are amazing that add to the desolate atmosphere of a post bio attack New York with massive snow storms reducing visibility to a few feet; the Snowdrop engine has worked wonders with its day-night cycle and effects.
Now on to the bad; The Division is great and the beta was amazing, however I recall everyone being just as excited if not more for Destiny when the beta came out and it turned out there was nothing more to the game than the beta offered. While The Division does seem to have taken several steps in the right direction, the depth of its co-operative story campaign, skill tree and item rarity remains to be seen but it still looks like a much safer bet than Destiny. As of now there is a rumoured open beta scheduled for mid-February to work out the final kinks before the March 8, 2016 launch.
