I have spent just over a week with this heavily hyped and eagerly awaited online RPG shooter.  The Division pits you as an agent called into help clean up the streets of New York of thugs and looters following a deadly pandemic.  As previously reported on here, I tried out both the closed and open betas and enjoyed them…but the main game opens up that experience massively and presents a very detailed and darkly believable world.

So what’s it actually like to play?  Firstly creating your agent is a little basic but it gives you enough tools to form your own identity, complete with hair styles, male or female genders, tattoos, facial scars, facial hair etc.  You can also swap the clothing throughout the game to various aesthetic-only effect, and it is fun if a little less appealing than the various appearances on offer in Destiny surprisingly.

Secondly I like the game’s initial mechanic of updating your base of operations based on resources earned from various themed missions…rescue a medic, rescue a tech guy and recue a security guy etc.  It’s absorbing and makes the player seek out particular missions to gain particular resources.  For an online based game its a great single-player incentive.  The game also offers up a wealth of side missions which vary in detail but can get quite challenging too.  The game is also split into various districts that are set at certain levels that you’re best avoiding if your character’s level isn’t high enough.  One shot kills are plentiful if you dare to enter these areas at a low level.

The multiplayer portion of the game is fairly seamless and if like me you don’t have actual friends to jump into a game with, match making with a group is easy and works well, with communication only partially necessary as the missions mostly lead you by the hand amidst being assaulted by various enemies and objectives.  On the other hand the ‘darkzone’ is not such an easily accessible place and I haven’t really had the opportunity to jump in with a team, so therefore solo excursions have meant many deaths and little to no reward as of yet.  It remains enticing, especially with the prospect of exotic loot, but for now it’s on the back burner.

It’s a game I think will take up a lot of the players time and the world is highly detailed, full of atmosphere with lots of areas to explore and random encounters to help build up your stats as you find supplies, kill bad guys and have fun.  New York City is impressively realised, that visual downgrade hardly an issue anymore as this game is a real looker; weather effects, state-of-the-art lighting and superb textures and animations all helping immersion.  One slight issue is some pretty bad pop-in especially when leaving a safe house or underground area and reaching the street – but I’m sure it’s a visual hiccup that can be patched.  I’m playing it on the PS4.

The gameplay itself, despite a strong narrative and interesting back stories and solid gunplay can get repetitive, and samey enemies seem to be a factor that you keep encountering again and again.  The various factions in the game add some variety, but the way you take them on is pretty much the same every time.  As with any MMORPG (which this is to some extent) it’s a concept and a game world that hopefully will grow and develop as time goes on.  I am enjoying it a great deal if you hadn’t realised and am only looking forward to what the developers come up with to further add to the experience.