With The Division closed beta coming to a close, and an open beta incoming, I ponder on my experience with the game in regards to what I both liked and disliked. The Division has a lot of promise, and it’s up to Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment to support the game after launch and keep players logging in every night. While I have my criticisms, the game does a lot of things right and is definitely a better ‘shared world shooter’ than Destiny 1.0 ever was.
The Love List
Graphics
In a move that completely shocked me, Ubisoft has decided to include PC-like graphics settings in the beta. The options are minimal – with just ‘chromatic aberration’ and ‘sharpen image’ being available for now – but they may be the catalyst for other big games to adopt this model that lets the player tinker with the settings and find out what suits them best. While I loved chromatic aberration – a post-process effect that gives The Division a decayed look –, it might not suit some players tastes. With the launch of the game just over a month away, it will interesting to see if more graphics setting are present then or if Ubisoft is treading lightly to see if this is an approach they can take further with future titles.
Level & Mission Design
This one might sound weird but bear with me. In games with such a focus on connected online worlds, most of the missions and levels that surround them are your run of the mill fetch quests through linear areas from point A to point B. Now while The Division doesn’t revolution game design, its missions and environments are more comparable to AAA linear games like Halo and Uncharted wherein each level has been patiently crafted with a lot of time put into it. With this just being a beta, it will be interesting to see if the final launch of the game contains more of these high production value levels instead of the run of the mill quests you get in most online games because there are hundreds of missions and not a lot of time can always be put into each one.
Environment & World
Massive Entertainment deserve huge plaudits for capturing the essence of New York. The world is filled to the brim with details as a flock of crows scatter at your arrival and the infamous square grid of roads meets you at every corner as you head down 5th Street and Main. It gives off some serious Last of Us vibes when you come across a gang of hoodlums in a vacated sports store. After initial fire, you scurry away under a rampart as you hear the enemies look around for you. Coming out through the other side, one catches your sight as you race out of the back door with a flurry of bullets being fired towards your directions. The realization of the city and the bandits that roam its streets looting whatever they can allowed me to be completely immersed in the proceedings.
Click on thru to Page 2 for our hate list.