The Division beta made a splash last weekend and is safe to assume that the reception has been good thus far. It gave players the chance to get a taste of the games mechanics, story and play style. The beta consisted of one story mission, some side missions and access to a part of the Dark Zone which is their PVP area. We caught up with Ubisoft this week and had the pleasure of getting a demo of the game that went beyond the beta giving us a few more guns, unlockables, areas of play and real live book that surrounds it while understanding more on how it all works.
Creating a character gave us access at the list of customizations available that wasn’t in the beta like different hairstyles, tattoos, scars and accessories. Like the beta we were thrown into the game (Chelsea Piers in NYC) and asked to make it to headquarters where we’d get our main objective. The mission gives us access to the fist part of the medical wing where we got the Clinic up and running. We could see a slew of other options ready to purchase like Virus Lab, Disaster Aid Quarantine and more, which not only give us new sections at headquarters but they are the way to unlocking new abilities for your character. You start off with a base skill and unlocking more areas within your headquarters gives you access to the modifications of the base.
Completing side missions was just like the beta although we had more to choose from. I was particular found of a gun I hadn’t seen in the beta which was a Classic M60 Machine Gun. The newest addition we got to experience was gaining control of a Safe House which acts like the Headquarters. The Division is a persistent online game and when you’re not out in the open world completing tasks you can go to Safe Houses you’ve unlocked and meet/see other players that are there. This allows you to interact or even group with others as this is the only place you can do so.
While we didn’t get a chance to fully dive into the Dark Zone it was the same as the beta. Taking point in different landmarks and attempting defeat some of the games higher level enemies while keeping an eye our for rogue players if you weren’t going rogue yourself.
It’s also worth noting that we got a taste of the book “New York Collapse” that will be releasing alongside the game. The books creator Alex Irvine gave us insight that it served as a survival guide to women within New York City as the pandemic was taking place. The interesting part of the book is not only its interactivity which items within it that help unravel the mysteries of what’s going on but pages within the book are also in the game to uncover more.
The Division has really grounded itself in the world it has created. The RPG elements that make up the mechanics work very well and are enough mixture of third person shooter with the rest to make an equal blend. Stay tuned to LVLONE for our interview with one of the developers of the game and more info as it comes in.
