65 hours played
Level 30
The Division is very Destiny-like. It is a third-person shooter with MMO and RPG-lite qualities. Set in Manhatten NY after a biological terrorist attack. You are a Division agent sent in to help the locals and restore order from the groups that have taken over.
Pros
* Real world setting is cool. I caught myself looking for areas I visited in real life to see how they looked in game. It is also seemless to move between areas and into buildings etc with no loading unless you die or fast travel. The main missions are usually set in one of the main NY landmarks. The first main mission is in Madison Square Garden for example.
* Addictive combat. Having damage numbers and health bars on the enemies totally feeds into the OCD of tweaking your stats so that you can make those numbers higher. I spent a lot of time managing my load out of weapons to twease out the best armour and DPS numbers.
* Co-op with mates is great. Team up on the main missions or just wandering the world. Most of my playtime was played single player which if you level up regularly and do the zones in order of difficulty you find that you are always over each areas recommended level.
* Collection items like phone messages, tactical info, echoes etc provides a lot of atmosphere to the world with individual stories of normal citizens as the virus spread.
* The Dark Zone is the multiplayer section in the middle of the map. Entering here allows you to team up to extract higher level items, but watch if someone turns on the team and steals all your hard earned loot. it was cool for the little I played it.
* Loot, loot and more LOOT. Is this sniper rifle better than the one I have, what if I add these mods how is my DPS (Damage per second). What if I craft this backpack, it increases my DPS, but reduces my Tech score and Health…..decisions decisions. Even better it’s the Diablo colour coded system, I need to get more purple and gold drops.
Cons
* Side missions can get a bit repetitive. A lot of defending supply drops, initiating virus scanners and drug busts.
* Main Story is a bit thin. There are a lot of radio chatter and videos at the end of main missions, but it’s pretty forgettable and doesnt really go anywhere.
* You can still see the UBISOFT open world template shining through. Access Safe houses in each area to Synch your map and highligh where all the missions are.
* Enenies can be very bullet spongy. Given the setting shooting someone in the head multiple times and still seeing them shooting back is a bit distracting.
Overall I had a lot of fun with the game and once you hit the level cap and complete the final mission it opens up the end game, Daily missions are currently live and with the next upgrade the first Incursion mission is unlocked. (Basically Destiny Raids).
It has yet to be seen if it has the legs of Destiny, but regular upgrade and new contect could see me coming back to it in the future.
4/5