Home Gaming The Division Hands-On Preview–Irradiated Indecision

The Division Hands-On Preview–Irradiated Indecision

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With an intriguing premise and the promise of a visually exquisite game at reveal, The Division quickly become one of the hottest gaming names on the block when it was first revealed over two years ago Already playable, the online third-person shooter MMO was a new breed of game from Ubisoft – and one that quickly went into dormancy for months on end. That doesn’t bode well for a project most of the time, and the Ubisoft press conference seemed to only enhance those fears. Fears that are, mistakenly, misguided.

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Walking into what is many people’s first hands-on time with the ambitious title, I didn’t have much hope. I’ve been talking all week about how badly I want The Division to be good, but suffer under no illusions that all the signs of a troubled, struggling title are there to see as clear as day. A brief rundown of weapons and pre-selected load-outs (which can all be customised to your liking) later, and I was in. The Division was finally in front of me – and it looked really good.

I’m not entirely sure why Ubisoft chose to show what they did during their conference, but The Division is truly a visually striking game. As with most current-gen titles, the lighting is the beautiful assistant accompanying its underlying magic. Light gleams off melted puddles of snow, soft shadows fall from derelict cars and the UI is presented with a slick, modern and eye-catching presentation. The Division, or at least this small vertical slice, might not turn the heads it did two years ago with the rest of the pack catching up – but it’s certainly not a slouch either.

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Visuals aside, I was plunged into a similar demo that Ubisoft showed off earlier this week. The Division is an RPG-focused MMO through and through, so you’re always going to be online. Dead Zones, however, seamlessly transition from PvE (Player versus environment, which means AI) and PvP (Player versus player, like direct multiplayer). Hop over a large wall and you’re in the zone – no loading screens, no prompts, nothing. Players still standing on the PvE side of the wall can even still see you and your interactions, despite being on two different styles of servers in essence.

Moving briskly along, our team of three was pitted again three other similar ones. The objective is merely to collect radiated loot from some AI-controlled combatants. Bring the unusable loot back to a chopper, extract and you’re able to clean it up and make it shiny for use. It’s as straight forward as an objective can get, with some neat touches in the way the game communicated these to you. Pick up some loot, and a radioactive labelled satchel is attached to your backpack. An important marker for the branching gameplay that came next.

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Clearing out enemies in a square courtyard, out team was able to call in a chopper for extraction. Only one chopper can be called in at a time, and you can only extract loot from one that you personally called in. Considering four teams were in the server that presents a potential problem. Or not. The Division preys on the natural instinct of gamers to shoot first and ask no questions later, but actually allows you to circumvent this entirely. You and every other player on each team has some loot – so there’s nothing stopping you from both being civil, throwing out some peaceful emoticons and allowing each other to just extract what you’ve gather without a single bullet fired.

Get greedy, and things change drastically. Should you engage another player, you and your team immediately become rogue – changing from neutral white to enemy red. This then become all-out war, with the two teams involved battling for control of the extraction chopper and, better yet, the combined loot pool. The other teams at this point could either choose to wait it out and see if the aggression settled, or use the distraction to make a cunning play or their own.

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It’s an incredibly fun dynamic to toy around with, because it boils down to the toxic behaviour you’d expect from online gaming in a mode that fully facilitates it. Better yet is the fact that not even you are safe in your cosy huddle of three. At any point a teammate could turn on you and choose to take all three cuts for themselves, which really drives home the harsh, unpredictable nature that the entire game is trying so desperately to convey. It’s effective, and far more engrossing than any other pseudo-cooperative game I’ve ever played.

Ultimately the game ended with a team extracting theirs and, unfortunately, my loot too, but the possibilities in how differently the entire engagement could’ve played out stayed with me. The Division still has a lot of questions unanswered, and it’s going to take more than one PvP mode to make a massive online game like this tick for hours on end. But for a game that has so scarcely been put in hands that weren’t Ubisoft’s, this is an incredibly surprising demo. And one that I can’t wait to play more later this year in beta.

That, and watching my seeker grenade follow me like a lost puppy almost melted my heart.

Last Updated: June 18, 2015

29 Comments

  1. I personally think this game’s going to go far, as long as Ubi doesn’t f*** it up, which is totally within their ability.

    The concept and gameplay look pretty solid so far, but if they actually pull it off in the final product is another thing all together.

    However the unfortunate thing for this game, or any game like it, is the community. The gaming community in general is pretty toxic, and I see much trolling, name calling, and apparent fornication with ones mother in this game’s future.

    Reply

    • Jonah Cash

      June 18, 2015 at 12:06

      I don’t agree, I have played a hell of a lot of Destiny which is perma online. and I have really only had one bad experience with an idiot on my side. If I can play this on my own and don’t have to chat to someone then I will play this. And if I have to chat to someone then I will stalk @hammersteyn:disqus till he wants to join me 🙂

      Reply

      • VampyreSquirrel

        June 18, 2015 at 13:07

        You only half understood what I mean… so let me explain briefly 🙂

        It’s not the people ON your team that’ll be trolling the hell out of you (unless if you “pug” it), it’s the OTHER people and teams that’ll be trolling the hell out of you.

        Reply

        • Jonah Cash

          June 18, 2015 at 15:12

          I understood I just explained myself badly.(What else is new though) I haven’t had any negativeness from Destiny players I know and don’t know. But this is kinda built to be a douche, so I take your point and don’t disagree any more 🙂

          Reply

          • VampyreSquirrel

            June 18, 2015 at 15:13

            We both seem to have the explaining badly issue. I never had an issue with Destiny players either, but that was still Beta… GTAV on the other hand, OMG!

  2. Graeme Norval

    June 18, 2015 at 11:23

    I want to like this game, but I have serious reservations about a game that leverages online game players’ toxic behaviour and tendency towards griefing as a “feature”. There may be many people who might relish being in such a hostile environment the entire time, but that’s now how and why I play games, so it is currently putting me off.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      June 18, 2015 at 11:30

      Hopefully this game has a passive mode like GTA…

      Reply

      • Ir0nseraph

        June 18, 2015 at 11:36

        Just stay out of the Dead Zone.

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          June 18, 2015 at 11:48

          And away from Nikola

          Reply

          • Ir0nseraph

            June 18, 2015 at 11:51

            XD, or at least make sure he is never out of site for longer then 5 seconds.

      • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

        June 18, 2015 at 11:37

        Hopefully… I really hope it has an offline mode, 3G lag can sometimes be extremely hazardous to ones health…

        Reply

  3. Hammersteyn

    June 18, 2015 at 11:30

    Noooooooo they killed Zoe!

    Reply

  4. Nahuel Graziani

    June 18, 2015 at 11:34

    PvE stands for “Player Versus Environment”, by the way.

    Reply

  5. Jac7

    June 18, 2015 at 11:46

    I want, but kind of more excited for Ghost Recon.

    Reply

    • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

      June 18, 2015 at 11:48

      That’s exactly it, isn’t it, we’ve seen the Division now, but Ghost Recon looks even better…I honestly don’t know which one I’ll buy…

      Reply

      • Ir0nseraph

        June 18, 2015 at 11:49

        Both , Ubisoft should release them a few months apart unless they lost there business sense.

        Reply

        • Jac7

          June 18, 2015 at 12:16

          Hell, I’ve taken on a second job just to afford all these glorious games. My girlfriend thinks I’m saving up for an engagement ring. Man, is she going to be surprised when I give her that ironing board for her birthday.

          Reply

          • Ir0nseraph

            June 18, 2015 at 12:20

            Hahaha , I think after that gift the engagement ring won’t be something you need to worry about anymore.

  6. Sageville

    June 18, 2015 at 11:53

    Is it me or has E3 been pretty meh this year…. I’ve seen most of these games before (I’m excluding horizon and unravel)

    Reply

    • Ir0nseraph

      June 18, 2015 at 11:54

      It’s you.:P

      Reply

      • Sageville

        June 18, 2015 at 13:15

        Fair enough… *(Walks naked through the masses)

        Reply

        • Ir0nseraph

          June 18, 2015 at 13:16

          I am still upset about that ending , too soon 😛

          Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      June 18, 2015 at 11:57

      alot more interesting than i expected tbh

      Reply

  7. cookiemonster

    June 18, 2015 at 11:56

    My problem is with Telkom. This is going to be like all online games heading for SA.

    Reply

  8. Guild

    June 18, 2015 at 11:59

    Don’t care what anyone else thinks. I want this game 🙂

    Reply

    • Jonah Cash

      June 18, 2015 at 12:04

      I’m with you on this one. I will buy this and I will play this!

      Reply

  9. Captain JJ Browmehn

    June 18, 2015 at 12:06

    There’s just nothing from Ubisoft at this moment that I can get myself excited about.

    Reply

  10. CypherGate

    June 18, 2015 at 13:35

    The graphics has been downgraded quite a bit. Its extremely obvious.

    Reply

  11. Chule Gcanga

    June 18, 2015 at 13:52

    Sold..

    Reply

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