The Division Beta: A First Look
By Thorn Daniels
Video Producer
There is something incredibly unsettling about a Santa decoration set up next to a sign that says mass grave. A heavy snow blanks out most of what use to be a busy street in Manhattan and now is a ghost town.
This is the realm of “Tom Clancy’s: The Division” an open world, online third person shooter, set in a post disaster New York City that has been plunged into chaos. However, the story is not why “The Division” stands out. It is the game play that sets this game apart.
“Although New York City is a common setting for video games, it feels fresh in this game,” said Louis Walker, FAU student.
With up to four players that can be in a fire team, “The Division”, ecourages co-operative multiplayer. Players can go solo, but where “The Division” truly shines is when players are working together in the same team. With hectic firefights working together, each moment can be a matter of life or death.
The real joy of the game comes when a fire team becomes an actual team, with each player taking on their own unique job. With different specializations and abilities, players each fill out a crucial part of the team, with medical, tech and security skill teams. This gives each member of the team an unique ability, taking on different jobs to make the team all the more efficient.
“It’s the cooperative gameplay that got me hooked,” said Walker.
On top of solid shooting, “The Division” boasts a high number of customization with different attachments and items for player’s weapons, armor and even clothing. Giving opportunity for incredible amounts of customization and making each player unique to them.
Although, “The Division” is not with out its own problem. One notable issue is the enemies in the game have an incredibly high tolerance to players’ bullets and in a world that stresses realism, this seems off. It should be noted that this is only the beta, which is mainly used for players to give the developers feed back on how to make the game better. The fact remains that the story and voice acting is sub-par, at best, with corny dialogue one hopes they fix it before the launch.
With an incredible amount of customization, in depth character skill tree, pulse-racing team firefights and a amazingly recreated New York City, there “The Division” offers an abundance of positives. Players can look for the release March 8 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
