Game Review: The Division

The Division game review by the Media Soup team.

The Division is one of the most discussed and anticipated games of 2016 and people have really high hopes for this game. Does it live up to what every expects or does is fall apart and trip all over itself?

I have been able to play The Division since the launch day, on the Xbox One, and to be honest, launch day was not a pleasant experience. There were plenty of server and network issues that caused frustration and inconsistent gameplay. As we know though, you can't judge the game on day one only.

So lets start with the visuals. I played on the Xbox One and though Ubisoft had to tone down the SnowDrop engine for the consoles, The Division still looks great. The developers did a really good job of immersing you in the environment with weather changes and day to night changes that are all so seamless. There are points of the game that you can see building broken down and beat and other times you know you're in a better area just based on the quality of the building and your

surroundings. The menus in the game add a level of depth since they are as a frosted glass that shows content behind the menu. The game should leave you satisfied with the visuals. The visuals allow for you to get immersed to the point of that it adds to the actual gameplay.

For the gameplay, you really need to break it down in to two different parts. Since the game has the normal zone or area and the Dark Zone, you need to play differently in both. As a whole, the gameplay is enjoyable and a tremendous amount of fun.

The normal zone has less stress involved since you are primarily fighting the CPUs. There are a fair amount of missions that allow for multiple possibilities as to what you do every time you play. The game offers a ton of customization options for your character's appearance and for the guns and customization. The story in the main game is not especially long but it is still interesting. The action in each mission makes for an enjoyable experience and it is even more fun when you have your friends fighting right by your side.

Now where the game really does things different is the Dark Zone. The gameplay in the Dark Zone changes a bit because you are now not only fighting the CPUs your are running in to the general populous or other network players. If you are to attack someone that is also playing the game you will become a rogue. Once a rogue you are marked on the map and you and expect people will be coming to find you. The weapons and rewards you get for fighting in the Dark Zone are much greater since y

ou are in a much more dangerous position. The anxiety levels are very high in the Dark Zone since you can be killed at any moment at any time by anyone. When you die in the Dark Zone, anything you found there gets left there unless you were able to extract it prior to your death.

In an overall look The Division the game is really enjoyable and fun to play. The game has many options and customization that you will not be left board waiting for a DLC, even though there are some coming already. You can move freely from the normal zone to the Dark Zone at anytime, which allows for a variety of situations and gameplay experiences. Ubisoft did a great job with delivering a quality experience for the game.