So, apparently, it seems I was lucky enough to have been invited to the Division's Closed Beta not long ago and I got a code to test the game out on the PS4.
Result: I had a jolly good time during the previous week-end checking the game out. Now that I had the game in hands, I could finally experience everything that it had promised and, so far, it seems like the advertisements weren't totally false. Apart from a very slight downgrade that, in my opinion, really does not change the quality of the game seeing as it still looks very great for current gen standards, the game has a lot of potential. The gunplay is great, the cover system is nice and adaptable to mostly all situations, the story seems very interesting so far and the details put out to represent modern New York in a video game literally blows me away. Not only that, but the presence of a good character creator, clothing and weaponry modification, skill trees, and a crafting system only promises great great times for the customization addict that I am in most games.
However, there are indeed some flaws that I cannot possibly ignore.
First of all, the AI. Holy cow, the AI is..... It is really stupid. Although the gunmen are okay, the baseball bat lackeys downright run straight into your line of sight, begging to get shot in the head, and I find this behavior incredibly stupid in a game that seems so realistic at first glance. The lack of NPCs and missions in both the PvE and PvP areas is also very apparent, and I truly hope that's just for the Beta, because, otherwise, I fear that this game will lack much content and end up like Destiny.
And then, there's the Dark Zone. Oh boy, the Dark Zone. Seeing as I was alone in this Beta, I was never really able to find any people to team up with and ended up going solo around the area, gunning down high level NPCs and taking advantage of started Extractions to quickly extract loot as fast as I could before Rogues would show up. In other words, the DZ was probably the tensest experience I had in the Beta, and also the one that I enjoyed the most..... and hated the most. Although the lack of NPCs bothered me at first, it was really the Rogue system that simply bugged me.
If you were alone, for instance, and happened to turn out Rogue, you wouldn't last for long, seeing as anyone close to you has wall hacks and everybody that dare shoot you stops the timer that you are set with. The worst is that, if you shoot back, the timer goes up further than you would expect. Overall, being a Rogue simply resumes into a wild goose chase all around the DZ and, in the end, I bet that you will die. There's also the fact that some Rogues would team up and start camping the Safe House or the Checkpoints in the DZ, which is absolutely ridiculous. In my point of view, Rogues should be gunned down by turrets if they would ever approach the Checkpoints, and the Safe House should be defended by friendly high level NPCs, like the Guards in most MMOs.
Other than that, well, the game looks very promising. Although I will probably not but it Day One, there is a great possibility that I will buy the game for PS4 if I ever get the chance.
