The Division: 3 Ups & 6 Downs From The Beta Playthrough

2. Concept And Atmosphere Are Fantastic

Even if none of this comes together in the final product, the fact that Ubi have taken the idea of an open-world MMO and applied it to a realistic New York setting is one for the history books. Seeing enemies get shot and having numbers fly off to dictate your damage may look a little strange at first, but you can't deny the immediate sense of identity you get watching it in action. The Division feels very fresh, and a big step forward - we just don't know whether it'll stumble along the way. XP counters fly up, beams of coloured light stand out from dropped pieces of loot, augmented reality visuals tell you everything about health, equipped items and the space left in your backpack. The HUD itself does look considerably more cluttered than the initial footage, but once you're in motion it doesn't get in the way. Story-wise there's more yet to be revealed, but the setup revolves around a viral infection spreading through marked bills during Black Friday. The more sales and transactions that went down on that day of pure consumerist greed, the more people were infected and put on life-support, or worse. A brilliant Kojima-esque comment on the violence inherent to this annual event, as it already exists in real life? Absolutely, and a very unique one at that. Here's to Ubi capitalising on it in full.