1. What The Division Actually 'Is', Relies On Grinding
Not since No Man's Sky has there been a game so cloaked in secrecy and uncertainty. We knew it was a third-person cover-shooter, yes, and we knew we'd be exploring a massive recreation of post-apocalyptic New York, seeing various emergency control teams including the titular Division vie for control of the streets themselves. However, outside of travelling mission to mission, what The Division 'is', comes down to a metric ton of loot-grinding and resource management. TrustedReviews state it's not long after the opening cutscene and character creation that your next step is to "Establish a base, upgrade it and staff it up" before you'll head out to "rescue a doctor, a cop and an engineer" to "get your bases three wings back in action: security, medical and tech" - the same as the beta. Many abilities and perks are tied into fleshing out the various branches of these unlock trees by completing side-missions, looking for items and clearing out areas. Rather like Far Cry Primal (another Ubisoft game, and we all know how much they love parity between their titles), this notion of heading out into the open-world, completing missions and then returning with the spoils of your travels to upgrade a base hub is more or less the same. The aforementioned review also notes that there's "an addictive upgrade cycle going where you want to level up and grab better gear just to do a better job of kicking ass in public", and it's here where Destiny's ailing fanbase will find their new home. Have you had a chance to play, and even if not, what do you think? Is Ubisoft's media blackout a bad omen for the industry? Let us know in the comments!
