WARNING: This not a full review! Repeat this is not a Full Review.

I haven’t had the enjoyment of beating the campaign yet, adult life and responsibilities have kept me from sinking 36 straight hours into this game. Having said that, I’ve still played a solid 9-10 hours and have a decent view of how this game is going to play out.

I’ll start from the very beginning, it’s usually a pretty good place to start.

Please pay attention to that epileptic seizure warning, the intro is a doozy. It is a cool intro and really got the point across that this virus is nasty, but the jumpiness started to get to me towards the end.

After introducing who the Division Agents are, it then sweeps to an agent standing up and closing a car door and looking into the reflection of the window. It is a clever and interesting way to pull up the character creation tool. However, the character selections are severely lacking. Your choices are generic white guy, black guy, asian guy, and “not sure the difference between the first white guy” guy. They are a few more choices, but they all follow this trend. Hair style is dependent on your face. Want to be generic white guy with somewhat shaggy hair? Sorry that is reserved for the generic asian guy. Want to be an asian with corn rows (it happens), sorry that is reserved for the black guy.

I haven’t made a female character yet, but I’m sure it follows the same pattern.

However if you are feeling like a clone, feel free to get a classy face or neck tattoo.

Gameplay

For anyone who played the beta the intro is really tedious and doesn’t include instructions on the most important parts of the game, emotes. If you do not master the art of jumping jacks you are in for a rude awakening in the Dark Zone.

It is a third person cover shooter, and as a whole the controls are great. There is a good balance of stickiness when getting into and leaving cover. There have been a couple of times where I get behind the wrong cover, or there is something that should work as cover but doesn’t. This could just be user error…

Story

So far the story feels a little disjointed, not bad but just a little. Most of it is told through voice overs as you are playing, so it tends to get lost under the sounds of bullets and the Cleaners flame throwers. The other place some of the back story gets told is in the countless cell phone conversations, missing agent files, echoes, and the list goes on. Most of these you pick and then forget about though. Lost in the menus somewhere never to be seen again. At least you can get to them in game…*cough*Destiny*cough*… However, I did enjoy a cell phone conversation about how to pluck and cook a pigeon. Kind of gross and hilarious at the same time.

Dinner and a Show

Wrap Up

I am having fun playing the game and unlocking new loot, just not 100% sure what is going on yet. This was just a first impression and I am sure things that I feel are lacking may flesh out, and things that I feel as spot on may start to feel a bit tiring. Such is the life of RPG looter shooters.