Gamescom 2014 impressions: The Division
So yesterday I got to witness a privately screened demo of The Division running on Xbox One. The much anticipated pseudo-MMO shooter is due to hit in 2015, and features ambition that had everyone's jaws drop a couple of E3's ago.
The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic New York, and your charge is to discover the cause of the contamination which led to the destruction of the city.
This was the first time the game had been seen running on Xbox One (and Windows 8...) hardware, what did I make of it?
Firstly, the emphasis was on synchronicity between console players and tablet players. Players can control an aerial drone via a smart device as we've seen in previous videos, but this was the first time it was confirmed to be coming to Windows 8 devices as well as iOS and Android. The tablet player was in-fact using a Surface 2, which mirrored the console world well, albeit in much lower fidelity. The latency between the tablet and console was zero, but it remains to be seen if that was via live servers or networked dev units. Given the awfulness of Watch Dogs online connectivity, I wanted to ask the rep about server speeds but they weren't taking questions. If they can provide the stability to the general public they showed in the demo, it could be the first time tablet/console gameplay actually makes sense.
The demo also featured an extensive look at skill trees and abilities, which are customisable before and after combat. You can tailor your abilities to meet your situation, as the different enemies and factions in the game may require different tactics to play optimally.
Gun play and cover seem to be incredibly solid, and in similar vein to Watch Dogs. Selecting cover will have you head there, affording tactical play between team mates. For example, you could have your drone player lay supressing fire or spread tear gas whilst you flank a more powerful enemy, etc etc.
The game world looks incredibly rich and detailed, as we've seen previously. There are hints everywhere which tell the story of those now gone, and how the city came to ruin. Piled up corpses, freshly abandoned homes and violent anarchists meet you at every corner, every facet of the design screams post-apocalypse. The familiarity of the near-future world adds tension, and reminded me of the fragility of society in general. Everything is so very recently abandoned, its almost in-progress-apocalyptic rather than post-apocalyptic.
Certain areas of the game were gated by equipment requirements. One area featured a contamination level which required a certain strength of gas mask. The RPG elements combined with survivalist fantasies of scavenging and base building look to perfect what games like Minecraft and DayZ have attempted to achieve previously, adding flare that only a triple A budget can achieve.
Amazing detail, lighting and draw distance comes at a cost; the game suffered some wicked frame rate drops, and similarly jarring screen tearing. The Division is still in development, so it is perhaps to be expected - but it harkened back to the Watch Dogs "downgrade" we saw previously, where games are prettified for marketing purposes then scaled back for release. It remains to be seen if the beautiful scenery and detail I saw on display make it to retail, but if they do, one would hope they can further optimise the stability beforehand.
Either way, The Division looks to be one of the most ambitious games of recent memory, and performance issues aside, the gameplay had me yearning for 2015 to come faster. If this game isn't on your list, it really should be.
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