The Division now has my full attention. After seeing trailers and footage from E3 the past few years i was wondering what the actual game was going to resemble. Now after about twelve hours of looting going rogue and painting my shotgun pink, I can definitely say that i'm super excited for the full release of The Division.

The cover to cover third person shooting system will seem familiar you've played other Ubisoft third person games. It seems to strike it's balance between both Splinter Cell Blacklist and Watch Dogs. Sliding into cover is relatively simple and has the cover to cover movement I loved so much from Blacklist where you aim at cover and simply hold A until you arrive is remarkably satisfying. The shooting also feels great. While some have criticized the so called bullet sponginess of enemies, I've found that enemies fall remarkably easy when using your weapons appropriately and are appropriately geared. The distance involved with encounters and variety of weapons is also incredibly solid. Firing from range with full automatic assault rifles will not net the same result as a semiautomatic marksman rifles, shotguns feel powerful yet not alarmingly so (however i have found it to be a must for Dark Zone PvP) and the grenades feel powerful yet precious and have no guarantee you'll receive an instant kill. Getting downed is not as frustrating an experience as other games (provided your playing with others) giving you a chance to seek out allies to get you back on your feet. All and all the combat system and game play is satisfyingly solid striking a balance between enemies being made out of glass and having them charge towards you like a brick shit house.

Now to the Dark Zone. Holy Shit! This PvP/PvE mode which seems to be a riff of current survival games is absolutely terrifying. Knowing that any player could be a certifiable wolf in sheep's closing is probably the tensest I've felt in years playing a game. This area of the game is probably the most exciting aspect of the game for me. Keeping myself hidden as i wait for the extraction chopper while being full of Dark Zone loot is incredibly exciting. The Flare you send up to extract contaminated items sets off a ninety second timer indicating the time of arrival for the only safe place for your loot. The moment you spot another player without a telltale yellow bio hazard box strapped to his back (indicating he has loot) is a cringe inducing moment. Now you have a choice. Trust the other player to not straight up murder you for your loot, earning himself a rogue agent tag and becoming fair game for all other players in the area. You could book it from the Extraction Zone and head for the closest alternative Extraction Zone. Finally you come to the option that you've been dreading. You realize that the other Zone's are no guarantee and since this other player is running around the area with no loot of his own he must be trying to go rogue and steal other players loot. With twenty seconds remaining you select your shotgun and equip a grenade. In an instant you toss the grenade sending the other player into a panic as you charge towards him shotgun drawn and proceed to open fire. The screen flashes red as i am informed that i have been labeled a rogue agent and am now fair game for all other players for a minute or so. I breath with a sigh of relief as the player falls to the ground and i deliver the melee to finish him off. Suddenly i notice a red circle at my feet indicating a grenade has been thrown cursing loudly I dive of the way while trying to reload my shot gun as hop a barricade and slide into cover. At that the moment the chopper arrives and begins the thirty second countdown for extraction. Sending out a radar pulse i see a player in cover above me with direct line of sight to the loot extraction rope. He has to o too. Making my way around i succeed in getting into shotgun range diving around the corner i fire my shotgun three times killing another agent with my pink colored shotgun. Now I'm a level 2 rogue agent with two player kills in the last thirty seconds. clenching my teeth i jump down and move toward the extraction rope and hold X and successfully extract my items. I let out a huge breath and starting giggling to myself. As i begin to decide how i'm going to wait out my rogue status I'm immediately downed from behind. The two players I had just killed are standing behind me and seemed to have formed a group. As they deliver i final blow I'm greeted with a death screen indicating I have been killed as a rogue and now have a thirty second re spawn time as well as informing me of the loss of large amount of Dark Zone Currency, Dark Zone keys and Dark Zone rank experience. however i'm satisfied with the fact hat i managed to extract two blue and three green items.

After twelve or so hours I have become smitten with The Division's game play loop. the solid mechanics and tense PvP encounters has me incredibly excited for the games full launch in March.