Bill Hardin

Intuitive access to current objective and challenges

DOOM has many subtle usability features that contribute to the user experience. The first being the inclusion of a secondary way to display the current objective and challenges, which is mapped to down on the d-pad. The objective appears on the left-hand side of the screen and the challenges appear on the right, which can be dismissed by pressing down on the d-pad a second time. This is a handy, simple, one-button press that is a design feature that flows nicely with the overall relentless pace set by DOOM. Below are three screenshots demonstrating this feature.

Color-coded objective markers

Multiple times throughout the campaign, the player has to obtain colored key cards or skulls to gain access to corresponding doors. It is great practice to display vital information in more than one way; in this case, the color-coding of the objective markers provides supplemental information to the distance marker. If the player proceeds to the incorrect door first, he/she is less likely to make an error navigating to the other, as there is additional discriminatory information to help avoid mixing up the objective markers.

Green lights for vertical traversal

There are many scenarios in DOOM where the player has to traverse vertically. The density of some of these areas can make it seem like a daunting task; however, there are green lights on ledges to indicate a sense of directionality and climbable surfaces. This is similar to games like Tomb Raider and the Uncharted series that require a lot of traversal and design it such that it is noticeable to players, but also seems like a natural part of the game’s world; it doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb (I’m looking at you, Ryse: Son of Rome). DOOM uses this method in a couple ways, which can be seen below; flashing green lights seem like something you would realistically see if navigating a facility on Mars.

Available weapon points/suit tokens reminder

Another subtle feature is a reminder about how many weapon points and suit tokens the player currently has available to spend, which appears on the lower-half of the screen in the center (see screenshot below). There were numerous times that I was caught up in slaying demons that I lost track of how many points and tokens I had, so this reminded me to level up consistently with the natural progression of the game, which, inevitably, only led to more brutal slaying. These appeared during slower moments in the game, so they didn’t interrupt any action and allow the player to focus on spending available points and tokens according to specific play styles. Promoting recognition, not recall, by players is always a win in my book.

Weapon mod reticles

Each weapon and its mods has its own distinct reticles. This system also added the ability to visually track current ammo for certain weapon mods without diverting the player’s attention away from the reticle in the center of the screen. Not only does it track the number of shots for each mod, but also color cues (i.e., green when ammo is full and flashing red when low).  This is very useful because many weapon mods include firing multiple shots in a row. See the video below for examples of this system with the charged (triple) shot mod for the shotgun and missiles for the assault rifle.

Simultaneous presentation of vital information

Lastly, an issue encountered was the simultaneous presentation of vital information, which included verbal narration progressing the story and tutorial text information. Although this only happened once to my recollection, this issue makes the player’s verbal and auditory channels compete for attention, likely resulting in him/her missing some of the information trying to be conveyed. The screenshot below demonstrates this scenario, with the verbal narration from Samuel Hayden under “Voice Comm” and the “Combat Rating” on the bottom of the screen.

Recommendation: The verbal narration is essential information here in order to progress the story, whereas the combat rating tutorial is not vital at that precise moment because it is describing, generally, how combat results in points to upgrade weapons. This issue could be resolved by simply changing the timing of the combat rating information to a time when the player’s attentional resources aren’t currently under load due to other stimuli.

Final thoughts

DOOM is an unrelenting, adrenaline-pumping, demon-slaying, rush. Aside from the tight gameplay mechanics, the inclusion of design features such as specific visual cues on reticles for modded weapons allow the player to exert more resources toward slaying demons and surviving when the action is dialed to 11, rather than worrying about ammo running low and having to slow the action and pull up the weapon wheel, for example.

In the downtime between demon onslaughts, DOOM remains fun in part due to these usability features. The surprising amount of exploration and vertical traversal are aided by slick visual cues that aid navigation in multiple ways. Informational pop ups during this time let the player know he/she can take a moment to breathe, upgrade themselves, and prepare to, once again, fight like hell.

Having spent countless hours playing Dead Nation and Resogun, Housemarque’s next title, Alienation, has been on my radar for quite a while. It is definitely a worthy spiritual successor to Dead Nation, adding three different playable classes, deeper RPG elements, and four-player multiplayer. I’m currently about 7 hours into the campaign with the Saboteur; I’ve played solo as well as with 1-3 additional teammates. Both play styles are fun in their own way and, while the four-player multiplayer can, at times, be too hectic to know what’s happening, it’s an amusing type of chaos. However, I noticed a usability issue before even playing the first real mission.

Non-intuitive tutorial access

The main mission-select screen for Alienation can be seen below. It is an intuitive design because you complete missions that take place all over the world, many times multiple in the same location, and makes navigating easy.

However, below is a zoomed-in screenshot of what is important on this screen and, although it is an overall intuitive design, two issues are present here. The cursor the player uses to navigate the map is a green circle, which can be seen in the left-hand screen shot below, under “Barrow, Alaska.” This is where the cursor is located by default, although “Barrow, Alaska” is actually the first real mission and not the tutorial. The tutorial is “Raining Camp, Hawaii,” which is the second issue. The “T” in training is presumably cut off by the screen here, which could induce even more confusion by the player. They might assume that “Raining Camp, Hawaii” is the second mission, based on its displayed name and how the cursor is on “Barrow, Alaska” by default. The option to skip the tutorial is a nice addition for veteran players of Housemarque or twin-stick shooter games; however, how that option is presented in Alienation is not clear. This lack of clarity might also result in new players skipping the tutorial completely before entering the first mission and missing the introduction to the controls might induce frustration.

Reloading visual cues – a hindsight proposal

Alienation has a “perfect reload” mechanic similar to the Gears of War series. Briefly, a real-time progress bar is presented to the player and they need to press a button (here, it’s R3) at the right time (here, indicated in green on the bar). Mistiming the reload will result in the green turning to red and the player having to wait longer for their character to reload. This bar is presented in two places: above the gun interface in the bottom-left-hand portion of the screen and right below the character; however, there is one main difference in these presentations. Besides being obviously larger, the bar above the gun interface presents an “R3” cue when the bar reaches the green, essentially reminding the player what button to press and when. The GIF below demonstrates both reloading bars in action.

This dual presentation made me wonder if both are actually necessary. Personally, from a line-of-sight perspective, I rarely look away from the character when playing unless I know I’m completely alone; there are just too many situations where there are an overwhelming amount of enemies swarming the character, and that split second it takes to look over to the bottom-left to reload could mean the difference between life and death. Additionally, if the player is fixated on the character, the R3 pop up could be mistaken as an enemy coming from the periphery. While I am ignorant to whether Housemarque conducts external usability tests for their games or not, I would imagine a handful of tests would have brought this matter to the forefront. Regardless, in hindsight, I would propose this to Housemarque – would playtests categorize this extra bar as unnecessary and/or distracting? Furthermore, I know that conducting eye-tracking usability studies can be out of budget’s reach for many companies, but I wonder if that, combined with direct observation and self-report testing, would have shone light on this topic.

Pierre Chalfoun, the biometrics project manager at Ubisoft Montreal, gave an excellent talk about eye tracking and line of sight at GDC 2016. While I highly recommend watching the whole video, I would like to direct your attention to 28:05 – 32:15 in the video below, where he discusses a mixed-methods case study they conducted with eye tracking in Assassin’s Creed Unity to help inform UI design based on player’s actions. He makes a great point that players can have difficulty self-reporting in-game reactions, such as where on the screen they would look when completing certain actions, which is where the quantitative method of eye tracking can be very useful.

For Alienation, I would go out on a limb and hypothesize that most players would not use the reload UI on the left of the screen, making it superfluous to an already busy lower quadrant of the screen. If this did happen to be the case, perhaps an “R3” cue under the character, in addition to the bar, would be beneficial, similar to how Ubisoft integrated stealth UI elements in Assassin’s Creed Unity based on the results of their study.

In the end, this is pure speculation and we can only guess how such a study would conclude. While this question could be answered with traditional usability tests, eye tracking does contribute a quantitative component, which is ultimately more trustworthy than a player’s self-report recollection about such a UI design/feature and its usability.

There are a variety of digital trading card games that contain any mixture of favorable and unfavorable user interface (UI) designs. More specifically, if there is not an intuitive system in place for the card-collecting and deck-building portions of these games, it can be a laborious process that places unnecessary effort on trivial tasks that could be focused on building an awesome deck. Since this can be one of the most enjoyable aspects of trading card games, this process could ultimately hinder the player’s experience. With the recent release of Whispers of the Old Gods, we will all be spending a lot of time with the collection and deck-building interface in Hearthstone, so let’s see how it stacks up according to well-established usability heuristics for UI design.

Brief overview

Below is a screenshot of the collection and deck-building screen for Hearthstone on iPad. It is setup like a virtual card binder with numerous different filters, all while maintaining aesthetic appeal and a minimalist design. Starting in the top left, there are tabs that let the player filter cards by the nine hero types and neutral cards. The two gold icons to the right of these tabs allow the player to view collected card backs and heroes. The bulk of the screen is comprised of the cards currently chosen, which includes the hero name at the top along with relevant artwork, the cards, as well as the quantity in the collection. On the far right is the second-largest portion of the screen, which is a scroll bar where the player can select from any of the basic hero decks and custom-built decks. Once a deck is selected, the player can tap again to see an overlay of the mana distribution, the hero’s power, and options to rename or delete it. The bottom-left portion of the screen allows the player to filter by different card sets and mana crystal costs. Additionally, there is an indicator of online friends, a clock and a battery indicator (much-welcomed inclusions). Moving from the center to the bottom-right of the screen, there is a search bar, a crafting button that opens the card-crafting pane, the current number of decks, amount of arcane dust, and back and menu buttons.

Match between system and the real world 

Upon initial navigation of Hearthstone’s menus and card-collecting and deck-building interface, it is immediately obvious how well-expressed the targeted theme and identity of Warcraft is. This, along with the virtual-binder design, which is similar to how the backpack is utilized as the menu system in the Pokemon games or how the player slices menu buttons in Fruit Ninja, can allow for deeper immersion and enhance the overall experience.

Hearthstone also makes the screen intelligible from left to right, both logically and intuitively as if the player is flipping through a card binder. There are arrows to navigate forward or back and, if no filters are selected, the cards are presented in order of mana cost, as if reading a book. Additionally, the tabs at the top of the screen that allow the player to filter cards by hero type are represented by intuitive icons easily recognized by players, such as knives for a Rogue and a sword for a Warrior.

Visibility of system status

Hearthstone’s collection UI remains the same throughout the process of searching your collection and building a deck, with a couple subtle changes introduced when card crafting. This consistency makes it easy to keep track of multiple things, such as what card types and mana costs are currently filtered. Hearthstone achieves this by utilizing pulsing and glowing visual cues, such as a blue outline around the crafting button and lighting up the currently-filtered mana cost.

Also, when in card crafting, cards you currently have and can afford to craft are shown and outlined in blue, whereas cards you do not have, but can craft, are faded but highlighted in a similar glow. Cards you do not have and cannot currently afford to craft are grayed out to closely match the background, clearly indicating that this option is unobtainable at the moment.

Error prevention in card crafting

Confirmation messages can be a great option for UI design to prevent errors. Hearthstone introduces error prevention during card crafting by presenting the player with a confirmation dialog box when attempting to disenchant a card that would leave them with less than 2 of said card, which is the maximum allowed per deck for certain cards. This message gives players a moment to reflect on their current action and potentially prevent them from accidentally disenchanting a super-powerful legendary card.

Recognition rather than recall in card crafting

The card-crafting screen is the only slight deviation from the main collection screen. Here, players are presented with a pane with instructions and additional filters for card crafting. The inclusion of this pane in place of the deck pane on the main screen presents players with a well-located reminder about the general idea behind card crafting, which is ultimately more beneficial than accessing decks during this portion.

Other UI usability features worth noting:

• The interactive UI stands out from the background, as evidenced by the design of the buttons, as well as using concepts that players can relate to real life, such as searching through an organized physical card collection.
• Throughout, there is consistency in font sizes, colors, styles, and icons, which can be read clearly even though they are small.
• There are subtle aspects of the UI that help keep the player informed during the entire collection/deck-building process, such as indicators on cards in your collection when you have the max amount of that card allowed in the deck or if you have none left. Again, this allows the player to recognize rather than recall what cards are in the deck.

Final thoughts

Not only does Hearthstone have deep, yet simplistic and accessible gameplay, it also seems to have implemented that philosophy into its UI design. This is an incredibly important inclusion, as it results in a more complete package that is not only accessible to younger players, inexperienced card game players, and inexperienced Warcraft players, but also the most hardcore card game, such as Magic: The Gathering, players. Ultimately, regardless of experience, the UI is not a (usability) barrier to entry and is very intuitive and easy to use throughout. However, building dominant decks on a budget and remaining competitively ranked is another story. 🙂

Dead Star is a twin-stick space-shooter with hybrid MOBA and RPG elements. Here, it was reviewed in the format of a think-aloud, which is a form of usability testing where a researcher observes a participant “thinking aloud” and verbally expressing feelings, experiences, actions or issues encountered while playing the game (Desurvire & Seif El-Nasr, 2013). This think-aloud was conducted with me as the researcher and a female in her mid-twenties, who does not self-identify as someone who plays video games, as the participant. The tutorial of the PS4 version of Dead Star was played, which is comprised of three sections: Loadout, Piloting, and Conquest, and lasted about 30 minutes. The initial tutorial screen can be seen below.

The player proceeded to complete the tutorial in the order in which the sections were presented, beginning with Loadout, which can be seen below.

As seen above, the tutorial commences with Mags Mu’zeta speaking instructions to the player along with the written instructions presented in the top-left corner of the screen. Once the player noticed the option to read the text and skip ahead by pressing “X,” she progressed through these subsections at an expedited pace, not waiting for Mags Mu’zeta to finish reading the introduction and instructions aloud.

At the heart of the Loadout section of the tutorial, it presents the player with the three categories of space ships that can be used during gameplay, as seen above. The player was instructed to navigate to the Estari Warden ship and swap it out for the Marksman. Although the ship currently selected is outlined in a yellow square, as well as labeled with the ship’s name in the box, the player became confused as to why she could not swap the Warden out for the correct ship, the Marksman. The issue was simply that the player was unaware that she was currently selecting the Bulldog instead of the Warden, which was rectified after a few seconds of focusing on her options. She proceeded to correctly highlight the Warden and swap it out of the loadout for the Marksman.

The player then proceeded to navigate, without issue, back to the main tutorial screen to select the Piloting tutorial. This was where the player learned how to perform basic controls, including navigating the ship, shooting, and collecting loot. First, the player was instructed to collect 50 ore and return to the home base, which was instructed verbally by Mags Mu’zeta, as well as with a small text indication at the top of the screen (see screenshots below). When instructed to shoot the ship’s gun for the first time, the player verbally expressed confusion about how to control the dual-stick firing system (right stick to aim and RT to fire). After some troubleshooting and time spent looking at the controller, she was able to successfully destroy and collect the ore rocks.

The current amount of ore the player has is indicated by HUD on the bottom right-half of the screen (see below). Here, you can see the current amount in the player’s inventory, as well as a progression bar indicating how close the player is to capacity. While not explained at this point in the tutorial, different types of ships have different ore-carrying capacities. At this point, the player was controlling the Estari Marksman, which has a capacity of 50 ore and, as seen in the screenshots, the player currently has 40. However, she was not aware of this HUD element, even though there is a brief text pop-up explaining this feature. Once she had reached the capacity of 50 and was unable to collect the remaining available ore, she asked “why can’t I collect more ore?” and “do I have too much?” After some time spent flying the ship around the remaining ore and failing to pick it up, she continued to her objective by navigating the ship in the direction of the yellow directional reticle.

Upon returning to the home base, the player was instructed to transfer the ore in her inventory to the base as supplies for upgrades. The UI for this can be seen in the screenshot below. Similar to other instructional segments throughout the tutorial, there are text instructions at the top of the screen, as well as button prompts at the bottom (e.g. X Transfer Ore). When presented with this screen, the player demonstrated a facial expression of confusion. However, after a few seconds of looking up and down the screen a number of times, she was able to successfully transfer the ore.

After upgrading the home base, the player was instructed to investigate a nearby cargo salvage. Before proceeding to said cargo, the player was instructed to recruit nearby drone ships to fly with her. She quickly correctly recruited two drone ships; however, she attempted to circle the larger, stationary, object thinking it was another drone and asked “are they supposed to come with me?” The similar size and shape of this object was mistaken as a drone ship (see screenshot below).

She then proceeded to navigate the ship to the correct location of the cargo salvage. Once she arrived, two text pop ups were presented on the screen simultaneously, although only one was relevant to the current objective, as seen in the screenshot below. She verbally expressed frustration with this scenario, saying “how am I supposed to read both at the same time?!”

Once the player destroyed the cargo and collected the artifact, she was instructed to level up and was presented with the screen below. Here, there were visual cues on the screen as well as a repeating “upgrade available” as an auditory cue. She expressed confusion about the prompt to press the PS4 controller’s touchpad, saying “I don’t know what button that is.”

After examining the controller for a brief moment, she was able to reach the level-up screen, which can be seen below. The player was instructed to level up the missile launcher, which was when she asked, “how do I choose the missile launcher?” She then navigated to the right and the player’s current selection was highlighted in yellow, as seen below. She proceeded to press X to upgrade the missile launcher; however, the two indicators of successful leveling up, which were the white bar filling in half of the left portion of the highlighted diamond and the “1” under “Upgrade Points” turning to a “0,” were not noticed by the player. Therefore, she hesitated once upgrading the missile launcher and, shortly after, realized she needed to press “O” to back out of the level-up screen. She then proceeded to try her new weapon against incoming enemies, however, her ship was destroyed, resulting in a respawn at the home base.

Upon respawning, the player was urged to destroy any remaining enemies and then navigate to the enemy’s controlled station. Upon arrival, she successfully destroyed the enemy ships and began the process of taking over the base. At this point, the player was instructed to stay within range (indicated by a blue pulsating aura) of the base and the time it takes to complete the takeover was indicated by a timer within the base (see below). Once remaining enemies were destroyed, she navigated away from the base and asked, “are there any remaining enemies?” While there was text for the current objective at the top of the screen, the player stated, “I don’t know what I am supposed to be doing right now,” and “it’s not clear what I’m supposed to be doing.” After several minutes of navigating around the home base, but not within range to complete the takeover, the player was prompted by the researcher to “look to the top of the screen for your objective.” The player read the objective aloud and further asked, “what am I supposed to do?” The researcher then clarified that the player was out of range and that she had to stay within the blue circular aura for the appropriate amount of time.

Once the takeover was complete, the player proceeded to follow the level-up prompt. Again, she displayed frustration with this system and the verification that she had correctly upgraded her intended option. Lastly, the player completed the Conquest tutorial, which consisted of attacking and overtaking an enemy outpost using one of the largest ships available, the Vindicator. The player expressed no verbal frustrations or obvious issues with this part of the tutorial and completed it in a timely fashion.

Summary

While inexperience with games in general was evident throughout this playtest, it also revealed some potential usability issues in Dead Star. For one, during this think-aloud, the player was tripped up by the leveling-up system, suggesting that the indication for successfully leveling up may be too subtle for some players. Secondly, as a game with MOBA-like elements, there can be a lot going on on screen; therefore, it may be beneficial that stationary, non-interactive, objects in the game world not resemble objects that can be interacted with, as seen in Dead Star with commandable drones. Thirdly, the simultaneous presentation of two instructional text boxes (one with additional auditory presentation) can confuse the player and potentially direct their attention in an unintended direction, ultimately significantly affecting the experience.

Additional thoughts on usability

During my time with Dead Star, I noticed some usability issues not previously mentioned in this review. Although I played through it on PS4, I played it on a PC monitor, so I was only ~3 feet away from the screen. However, some of the HUD and pop ups, including words, numbers, and button prompts are small and I wonder how this holds up when playing on a TV, where the player is significantly farther from the display. Lastly, as seen in the screenshot below, it can be easy to lose track of the aiming reticle (bright green triangle) when aiming at the lower half of the screen. It not only clashes with the colors of the shield and health bars, but also collectible ore and the background of certain maps. A different color choice for this reticle or the option to change the color along with certain maps would have been beneficial.

References:

Desurvire, H. & Seif El-Nasr, M., “Methods for Game User Research: Studying Player Behavior to Enhance Game Design,” IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 82-87, July-Aug. 2013, doi:10.1109/MCG.2013.61

The Division is a game that needs no introduction considering how popular it is and how many sales records it has broken. It seems like just yesterday that I was picking my jaw up off the ground following Ubisoft’s gameplay reveal at E3 2013 . Seeing the agent avoid the bullet-stricken NYPD car window and close the car door on his way to safer cover was just one of those “wow” moments. Played on PC (with a controller), here are my thoughts on usability and the overall experience:

Usability:

 A-B-C, easy as 1-2-3? 

Many games (e.g. Gears of War) have used a very similar third-person-shooter cover system to the one utilized in The Division. Typically, “A” is used to get into cover, as well as to move around and over. In The Division, using the reticle, the player can look where he wants to run into cover and “A” can be seen popping onto the screen for every spot the player can use. As a game with a lot going on on the screen at any one time, both UI- and notification-wise, the “A” popping up everywhere can easily misdirect the player’s attention elsewhere on the screen, perhaps thinking it is loot or that a mission-oriented task needs to be performed. Thankfully, this feature can be disabled in the settings menu.

The main difference in this cover system compared to other third-person shooter cover mechanics is that, to go over an object or climb up/down something, “B” is used. See the screenshot below.

However, there are some inconsistencies with this system, primarily with dropping down from something. Sometimes, pressing B is required to drop down, whereas other times simply moving your character in the direction you want to drop suffices. It is never made clear when to press B versus not other than “B” appearing on the screen. If you’re high enough, there is an indicator along with the B that notifies you that you’ll lose some health from the fall. Is the necessity to press B versus not dependent on height? Unclear.

Another inconsistency with this system can be seen in the screenshot above. Additional arrow indicators can send mixed signals to players, which could lead to some confusion. It is pretty clear that the B here informs the player how to climb to the top of the truck; however, does the A indicate that the player can take cover against the window or drop down from the truck? This is a system that took a few minutes to practice, since it essentially complicated an already established simplistic system of using one button to perform multiple cover- and traversal-related actions. While it’s possible that Ubisoft implemented this to appeal to an audience that doesn’t have a lot of experience with third-person cover systems, the constant visual cues makes the player wonder if a “less is more” approach would have been more beneficial here. Again, once the subtleties of this system are controlled, it can be helpful to to turn the cues off.

Poorly-timed explanations or just none at all

As mentioned, The Division can have a lot happening on the screen at any given moment and, although there is a fairly lengthy prologue that covers the majority of the tutorials and essential info, there are explanations for some aspects of the game that are either awkwardly timed or nonexistent. There are numerous occasions where an informative pop up was presented on screen, either explaining a basic gameplay mechanic or feature. For example, after completing the prologue Precinct Siege mission (and sprinting a multitude of times throughout), the player is informed how to make his agent sprint. Another example came after the second story mission where the player is tasked with rescuing Dr. Kandel; here, your agent’s primary attributes (i.e., stamina, firearms, and electronics) were explained. Knowledge of these attributes is essential to proper character building and presenting its tutorial at an ill-advised time does not provide it the attention it needs; players might deem it immediately irrelevant to them and quickly dismiss it.

While awkwardly-timed tutorials can throw a wrench in the experience, not explaining important features can be far worse. One feature that is never fully explained are your agent’s skills, which are a very important aspect of gameplay, primarily how they compliment each other and are especially important later in the game against stronger enemies. The first indicator of skills is a notification that the player has a skill that is not assigned. However, there was no explanation of what these skills are, how they’re unlocked/achieved, or how to assign them.

Other features that were never explained include emotes and status effects. What is the point of emotes, why use them, and HOW are they used? Down on the d-pad is designated to numerous emotes, all of which can serve different purposes, such as helping communicate with team members or getting your agent some exercise (as if running around NYC wasn’t enough). There are visual indicators for status effects (i.e., bleed, burn, disoriented, blind-deaf, shock, and disrupt), however, their actual effect on gameplay is never clarified.

Missing loot

Briefly, the loot system is categorized into five different rarities: worn (white), standard (green), specialized (blue), superior (purple), and high-end (yellow). Loot dropped by enemies is signified by a sky-high beacon the color of the item’s rarity. However, being that the main ambiance of The Division is a snowy/smoky, post-apocalyptic NYC, it can be incredibly difficult to notice worn items, which include ammo, med kits, and some weapons to name a few, against the daytime and snowy sky. This issue is non-existent with the other rarities, simply because the contrast is much greater between those colors and the game environment.

Appeals/opinions

Features that enhance the experience

While The Division has some usability issues, it also contains some subtle features that help streamline tasks, such as navigating the menu, and improve the overall experience. One such feature is that, when visiting vendors, the game doesn’t give you the option to (accidentally) sell equipped guns/gear. With what seems to be a never-ending backpack full of loot, it is quite useful to not have to memorize everything you have equipped in order to not accidentally sell it. Anyone who has ever played an RPG has experienced that immediate sense of regret (quickly, reload last save!). Additionally, while navigating the world, the option to override the current object with a quest that is close in proximity by simply holding X is a nice way to change objectives on the fly and allows for better real-time “city randomness.”

Immersion – “open-world” as an umbrella term

As a huge fan of open-world RPGs, once the tutorial/prologue is completed and I’m unleashed into the open world, my first matter of business is randomly exploring in order to further immerse myself in the game world and experience this “randomness.” However, during my exploration of the first Manhattan district, there was an underwhelming amount of random loot and not nearly as much as one would expect from an “open-world” game. Additionally, sick citizens, requesting aid in the form of a med kit or can of soda, and groups of enemies were encountered. The sick citizens would drop loot, almost always in the form of clothing or a worn gun, whereas we can all deduce how the encounters with enemies concluded. Upon exploration of subsequent districts, it was the same scenario – a lack of random loot, some sick citizens and groups of enemies. This, for lack of a better word, “static” environment, filled with what seemed to be copy and pasted “random” events made NYC seem lifeless. I’m aware that this is post-apocalyptic NYC, and perhaps game series like Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and The Witcher have set the bar too high, or in a different direction altogether, but this hindered immersion. Even post-apocalyptic NYC would, arguably, have more life than most places pre-apocalypse. No curiosity or sense of wonder is induced by the world of The Division because what was around the next corner and “random” events were all completely predictable and, ultimately, curiosity was never rewarded.

Lastly, let’s address the elephant in the room – graphically, it’s a beautiful game. While it might not have met the unworldly expectations set for itself during E3 2013 reveal, it has some of the best lighting and snow effects I have ever seen in a game. NYC looks great and, graphically, it is definitely a sight to see.

Final thoughts

I’m currently level 22 and have enjoyed the majority of my time with The Division. It is a game that does some things nicely, such as its RPG elements and shooting/combat mechanics. However, it is difficult to describe it as anything more than a blend of mechanics from older games of different genres and, unfortunately, these games typically execute said mechanics in a superior fashion. The Division, simply put, seems like an overly-ambitious game that spread itself too thin in order to appeal to a broad audience. You can’t revolutionize something without evolving an existing thing, which is where The Division ultimately falls short of its potential.