THE DIVISION: UNDERGROUND

Going down under…

The Division’s first major expansion, ‘Underground’ came out a while ago and I’ve finally gotten round to playing it. It’s part of a series of updates for the game, but I’m not going to cover those because, well, I can’t be arsed. Well, other than the bit about getting outfits from Ubisoft's other games. the Ghost Recon: Wildlands one is particularly good.

Taking your Agent into the world beneath New York, Underground takes place after the events of the main story. The first thing those of you who don’t have the season pass will notice is that it’s £11.99. Too much? Yes, definitely. Somewhere around £8 would probably be better value.

Underground’s main selling point is that every mission is different. Each boss you face will be new and…No, not really. While every mission might be different in the details, they’re either search and destroy or defend, and take place over a minimal variety of about three different underground areas. Each mission also lets you add Directives, which are basically the Skulls from Halo. They make the missions harder in return for better rewards.

You might think that, like the rest of the game, Underground would be fully accessible by free roam. Unfortunately, it’s not. The only way to access it is to start a mission, and while there is plenty of room to look around once you’re down there, most paths are dead ends and extra collectables are few and far between. Plus, the whole thing has a very claustrophobic feel most of the time.

This is about as open world as it gets

Each mission will grant you with high-end rewards, including the new guns and gear that have been added to the game. If you’re lucky, you’ll unlock new stuff to help you when you’re out and about. If you’re unlucky, like me, you’ll unlock the same gun four times in a row. While that’s good for getting weapon parts, it does stop you checking out the other new things available.

Unfortunately, Underground also successfully avoids adding any new types of enemies. It’s the same factions, and the same enemy types. And there’s me thinking expansions we’re meant to add new things.

Same old, same old

While Underground does have it’s down sides, it does it’s job in adding new playability to the game on the whole, and does well in distracting me away from the updates I disagree with. Safe to say, it’s not on the same level as AC3’s Tyranny of King Washington, but it’s a lot better than I thought it would be.