I'm hoping to play a bunch of the open beta on Saturday (and possibly Sunday) night, and would like to try out some time in the dark zones with some buddies.

Anybody else have it downloaded yet (or is planning on downloading it this weekend) and wants to run together?

It was 26 gigs, I think, and I played about an hour of it before I was bored enough to just delete it... If enough folks want to play it, I'll download it again...

I'm hoping to play a bunch of the open beta on Saturday (and possibly Sunday) night, and would like to try out some time in the dark zones with some buddies.

Anybody else have it downloaded yet (or is planning on downloading it this weekend) and wants to run together?

Just started remote downloading from work. If it's done by the time I get on tonight, I'd be happy to play together!

Yessir. PSN: Kahzgul. If you ever see me online (for this or for Destiny) just shoot me a message or hop right into my party.

Anybody else have it downloaded yet (or is planning on downloading it this weekend) and wants to run together?

It's… tempting. But it's the same kind of game as Destiny isn't it? And I'm trying not to play those types of games so much anymore, if at all. It's an MMORPG with third person shooting, right? Or are the RPG elements not heavy?

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The darkness zone is really where it's at. Running around the city is fun and all, but once you get to the darkness zone and are faced with the moral dilemma of letting someone get their gear out or killing him and taking his gear, or the fear of getting murdered for your own gear, it's really fun. Good gametype.

Also, I instantly like a lot of the game elements better than Destiny since they're not wholly RNG based. You can strip mods off guns and attach them to other guns, fast travel to the location of anyone in your group, see both actual damage per shot and overall DPS for all guns, as well as directly compare them to any of your equipped guns... It's like instead of being obtuse and vague, they're actually trying to help you understand, immediately, which weapon is better.

I really appreciate that.

So 20 minutes really isn't enough time to judge a game, especially a game as big and complex as The Devision. But what I do expect from the first 20 minutes of a game is for it to give me something, anything, to latch on to. The Devision didn't do that. The intro did nothing to make me care about the characters or what was going on. The game then leaves you to wander the streets while trying to decipher the cluttered mess that is the game's UI. The map is filled with icons that don't mean anything to the player (yet), some of which you can interact with in equally meaningless ways. Some people on the streets are bad guys, while others are friendly. I know this because my reticle turns red when I target some of them... that's the only reason I know I'm supposed to shoot certain people. The shooting itself feels mediocre. I was bored of the combat half way through my first gun fight. After walking down bland looking streets for a few blocks, I found a ladder which led me into a bland looking sewer. Walked around down there for a while, but there was absolutely nothing to do or see. Went above ground again, and realized I was too bored to even make it to my first waypoint.

I'm gonna try it again later, but as far as first impressions go, I don't have many positive things to say.

I did like the music, though.

I walked through the HQ and approached the "situation board" or whatever it's called. As I was holding X, I somehow got glitched through the board and into the space beyond. I tried everything to get out, but no luck. I even quit and tried to continue as that character, thinking it would put me somewhere else. Nope, still stuck!

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Holy crap was that fun.

People saying the controls are wonky and UI is confusing are spot on. Until you figure them out, at which point it all makes a lot of sense and becomes very intuitive.

The dark zone, especially, is crazy fun.

I probably put 10-15 hours in and I had a blast. Really, really great. The more I got into it, the better it got. Figuring out the symbols on the map took a while, but now I know and I'm glad they're all there. Getting used to the UI took a while, but it all makes sense now and I get why they did what they did. The design is really, really smart. Like crazy smart. Things you're going to use a lot (vendors, stash, restock, etc.) are all right at the entrance to the base. Gun mods can be chosen and applies as you desire, then stripped down from old guns to put onto new ones. God I wish Destiny did that. Almost no loading at all after the initial load into the world (even when entering the dark zone, it's seamless). No lag. Server swap was done live and instantly; I only knew it happened because i got a text message saying it was happening.

Weapons from different classes handle quite differently, but within the same class all feel pretty same-y. ARs probably have the most variance, mostly due to fire rate and recoil patterns.

Enemy AI seems to scale with the level of the enemy, so the level 2 guys just stand out in the open while the level 5 guys find cover and the level 8 guys actually yell at one another to flank and coordinate movement. The presence of certain "leader" enemies allows them to command the other enemies to charge you or throw grenades. Taking out those leaders left the other enemies uncoordinated and confused. It was fantastic.

Graphics are incredible, especially the weather effects and day/night cycle changes. Super impressive. About 80% of the objects in the world are destructible or at least register damage. Lots of NPCs walking around to make the game feel more real and alive.

Sound is the best I think I've ever heard. Many, many times I took off my headphones to see if the airplane flying sound was the game or a real airplane, or turned my head because a door opened in the game and I thought it was the door to my house opening. Guns sound incredible. Directional sound, echoes, players and enemies chatting... all awesome.

I'm 100% sold on this game now after the beta. The more I played, the more I appreciated all of the detail and design of it. It just got better and better the more I played.