Divide
By Paul Semel,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Intriguing but flawed action-adventure game.

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Divide
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What’s It About?
In DIVIDE, David is still mourning the loss of his wife, as is his daughter. But when he realizes his wife's death may not have been an accident, as he was led to believe, he starts snooping around a cyberpunk version of Los Angeles to find clues -- well, when he's not running away from armed guards and robots, that is.
Is It Any Good?
Sadly proving that a great story can't make up for broken fundamentals, this top-down shooter falls apart before it really gets going. Divide is set up to be a classic top-down, arcade-style shooter, one that's driven by an interesting and a mysterious cyberpunk story. Unfortunately, it's not driven by great gameplay. The problem is this seems more like a good first draft than a finished game. For instance, you spend a fair amount of time walking around, but there's no map and nothing to indicate where you're supposed to go, even when the story dictates that the character knows where he's going. When you get into a gunfight, you're almost always outmanned and outgunned, while your lack of ammo is matched only by your lack of health. You can't even run away half the time, since the guards are excellent shots and will just shoot you in the back while you're trying to figure out where to go. There also are numerous technical and graphical glitches, including a terrible checkpoint system that often makes you replay the same tough sections over and over. All this is why Divide feels less like a compelling mystery or an exciting adventure than an exercise in futility.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about violence in video games. Does it make a difference to you that the violence in this game is against robots and not only people?
Talk about loss. David is driven by the death of his wife, but why is it important to deal with grief and not let grief deal with you?
Game Details
- Platform: PlayStation 4
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Exploding Tuba
- Release date: February 3, 2017
- Genre: Third-Person Shooter
- Topics: Robots, Science and Nature
- ESRB rating: T for Fantasy Violence, Language
- Last updated: August 7, 2022
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