Destiny

By: Robert Murphy 

Many reviewers out there, myself included, had decided to take a little bit of time before tackling the new and probably most anticipated Bungie title to come out since Halo 3 and that game is Destiny. I've been playing ever since I got my hands on the game to soak in every aspect of what it has to offer it's players and also because it's insanely fun. Destiny isn't the first MMO to come to the new generation of consoles but it is the first that I have gotten to play through. The whole experience was a bit of a blended feel for me, aspects felt like Borderlands with an MMO angle and the gameplay stylings of a Halo game too. It certainly was something I didn't expect and so let's dig right on in to my impressions of what the game has to offer. 

Just like any MMO players will begin their Destiny experience by choosing between the three different classes that there are to choose from which are Warlock, Titan and Hunter, each with their own strengths and abilities. Titans are the tank class with large bodies and armor types, Warlocks have control of ancient powers that they've learned from the Traveler and Hunters are a more stealth like class with a powerful grenade attack and knife skills. You then can further customize your character by choosing from the three race classes available which are Humans, Exo (a machine like race) and the Awoken (a mysterious race with blue and white skin tones). The races don't offer any real change to the gameplay but do allow you to adjust your appearance in more interesting ways, I myself enjoyed the variations for the Exo race, making your own robot buddy is like a childhood dream coming true. 

Afterwards, you are jumped right into the story, being awoken by an interesting looking machine called a Ghost (Peter Dinklage voices him, FREAKING SWEET) and he proceeds to lead you threw a short beginning mission to introduce you to in-game mechanics. From here the world is pretty much your oyster as you unlock new worlds through the games story and either complete missions or explore with up to three friends. Three to me seemed like an odd number where most games allow you to play up to four friends and I hope that further updates reverse this feature. Outside of unlocking new worlds though completing story missions isn't overly appealing, the story feels tacked on to say the least as you travel around taking on the role of a Guardian after being awoken from beyond the grave and according to your Ghost you've been dead for awhile, how he wakes you is beyond me. And then traveling from world to world is also strung together by flimsy pretext, you basically are destroying one alien race after another as you go and searching for what I really couldn't say. Missions are set up in a simple formula which are fight through the bad guys, find whatever thing Ghost needs to plug in to and then fight a big boss or a tough final wave, it's something that can prove effective for adding future missions but isn't a successful way to set up a story. 

Despite the lack of a story though the gameplay itself is greatly enjoyable to take part in by yourself or with your friends. Firefights in missions or in Strike objective modes are a blast to be a part of because things can be going smoothly one minute with a few enemies and the next there enemies all over and you're running, jumping and throwing everything you've got into the fight. This has always been something that Bungie has done well with and it continues to show here except now things are on a far larger and more open world scale for you to plan out your attacks and get right into the fights. Strike modes are by far the most intense of all when it comes down to it, each having their own large scale boss fight at the end of it and also features a respawn restriction where if everyone dies you have to start all over again. This feature is also a part of the other missions as well and adds a certain degree of difficulty and tension to the fights you are in. The loot that you will collect at the end of each mission and big boss fight is what I look forward to the most I think, the prizes aren't super outrageous like in Borderlands but beating big bosses and earning cash, weapons and new apparel is very appealing. 

Lastly, I came to a split sort of feeling in my mind about the worlds and the leveling that you go through in Destiny, specifically the fact that once you reach level twenty the game is just about done. You will unlock up to about six different areas to visit throughout the game, one is the Tower which is a base for turning in missions, bounties and buying new items to use and the other is the Reef which is just a story location. So you're left with four places to travel to and once you complete the missions on each world along with the one or two Strike missions, you're about done. I do believe that there is the obvious potential to add more planets and I think that that may be in the works for the future but right now I'm just speculating. Multiplayer though is the obvious next step to go to once you beat the game or tire of doing missions, you're character and their abilities transfer over to the online competitive mode which features team death matches, objective modes and free for all matches to play. The solid firefights are just as enjoyable here as you face other Guardians and test your skills against others out there but really I'm waiting for more. It's a feeling I got when playing Destiny, I want more from the game, what I have now is a solid piece of work but now I'm waiting for what's coming next to the gameplay. 

In conclusion, Destiny has many solid points going for it right now and has so much more room to further what it has set up so far and I believe that is the plan for the game overall. I do wish that the more appealing aspects of the game included a fantastic story but it falls short in this department. Battles, missions and Strike modes are incredibly well done and are intense to play through, I haven't felt pressure like this from a game in a long time and it's something Bungie proves to still excel at. Like I said though I am anxious to see what's around the corner for the game and hopefully it brings more meat to the gameplay that I've enjoyed thoroughly so far. 

Good:

- A standard but enjoyable character customization feature

- Fire fights and battles in missions and Strike modes are nerve rackingly great

- Loot, money and new equipment are so much fun to collect and use

Bad:

- There is a large absence of a good story, missions get completed one after another under a flimsy pretext

- Myself and others out there are I'm sure ready for more features, missions and game modes to come to Destiny. What there is is great but I'm ready for the rest.

Scully Rating: 8.0 out of 10