Destiny - Review
When Bungie announced that they would no longer be making any Halo games, a lot of people wondered what they would do next. What would the studio that set the standard in console shooters do, turns out they did not stray too far from what they knew.
The story of Destiny tells the tale of the Traveller and you a Guardian who has to fight to protect it from the Darkness, the story unfolds as you progress through the single player missions. Outside of these missions there is almost no story progression to be found, outside of a few cutscenes with most of them coming in a good amount of time into the game.
Outside of those cutscenes almost all of your story updates as well as mission updates are presented to you through your Ghost. Your Ghost is a strange device that can merge with you and then reform into a physical being when it needs to interact with the world around it. When the Ghost has merged with you, a small icon will appear in the top right corner of the screen, to help indicate when it is talking. Perhaps the element that works best here is Peter Dinklage’s performance as the voice of the Ghost, each line he speaks conveys both a sense of reality as well as charm. A lot of people were a little shocked at the Alpha build of the game and the performance of the Ghost there in and thought the final game would be a lot of the same, thankfully Bungie and Peter Dinklage have brought the right sense of believability to the character.
As you start the game, you will be introduced slowly the progression system that the game uses, a simple system really, but one that can offer up some tough decisions. Each class that is on offer, Hunter, Titan and Warlock will offer a variety of skills that you will need to manage as you make your way through the worlds. At level 15 you are also presented with a sub-class specialisation, which will help you define your character even more.
For my first play through the story, I selected the Warlock class and went to town destroying all I could with my arcane abilities, which are exclusive to my class. That is not to say the other class’ are better or worse off, each class their own skills and players would be best to select the class that suits their play style. Of course, each character will play and feel different, so there is always the chance you will want to play as the others, even for a little while in order to understand them all. As you progress through your own character, you can unlock specialist equipment and purchase even more from the class trainer on the Tower.
The Tower is where you shall spend a lot of your time, as it is where you will need to travel to accept and cash in bounties, decrypt engrams found in the world and even upgrade your arsenal if you desire. The Tower is also home to the Speaker, voiced by Bill Nighy, who as his title suggests is the Speaker for the Traveller. When you first encounter this mysterious character, it is done through a cutscenes, but for return visits you will be granted to the same bland menu screens from the other merchants. The Tower is the social hub of the game, but outside of point, dancing or sitting, you really cannot interact with anyone else there. Each of the merchants has the same layout when you approach them, which is functional but boring. The merchants themselves have very little to say, but on occasion when you do hear them speak you may hear the sounds of Nathan Fillion, John Dimaggio, Peter Stormare and Walking Dead alum Lauren Cohan makes an appearance later on in the game.
Of course the real meat for Destiny comes from the missions that take place on Earth, the Moon and beyond. Players may feel a little underpowered when they first descend back to Earth, but after you get used to your characters abilities and weapons, you should have no problem in taking down most foes with ease. The game does a good job of telling you if a mission is not ideal for your level, but if you are 20xp off levelling to the story missions preferred level it will still list it as hard. Of course those listed as Very Hard should be avoided until you become more powerful. Each of the missions will usually have you running from point A to point B and killing heaps of Fallen, Hive or other enemies along the way. This is where the biggest drawback to the game shows its head and it does so pretty early on.
After you land on the Moon for the first time and take in all around you, you will start to feel that each mission is the same, just slightly different. Each location offers up new corridors and vistas to explore and be wowed by, but sadly you can’t get through the game by looking at the amazing artwork. By the time I hit level 15, I was revisiting old areas to simply complete bounties or patrol missions and while they are ok, each time you land back to the same starting point a sense of disinterest can distort the game. Which is a bad thing, because as amazing as the shooting mechanics are, if you are not invested in the world around you, the disconnect becomes something of challenge to overcome.
You can mix things up by taking part in Strike Missions, which require 3 players to complete them and you need the players because these are not easy missions to complete. You can even team up with people to complete the story missions, should you want a little variety, but I found those are best when done on your own. The other type of mission are the Raids, which were not live when the game went on sale, but have since come online, with Bungie themselves stating you should not attempt them until you hit the level cap. Of course these are all single player progression focused or designed around a story but the game does offer up a nice array of multiplayer match types for those who prefer a little more mayhem to their shooter.
The Crucible is where you will find these matches and in that space you can partake in six different game types, Control is your king of the hill style match where Salvage will task players in retrieving ancient items with the use of their Ghosts, while stopping enemy players. The game does come with 10 maps already, which range from being set on Mercury through to Mars, each of the maps feels distinct, using the same themes that you find in the single player worlds, but none of them truly jump out as the must play map. The downside to the multiplayer that I found was that the matchmaking did not seem to work all that well, for I was placed into maps with players either well below my level or well above.
So with the single player story, strike missions and multiplayer modes the game does offer up quite a few options, but it is all the same, shooting. And yes I understand that most people would be ok with a shooting game containing shooting elements, the game has built such a rich world that it is a shame that it does not take better use of it. To help players move around, you are given Sparrow’s, think Speeder Bikes, but you can only use them to move around, there are no Sparrow races you can compete in. Throughout the game you can purchase new ships but at no point are you taken into a space battle, or even an on the rails space shooter and there is part as the story progresses where something like that would have fit beautifully, but sadly it just remains a cutscene. With these elements already in place, adding in new game modes would have made this game feel more alive. As it stands now it feels just empty, they have the great framework, they just need to put the rest to it.
If you are into Shooters, Role Playing or MMO’s, you will find elements you will like here, while the shooting is top notch, the other elements feel a little under developed, should that change with the expansions already announced then all the better, but for now head in with an open mind, this may not be a Destiny of your choosing.
The Score
8.0
Review code provided by Activision
The Pros
+It has tremendous shooting mechanics
+The online elements feel like the next evolution
The Cons
-The game feels incomplete, like there is a lot of content missing
-There is very little to do, outside of shooting and given its social nature that is a shame
