Destiny Review

Destiny

Developed by: Bungie

Published by: Activision

Release Date: 9/9/2014

Available on: Playstation 4 (reviewed on), Playstation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360

Hype, it is arguably the most important word in gaming, it can make a good game appear great or a mediocre game appear awful. As gaming grows we have seen games being announced years before they’re released, marketing blitzes that include multimillion dollar live action shorts and time square being drenched in video game marketing. How could any game live up to that? I venture to bet most of those coming here today to read this are less concerned with an arbitrary number I assign to the game and are more interested in one simple answer. Did Destiny live up to the hype?

Unfortunately it isn’t that easy of an answer because we can’t quantify hype. Its intrinsic value is only as good as the way each individual defines it. Some may temper their expectations through all the hype while some build up the game to be the pinnacle of human achievement, and Destiny has had astronomical amounts of hype. Sites and magazines that usually steer away from gaming are covering it, for crying out loud Newsweek published an entire magazine guide to it, Newsweek!

It’s hard to categorize Destiny because it’s a game we’ve never seen before. We think we have and because of that we have slapped on labels like mmo, RPG, shooter, when in reality it’s all of these things. It takes the best of these genres and redefines them to its own end. The problem is in picking what it wants from other genres it leaves things behind that fans expect when they think of those genres. They expect all the elements of these genres to be present and feel it’s underperformed when it doesn’t feature all those elements. I have attempted to throw all previous connotations to particular genres out the window and want to treat Destiny as a new genre defining game that in many ways represents the new landscape of game design and gameplay that this generation is bringing. The Social integration Destiny is attempting to bring with Groups, Clans, events and sharing shows what kind of gaming world the future holds.

So I suppose you’ll have to keep reading and get to my arbitrary score  but for now I can tell you it’s my determination that Bungie has lived up to the hype and in stylish fashion.

We’ll start with the strong points, and that’s Gameplay. Bungie has fine-tuned their lineage and history of gameplay starting with the controls. The best way I can describe the controls is that they just feel good, like really good, like shaking hands with an old friend. They are tight, slick and smooth and there is a good weight to the character meaning they don’t have that floaty feeling. The gameplay is fast paced and the shooting is as fun as any other shooter out there. Couple that with some awesome abilities and power ups and you have a game that is a flat out blast to play. The game surly has its detractors but few of them will admit that the game isn’t a ton of fun.

Enemy AI isn’t the smartest in gamming but as you take on higher level mobs they will begin to push forward, flank, and attempt to out maneuver you. They can, at times, come off as bullet sponges especially when you get to some of the higher end boss battles but given the feel of the game and what it’s trying to do I didn’t find this took away from the experience. I didn’t come to Destiny to be outsmarted by enemies; I came to shoot aliens in the face… a lot. As you maneuver around the various planets in Destiny you will be facing a lot of enemies, some multiple times when your rolling through and when you get to higher levels and really need to get grinding your going to be facing these guys so much you’re going to want to buy them a Christmas present. Whether you’re ok with this is going to be up to the player, for me I don’t mind it. If I’m going to be shooting these guys for hours on end with friends and strangers not throwing me constant curve balls isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Like I said though some will find this a fault.

I mentioned the word grind earlier and this game can definitely be a grind. Once your character reaches level 20 it’s grind time. You’ll reach level 20 by normal XP means, kill guys, complete challenges and you will level up. It’s after level 20 that you can only raise your level buy equipping armor and weapons that feature “light”, I could go into the best ways to get light but there are numerous awesome tutorials and guides all over the web that will explain it better than I can (mainly cause I’m not entirely sure I’ve even figured it out yet). Because of this need you may find yourself repeating missions and strikes over and over again trying to get legendary loot drops or if you’re lucky that rare exotic piece. Again this may or may not be your thing, for me it’s acceptable. I operate in the camp that if this awesome rare gear was easy to get than it wouldn’t really be that rare. Nothing like roaming around the games central hub called the Tower and inspecting other player’s awesome armor that you can just drool over. At this point you’ll shoot whatever in the face as many times as needed to get that shiny piece, it’s called “coveting” and technically it’s a sin.

The Gameplay is largely compartmentalized which is a great thing for dropping in and out. Everything will start in space from there you will pick the place you want to go then what you want to do there. Breaking the gameplay up like this means if my wife is making dinner and I just want to drop into some free roam and do some grinding I can. Have a little more time after the kids are asleep for an intense strike? Then go there and have at it, it may separate the gameplay and make it feel closed off but for a game that will require so much it’s nice to have it cater to the time you have at the moment.

I suppose we can only follow up Destiny’s biggest plus with its biggest weakness and that is Story, but bear with me because I’m going to tell you why it totally works. In a technical linear perspective Destiny’s story leaves a lot to be desired, there isn’t much to go on visually in the way of cut scenes and as for characters the few that are in the game don’t really resonate with you or leave any lasting impact. You go through the missions which largely consist of go here, take this, hack this, hold the line, beat the boss. For a pretty spoiler free description it goes like this; when mankind first stepped foot on mars we discovered the Traveler, a giant “death star” sized sentient being that helped launch the human race into the golden age of civilization. We went out into the stars and spread to planets all over our solar system. But the Traveler had an enemy, The Darkness, the armies of the darkness nearly destroyed all that mankind had built forcing us to take refuge under the Traveler in humanities last city. With its last breathe the Traveler sent out the Ghosts, small AI companions that would go out and find the best among the dead to be revived with the power of the Traveler and become Guardians. Now you must go out into the stars and fight back the returning armies of the Darkness, restore humanity and save the Traveler. Looks good on paper and the game does a good job of making the stakes seem large but there just isn’t an interesting stand alone story built within that.

Now comes the part where I tell you this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I don’t believe this was ever Bungies goal. Bungie excel at universe building but not necessarily telling great stories in their games. It’s my interpretation that the story in Destiny is only there to provide context to your situation and why you’re fighting, you and your friends will tell the story (dun dun dahhhhh). Destiny’s goal was never to tell this amazing short story then send you out in to the world, it was to build a universe, drop you in it, hook you up with your friends and let you guys create some memories. The biggest evidence of this is that the raids that will be starting this coming week (September 16^th) will only be playable with people who are on your friends list. Destiny wants you to experience these events (which are reported to take hours to complete and feature little info leaving it up to you and your team to figure it out) and come away with some awesome stories you can’t wait to share, that is Destiny’s story. Taking the time to read the game’s Grimoire cards, which essentially serve as a codex, provides crucial context and back-story to nearly everything in Destiny continuing to lay the framework for the stories to come. It may not be presented in the way we are used to but Destiny’s story is a fault that may be its biggest plus.

When it comes to the details Destiny has it in spades. If I could use one word to describe Destiny aesthetic wise it would be, elegant. Elegance in what is essentially a sci-fi post apocalyptic universe is hard to pull off but Destiny pulls it off. From the opening with that beautiful music and the simplistic title screen its clear Destiny has a sort of dignified posture to it. In a genre full of grit and giant block text tilted at an angle to appear edgy the straightforward the prestigious feel of Destiny is a welcomed breath of fresh air. Games always have concept art showing what kind of feel the game will be going for, in most instances the end game resembles these paintings very little and much of that feel is lost. Not in Destiny, the game resembles these stills so closely it’s as if the game is a painting, I guess it’s fitting the game has given you a button to just sit down because there will be many moments you just want to sit down and take in the gorgeous vistas and skies in Destiny. Yes you can’t “go to whatever you see” but I don’t care, it’s pretty enough from here.

When it comes to sound Destiny has some of the best sound in any game I’ve experienced from the score which is up there with some of the most amazing music I’ve heard to the ambient sounds and growls constantly swirling around my headset (can’t recommend playing this game with a headset enough). The score evokes all kind of emotions from honor when you’re on the tower basking in your glory, to dread as you tip toe around the cavernous monochromatic ancient temples on the moon. Again that sit button comes in handy as you just sit back and enjoy the music. Ambient sound reaches all kinds of unprecedented detail whether it is the hum of a light over head changing level as you move under it or the fact that as your trusty ghost companion is talking you can bring him up causing the audio to roll from inside your head to his position in front of you. It’s the insane thought and detail in this aspect that many will not notice that makes it so amazing.

On the stability front Destiny is rock solid. Leading up tp launch you had people waving money, betting on server crashes like the betting scenes from Running Man. On majority everything held up fine, my day one patched loaded in a matter of minutes, the install was minimal and after playing on the night of release and throughout release day I never had an issue. Which given the news of the stellar sales and the sheer load that players would be putting on the servers this is a plus we simply cannot overlook. Well done Bungie it may be something we don’t really notice if everything is working fine but your hard work here is appreciated. I could go on and on gushing over the details of this game but we got Multiplayer to talk about.

The Crucible serves as the PVP competitive multiplayer mode in Destiny and it is an unbalanced mess that I wouldn’t change for the world. It’s so deliciously unbalanced it comes full circle to being balanced. There is no end to the “overpowered” options you have in weapons, vehicles and abilities. Whether it be tanks, turrets, special powers, heavy weapons or golden guns everyone on the map has something that evens the playing field. Some will find this a deal breaker, probably those more obsessed with their K/D ratio than if the team wins or if they are having any fun, but for me it makes the game insanely fun and makes every match anything but boring, because what fun is balanced anyway? All the gear and weapons you collect in the universe can be brought into the Crucible but weapons are averaged and leveled off for balance purposes. Your abilities and defense however is no limits so there will still be some growing pains when you are starting out and level 20+ light warriors are running all over the place, but hey that the incentive to get back out there guardian! There will be a special game mode called Iron Banner which removes the limiting and lets players play no holds barred. It will be a blood bath for anyone below level 20. Game modes feature your standard fare of TDM, and objective based modes you’re all familiar with like Control which has you capturing and holding three locations on the map, and salvage which has you sprinting to spawning locations to establish and hold connections. The maps offer a ton of variety and really take advantage of the unique locals of the planets they are based on ranging from wide open deserts of mars to the tight confined ruins of ancient alien temples on Venus.

In no way is Destiny a perfect game, the voice acting is borderline mind numbing and the load screens to get to and leave the tower become tedious but the things it does right it does exceptional and its faults are things that are serviceable but you just feel could be better. As a result of its unique nature reviews have been slowly trickling out and it intrigues me greatly the stark contrast between critics claiming the game is “empty” and “hollow” and fans who simply can’t get enough and look forward to subsequent support of the game through events and DLC. The game seems to pass the “as I go about my day all I can think about is getting back to it” test and that has to account for something right? Destiny is a fine wine, it needs to sipped and savored, and taking time to admire the fine details and labor that has gone into every aspect of the game. Its elegance and brutality equate to a game that is both refreshing and familiar. Bungie seems to have taken great care to build this world the way they wanted and to a style they see fit and I can always admire that. The trick now is for everyone to get in tune with what that style is. I believe I am right in concert with what they are trying to achieve and what game experience they are trying to deliver, and for that Bungie, I thank you.