Destiny released about three weeks ago and there have been quite a few mixed emotions. I’m going to start by saying that this is not considered a review of Bungie’s new game Destiny, as I’m not scoring it, but rather just a log of my impressions so far. Here we go.
I started the game like everyone else; with the story campaign. You aren’t given much direction on how to play except a few basics and you’re thrown right into the action from the beginning. I enjoyed this aspect. Anyone who has played an FPS before knows how the general mechanics will work. The gameplay mechanics are fluid and Bungie did a great job with how it feels to shoot from the hip, aim down your sights, and melee enemies. Unfortunately, the story campaign didn’t hold up as well. I played through all of the Earth missions by myself and was joined by a few friends playing some of the moon and Venus missions. That’s where my effort to finish the story campaign slowed to a halt. I’m shocked at how poor the story is coming from a studio known for creating the epic Halo series. None of the characters you encounter are memorable and it doesn’t really feel like your character is working toward a goal of any sort. You go from planet to planet collecting this shard or that mote, seemingly all for nothing. It seems like Bungie is just introducing you to the main factions (guardians, fallen, hive, etc.) and giving you background for some grander story that they have planned for us down the road. I hope this is the case.
Regardless of the story, gameplay is a lot of fun. It’s repetitive, but it’s a lot of fun. Most missions have you encounter lesser enemies, medium enemies and then hard enemies with a boss at the end. When I’m playing on a strike team made up of two of my friends, I don’t really care. The multiplayer cooperative functionality is fantastic. I’ve played through games cooperatively before, but somehow this feels different. The environments at times feel way too big for what assets are actually in the level. Enemies are sparse on some of the larger areas and there just seems to be nothing but landscape textures to observe. I wish they packed a bit more into these sections as they get a bit boring. Granted, you are playing a lot of the same environments on the same planets, but you can change the difficulty of the mission to increase the challenge or go back to those missions to complete bounties (which gain you reputation for several different Guardian factions). Each bounty is for either Vanguard reputation, Crucible reputation, or (more recently) Queen reputation. By increasing your reputation in these areas you make new weapons, armor, and vanity items available. By equipping certain vanity armor (or “class armor”) you can then earn reputation for the different Guardian factions: Dead Orbit, New Monarchy, or Future War Cult (which is the faction armor I currently have equipped). Future War Cult just sounds the coolest, right? Anyway, I haven’t played enough (only played Destiny for about 20 hours) to unlock any of the items, but I’m looking forward to getting some legendary armor and weapons.
That brings me to leveling up in Destiny. Leveling starts out as any regular game would; gaining experience for kills, completed missions and bounties, and PvP multiplayer matches (I’ll get to that later). At each level you unlock certain skills (depending on if you are a Hunter, Titan, or Warlock) that will enhance or unlock certain abilities like the Warlock’s Nova bomb. This special ability builds up over time (quickening when you get kills) until you are supercharged and can unleash holy-hell on a crowd of enemies. The skill tree seems a bit oversimplified, doesn’t allow for a ton of customization and does not seem like a lot changes when you switch skill options. I would have liked a bit more customization to be able to adapt to my style of gameplay, but at the end of the day it is still just an action based, duck and cover, FPS. Of course the best stuff happens once you’ve reached the experience-based level cap of 20. After level 20 you collect upgraded gear with “light” attributes that will further level up your character unlocking the ability to participate in weekly heroic strikes, the strike playlist, and raids. I’ve only attained level 21 at this point, but I enjoy the challenge of these missions; with my friends and clan members by my side. There is no way around it though, after level 20 everything starts to be more of a grind. You attempt to obtain enough marks to buy gear or hope for a legendary gear drop, but it takes a lot of time. I’m not usually one for grinding out experience and items in games, but I continue to be entertained in Destiny. I just love getting better items and looking at my character’s stats to see how they’ve changed with my new stuff. It’s a bit like Borderlands in that sense since there is loot and weapon drops and your character gradually levels up with better gear.
The other piece of Destiny that I haven’t brought up is the PvP matches in the “Crucible”. This is a separate area that you “travel” to for PvP matches like Control (capture the flag), Clash, Skirmish, and Rumble. The PvP matches can seem a bit unfair to lower level players since you are dropped into games with players that are 20 levels above you. Weapon damage may be “equalized”, but these higher level players still have upgraded abilities and skill trees that give them the competitive advantage. Control is my favorite of the modes because I tend to like capture the flag type modes, but in this case you get more points per kill for every area that your team controls. It’s entertaining and a good place to start for anyone new to the Crucible. Skirmish can be a challenge if you are not playing with your own fireteam. It is a 3v3 team death match and you have the ability to revive your teammates, but it really helps to work together which may not be an option if you can’t hear the other players and haven’t played with them before. Clash is basically just 6v6 team death match; not much more to say about that. Rumble is 6 player free for all which seems to be where a lot of more experienced players go to assert their dominance. I’m always happy to have players dance on my body or sit on my face after they’ve killed me. There are bounties available for Crucible matches as well that require you to kill certain players with certain weapons or play certain game modes. Completion of these bounties counts toward your Crucible marks and reputation for the faction of your choosing. At the end of the day I feel like I end up playing more Crucible matches on my own and leaving missions and strikes to be done with friends.
All in all, I am enjoying Destiny a lot. It’s not the perfect FPS, or the perfect RPG, or the perfect loot-based game, but it melds the three together fluidly enough to make it feel like an experience I haven’t had before. It’s a fun grind on your own and it’s even more fun with friends. I’ve already purchased the next two expansions and I fully expect to play and enjoy both of them. I wish there was more to the environments you are fighting in and that what you were fighting for was a bit more clear, but I’ve decided that I will keep fighting.
Let us know what you think of Destiny in the comments section below.
Note: I apologize if this article seems a bit disjointed. I wrote the entire stream of consciousness on my phone. Enjoy!
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