Destiny Reviews
Destiny is a great prologue, but it is still just a prologue. It's like telling somebody all about Middle Earth; the races, the lands, the set up for the story, but not telling them of Bilbo's adventures in The Hobbit or the fellowship's journey in The Lord of the Rings. While it is not the story, there is a certain pull to Destiny that keeps me coming back for more. Bungie have created something special that I think we will see continue to bloom in their persistent support of the game. Destiny is organic in presentation and execution, and like going on a hike on your favorite trail, is never quite the same each time you play. I am still having a ton of fun in this world and can see myself getting many more hours of fun in the weeks and months to come.
It will still eat up your social life and spit you out. It is almost worth purchasing Destiny to feel just how good a Generation 8 shooter could feel.
As a base for what may come after, Destiny is a great starting point. It's clear Bungie aim to improve the experience and what they have here is a fine starting point that will hopefully evolve over time. Just don't expect it to revolutionise the genre the same way Halo did.
Destiny is still very fun to play, but despite its best attempts, it doesn't feel like the future we were promised.
Destiny has not achieved greatness, yet. It is however, extremely fun to play.
People will definitely compare this game to Halo and given that it's from the same developers, it's totally understandable. The game does feel like Halo and there's nothing wrong with that but unlike Halo, the game feels more on par to the Mass Effect or Borderlands due to the amazing worlds that you explore. It's a real amalgam and in the end, Destiny is probably the must have multiplayer game of the year which successfully merges a very strong FPS with MMO.
With a lifeless world, a hazily plotted, repetitive campaign, and an endgame that quickly resorts to a slow grind for marginally better loot, Destiny fails to deliver on the promise of its concept and the enormous potential of its gameplay systems.
Destiny has huge highs and huge lows but unfortunately there isn't much to do after you hit the low level-cap, thus causing the game to lose it's luster really fast. It's a good buy for the promised future Bungie has prepared for it but right now, it's a passable shooter that shoots high but never sticks the landing.
Playing around in Bungie's galaxy for its own sake is still just so undeniable and compulsive a draw that the disappointingly threadbare "why" starts fading into the background.
Give Destiny a try if you like the idea of cooperation blended evenly with competition. The truth remains in its satisfyingly responsive mechanics, relatively forgiving checkpoint systems, competitive multiplayer, and the opportunity to blast away a million and one guys if that's what your story really needs to framed around. If not, there's always a beautiful sunset behind the Traveler in the tower.
Activision and Bungie want Destiny to be the next mega-franchise in gaming. But a great universe needs interesting characters and compelling narratives. More important, the heroes need a true calling. I didn't find one while playing this game.
But, like, it's fun and the view from the social hub is pretty.
Bungie has proven that it's not a one-trick pony - but we can all look forward to some of its repetition issues being fixed in the inevitable follow-up.
In closing, there's a lot to like, and a lot to wonder about. The question is whether or not you choose to embrace the obvious manifest intent of such a game: If you just accept that it was always going to be about multiplayer shooting, and the rest might be underdeveloped gravy; you'll probably have tons of fun. And if you look to the future and see what Bungie has created – a very solid foundation – you should be excited by what the team will deliver in the coming months and years.
Treating this game as a single player campaign—while technically feasible—is the weakest aspect of the game.
Today, of course, Destiny is a mess, but I sympathize with it. It contains multitudes, and I see the multitudes in it. Like Destiny, we all struggle with what came before us. We struggle to measure up to it, to change it, to learn from its mistakes. We want to be bigger than our parents, and in some ways, we always are. But ultimately we, too, are human. Like Luke, we can't live up to others' expectations; no one can be everything to everyone. What else could we call such failure but destiny?
If Destiny is judged on the game itself without falling victim to the unreachable expectations placed on it then it stands out as an amazing new IP. Never before has a game managed to merge separate genres quite so successfully and despite some of its flaws it does a lot of things right. Counting on the post launch support from Bungie to expand the game world and fine tune the experience I'd venture that most players will keep coming back with smiles on their faces for a long time to come.
Even with several missed opportunities, Destiny is enormously fun, and only gets more engaging as you play
Destiny is a good game, but not a great one. You'll want to spend tens of hours with it, but you'll wish certain things could be better all the while.
It's a confused game that doesn't quite know what it wants to be; is it an MMO, a pure shooter, or a sprawling space epic? It tries to be all of them and misses the mark on most. As much fun as it can be - especially when played with friends - Destiny ultimately crumbles under its own ambition.