Destiny Reviews
It doesn't quite shed the feeling of being an unfinished game though. If Destiny is meant to be this multi-year, multi-game shared-world experience is this it and will we just get more of it? If so it's good but it's not genre-defining. What genre is it trying to define actually? What have Bungie got still to come and how will that change things for better or for worse? It doesn't really matter in the here and now; this is the game we have to play. But the fact it shows promise and pain both at times throughout its life, as well as making us question if this is it or what more there will be, doesn't really garner it with glory. If you go into it knowing what you have today and that in the future something might - or might not change - then you'll be left with an enjoyable and long-lasting experience. If you expect the future that might be now - if you have bought into Bungie and Activision's chatter as being the day one solution, well, with that your joy will be muted.
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 lots of small issues, but for all they get wrong, they absolutely own it with fun gun play and balanced weapons. For now it isn't an amazing game, but DLC and the test of time will determine its true fate. Right now it's good, but not great.
There is room to improve and build upon this base, but it's a fantastic base regardless. It should only get better from here on out.
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.
I could sit and talk about Destiny all day long, but my wife summed up best what Destiny was to gamers. "It's like Halo and Borderlands got together one night for some great fun and had a beautiful baby." I personally think she hit the nail on the head, but there are obviously a few things that imply other genres stepping in as well. It's because Bungie knows the areas they need to play it safe, and because Bungie knows the areas they want to attempt to explore and make better that I am glad this is the game I have waited for all year long, and why I feel this is another example of why the next-gen console cycle is ready to take off into new, exciting, and interesting ways. Destiny, simply put, might just be the game of year, but definitely makes you want to join the next generation.
It's time to step off the hype train
Nothing like it has been done on console before, and we have to respect Bungie – and Activision – for that.
I had high hopes for Destiny, and if they decide to add matchmaking for every part of the game, it can be a better experience for everyone. And if they manage to pump out updates every week, Destiny stands a chance on becoming this year's best FPS, but at the moment, it is a very mediocre game which we have seen so many times before.
Destiny is still very fun to play, but despite its best attempts, it doesn't feel like the future we were promised.
Destiny isn't a bad game, by any means. If you like sci-fi shooters, you'll get a good 20 hours of enjoyment out of this. But that's really all it is; a fun, forgettable shooter that plays it safe and sticks to what's been proven, with nothing to really set it apart from its peers.
But, like, it's fun and the view from the social hub is pretty.
Destiny could have been good, it is too flawed for me to say it is though. I can't say it's a horrible game because I am not into this genre of game, but I can point out the flaws in the system since I come in as an outside party.
As it stands my opinion on Destiny hasn't changed, but getting a good grasp on what it's trying to do has proven enormously difficult. There'll be plenty of people out there who believe that Destiny is heaven sent, and there'll be thousands more claiming it's the spawn of Satan. The reality is it lies somewhere between those two ways of thinking, and throughout your time playing you'll experience both yourself. Destiny isn't a game I can wholeheartedly recommend, but in a year's time I might, so if you can resist the urge to delve in earlier then there may a far better experience further down the line.
After a few dozen hours under its spell, the title of Destiny sounds like cruel irony. The game's marketing materials would have you believe that the title means your ultimate heroism is somehow inevitable, like a mythical hero of legend. But the term might as well refer to the state of grinding through the same tasks and seeing the same pretty but sterile scenery over and over again, like a space-age version of Groundhog Day, in the fallow hopes of pimping out your Guardian to the max.
Destiny is a game that has some bad storytelling and some unbalanced multiplayer, but the core gameplay is one of the best in the genre and the design of the universe is one of the finest examples I've ever seen. The years Bungie have put into this game's development are clearly seen here. With plenty of content to continue to play past the end of the story, and more coming, it's a great game that deserves your time.
All in all playing Destiny was a good experience for me, I loved the gameplay, Strikes, Raids, PvP. It looks stunning and the music is top notch, However I do feel its missing the killer punch to be truly special.
I still don't really know why anything I'm doing in 'Destiny' matters to the characters in the game, but I do know that getting a new gun and leveling up to 26 in preparation for the upcoming raid, or the weekly strikes, or the daily mission, or for the simple fact that I enjoy getting (admittedly generous) headshots on both the aliens and my fellow guardians, pushes me onward.
To go to another Planet you have to go back into orbit select the Planet you want and sit through what, at times, can be pretty long load times to get there.
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.