Game Review- Destiny

            Behold fellow gamers, the much hyped Destiny has finally graced us mere mortals with its release! Surely a game so highly regarded and anticipated can possibly deliver on every last bit of that much dreaded hype train right? Well not completely it seems. Opinions on Bungie's newest IP have been fairly mixed leaning towards positive, though many gamers expected Destiny to be something very different than what they got in the final product. So what can I tell you about Destiny after having leveled a Titan Striker to 21 and a Hunter Gunslinger to 12? Join me as I dissect this purportedly "revolutionary" new console shooter.

Dat draw distance.

Story

            I remember when Destiny was first announced a while back, hearing Bungie brag about it's deep story and fleshed out lore that they wanted to immerse players in. Fast forwards to after the game releases, my Titan is nine levels short of hitting the hard cap and I still have no idea what the hell Destiny is even about for the most part. Story-telling is not this game's strong point at all, even your sidekick Ghost Dinklage cannot be asked to give you a history lesson after he revives your battered corpse and turns you into a Guardian. You unlock Grimoire cards by completing challenges and finding fallen Ghosts, which you cannot even view through a menu in-game. You have to either go to Bungie's website or use their Destiny mobile app if you want to read up more on the lore. I don't have to be an expert storyteller to tell you that this is not an effective way to integrate players into your story. Its a downright lazy mechanic that only serves to waste your time instead of making you seek to uncover more about the history of this strange universe. Now let's get into what little of the story is actually revealed. You are a Guardian, a warrior created by the Light of this strange omniscient orb known as the Traveler. The Traveler came to our galaxy as it fled its mortal enemy, a vast cosmic presence known as the Darkness. The Traveler terraformed many worlds in our system before settling on Earth and spreading its Light to humanity. Then war broke out as the Darkness invaded our solar system, bringing with it many waring species and factions that seem to have absolutely no ultimate goal or well-thought plans of any kind. The Traveler and Darkness fought, the Darkness was pushed back temporarily, however this advantage wounded the Traveler, which entered hibernation. Now the Darkness is returning and you must shoot the hell out of it because the Speaker says mass genocide is necessary. That's it. The intro has more story progression than the rest of the game. Bungie has said that Destiny will continue to evolve and unravel over time, which is still not much of an excuse for having a story that seems like several concept writers got together and mashed as many sci-fi tropes as possible onto one page and called it a day. The Fallen, Hive, Vex, and Cabal are all interesting races that I would have loved to learn more about but so little is unveiled about them throughout the game that you start to view them as nothing more than mobile loot pinatas. The Fallen were a once noble race that are attacking us for some reason, the Hive are freaking space necromancers that live on the moon and hate the Traveler, the Vex are time traveling robots that are the ultimate evil because a story character says so, and the Cabal are a bunch of planet cracking frat boys who don't need a reason to piss in your backyard. Destiny is a game that just begs to have a great, compelling story, and maybe it will in time. But for now we have a half-assed story that is rife with sci-fi cliches and has very little explanation for character motivation and events that unfold over the course of a playthrough. Come for the gunplay, not the narrative.

Prepare to do a lot of reloading when battling the Hive.

Graphics

            Since its first major reveal, Destiny has been quite the showcase for Bungie whenever they talk about the power of next-gen consoles. After having sunken well over 20 hours into the various worlds and areas; I really have to say that Destiny may be the most graphically impressive console game ever. Textures are sharp, aliasing is handled well with what looks like FXAA, lighting is mighty impressive, models are incredibly well-detailed, foliage sways in the wind, there are cloth physics in full effect for certain materials, and just a long list of impressive effects. Best of all Destiny runs at a locked 30 frames per second on both consoles with nary a hiccup in the frame rate to be found in even the busier battles the game will throw at you. It is easy to see where a lot of Destiny's budget was invested, this truly seems like a game that could only exist on a high-end PC or new console line. It really is a treat to watch a pitched confrontation between warring enemy factions or to see players activating their super abilities and laying waste to entire groups of foes in a flash of particles and light. You know this game is beautiful when you can just sit back on the shores of Venus and watch as day transitions into night, the crepuscular rays shifting as the sun moves across the sky and casts long shadows across the land. Destiny is a beautiful game with plenty of visual variety to offer; taking you to the eery depths of the Hive infested Moon, the lush, verdant jungles of Venus, the sand-blasted ruins of Mars or even the snow-covered plains of Old Russia back on Earth. Graphically speaking; Destiny is never dull for a second and the performance is rock-solid throughout with no dips that I could discern. That next-gen hardware is paying off for Bungie it seems.

Vex Minotaurs are not to be taken lightly.

Gameplay

            After a few hours of playing Destiny I came off with the impression that I was playing a game with a level of polish and refinement that is just rarely seen in this age of day-one patches and unfinished products. Destiny genuinely feels like a game the developers took their sweet time with, like its their magnum opus and they cannot bare for it to display flaws or glitches of any kind lest it tarnish their reputation as a studio. This transitions magnificently into the game world as you slaughter your way through hordes of enemies, where the gunplay truly stands out amongst its peers in other FPSRPG games. Taking feedback from the beta; Bungie have fine-tuned each weapon type so that it feels comfortable and uncomplicated to wield. Auto-rifles have a fair amount of recoil and decent magazine sizes, hand cannons feel like mid-range headshot scoring monsters, scout rifles are perfect for delivering semi-auto high-damage shots into critical areas, and pulse rifles are the ideal hybrid for anyone looking for a great compromise between rate of fire and damage. After this comes the special weapon category, which is composed of more specialized weapons for each range. The Sniper rifle is ideal for long range engagement with extreme critical damage dealing capabilities, shotguns are of course close range monsters that will keep melee enemies from getting the best of you, and fusion rifles are mid-range beasts that fire bursts of annihilating energy and deal high-damage but have limited magazine capacity. After this comes the final weapon category: Heavy. Heavy weapons consist of group splattering rocket launches and herd-culling heavy machine guns that are absolute nightmares to deal with in PvP.
        
            All weapon drops are random and come in the form of engram drops from slain enemies. Engrams have had a weird effect on players, including myself, causing us to rush forward in a frenzy after they clang to the ground from a fallen foe. To be honest I've started calling them "candy drops" due to their multicolored variety and general shape. Armor can also be equipped the same way as weapons and are acquired by the same means. When a weapon and armor engram is decoded by the Cryptarch in the Tower, higher rarity weapons have different slots and upgrade paths players can unlock by spending collectable resources in order to improve their gear. Its an effective system and ensures that rare, outdated loot can still be useful after finding something better to replace it. The only issue I have is how often rare and legendary engrams just decode into lower value items, this is a problem that needs addressing in a future patch as it can seriously detract from the joy players feel after grinding their way through strikes and missions for loot.

            Oh, about the different missions you can go on. There are Story missions, Patrol missions, and Strike playlists. Each mission type carries a random chance for different rewards while Patrol missions offer the best chance to gather crafting resources. Strikes are three-player quests that will see you and your Fire Team trekking through hostile grounds to face off against multiple mini-bosses before finally engaging in a show down against an end boss. Strikes are great fun to play in but the experience can be hampered by bone-headed team mates who sometimes embark on their own little hunt instead of aiding their allies. Nothing is more infuriating than having a team mate muck about while the other two are trying to earn better gear. Luckily this problem happens rarely as most people understand that you need team work in order to handle the more challenging boss monsters.

            The foes of Destiny are crafty and relentless opponents, employing a range of attacks and tactics than can challenge even a maxed out character if they are careless. Each race has its own strengths in combat but most of them share the same easily exploited weakness: The head. A few quick shots to the head with a powerful weapon is usually more than enough to end an encounter quickly, though some of the later enemy variants are infuriating bullet sponges that can require a full magazine to the face before they realize they're dead. The different races, while interesting, are also a glaring weakness for Destiny. There is simply not enough enemy variety for a game as ambitious and grindtastic as Destiny. Still, what is there is extremely well done and challenging to overcome, with even old enemies finding ways to surprise you.

            Now to the gunplay, Destiny's most satisfying mechanic. Rather than take a new approach to wielding weapons, Bungie has instead made your character highly mobile and tweaked the smoothness of the aiming to an absurdly comfortable degree. Lining your sights up with a vulnerable head has never been easier on a console game, which is a pretty damn good bit of praise. Even sniping on the move feels natural and not clunky like it did in Titanfall. Many times I found myself scoring headshots and precision kills while floating or rocketing through the air, a truly exhilarating feeling of accomplishment settling in my mind afterwards. Bungie has ported over the best of Halo's gunplay with none of its weakness, creating a shooter with shooting that feels fluid and responsive in every manner. For this, the devs are to be congratulated. Awkward, fidgety controls can destroy a player's immersion, but luckily Destiny suffers no such woes.

            Finally for the Gameplay section I shall conclude with an overview of the different classes available and their abilities. First off is the Titan, the archetypal tank with surprising agility. The Titan has two distinct subclasses known as the Striker and Defender. The Striker has the ability to slam the ground, releasing a massive shockwave of energy and slaughtering any non-Major or Ultra enemies in the area. The second subclass is the Defender, a stalwart hero that can raise up an impenetrable wall of light for their allies to use as cover. The next class we have is the Hunter, the sharpshooter focused role with all around balanced stats. The two subclasses for the Hunter are the Gunslinger and the Bladedancer. The Gunslinger's special ability is the most easily utilized, plopping a flaming golden hand cannon right into your grip with three devastating shots ready to fire. The Bladedancer utilizes a short range teleport and charged knives to make quick work of her foes and can cover ground alarmingly fast. The final class we have is the Warlock, the mage of Destiny that wields void powers to obliterate their foes. The two subclasses are the Voidwalker and the Sunsinger. The Voidwalker's ability causes them to levitate before unleashing a powerful blast of void energy that serves as an area of denial weapon. The Sunsinger plays the support role with their ability to cut their teams cooldown rates, insta-revive after death, and shorten grenade cooldown.

            All of the classes and weapons in Destiny feel like they've been polished to a mirror sheen; a lot of work and time has been put into ensuring that Destiny is one of the most well-balanced games of the year. The only problem that could hurt long-term replay value is its disappointing lack of variety for its enemies and go there, touch that  campaign structure.

I hear the moon is quite horrifying this time of year.

Sound

            Destiny is filled with great ambient sound effects that help bring the environments to life, such as the repulsive squishy sounds emanating from Hive architecture, the ululating cries of Fallen on Earth, and the various wildlife making themselves known in the forests of Venus. Even the enemies have interesting war cries and chatter that is not entirely discernible due to their respective languages, but it is always fun to listen to them panic when a grenade happens to land in their midst. Weapons also generate very  loud and convincing sound effects such as the gratifying boom of a rocket detonating or the clunk of a shotgun barrel being pumped; combat is alive with noises that really help to immerse you in the work of driving back the Darkness.

            Voice acting is generally very well done by the main characters in the story except for Dinklage's character Ghost. What should have been an outstanding performance by the renowned actor is instead akin to a very bored high-schooler just trying to get through his lines in a play. Dinklage just sounds very uninterested in his role and it shows, though thankfully there is nothing quite as bad as the infamous "Moon Wizards" dialogue from the beta to listen to. While the overall performance from the cast is solid, especially the Speaker, it does get a little tiring to listen to everyone droning on about how evil the Darkness is without actually explaining the motives of the Traveler or its enemy.

            I have to say that I absolutely love the music in Destiny, its has an orchestral quality that is very appealing to me though I can see how others may not much care for it. Hearing what sounds like wind chimes playing in the background when you enter the Tower hub area always makes me smile; the music conveys a sense of wonder and adventure wherever you go. I like the music so much in Destiny that I am even considering buying the OST. So take that as a positive opinion if you like.

Destiny sports the best skyboxes I have ever seen. Prepare to spend a fair amount of time looking up.

 Multiplayer

            The Crucible is the PvP portion of where Destiny takes place. Guardians are pitted against each other in a variety of modes to test their skills and claim various rewards. The possibility of unique loot only earned through Crucible participation is a great incentive to get people coming back for more. The higher your level the higher your chance of getting rare, legendary, and exotic gear are, giving even max level players a reason to keep showing up. Standard modes abound such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Zone Control and an interesting mode that pits two fireteams against each other with increased respawn times and puts a priority on the use of team work. Unfortunately, balancing tends to become an issue when you have players who have just started an adventure facing off against veterans who have started earning Light levels. While level advantages are disabled, max level players still have all their abilities and skill modifiers unlocked, making them an absolute nightmare to deal with for novice Guardians. Its almost unbearably frustrating to die time after time as a warping, shotgun toting Warlock zips across the level and closes in for the kill. Weapons and armor also retain all of their upgrades and enhancements, further adding to the unfair advantage that veterans enjoy.

            Overall the Crucible is an exceptionally addictive experience despite its completely random match quality, with the promise of new gear and faction reputation a tantalizing draw for multiplayer fanatics who just can't stop fragging. Bungie have essentially taken the multiplayer portion of Halo and infused it with a healthy mix of CoD, UT, and Tribes, creating an experience that, while not feeling wholly unique, still provides a more polished multiplayer fix than most games do at launch.

The first boss fight gives you a taste of how powerful the enemies can become.

Conclusion

            Bungie set out to accomplish a lot with Destiny from its inception, but they have ultimately overshot their intended goal for this sprawling MMO-like shooter. While the story, characters, motivations, and themes are incredibly forgettable, the combat, multiplayer, large worlds, and looting really shine through the flaws. Destiny could have been so much more, and in time it likely will be what the dev's original vision was, but for now we have  an extremely well crafted shooter with addictive gameplay, beautiful graphics, evolving content and a sense of wonder that doesn't disappoint. Destiny has failed to be the revolution that the video games industry needs, but where it fails it exceeds so much more in other areas. While not the game we were all waiting for to truly push consoles forward, Bungie have nonetheless crafted a an adventure that must be experienced. (PS4 version reviewed)

8.5/10