Destiny Review
The most anticipated game of the year launched worldwide today, but did it live up to the hype? Or is it another AAA flop? Lets find out.
Bungie has been under the gaming community's watchful eye since taking a step away from the notorious Halo series in 2012 and beginning a new project. As you can expect, when Destiny was revealed, the community erupted with excitement to see what this seasoned developer could accomplish when taken out of their comfort zone and thrust head first into the abyss that is game development. Bungie has stood tall and come back with a true masterpiece.
Destiny is a healthy mix of RPG and FPS with PVP and PVE elements that seem to flow seamlessly together. When you first begin the game, you undergo a slow introduction by taking part in a tutorial that helps you get to grips with the game mechanics, along with a guide of the city showing you where all of the noteable and important locations are. A few missions and a little bit of free roam later, you will reach level 5 and unlock the ability to compete online in the PVP arena.
The game really comes alive online, as the way you build your characters really allows each player's diversity to resonate on the battlefield. No longer is your playstyle dictated solely on the ability to choose different weapons. In Destiny, you can select your class, your armour, your weapons and even which abilities you use, all of which have varying effects. It really allows you to delve deep into your character, as you attempt to protect it's weaknesses and amplify it's strengths, allowing you to becoming a force to be reckoned with.
The entire game is played online and from walking around the main city, to completing missions, you see players everywhere. This can both be good and bad: good in the sense that it's excellent to enjoy the experience with friends and people you know; the bad being that on some of the servers, I found players trolling people by following them around stealing monster kills, driving around them on their vehicles and just being all round annoying.
Bungie has proven that they are not a one-hit wonder studio, and they can operate when they are not under Microsoft's wing. They have been put under immense pressure to perform and it's great to see that they have been able to deliver what was promised. I strongly expect to see a sequel to Destiny in the future. They have created a foundation that gamers from a variety of backgrounds will be in awe of. The question now is, will the foundation be strong enough to hold fan expectations or crumble into a pile of dust?
Check back for more of our staffs thoughts on Destiny in the coming weeks!