Destiny

It's fair to say that the most anticipated game this fall is undoubtedly Bungie's first game since parting from Microsoft, Destiny. It's a bold and ambitious type of game that is trying to mix aspects of different gaming genres to create what could possibly be the ultimate gaming experience for casual, intermediate, and hardcore gamers alike. Destiny is part First-Person Shooter, part Role Playing Game, and part Massive Multiplayer Online, without distinctly being one or the other. With the Destiny Beta being down for maintenance until Wednesday, I have decided to write about my impressions so far.

Premise: Primarily a sci-fi themed story, Destiny takes place in our very galaxy many, many years in the future. Humanity was once gifted by the presence of an other-worldly orb known only as The Traveler which brought upon a Golden Age. During this Golden Age humanity flourished and expanded, building incredible cities, exploring and cultivating other planets. The Traveler, however, had an enemy. This evil force is known as The Darkness, and it followed The Traveler across the cosmos and brought human kind to the brink of extinction. All was not lost, however, as The Traveler sacrificed itself to drive back The Darkness and save Earth. The human race was left to rebuild what they could of their civilization while The Traveler remained suspended motionless and silent above them.
Many years later, The Darkness has returned. Now ancient warriors known as Guardians are being awoken by The Traveler to defend against the oncoming evil. Players will be in control of one of these Guardians and will be fighting against The Darkness and rebuild humanity's once great civilization.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not always a huge fan of sci-fi. Games like Mass Effect or shows like Star Trek never really appealed to me. I use the previous two examples because they are, what I would consider, TRUE sci-fi. However, I am a big fan of Star Wars and Borderlands and though they can both be considered sci-fi, I feel that they're a little more fantasy based, and have a bit more romanticism to their stories. Destiny feels more like the latter two examples. Humanity on the brink of collapse, the resurgence of an ancient evil, and guardians outnumbered. What's not to love? I'm also a huge fan of the post-apocalyptic games like Fallout and Wasteland. These games offer a great sense of isolation and seclusion. As you are playing through a world that is rebuilding itself from the brink of collapse, there is definitely that same feeling of being isolated and alone. However, that is not always the case as friends and other players can join you on your missions and in the multiplayer modes the game has to offer.

Gameplay: As I mentioned earlier, Destiny is a sort of amalgamation of different game genres. At its core, though, it plays like a FPS. Bungie is certainly no stranger to this genre, having evolved FPS games with Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001. From what I experienced in the Beta, everything moves fluidly and feels very organic. Button layout works very well, weapons in the game feel like they pack a nice punch when pulling the virtual trigger, and I never had to look at button layout in the menu to figure out any particular action. In short, if you have ever played a FPS game in the past Destiny will not leave you confused and struggling as far as the controls are concerned.
Playing through the story mode of the game, players are guided by their Ghost; a small, hovering robot AI that holds a wealth of information about Earth, The Darkness, and most everything found in the game environments. The main story missions for the Beta all take place in Old Russia on the planet Earth, but it looks like the Moon and other areas will open up for the full game in September. While Old Russia is only one part of Earth, the game environment felt very open and gave plenty of room for exploration. Enemies known as the Fallen appear throughout the game are the main antagonists players will be combating. Enemy levels don't seem to scale with the player level, which can either been seen as a good or bad thing. Since the area is fairly open it is entirely likely that players will encounter enemies far above their level if they decide to venture off the beaten path.
As players defeat enemies, experience is given and occasionally weapon and armor drops can be collected. Experience adds up and player level increases and as the level increases class bonuses are acquired and eventually sub-class bonuses. As of writing this, the level cap in the Beta was set at level 8. It seems kind of low, but players can continue gaining experience to increase sub-class abilities and eventually weapon and armor bonuses.

Multiplayer: Though Destiny certainly has MMO elements, it feels more like a single player game. Exploring Old Russia I only briefly encountered other players and after completing random daily missions, we would venture off on our own separate paths. A recent addition to the Beta though, was The Crucible, which is a competitive Player-vs-Player mode. Though the maps were fun, I did experience some frustrating moments in the PVP arenas. First of all, matchmaking isn't that intuitive. When I started in The Crucible, I was only level 5 competing against players at level 8. After being thoroughly destroyed, I tried exiting and re-entering in hopes of having a more balanced math, but every single time I was the only level 5 player in the match.
Additionally, certain maps will have vehicles which can be huge advantage. These vehicles, however, can often be piloted into buildings and other areas that would normally be a good defensive spot. It seemed to take away a lot of strategy to the game. It was basically whoever got to the vehicles first won the match. However, despite these minor gripes, the PvP aspect did play well and it was nice to have a change of pace to the world exploration of the story mode.

All in all, the Destiny Beta, from what I have experienced so far, is incredibly solid. I'm looking forward to playing more this week and can't wait for the full game to be released this September.