Destiny

The creators of Halo have finally released their latest IP, Destiny. Filled with lush environments and exotic enemies to destroy, Destiny encourages you to bring friends along to overlook repetitive missions and a vague story. Destiny may not be a perfect game, but it's extremely fun to play.

Trading Spartans for Guardians, Bungie has created a mixture of magical spells and modern weaponry for players to employ amidst their journey on Mars, Venus and the moon. You’ll gain access to a general assortment of weapons such as assault rifles, shotguns and rocket launchers. Combining your mystical abilities with your weaponry is essential to surviving the mass hordes of enemies that demand your blood.

Shifting from planet to planet, Destiny focuses less on narrative and more on gameplay. Little details are revealed about the universe during the adventure, and your companion "Ghost" does very little to enlighten you about the lore. He provides relevant information about the current objective, but eventually he becomes less of a companion and more of a tool, used when the objective calls for it.

Bungie does provide details about Destiny's story through Grimoire Cards unlocked through the completion of specific objectives, these can only be viewed through the official Destiny mobile application or website. It's strange that Bungie didn't include this reading material in the game or allow characters to further explore the storyline  in-game. With talented voice-actors like Peter Dinklage and Nathan Fillion, it would've been ideal to hear about the universe from these characters instead of looking elsewhere.

From the start you'll be given the choice of three classes: Hunter, Warlock, or Titan. Each class can use any weapon, instead each class is defined by their special powers and class specific armor. Hunters are great at disposing of infantry, Warlocks can deal large area-of-effects damage from a distance, and Titans are ideal tanks. Hunters can summon a Golden Gun loaded with three powerful shots, Warlocks can throw giant balls of energy, and Titans are able to strike the ground with a powerful force. Upon reaching level 15, each class gains access to a sub-class that changes their specialization into something new. For example, the Warlock's sub-class changes its energy-ball attack for a temporary buff, enhancing all abilities for a finite amount of time.

While each class has their own specific talents, none have crucial abilities. When creating a fire-team, which can include up to three players, no team makeup is required for victory. Any combination can yield success. This ensures that public matches can run smoothly, without worrying about having specific talents.

In addition to the three classes, you can choose one of three races: Human, Robot, or Awoken. Your choice doesn't alter the story but provides a decent amount of cosmetic options to customize your character. Once a race and class is chosen, players will be placed into the PVE (Player versus environment).

Four types of PVE missions are available: Stories, Strikes, Patrols, and Raids. Stories are the most common mission objectives and follow a specific linear path from start to finish. Whether you choose to tackle them solo or cooperatively, each mission gives you a clear set of objectives to complete, and you're automatically sent back to orbit when each mission ends. Strikes are more difficult, and Bungie recommends a complete fireteam to complete them. Acting like a dungeon, these missions will test your fireteam's respective levels, each ending with a boss fight that requires teamwork.

Patrols are casual missions that have players activating a beacon to receive orders for a randomly generated mission. None of these tasks are entertaining and mostly focus on standard MMO quests like killing a specific amount of enemies or collecting items. Sometimes you might stumble across a Public Event. These spontaneous challenges alert all the Guardians active in the area to join together to complete a challenge.

If you prefer facing actual players over enemy AI, then you'll most likely spend the majority of your time at The Crucible. Four competitive match types are available that include a 6 versus 6 King of the Hill variant called Control; Clash, which is 6 versus 6 Team Deathmatch; Rumble, a 6-player free-for-all; and a 3 versus 3 assault where you can revive allies called Skirmish. The ten maps currently available are put to good use in the four different modes. 

Completing all of the story missions and playing through all multiplayer maps could take you about 15 to 20 hours. Once you reach level 20 experience becomes irrelevant, your main focus will now be Light, the essence of the Traveler. To earn the Traveler's divine essence you'll have to gather the most powerful armor and weapons in the game. Finding this rare loot won't be easy and requires you to repetitively complete the same missions over and over to accumulate Light. Once you gather enough Light to reach level 26 you'll qualify for the endgame raid content.

This lies the biggest issue with Destiny - the repetition. If you plan to take on Destiny's hardest challenges or unlock the best gear, be ready to tackle the same bosses and run through the same maps multiple times. Bungie attempts to ease some of this vexation by alluring players with upcoming content and time exclusive events. The low experience level cap and extensive time required to reach level 26 highlights Destiny's poor mission structure and bothersome grinding requirements.

Destiny is best played with friends. Traveling through the graphically impressive environments and facing crushing bosses provides the most thrilling moments. During certain sequences Darkness fills the area, restricting spawning and requiring fireteams to stay alert or die, returning to the last checkpoint. 

Destiny tries to adhere to many types of players and attempts to justify the time and effort it takes to unlock them. It excels with the basics, such as control and entertainment, but monotonous missions, that repeat continuously on each planet, dilute the experience. Destiny isn't about having a deep and invigorating experience. Instead, it’s about collecting loot and hunting exotic enemies from distant planets with friends.

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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