Gaming Review: Destiny Live

So is it any good? Bungie invested $500 million into creating what is basically an mmo, but it just feels like another Halo to me with similar environments and game play, Ok now we are Guardians instead of Spartans but the weapons seem very Halo(ish) and the story doesn`t really grab much attention (and you can`t jump the cut scenes!).

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic future where humans have spread across the Universe, then after a while it all goes a bit Pete tong (of course) and the only humans left live on Earth protected by a large spherical celestial body called the traveller, the bad aliens sweep across the Universe and it’s up to you and your mates to take them on and save mankind.

You have three choices of character to play, The Hunter, warlock or Titan all come with different abilities and weapons. With addition of playing as a human, a robot or an Awoken and there is a basic character design option so you can personalise your character to a certain degree.

It’s not exactly the Universe you are playing in but three planet’s, the earth, mars and the moon (is that a planet?)and each mission breaks down into four kinds Stories, strikes, patrols and raids all have different levels of difficulty and some are pretty tough going, its these harder missions you will find that playing as a single player will not cut it, so best to team up with some other players and “kick some bottoms” Bungie have promised plenty of DLC which will include more planets in the future.

You have a little helper in the shape of a kind of futuristic Rubik’s cube called a ghost, who basically is there to help with hacking devices and locked doors.

Now I have been playing this all week and it is a fun game and worth a look and the amount of content is staggering! You`re character levels up regularly after completing certain tasks and there is treasure to be collected along the way for purchasing weapons etc.

Vehicles are few and far between but you do get a handy jet bike called a Sparrow which is fun to bomb around on and like Halo the vehicles aren`t the best to drive.

If you get bored with the normal play you can hop into the Crucible (no not for a game of snooker) which is the PVP mode and you can take on other guardians with 10 maps and 4 modes.

The vanguard strike playlist is another interesting mode that is all about killing aliens with a 4 tier difficulty level ideal for racking up points to buy more gear.

When you do eventually hit level 20 (which will take some time) there are plenty of end game goodies on offer.

The graphics in destiny are superb and there is no lagging or other shenanigans when multi players are on line.

Enemies have varying levels of toughness like Wizards and captains who can replenish their life bars if you miss a couple of shots, although once you get the hang of killing them it’s not that difficult unless there are more than one, there are certain areas where re-spawning is turned off and this is a bit of a challenge especially in the harder difficulty levels, this is where your team mates come in.

Upgrades, weapons and fancy powers are in abundance and it doesn`t take long to become a force to be reckoned with.

Pity there is no split screen for this which would have been nice.

Summary

Destiny is really just another generic mmo shooter at the end of the day sort of a poor man’s Halo it is a fun experience and the game play and graphics are a cut above the rest, Bungie have promised more missions and planets to come DLC wise so it will be interesting to see it develop over time.

There is plenty to do in Destiny and is ostensibly a multi-player game and should really be seen as such.

Destiny

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Bungie

PS3/4

Xbox 360/One

Genre:FPS

Release Date: 9th September 2014

Gameplay: 5/5

Graphics: 5/5

Story: 3/5

Overall: 4/5