Reviews// Destiny

Away from Destiny’s FPS roots is essentially a large scale multiplayer online game complete with random events, loot, levelling up and character classes. Some aspects of its performance on the server-based stage are fine. The consistently powering-up weapons keep you excited for unlocks, and the public events are extremely exciting. It does feel as though there are some missed opportunities to make this truly stand out from the MMO crowd, though.

Although Destiny makes it extremely easy to link up with friends - its in-game friends list makes joining your friend’s fire team just a couple of button presses away - linking up with randoms is a nightmare. Being able to text chat in The Tower would have helped. Instead you’ll wander about requesting everyone that moves instead of getting down to business. I’ve not been rejected this often since The Blue Orchid in Croydon 2002.

It also feels as though there's a distinct lack of loot crates. I expected to discover them all over the place, but there are only a few in each world and hardly ever any at the end of a mission. Once completing the task in hand you’re given 30 seconds of what seems like free time. I expected that to be a period of cleaning up any treasures the game is gifting you, but no. There’s hardly anything about. So it’s 30 seconds of four people dancing and a toilet break.

The plot also fails to hit the mark. If you do a bit of research, it’s not actually that bad if a little simple. But it’s incredibly poorly told. Mainly through cutscenes or Peter Dinklage monotonously rolling out lines in-game. Part of the problem is that you’re more interested in chatting to your mates while all this is going on, but it’s also because it fails to hold your attention.

The PVP side of Destiny has the potential to be good but at the moment it’s an unbalanced mess, with level 20 players easily overpowering the lower-levelled. Although all weapon stats are scaled the perks you unlock aren’t, and some of the more powerful ones that are saved for later in the game will dominate, leaving newcomers with an awful experience.

You have to ask yourself, with Titanfall already on shelves and The Master Chief Collection heading towards Xbox One, does this really compete? No, but the inflated XP reward will help return visits.

Still, although it’s a game with faults it’s hard to get bogged down with them. The over bearing feeling I get from Destiny is one of joy. A game that I think about when it’s not on the screen. One that will keep me entertained with many hours of play as I build up a roster of different characters to experience all it has to offer. And every time I do log on, I’m treated to some of the most interesting, challenging and enjoyable shooting I’ve played since, well... Halo.

It won't be for everyone, that’s for sure. Some won't be able to see past the missed opportunities and it wont live up to the game that people thought it would be, but most will enjoy it. And the game on the disc feels like only the beginning for a shooter that will go on to entertain its fans for a long time.

I’m onboard.


Pros:
+ The Shooting
+ The Environments
+ Levelling system and Loot

Cons:
- Lack of variety in the main campaign
- Lack of loot
- Unbalanced PvP

SPOnG Score: 4/5