this is my favorite game in that realm so far
While I have mild gripes with the game and its delivery, it's a very worthwhile experience overall. If you have any interest in both shooters and cooperative play, this is my favorite game in that realm so far. THE GOOD: - Incredibly solid core gameplay. Shooting is tight; weapon choices are varied, but not overwhelming (take note, BioWare); grenades/abilities are customizable to playstyle; classes are different enough to be intriguing - The environments. Beautiful, breathtaking, vast. Good stuff. - The co-op matchmaking. For all of the issues (see below), signing up for a Strike and being matched with two other players and blasting toward your destinytion (harhar) in under a minute is terribly impressive. - The competitive matchmaking. You'll have frustrating games if you're not in a clan, or not communicating with the people on your team. That's a given in any online shooter worth its salt. But Bungie's system of matching you with similarly-skilled players makes those frustrating instances few and far between. - The feel. I was a WoW junkie years ago. I kicked the habit. This game reminds me of a LOT of things I liked about WoW: the variety of gameplay, the interaction with others, raiding and loot drops. But you also get to rest. No spreadsheets for maximizing DPS. No daily grind to remain competitive (though there's certainly the option!). Just a fun game to relax with when you feel like it, or take seriously if that's your cup of tea. - A jetpack for every Guardian. True communism. THE BAD: - Multiplayer balance. They're working on it. Oftentimes it just seems like you have no shot against that guy with the assault rifle that kills you in <.5 sec. And a certain class *cough*Hunter*cough* has a ridiculous over-powered 'Super' move. Yes, supers are supposed to be amazing. No, supers shouldn't regularly wipe out the entire opposing team within a 100m vicinity. But again, Bungie is listening. They've been tweaking and improving every week since launch. - End-game. I would have broken this down more, but it really covers all the bases to say the end-game is currently lacking. Again, future plans should keep you excited, but for now here's the deal: get some missions (called bounties), wander a planet farming materials for armor upgrades (see: grinding) and completing repetitive, menial tasks, maybe do a Strike to receive a couple items you'll immediately turn into more materials for armor upgrades, hope to God you can find a group of skilled players to do the only raid currently. Or play some competitive multiplayer which also gives you gear you'll dismantle for armor upgrades as well. - Exploration. Some planet's environments hint at a Skyrim-esque open-endedness. Again these environments are GORGEOUS. You want to see every inch of them. Until the invisible wall blocks you. Man, that drew me so far out of the experience the first time it happened. Some planets handle it better (Earth has cliffs to fall off, or steep walls to block you). But others literally just say "Nope!" at the top of a hill, or cover the screen in static and a "Turn Back!" message with a countdown timer before inexplicably killing you. The bright side is that the planets are large, and the terrain varied. So there's no lack of places to go if you want a new scene. But eventually you WILL go everywhere. - Story delivery. Man, this is a cool world being built. The lore and the races, factions and planets. I dig it all. But to find out anything meaningful beyond the in-game V.O., you have to go into the Destiny app, or onto Bungie.net to access your "Grimoire", a set of cards you unlock to further explain goings-on. I'm not an auditory person, so the V.O. doesn't hold my attention unfortunately (and I LOVE Peter Dinklage -- too bad). So the game more or less offers absolutely no story to me, in and of itself. Missions and strikes that are meant to have significance in the greater world get broken down into "kill this thing, then this bigger thing". I generally dislike cutscenes, but the few in this game shine as the only times I understand my overall purpose. Also... let us skip cutscenes. My God, this is the 21st Century. - Load times. Nearly unbearable even on PS4. I'm patient. I don't know if I ever complained about loads in any other game. But staring at your ship blasting through a wormhole for a full 60 seconds ruins the game's flow. Just being able to move the ship around would help. Interactivity. Games. You know. (This isn't all the time, but often enough to take note.) - Learning. There's so many things in this game I had to guess about. Or learn through doing. Not a bad thing, but some things had absolutely no guidance. The main mechanic for gaining levels in end-game was completely lost on me until I'd gone from Light level 20 to 27 (it's no longer experience from kills, but a stat called "light" on your equipped gear). The various factions in the main city aren't well-understood, and their differences are seemingly negligible. You can't see your reputation with ANY faction unless you go to the Tower and run all the way to the faction vendor. And knowing your rep actually affects your decisions in the game. Damage types aren't really explained. The list continues, but suffice it to say: come in expecting to have to figure things out. Like life. A learning process. Ok, so that's the breakdown. While I offered a fair number of cons, those are only there out of hope for improvement. The only reason I hope for improvement is because I love this game and will continue playing it, so it'd be great to see it fix every single issue. But for now, once-a-week updates are plenty. Seriously, the attention that Bungie is giving to Destiny is laudable. Read more