One of this year's biggest blockbuster releases will be Bungie's Destiny. The studio that created Halo is off and running with a new IP as well as making it available on both Sony's and Microsoft's platforms since Microsoft no longer owns them. You can tell Bunge is trying to play nice with Sony folk since it not only is releasing a sexy white PS4 bundle, but also making the beta available first on the Sony platforms.
That's where I come in. I got the chance to play a few hours yesterday of the beta on my (OG Black) PS4, and I definitely want to talk about it. While I am aware things will change between now and September 9th, here are my thoughts on how the game is shaping up.
The game opens in spectacular cutscene fashion, setting up the space epic Bungie is well-known for. They talk of The Traveler (which on the first picture of this post, is the white ball) and The Darkness that's been hunting The Traveler for eons, eventually ending life as we know it. The Traveler is able to create Ghosts (that little seeing-eye cube that you see in the trailers) to scour the Earth looking for Guardians (you) to fight off the Darkness.
The game opens with your Ghost (voiced by Peter Dinklage by the way) waking you up and leading you to safety before The Fallen start attacking. It took me a second to get to the safety structure because GOD DAMN THIS GAME LOOKS PHENOMENAL. Many times we will look at a static image of a game and think "That's great and all, but how will it really look when I play it?". Destiny looks as good as the images make it seem.
You find your first rifle and start pulling triggers while numbers fly off enemies, yep, it's an Action RPG alright, and there is something very satisfying about seeing how much damage you do to an enemy. The most satisfying thing, however, is when you punch an enemy. The sound and the feel and the enemy animation all adds up to give you a rush every time you land a punch.
After the intro/tutorial level, you are taken to the main player hub, The Tower, the last safe city on Earth. This is where the MMORPG aspects start coming in to play. You have a Postmaster (for any mail Bungie or other players may send to you), a Gun Vendor, an Armor Vendor, a Vault (bank to store items), a vendor who will identify items you pick up in the world as well as create ones for you, and a NPC who will create bounties for you, basically challenges that, upon completion, reward you with Glimmer (the game's main currency) Vanguard Points (PvE points for special items) or Crucible Points (PvP points for special items). There is even a Shipmaster, where you can acquire different ships, which you see while you are in orbit planning your next move.
The level structure strays from the traditional shooter, opting for one open world with multiple missions to choose from. With it being an MMO, you get to watch and interact with other players as they go on whatever mission they may be doing (BTW, there totally is a dance emote, so you know it's good). You can choose to do the story missions, which will include an instanced boss fight at the end, where if you die, you go back to the beginning of the instance and try again. You can choose to go the "Explore" route, where the game just drops you on Earth (Old Russia) and lets you free roam, activating various missions at beacons left all over the world. These missions can involve exploring, completing a simple objective, or (more likely than not) kill X amount of things. You can also choose the "Strike" mission, which is a 3-man dungeon run. I did one Strike Mission and it took a fair amount of time and was very satisfying when the 3 of us took down the main boss.
Also in the world at various times, there will be a public event where you can spontaneously join and help other Guardians complete a task, like fight off a few waves of enemies, or take down a big tank while also fighting a bunch of enemies. These can be quite hectic and it does feel like a great battle.
While the main focus of the game is co-op (you can create a "Fireteam" with your friends to tackle missions together) you can go to The Crucible to get your competitive multiplayer on. I played a "Domination" style match where we had to capture points and kill enemies to score points. You take all your gear and level abilities from the single player game in to multiplayer. We ended up winning by the skin of our teeth and it was pretty frantic. You do earn XP from multiplayer matches as well and it's all shared in the same XP pool.
Leveling, ah yes, it is an RPG after all. All the RPG elements are there: Gaining XP from kills, leveling up, upgrading your abilities, finding loot like new guns and armor, etc. I always like when games give me an XP bar onscreen so I know how close I am, and how sleep is going to be put off for a little while longer while I fill up this green bar cause I HAVE TO KNOW.
Allow me to hit on a few quick points before I wrap this up:
- Bungie is also known for having a fantastic musical score, and Destiny's music is just as epic and powerful as any out there.
- I felt real tension in some parts of the world, where the lights were out, the sound was creepy, and I didn't know what I was running into, really cool how they were able to achieve that.
- Peter Dinklage is great as "Ghost" and if I had to pick anybody to narrate my space epic in my virtual head, I am glad it's him.
- While I always thought the light on the back of the PS4 controller was a cute little gimmick, it's actually utilized here. The light will get brighter when your flashlight turns on in dark areas, it will also glow yellow when your "Supercharge" ability is ready so you know it's time to unleash. A pretty cool use of the controller and hope to see even more in the full retail release.
To sum things up, after just a few hours of playing this beta, Destiny is shaping up to be a very special game. It evokes the epic magnitude of the space epic like Halo while making its own mark on the genre. I will definitely be playing the hell out of the beta and September 9th can't come soon enough, even if I am playing it on a black PS4.
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