By Jamaal Ryan
It wasn’t until I completed The World’s Grave mission on the
moon that I had finally started loving Destiny.
Wielding a ballistic trifecta of a scout rifle, a sniper rifle,
and a rocket launcher, my stand-off with the Hive put both my skills and
arsenal to the test as I popped headshots from afar, blew up clusters of
enemies from above, and held back the sprinting sub-class of the disgraced race
while dancing around creatively using any vantage point imaginable. This is
what Bungie’s Halo was, and this is what Bungie’s Destiny is.
This type of encounter is quite common in Destiny. In fact,
most missions I’ve seen thus far have ended in an enemy flooding stand-off. It’s
Bungie’s way of showing off the dynamic interaction of multiple enemy types
ranging from close quarters, to shielded mid-range, to hard hitters from afar.
But as common as they may be, they’re spectacular finales that are distilled
from yawning environmental combat and traversal.
Thus far, Destiny is in some cases the Halo game that I wanted.
I’ve always held onto my Ghosts and rocket launchers for as long as possible,
but in Destiny, you carry everything with you, and the game is very much
designed around that. Wide stretches call for summoning Sparrows, and different
sized battle grounds appropriate themselves for whatever you may have in your
arsenal.
I’ve taken a particular liking to the Hunter class which I didn’t
get a chance to try out in the Destiny beta that I started writing about this past July. The suitably named Golden Gun acts as
a temporary 4th weapon that disintegrates foes on impact, with an
additional two shots to the body if they’re of a heavier class.
I find the Golden Gun particularly useful in multiplayer
over the Fist of Havoc and the Nova Bomb because it’s deadly at any range. Speaking
of multiplayer, I’ve already spoken atlength about Destiny’s Crucible, and my opinion hasn’t changed much 5
matches in. I still, however, can’t get over how persistently brilliant the
level design is regardless what map I’m playing on. Bastion feels painfully
familiar from some of the large scale maps between Halo 3 through 4, and Fire
Base is an unusually brutal close quarters map with automated doors blocking
your view in hallways, and insidiously placed points of elevation that welcomes
death from above.
Despite how much I’m enjoying the game, there are some
concerns that linger about. Unlike what I experienced in the beta, I’ve yet to
run into a Public Event, which effectively ruins any incentive to interact with
any other players that I come across on my venture. I haven’t investigated
whether or not if this is gated behind a level. If it is, I apologize.
After the beta, many questioned the size of Destiny. Bungie’s
aggressive assurance that Destiny will be a big game because it’s “the biggest
game that they’ve ever made” doesn’t say much looking back at their legacy. Looking
at the complete map, it doesn’t seem all that big at first glance with a
handful of “planets” (planets including the Moon in this case), but I’m hoping
that Destiny will surprise me.
Surprises could lurk in areas where I’m out leveled. I’m
sure we’ve all ventured into a cave, only to be pulverized by a powerful enemy whose
level reads “??”. And while this is an exciting incentive to return later in
the game, it often dis-incentivized me to explore in fear of facing another
unknown leveled enemy. As a shooter RPG, I’m conditioned into exploring and
finding loot. But why would I chase loot when death could literally be waiting
for me around the corner?
Nonetheless, these are early game woes, as I’m sure that Destiny
will turn out to be much more than it is at first glance. Check back in within
the coming weeks for my Destiny review.
Image courtesy of The Fuse Joplin
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