Developer: Bungie
Publisher: Activision
Platforms: PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Grade: C
Bungie’s first new franchise since “Halo: Combat Evolved” is a strong effort in many respects. It just falls short of the colossal expectations set by its marketing campaign.
Destiny is a mix of a massively-multiplayer online game, a role-playing game and a first-person shooter.
That being said, it often feels much more like an MMO instead of a traditional campaign-driven shooter, even though Bungie insists it is a “Shared World Shooter.”
A strong Internet connection is required, and some parts of the game are blocked behind a Sony or Microsoft paywall (though PS3 players will not need PS+) .
Using IU DeviceNet, I was dropped from the game occasionally, which rebooted me back to the main menu each time.
While playing, I could not help but notice how so much of the game feels like a missed opportunity.
It is obvious Bungie spent a lot of time creating a special universe, but with much of the backstory not even in an in-game codex, the incentive to understand events referenced in the game is completely absent.
The game cheerfully reminds you to go to bungie.net to read more, but only the most dedicated of fans would do so.
The guns all have a good heft to them and movement is crisp. As there are often large areas to traverse, you can call in a speeder bike to speed your travel across the game’s four main areas (Venus, Earth, Mars and the Moon).
Where “Destiny” falls horribly short is in the narrative department. Far removed from the tightly scripted and cogent campaigns of “Halo,” the campaign missions here are much more formulaic.
They mainly consist of fighting to point A, defending point B from waves of enemies, and then killing a boss at point C. Rinse and repeat.
Over a few hours this very boilerplate mission structure can becoming grating, especially over the game’s roughly 15-hour campaign. Yet with such an expansive lore, there does not seem to be a living universe out there.
Peter Dinklage’s wooden voice acting as your traveling companion cube does not help very much in contextualizing your actions.
The cooperative multiplayer aspect can be very fun, and the Player vs. Player arena is seeing a lot of use as well, but that cannot excuse the lack of coherency in what we were promised was an expansive world with a deep and rich background.
“Destiny” is a highly competent game, but it is not an engaging one. On a technical level, it stands comfortably with Bungie’s pedigree, yet it frustratingly fails to deliver an immersive and engrossing experience.
